Chapter 7

C'est Amour on the Most Beautiful 7th Day

Day 7

Yesterday, Tamaki visited Old man Arnold in the hospital, but he was asleep. The doctor said that Arnold stood too long in the sun and did not have an adequate amount of water in his body. The doctor advised him to retire, because at his age, he is very prone to heat strokes.

Tamaki left a fruit basket full of mostly bananas and a couple of oranges and apples on Arnold's bedside. He included a note telling Arnold about what happened after the ambulance carried him away.

Speaking of that…the entire scene took him by surprise. Who knew Haruhi would appear at a time like that, nonetheless, knew he needed comfort. The strangely romantic moment did not last long though. Tamaki, who was not in his 'Haruhi-focused' mode, let her go, and went into the ambulance with Arnold and the paramedics, since Tamaki seemed to know Arnold a little more than the others. He didn't know how Haruhi reacted to it, but at that moment, he was really distracted.

Thinking back at the moment, now that his mind is clear, he was such an idiot. He shouldn't have just left her like that. He could have said something like 'Thank you', or 'Thanks, babe' or 'I love you'. Okay, maybe not the last two…but he could have said something!

He remembered the faint smell of her hair, the feeling of her breath on his skin, her delicate frame, and her long slender arms around his body. No, he's not a pervert! He just notices these things.

He is laying belly-down on his bed, rolling around and messing up the sheets whenever he is thinking of something stupid that he did. His legs were flopping up and down as his arms wrap around his tousled-looking bear, suffering under Tamaki's sudden squeezes. This is the work of something silly called 'love'.

"Bocchan! Pull yourself together!" The old maid came in, who-knows-when, snapping Tamaki out of his 'atrocious' behavior.

In Restaurant…

"Yes! Another week, another day, another pay!" Shin cheered. Everyone was in high-spirits—even the usually down in the dumps Ken. The waiters were almost actually eager to take orders. A smile plasters on their face, as if it is the only emotion that they are capable of showing. Even Jin, whose paycheck is destined to have some reductions, seems exuberant.

Tamaki is going to miss these people. No matter how strange and lazy they are, they really are great people. It was a lot of fun to work with them, but too bad, he would leave them soon.

In no time, his restaurant shift passed like a breeze. The waiters gather around the boss's wife, anticipating their paycheck.

"Sage, here you go. I just wished that you would smile a little more often," the woman handed her an envelope with the check. "Ken, stop moping around. Jin, stop wasting so much money on soccer. Shin, you talk too much. Sho-chan you talk too little," she handed each of them an envelope, complete with a comment. "And you, Suoh, keep up the good work." She handed him the envelope. He didn't expect to feel this way when he first decided to get a job. The feeling that his hard work is finally paying off. He felt like he earned it for working his butt off. To top it all off, he was just complimented by one of the fussiest women in the world.

He changed out of his uniform. He'll quit tomorrow…He strides over to the exit, and opens the door. He turns around, to say good-bye.

"Sayonara!" he waves dramatically.

"Yea, yea, see you tomorrow dude!" Shin waved while taking down a customer's orders.

"I won't be—" Tamaki tried to explain.

"Suoh, close the door, you're letting out the air-conditioning!" the boss's wife yelled over to him. Tamaki obeys, whispering 'sayonara' as the door closes.

"What's with him," Jin said aloud, while balancing a couple of dishes on his hands.

"Beats me," Sage replied without thought.

"He's just being overly-dramatic." Shin concluded.

Construction

It's just not the same without Arnold rambling by the side. It was lonely. He wasn't close with the other co-workers. They were just too normal—and muscular in an intimidating way.

Right after he received his paycheck, he started to get nervous. This is it…he's going to have to bring this over to Ranka-san now. He needs help! Of course, he must see Arnold first! Yes, Arnold will give him encouragements in the form of randomness!

Hospital

Tamaki went into the room where Arnold was staying in, but he saw that Arnold's bed was empty.

"Excuse, where is the patient who was occupying this bed?" Tamaki politely asked a nurse.

"He checked out this morning. He's a lonely man…" The nurse informed.

"Didn't his son check him out?" Tamaki asked.

"Oh, no! His son died a year ago, he has no one now!" The nurse blurted out.

"We're still talking about Arnold, right?" Tamaki was confused.

"Of course we are! Oh, and you must be that 'banana-head he's always talking about," the nurse pulled out something from her pockets. "He left you something." She handed it over to Tamaki and walked away to take the patients' temperature.

It was a voice recorder. He re-winded the tape and pressed play when it was finished. Arnold's voice sounded through the machine.

"'ey Chimp! By da time yer listening to dis, I be on da plane ta Florida in da States. They say it's nice there. I took the doc's advice ta retire."

'Surprised' is hardly the right word to describe what Tamaki is feeling right now.

"'n Chimp, I got somethin' ta say. I wasn't completely honest with chu, but I know you weren't either. Ya know how I'm always talkin' bout my son like he's alive? Well he ain't. He's dead, 'n I'm sure that big mouth of a nurse told you that already. I jest thought that talking bout him would make it feel like he's still here…but anyways, I knew there was somethin' wit chu. Sometimes you just don't think. Do ya really expect me not ta know that yer a frikin' rich kid when yer talking bout goin ta some private artificial beach? I'm old but I ain't stupid."

So Arnold knew all along…

"Ya know what else…I know exactly why yer here right now. Oh and by da way, I ain't mad at chu, aight?" Suddenly another voice sounded at the background of the tape.

"Yo, dude shut the f#$k up! It's 12 o'clock in the morning, and we're trying to sleep!" the voice in the background yelled.

"Hold on, Chimp," Arnold's voice seemed to sound from a distance, as he probably held the recorder away from his mouth. "Why don't you shut the f$#k up? Yer not even sleepin' ya darn fool. Why don't you stop reading those dirty magazines instead? I'm sure you can sleep yer ass off then!"

"Whatever, old man!" the voice in the background yelled back.

"Alright Chimp, as I was sayin' I know why yer here." Arnold's voice came back clearly. "Yer probably a nervous mess at this moment. It's 'cause it's da last day of yer challenge right? You earned all yer money and stuff, but yer too darn nervous to go to that Saruhi's house right? Well I'll tell you now, start walking to her house and continue to listen to me. I know yer jest standin' here like an idiot."

Arnold's right…he is standing in the hospital like an idiot. He began to make his way out of the hospital.

"Chimp, I read yer letter. 'n I'll tell you dis once and for all—she likes ya. She's jest confused. If she didn't like you, then why da heck would she come running inta yer arms. Go find her and express yer damn feelings, already! It's driving me crazy, how yer making dis thing so darn complicated. Now pause this darn machine and play it when you get to her door."

Tamaki did as he was told. He stood in front of the house and pressed play.

"Go in, wimp chimp, I gotta take a leak." that was it…that was the last thing Arnold said before he left for the States—I gotta take a leak. He'll remember that forever.

Hesitantly, Tamaki rang the doorbell.

The door opens with a crash, revealing a very tired Ranka-san.

"Oh, it's you," the deadbeat cross-dresser yawned. Tamaki took him by surprise when Tamaki stuffed his salary in his face. Ranka-san stared stupidly at the envelope, vaguely remembering his challenge.

Tamaki spotted Haruhi in the kitchen and stalked inside.

"Haruhi." He caught her attention and grabbed her hands with his own. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes. "Je t'aime. Te amo. Wo ai ni. Aishiteru."

"Tamaki…sempai," Haruhi whispered.

"I love you," he said finally, throwing his arms around her.

"Me too," she replied returning the embrace.

Too bad that didn't really happen…

(END OF TAMAKI INNER-MIND THEATRE MODE)

Ranka-san opened the door, but this time, he did not look the slightest tired. Tamaki bowed slightly as a greeting.

"Heh, you're here already? I thought you wouldn't last," Ranka snickered. Tamaki handed him an envelope with his paychecks. Ranka looks at both checks. "Good, good." Then he handed it back to him.

"Where's Haruhi?" Tamaki asked almost eagerly.

"Don't know." Ranka replied bluntly. Tamaki face-faulted. "Listen kid, I have work now, so look for her outside or wait for her to come home." Ranka combs through his hair and puts on his heels. "One more thing…" Ranka turned around revealing a very, very scary face. Not very often does one see Ranka-san's face-creases. "I better not come home one of these days, and suddenly become a grandpa."

"Of course not!" Tamaki sweat-dropped. The two went out of the house. Ranka-san suddenly stuck out his hand in front of Tamaki. Tamaki dumbly shakes his hand. Ranka-san squeezed his hands in a bone-crippling grip. Tamaki is sweating profusely, trying to hold his pain in. Ranka-san finally let go, and a satisfied smirk appeared on his face.

"Remember what I told you before. If I become a young grandpa, I'll roast you over an open fire," Ranka threatened menacingly. Tamaki gulped and nodded. Then Ranka-san walked away with an air of a diva.

Tamaki decided to stay behind to wait for Haruhi. For the past few minutes, he just couldn't stay still. He stood in front of a tree and decided to practice what he would say to Haruhi when he sees her.

"Haruhi, I really like you. Will you accept me?" Tamaki embraces the tree, puckers up and moves closer and closer to the tree…

"Mommy, that guy is going to kiss that tree!" A little boy points.

"Ugh, don't look! Tree-huggers these days…and such a young and handsome one too…" the mother covered the little boy's eyes and carried him away.

Tamaki jumps back from the tree and scratches his head in embarrassment, whistling a casual tune, as if he didn't just try to kiss a tree.

"Tamaki-sempai?" Haruhi calls out from a few feet away.

"Haruhiiiiiiiii!" Romantic music starts to play in Tamaki's mind, as he seems to run in slow motion towards Haruhi to hug her, but before he got to her, she just walked towards her house, avoiding his grip.

Tamaki's jaws dropped. The romantic music in his mind came to an abrupt note. His world shattered like glass. He felt like he's in a plane crashing into the ocean.

"Tamaki-sempai, this is for what you did yesterday." She suddenly broke into a smile. Tamaki's eyes lit up in hope. "Tamaki-sempai, I think I'm—"

"I love you," he ran over to her, cupped her face with his hands, and pulled her in for a kiss. Haruhi's eyes were wide open in surprise but eventually closed them and gave in to his soft kiss.

A/N-

YES! I'm finally finished with this story! It took me forever to finish this chapter and I'm so happy that I did! This chapter is definitely the longest chapter I've ever written, and also the chapter that took me the longest to post up. (This chapter would have been posted up sooner if FF. net didn't have massive traffic, disabling me from uploading it.)

I would like to first, apologize for the time it took me to write this. Second, I would like to thank my readers. Finally, I would like to give extra thanks to all my reviewers! It has been a great run!

So in this chapter, I thought Haruhi was kind of ooc, but whatever, she has to give in to his charms some time or later, lol.

Um...I may or may not include an epilogue...I don't know, it really depends whether I can gather the ideas into an epilogue or not.

Thank you for reading.