Chapter 7 : A WONDERFUL DREAM

The sun had already risen. He still couldn't believe it. He turned his head and saw her. She was sleeping right next to him. He leaned closer and closer, so much that he could sense her breathing.

"she's so beautiful" he thought.

He wanted to hold her tight and smooch her but he didn't want to wake her up, it was just 5.30 AM. He was caught between reason and desire, he gently stroked her face, she smiled.

He couldn't hold back anymore, he moved her hair aside and kissed her forehead. Then he began to poke her cheeks.

"why is she smiling?" he thought "i wish she was dreaming about me."

"..ld.. cold.. it's cold" she said half awake pulling the blankets over her head.

Natsume smirked and went under the blankets too. He hugged her from behind and started kissing her shoulder, her neck, all the way to her ear and then he whispered in a low voice

"Good morning, I know you're awake"

"good morning, I know you were staring at me earlier"

"sorry" he forcefully turned her to face his direction "can I have a 'good morning kiss'?"

"sure,why not? Close your eyes."

he closed his eyes immediately, she thought it was kind of cute of him to ask for it.

"but, isn't that something lovers do?" she thought "no, I'm just give him an innocent kiss on his cheek."

he was a bit confused, that wasn't what he was expecting.

"are you being shy?" he asked "you know, we went way further than that tonight."

she blushed and smacked his head.

"ouch! What was that for?"

she took a deep breath and hid all her emotions behind a poker face.

" 'good morning kisses' are meant to be shared by lovers, our relationship is different.." as she said 'different' his heart broke a little, but he didn't know that while saying that her heart was completely torn apart.

"that means, there are other things that I would want to do with you but you would reject me.. mind to tell me what are the 'lovers-thing' we are not suppose to do?"

"well.. if you want a good-whatever kiss, that's the best you would get. No physical contact like holding hands, hugging, kissing, of course sex is fine. No dates, but for a change of pace we could go to Love Hotels. However, I wouldn't mind having dinner or lunch as we used to, as long as you don't think of it as a date because I won't. No staying over, unless we spent the night together and it would be bad to send you home in the middle of the night. That's it.. pretty easy, don't you think?"

"you think so? I don't know.. they're not easy at all, but it's fine, for now. I am gonna make you reconsider them.. well, not the first one.."

"you mean the Good-whatever thing?" she look at him with a puzzled expression

"yeah.. I think it's cute to get a kiss on the cheek" he did the same to her " don't you agree?" he look at her in the eyes intensively while asking and then he smiled.

she turned red in one second " damn it, he's right.. it's awfully cute! This is more of a lovers stuff.." then she said out loud "so what about this?" she gave him a french kiss.

"not cute, but not bad either. I sort of hate it, because it reflects the relationship you want us to have.. however.. I can't say it didn't fire me up."

"i can feel it." she said closing the distance between their bodies.

This is not what he wanted, but it was impossible to hold back now. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, they were burning in the flames of their passion.

"ready for another round?"

"do you even need to ask?"

they started kissing each other deeply until they were almost out of breath.

He stoke her face and licked his lips

"I like the expression you're making, it's erotic." he said with a smirk

"I like yours" she said "you have a naughty smile on your face."

he remembered her smiling face while she was asleep and asked

"what were you dreaming of? You were smiling cutely"

"something wonderful, but I won't tell you.. it's a secret."

"so it turns out she wasn't dreaming about me" he thought disappointed, but he cheered himself up immediately thinking that he was able to make her change one of her 'not to do things' pretty easily and that means changing her mind wasn't impossible.

"natsume-kun, don't stop. Keep going."

"well then, I won't hold back if you ask with such a desperate voice."

As he was pleasuring her, she clung to his back, tighter and tighter as if she didn't want to let go of him. She closed her eyes and she could see what she was dreaming of earlier. Natsume and her walking together while holding hands, sometime they stopped just to have a quick kiss.

"a wonderful dream indeed." she whispered as a tear run through her face.

Day by day, week by week, month by month, time passed by, nonetheless, there were no progresses in their relationship. Not the ones he wanted.

"being in love is tough" thought Natsume while sighing.

He was walking towards his office, when he spotted Yume and the Boss. They were discussing some important matters,or so it seemed, while having a break in the smoking area. He was thinking about joining them but suddenly suzuki appeared.

"Yu-san, there's someone who wants to speak to you right now." said Suzuki passing his cellphone to her.

Her face went pale in a second. She knew who it was. And she didn't want to answer.

"my break is over, I need to go." she put out the cigarette in attempt to leave.

"don't you want to talk with your-"

"SHUT UP! I just need to go back to work and you should too."

she walked away. "Her voice was trembling, was she scared?" thought natsume. He was wondering about who could that someone be.

"you were lying.." said Boss in a monotone voice "no one is on the phone with you.. what were you trying to do? Are you planning something?"

"you could tell? Eheh.. maybe.. who knows." as he was saying that he made an eye contact with Natsume and smirked.

Natsume was finishing to fill some documents, from time to time he glanced at Suzuki but he was behaving as he usually did.

"he knew I was listening to them earlier." he thought "or maybe I'm imagining things." .

A text interrupted his flow of thoughts.

"I'm leaving now, I have a meeting to attend.

9 pm at my apartment. Okay?

See you later.

Yume"

he smiled and replied right away

"ok,

I look forward to spend time with you."

his doubts were brushed away. Even if there was something she was hiding from him,it was fine.. there must be a reason why she can't tell him. When he finally was able to cheer, his phone rang. It was azusa, he had a bad feeling and thought it was better if he didn't answer. Then again, it's his triplet, he couldn't ignore him.

"Natsume? You sure took your time to pick up the phone.."

"well, I was busy.. so, do you need something?" he asked that praying that he would say he just wanted to say hello.

"we're having a family din-"

"no, thank you.. I have other plans." he interrupted him because he knew how that was going to end.

"rude. I didn't even finish talking.. you will come.. you need to make up for the time you dumped tsubaki and the others.."

"what? I paid for the taxi and just so you know it was really expensive! I wonder where they went.."

"that's a wonderful opportunity to ask. Listen, you can come and say hello and leave.. ok? Masa-nii was the one who came up with this idea.. he just want to check out how you are doing."

"what time are we supposed to meet?"

"7.30 pm"

"fine.. see you later."

he closed the call.

He began to think if he should let Yume know about it. However, he was confident he would have been able to meet her anyway.

He finished some paper work and then headed out.

As soon as he got at the sunrise residence, he felt a bit nostalgic.

"it's been a long time" he thought.

He took a deep breath and went in. most of the brothers were there, he checked the time, it was 7.20 pm. He arrived pretty early.

"ah! Nakkun~" as wataru shouted, Subaru, who was sitting next to him, looked at him.

"Natsu-nii, good evening"

it was the first time after so much time that he met him.

"subaru, good evening.." he tried to act naturally "how is your training going?"

Subaru then began to explain how hard is training now that he is a PRO and discuss with him some sport related stuff.

As they were talking, Masaomi asked to speak with Natsume. He said he was glad he could come and talk a bit. When he returned to the living room, he saw Ema sitting next to subaru.

Suddeny, his heart began to ache. He wanted to get out of there. He didn't want to spend time seeing them together. And yet, while the thought of leaving was crossing his mind, he remembered Yume, he remembered that they will meet tonight, he remembered that he didn't have to run away like a coward because she would have surely disapproved.

Thinking about her made him wanted to see her, but since that was impossible, he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed her number.

"Natsume-kun? What's wrong?"

"nothing.. sorry I know you are at a meeting, but.. I really wanted to hear your voice."

".. you sure nothing is wrong?"

"are you worried about me?" he said in a happy tone "I'm kidding, I know you aren't"

"idiot. I may be, a little."

"that's enough for me" he smiled, he was grateful he could talk a bit with her "now I need to go.. see y-"

in that moment Hikaru appeared and as soon as he saw Natsume's expression he understood he was talking with a woman.

"Natsume? Who are you talking to? Are you cheating on me?" he said using his female voice.

Natsume felt like the ground was falling apart.

"Yume-san.. please don't misunderstand.."

"You have another one? Even though you had such a good time with the both of us.." added Hikaru

"Indeed" Tsubaki, who pooped out of nowhere, used all his skills as a voice actor to imitate a female.

"yume-san.. I swear.. it's not what it sounds like.." he was wondering what was better to do first, kill his brothers or explain the situation.

"It's okay.. you don't owe me an explanation.. you can do whatever you want.. remember?"

"But.." before he could end the sentence he was interrupted.

"I told you it's okay.. anyway.. the meeting might take longer than I expected.. it would be better if you didn't come.. see you tomorrow."

"hey! Wait!"

she hung up.

In that moment he stared at his brothers with a frighted look.

"scary~ you resemble Azusa when you make that face, of course he is cuter." said Tsubaki

"I agree, well, you are triplets after all.." added Hikaru.

"what did I miss?" Kaname joined the conversation

"why do you keep appearing so suddenly?" he asked annoyed.

"maybe it's because you were in the way to go the living room, where everyone stays while waiting for dinner, you reap what you sow.." hikaru teased him.

"whatever.." he sighed realizing he was right " and by the way.. since you are all here.. where the heck did you go last time? The taxi fare was really high!"

"where? mm.. we visited some beautiful buildings.. it was fun, next time you should come too~" as Tsubaki was saying that, the three of them look at each other and began to laugh.

"why you.." Natsume was really irritated but decided to let it go.

"so? Aren't you telling us who were you talking to?" Kaname asked curious.

"like hell I will.. also, we should have dinner.. it's already kind of late.."

"we are waiting for Fuuto and Iori.. being in the entertainment business is not easy, you know? They should arrive in 30 minutes. You have more than enough time to tell us everything."

"No way.. I'm going home.." he was ready to escape from his brothers when Azusa stopped him.

"where do you think you're going? We haven't had dinner yet.."

"I-"

"you are staying, right?" said Azusa in a calm but strict voice.

"wow! Azusa is cuter and he is also definitely scarier~." said Tsubaki proud.

In the end Fuuto and Iori came and everyone was having dinner happily, everyone but Natsume. He was feeling down, and was eating slowly.. knowing that he didn't have to rush since she wouldn't have met Yume. The big brothers felt guilty. Looking at him was almost painful. Even Fuuto gave up on teasing him because he didn't react at all. They wanted to make up for what they did by calling the person he was talking to earlier and explain. They stole the phone from his jacket while he was in the bathroom.

"Oh no! It's looked!" said Tsubaki

"try his birth date" suggested Hikaru

"you think he's so simple minded?" said Tsubaki while trying "oh.. it's unlocked now"

they look at each other and sighed " he really is"

they look through the recent calls and called the first name that appeared.

"you sure are too talkative today, Natsume-kun.." Yume replied " I'm taking a bath, so be quick."

"that guy is never going to be TOO talkative." said Tsubaki

she stayed silent for a moment and checked the phone to see if she misread the name.

The call was from Natsume, she was sure.. but she was also confused.

"ehm.. would you mind telling me how you are?"

"I am Natsume's triplet.."

"ok.. can I do something for you?"

"well.. I wanted.. actually WE wanted to apologize for what happened earlier."

"earlier? What do you mean?" she was even more confused

"remember the two girl with Natsume? It was my older brother and me."

"you mean you have an incestuous relationship with your brother? "

" what? no.. it means we pretended to be women to tease him."

"pff.." she bagan to laugh "that's funny! I totally thought you were women, where is he now?"

"he's in the bathroom.. he is a bit depressed because of the misunderstand we created."

"really?Okay..refer that to him 'I managed to come home earlier, come as soon as you can. I'll be here waiting for you'"

"we will. Just to be sure.. when you said 'here' did you mean in the bath tub?"

"i'll leave that to your imagination. Bye."

as Natsume came back from the bathroom, he saw Tsubaki and Hikaru with his phone and was really worried about what they might have done, but they explain the situation and referred her message.

He still didn't believe she said that. He wanted to leave right away because he didn't what her to wait and he couldn't wait to be with her either.

However, as always, something came up and he had to stay until 11.30 PM.

"it's late.. it will be too late by the time I reach her home.. but I do want to see her. I don't care.. even if it's for a second.. I want to see her.."

he drove as fast as he could, he arrived at her apartment at midnight. Luckily he had a copy of her key.

It was dark, she was probably asleep.

He took of his shoes and his jacket. He silently head for her room.

She was sleeping as he predicted. He stroke her head gently. And kissed her forhead.

"Sorry, I'm late" he whispered.

According to what she said, he couldn't stay over unless they spent the night together. So he was ready to leave.

"Thanks God I didn't wait in the Bath Tub" she smiled weakly half asleep.

"did I wake you up? Sorry.."

"don't worry.. Natsume-kun.. you can sleep here if you want.. there are some extra large t-shirt you can use as a pjs in that closet."

"are you sure.. I mean, I would be glad to, but.."

"didn't I tell you not to worry? It's chilly tonight and I don't feel like looking for a blanket and you have a high body temperature."

"i'm not a heater.. but for tonight is fine."

he put the t-shirt on and laid next to her, then he couldn't hold back anymore and he embraced her tightly.

"don't say anything.. this way is easier to be a heater." he said.

"ok.." she placed her ear on his heart.. and it was making her feel sleepy.

Suddenly Natsume realized that she had a double bed despite living alone, she had men clothes though it was clear she didn't usually wear them.

"say Yume-san.."

"yes?" she was half asleep

"nothing.."

before falling asleep, he remembered Suzuki's words.. 'don't you understand how HE feels?' or 'someone wants to talk with you'..

he got what was happening but he decided to pretend not to see the truth that obviously put in front of him.