The following Wednesday, Yasuhara found himself slouching on Mai's sofa and eating ice cream.
"...And then, he went cross eyed and tried to focus on the cream on his nose and it was so cute," Yasuhara gushed. "Seriously. I am in love. Gene is perfect."
"You went on one date," Mai deadpanned.
"If you count lunch on Saturday then two dates."
"Does he count it?"
"I don't care. He's perfect either way."
Mai rolled her eyes, but laughed nonetheless.
"You're ridiculous," she mumbled.
"Oh! That reminds me! Did Oliver message you?" Yasuhara asked.
"What?"
"Gene said that Oliver was thinking about messaging you," Yasuhara explained. "That he wanted to ask for a second chance or something?"
"Why would he want that?"
"I don't know. But did he?"
Mai shrugged.
"I shut down my account—"
"No, on Facebook."
Mai sighed, realising that Yasuhara had no intention of letting this drop, and grabbed her laptop from the coffee table. She opened the lid, inputted her password and loaded up a browser.
Facebook's address auto-completed.
Both Mai and Yasuhara's eyes were drawn to the little '1' notification on the messages tab.
Mai clicked on it and up popped a message.
You and Oliver Davis aren't connected on Facebook.
Hi Mai, I know I have no right to ask this, but would you give me another chance at a first date?
"Oh shit."
The expletive dropped from Mai's mouth.
"He actually did it!" Yasuhara exclaimed. "I have to tell Gene."
"No! Don't!" Mai made to grab for Yasuhara's phone, but found she didn't need to. He had made no further attempts to use it.
"Why not?"
"Because! I don't know what to do!"
Yasuhara's mouth dropped open.
"You're actually considering it?"
"No!" Mai insisted. "Maybe? It's just he was so much more normal on Saturday and he sent this on Saturday and I ignor—"
"Not seeing it until today isn't ignoring if you didn't know it was there."
"—But he doesn't know that!" Mai finished.
"So you're gonna agree out of guilt?" Yasuhara asked. "No. Don't go. I forbid you."
"But—"
"Going out of guilt or pity is just mean, Mai. Gene said he sent that because he actually kind of liked you. If you're just gonna agree because you think it'd be mean to refuse, then don't go. Just let him down nicely and move on."
Mai stalled, taken in by the gravity in Yasuhara's tone.
"I… I don't know what to do…" Mai mumbled pathetically.
"Eat your ice cream. You don't have to reply to him now."
"But he'll see that I've seen it!"
"So?"
"So!" Mai pouted, unable to think of coherent words. "So I don't want to be mean."
"Really? After the way he treated you?" Yasuhara asked.
"Okay, just because he was an idiot, doesn't mean I am going to be mean," Mai protested.
"That didn't stop you before," Yasuhara pointed out.
"That was different."
"How?" Yasuhara raised an eyebrow at her.
"It. It just was. Okay?"
"You like him!" Yasuhara accused. "Whatever he did on Saturday changed your mind!"
"Don't be—"
"If you didn't like him, you'd have said no straight away," Yasuhara pointed out.
"I hate you."
"Really?" Yasuhara asked. Mai scowled. "So what changed your mind?"
"I don't know… He just…" Mai screwed her face up as she thought. "He listened."
"What?"
"Like… He was reading this book while we were in the bookshop cafe, and he wasn't going to buy it but I pointed out that he should support the author, because he obviously enjoyed the book, and then he went and bought it after."
Yasuhara looked unimpressed.
"Seriously? You like him because he listened to you? Do you realise how pathetic that is? Like that is the basic level of human decency!"
"And why do you like Gene so much?" Mai shot back.
"Because he's cute and makes me laugh, duh."
"Yeah well I've literally only had one civilised conversation with Oliver so—"
"So you're going to accept his offer of a date?" Yasuhara suggested.
Mai groaned.
"I hate you. Fine. Yes."
She scowled at Yasuhara again and then began typing.
Hi, sorry I only just saw this! And yeah, I'd like to give it another chance. But if you do anything weird again I am just leaving out the front door this time!
Much to Mai's horror, Oliver replied relatively speedily.
Yes, we don't want you ripping all your tops, do we? How about Friday at 8PM?
Sure.
They agreed on a new restaurant and bid each other adieu.
"Mai has a date! Mai has a date!" Yasuhara sang.
Mai poked him in the side.
"Shut up."
"Look, I need you to get on with my future husband's brother. The family get togethers will be awkward otherwise."
Mai rolled her eyes.
"Seriously. You have had one date."
"And I am seriously telling you that Gene is perfect," Yasuhara insisted. "We are going to get married and adopt some gorgeous little babies and—"
"Is that what is going on in that head of yours? How do you ever manage to do your job?"
"Did I tell you that he's going to introduce me to his bees?"
"What?"
"Remember the whole honey thing? Oh I never shared that with you… He gave me honey to share with you as an apology but it's in my kitchen so—"
"Get to the point."
"So at dinner on Monday he seriously invited me to his parents house to meet his bees—"
"And his parents?"
"I guess so, yeah."
"You've been on one date!" Mai repeated.
"Mai, you just don't understand." Yasuhara shook his head slowly with a dreamy look in his eyes.
"No, I don't," Mai agreed with a sigh.
"Although I would like to point out that he said that his bees' opinion matters more than his parents'..."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he loves his bees. They're saving the planet."
"I'm not gonna ask."
Yasuhara laughed.
"But if you get stuck for topics on Friday, ask Oliver about painting the beehive."
Mai gave Yasuhara a puzzled expression and put her laptop away.
"I'm going to get more ice cream. Pick another film or something."
"How about the Bee Movie?"
"If you mention the word 'bee' again, I am going to stab you."
"Is that an admission of guilt there, Officer Taniyama?"
Mai threw a cushion at Yasuhara and left in search of ice cream with a smile on her face.
Author's note: So I have one more chapter after this and then I'm gonna start on a new better more fun actually well written piece honest. Shout out to Beegene for her editing and encouragement and y'all should go read her Bees story because all the bee mentions come from that so you gotta.