Chapter 6
Destiny has a Shadow
Day 6
…
Tamaki sat on his bed, waiting for the alarm clock to ring. Somehow, he woke up earlier than his alarm clock, perhaps the work of a guilty conscience.
Today is Tamaki's second-to-last day of work, and Tamaki feels nothing but remorse. He regrets that he was so absent-minded two days ago, causing his restaurant co-workers trouble. He regrets that he yelled away his 'mentor', old man Arnold. He regrets that he didn't let Old Man Arnold finish his 'mind refreshments' when he met Haruhi.
He felt like such a jerk. Well at least his bear didn't think otherwise of him. He stared at the brown, stuffed bear in his hands. The fur around the eyes seemed to go in one direction—down, making the bear have a sort of angry look on its cotton-stuffed faced. Tamaki brushes the fur up on the top of each eye, changing its expression from anger to sympathy. Tamaki sighs at his own meager attempts inmaking an inanimate object sympathetic to his situation.
Riiiiing!
Tamaki wasted no time to shut it off before it wakes up the entire household.
…
In the Restaurant…
…
Whispers…his co-workers were whispering. They've been at it since he came in. They're probably gossiping about some poor soul, and Shin is probably the source of the gossips. Tamaki felt just a little bit left out—Shin usually gossips to him first…
That's it! The suspense is murderous—he must know! Let's see, the easiest target to get info out of…
"Sho-chan, go get table 3's order," the boss's wife demanded with a strict sense of authority.
Perfect!
Tamaki finally caught Sho-chan on a break.
"Sho-chan, Shin told me to ask you to tell me what he told you this morning…" Tamaki slyly insinuates.
"E-eh? He didn't…tell me anything," Sho-chan says suspiciously, obviously lying.
"Sho-chan, are you lying to me?" Tamaki asks in mock-disappointment.
"N-no—I-I mean Yes! I mean…no! Ugh, yes!" The ambiguous Sho-chan can't disobey his own conscience.
"Who's it about," Tamaki pries.
"Y-you…" Sho-chan finally said after much hesitation.
"Me? What about me?" Tamaki wondered what there was about him to talk about—besides him being attractive, and having many female fans.
"About you….being rich…" Sho-chan finally reveals.
"Eh, how did—" Tamaki was about to ask further, until he was interrupted by an eavesdropper.
"Eehhh, I'd like to be rich; then I wouldn't have to work here…" Sage sighed in her nonchalant way. Sage seems to have been sitting there the entire time, reading her magazine, listening to Tamaki intimidating information out of Sho-chan…
"When did you—" Tamaki did not notice Sage presence, nor did he noticed Jin's.
"Aah, that'd be nice. Then I could buy some new soccer shoes…" Jin looked at him detachedly, with a sort of vague expression.
"Now when did—" Tamaki never seems to be able to finish his questions.
"…and I'd be able to pay all my bills, and my ex-wife would come, flocking back to me," Ken said thoughtfully. Tamaki could almost imagine Ken with a cigarette between his fingers, blowing smoke rings in the air—but that's not case now, there's a no-smoking policy in this restaurant.
"How did you know…" Tamaki blinked incomprehensively, still unable to connect the pieces together.
"I…know everything!" Shin suddenly appeared as well, dramatically inspiring.
"Eh…" everyone seemed to lean in to hear the story…
Shin's Super-shitty Flashback Mode!
Yesterday, before Tamaki left work, he went back into the employee's changing room to change out of his uniform. Shin just so happened to be in there, wiping a soy sauce stain on his shirt.
That's when it happened…
Tamaki dropped his wallet, and Shin being a gossiper, reads a lot of gossip magazines, knowing many expensive name brands, recognizes the expensive, limited edition Cartier wallet. Not only did Shin see that, he was able to peek inside the wallet, seeing about 5 bills, he wasn't sure how much it was, but there were a lot of 'zeroes'. He also saw many cards…membership cards, perhaps, and credit cards. These credit cards were not just any ordinary credit cards…they were pitch black…
Shin could only stare and marvel at seeing one of these in real life. Only rich people had these…but wait…how could someone working as waiter be extremely rich?
Tamaki picked up his wallet without acknowledgement of Shin's presence and left. Shin was very confused, until he went home to his gossip magazine-stash. On the cover read, 'Japan's richest Men', and 'Suoh Yuzuru' was on the list with a paragraph speaking of him. That brief paragraph just so happened to include his son's name, 'Suoh Tamaki'.
BACK TO REALITY…
"Ahhh…" everyone nodded understandingly, sitting back down. Suddenly a big scary woman stood before them, scaring out their guts.
Oh wait, it's the boss's wife…and she does not look happy at all…
"Bunch of slackers! Get back to work!" she roared ferociously, instantly bringing the waiters out of their musings.
…
After restaurant shift…
…
Tamaki felt bad about yesterday—how he yelled at Arnold when his intentions were good. He brought a bunch of bananas to offer Arnold in hopes of forgiveness. Arnold was always talking about them…he should like it…but then again, he talks about pigeon crap too, and he doubts Arnold likes those…
When he came into the construction site, Arnold took notice of him, stuck his tongue out, and childishly made a face. Tamaki sweat dropped at the silly old man's antics.
"Arnold, my friend, I brought you some bananas," Tamaki tried talking to Arnold, but Arnold just ignores him. "They're nice and ripe, if you don't eat them now, they'll go bad," Tamaki persuaded.
"Fool, ya think some bananas that probably taste real good can get me ta forgive you, yer wrong," Arnold flared his nostrils as an act of disagreement, but really, he's just messing with him. Arnold isn't the type to hold grudges, besides he felt that this 'chimp' needed to at least go through these few minutes of torturing guilt.
Arnold sluggishly walked over to get his toolbox.
"Eh, I'm sor— Arnold, are you alright?" Tamaki noticed Arnold's uneven movements. "I'll go get you some water," Tamaki dropped his bag of bananas to get some water for Arnold. Before he can even turn around, Arnold collapsed on the floor.
"Arnold!"
…
A block away from the Construction site…
…
"Hey, Yuki, did you hear what happened?" Haruhi heard some girls talking.
"No, what happened?" the girl, probably Yuki, replied.
"Someone in the construction site fainted," the girl answered.
"Really, the same construction site with that cute blonde guy? You don't think it's him do you?" the other girl expressed.
"I don't know…" That was all Haruhi heard before her legs seemed to automatically run towards the construction place. She did not know why she was running…but she couldn't stop. She felt compelled, and she can't fight it. All she knew was that she wanted see him—badly.
By the time she reached the construction site, there was already an ambulance and a big crowd. She squeezed through the crowd to get a better look at who is being carried away on a stretcher.
It wasn't him…It was the Old Man that was with him from last time. She looked across the crowd, and her eyes met with his. He had a look of melancholy, yet with a tinge of hope.
She can't control it—her legs, were moving on their own. They stopped in front of him, Tamaki. He wraps his arms around her in an embrace that clearly asked for comfort. Without even thinking, she wraps her arms around him as well, soothingly petting his back comfortingly. Right now she wasn't sure who was comforting who. Maybe he was comforting her, telling her 'it's okay, I'm okay', or maybe she was comforting him, telling him 'He'll be alright'. They weren't even in the right mind to pay any attention to their racing hearts, or their flushing faces. The moment just felt so right.
It's questionable, but they need each other equally as well.
…
A/N-
(Author sighs in relief) Whew, this chapter took me the longest to put up. It actually took me this long to make the ideas flow coherently. Well, the next chapter's the last! I'll try to elongate that chapter, without dragging out the scenes too much.
Thank you, oh-so-lovable reviewers!
Stay tuned for Chapter 7, Day 7, C'est amour on the Most Beautiful 7th Day!