A/N (7-15-03):
Awww, but Crissy- the beauty of hasty declarations and promises is that it's all too true to life; at least I seem to think so. I do everything hastily, especially in love. I know it may seem a bit off center- I just got caught up in all the romance. Besides- attraction can make people do crazy things.
Thank you to Lauren, Princess Ren, il0verice, Jabba, and others for reviewing. I wouldn't be able to go on if you guys weren't around and vocal- hehe.
You know, DragonStar, you just gave me a great idea. Hehe, I hadn't planned on Diana representing Usagi or anything, but wouldn't that just make everything more interesting? And of course, the former lovers must meet again (since she's still with the top executive). There are always two sides to every story...Happy Birthday, by the way!
And Minh Minh, I agree. Poor Chad. What did he ever do to deserve this? You know, I feel that this story could also be a representation of my own (if not everyone else's) love life. I always resent those who like me, like Rei, because I don't feel the same. I don't know why- resent is just what comes naturally. But hopefully, when my Jaden Parker comes...hehe. Oh, and btw Minh Minh, that song was actually a lot of my inspiration on that scene. It just put me in the mood I needed to be in.
Aamalie- I would probably watch Everwood too, if I had the WB! I'm so mad that DirecTV doesn't have a designated WB channel- and there's no way I could get it with cable. Not where I live, anyways.
Well, I thought I'd dramatically change my style and put the author's note before the story this time. Anyways, enjoy!
~ ~ ~
Title: Nasal Spray
Author: LoveeDucky
Given Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Same as before
~ ~ ~ Chapter 10: Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye
~ ~ ~ Thursday. The Next Morning...
Ring! Ring!
Rei tossed her bed covers over her head. It was too early to be dealing with loud, obnoxious sounds and objects.
Ring! Ring!
"Gods...who would call at this hour?" she moaned.
She fidgeted backwards a bit to get comfortable, and then raised her head to pat and fix her pillow.
Ring! Ring!
"Puh-leeze...be a nice annoying object and shut up!" she said before wedging her head between the soft mattress and the pillow.
Her nose took a small whiff of the aroma around her. She smelled several things: a rich blend of coffee being brewed somewhere in the distance, the sea salt from the ocean still absorbed in her hair, and this new, musky scent that smelled a lot like men's cologne. She took a larger whiff of the cologne- its scent enveloped her like a tight, friendly bear hug.
Ring! Ring!
Rei rose up onto her hip, her eyes trying to adjust to the lighting of the room. She saw an unfamiliar rug on the tile outside the French doors. Actually, she didn't remember having French doors by the bed in her bedroom...
Ring! Ring!
"Hino- are you ever going to answer that? It's been ringing for the past 15 minutes!"
Rei jolted awake at the sound of _that_ voice. Slowly, she bent her head to examine what she was wearing. It was a beautiful, exotic negligee. The color was a light lavender which, to Rei's surprise, blended well with her skin tone, hair, and everything,
Ring! Ring!
She turned her attention to her buzzing cell phone, the annoying object that had awakened her from her slumber. She picked it up off of the nightstand and examined the caller ID.
The lights centered on the words "Home #", and Rei immediately knew that there would be no plausible explanation for her disappearance in the night.
Ring! Ring!
The phone shook with fury in her hands. She bit down on her bottom lip, took a deep breath, and pressed the center button.
"Hello?" Her voice trembled slightly.
"Rei?! Darling! Where have you been? I heard you come in last night- but you didn't stay? What's wrong? Why aren't you-" Chad rambled on the opposite end.
"Listen," Rei interrupted. "I came in last night, but I was restless. So, uh, I went out- to the beach-and, well...I guess I fell asleep. But I'm fine now."
Chad's sigh on the other line signaled to Rei that he was not satisfied. In fact, he was probably more irritated and worried believing that she fell asleep on the beach. Rei's mind stirred up an additional, more credible lie.
"I went to Mina's after I went to the beach. Remember Mina? Well, I just needed to talk to someone, so I ended up staying here. And this is where I fell asleep. So I'm safe."
Just then, _he_ entered the room. Both hands were occupied by two cups of that heavenly coffee she had detected moments before, his blue eyes sparkled, and his physical build was enhanced by the absence of everything except his clover leaf boxer shorts.
Rei looked at him as if she was frightened of him. Her face began to pale, and she could feel a slight tremble running through her arms. He had the brightest smile on his face, and he looked at her as if he had known her his whole life. She still had the phone by her ear and she could hear Chad talking incessantly, but she had lost focus. Her mind was spinning with the reality of it all. How could a romantic walk on the beach cause her to falter so quickly?
Eyeing him, she muttered her goodbyes to Chad and clicked the phone off. She plastered a false smile on her face, her eyes blinking back the remnants of sleep. Jaden placed the coffee mugs down on the dresser drawer beside him and stood in front of her. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and he bent his knees slightly as if he were ready to pounce on her.
He was about to jump when Rei bounded up from the bed, her movements a bit slow from having just awoken, and made her way to the opposite side of the room.
Jaden watched her walk away from him, and his eyes widened with confusion. He let her wander a few moments more before he questioned her attitude.
"That was Chad on the phone, wasn't it?"
Rei's back was to him as she had been walking away, and at his words she stopped. She turned her head sideways in an effort to address him without actually looking at him.
"He's worried about me. I never leave in the middle of the night. It's out of character for me."
Jaden eyed the beauty before him and instantly complemented himself on choosing such a harmonizing night outfit for her. He approached her slowly as he tugged his hair back with his hand.
"Maybe you should do some things out of character once in a while. It might make you less bitchy."
She turned herself towards him now, glaring at him for his comment. He threw his arms up in protest, attempting to look somewhat innocent. His smile, however, stayed on his face. Rei shook her head in frustration.
"What time is it, Jaden? Did you forget that we have work today?"
He shrugged in reply and rapidly grabbed her into a unyielding embrace. He leaned backward as she fought to place her arms around his neck for balance, and the two ended up with their faces merely inches apart.
Rei did her best to scowl and pretend she wasn't affected by his youthful charm, and she would have effectively pulled it off-if Jaden hadn't teased her into giggling by making faces.
"There's the smile I've been waiting for," he said with affection, and he pushed his lips to hers for a kiss.
Rei's countenance suddenly softened at his touch, but she quickly pulled away. Jaden tried to lean further backward to bring her closer, but she resisted his efforts.
"Despite your persistence, I have to say that I think that this entire thing was hasty and impractical. I mean..."
Her words were muffled by another kiss from Jaden as he placed her back down onto the floor and kept her in his tight hold. Her arms remained encircled around his neck as she tried to recall what she had been saying.
"I mean...I'm your boss, and you're my secretary-" she said softly as Jaden's face mocked her.
She immediately regretted speaking.
"Oh, so I'm _your_ secretary?" Jaden repeated with a huge grin. He rocked her body back and forth as she stared angrily at him.
"You know what I mean," she added. Her arms loosened around his collar and fell atop his shoulders. She directed her gaze elsewhere.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I really hadn't felt any need to divulge my past to anyone before you came along. I can't explain it-it would probably sound really stupid if I did, just like this sounds stupid- but I shunned women as actual people for the longest time. It hurt so much. But now, with you-"
Rei laughed at his declarations, refusing to believe him. They hadn't known each other for very long, and despite what seemed to be a physical attraction, they had a long distance to go in order to make a valid, sensible relationship. Rei began to wonder if they had made a mistake, and bit down on her lip as her mind contemplated her options.
"Hino...don't try to analyze the situation. What happened, happened. There's nothing either of us can do about it."
He released his grip on her and started walking towards another door in the bedroom. She grabbed onto his hand before he could completely leave her, and they both turned to face one another again.
"Jaden...where do we go from here?"
Her voice was soft and desperate. Her eyes glistened with threatening tears, and her body was stiff with fear. She awaited his answer patiently, staying motionless even as he took a few steps closer to her.
"I guess there's nowhere we can actually plan to go."
Rei raised her face to him, her expression all too somber. Jaden wondered if anyone had ever seen her so weak and anxious for someone else to direct her decisions. He cupped the left side of her face with his hand, wanting to find an answer himself. He wanted the answer that he himself would be happy to choose.
It dawned on him as he searched into her eyes. Here she was, beautiful young Rei, in the arms of his own reckless, arrogant self. She had everything in her life that she could possibly want: a good, loving boyfriend, house, income...she had been fine without having someone like him to disorder all of it.
It took all the courage he could muster up within him to finally answer her.
"Let's just play it as we go," his voice cracked a bit as he spoke, and he pulled away from her and into the master bathroom.
She now stood as an emotional sapling- a twelve-year-old girl with stars in her eyes and a twang in her heart. Her brain was beginning to intercept her idealistic thoughts.
"I guess this is goodnight then, Jaden," she whispered to herself.
~ ~ ~
Rei Hino mentally reviewed the beginning of her day in her head. Compared to the awkward, distasteful morning she had had, her day at the office was a piece of cake.
Sure, fat Mrs. Johnson from the second floor had managed to break the only working fax machine before Rei could fax Jaden's twenty-three paged report on the effects of smoking on the common client. Rei tried to disregard the fact that the way the machine was broken was quite grotesque. She had been walking into the equipment room with the manila folder in her hands ahead of Mrs. Johnson, until the fat lady decided to speed up the pace. Pretty soon, Rei was smack dab on the table that had once holstered the ailing fax machine. The mentioned appliance was now in busted pieces against the wall, and the well organized papers were strewn across the floor.
Then, in order to be able to send the report in on time, Rei had needed to run to the nearest Kinko's. Of course, in order to get to the parking level quickly, one must ride the elevator. The lovely elevator made an unexpected halt between floors 4 and 3, stranding her in a confined space with Mr. Thornton. Thornton, as she had learned the hard way, had an uncontrollable gas problem. It was embarrassing for him and absolutely mortifying for her.
When she had escaped the elevator, very hurriedly compared to her usual dart out of the elevator, she had neglected to see the "Wet Floor" sign before her, and her brisk dash was cut short by her terrible meeting with the floor. Her lips and cheeks were smashed against the tile print of the floor, and her long hair was thrown every which way.
"Mother Nature must _really_ hate me," she had muttered incoherently as she continued to lie on the floor.
She had felt a strong hand lightly take her elbow and signal for her to stand up. Her head had flown up, hoping that the kind stranger was not the same man whom he always seemed to be (Jaden), and she had sighed with relief when she saw the letters "UPS" on his brown uniform.
"Oh, thank you!" she had exclaimed as she had carefully stood up.
She then had brushed her suede skirt off, grabbed the now tattered manila folder, and went on her merry way with a smile.
Now she was sitting on the wooden benches of the nearest park, enjoying her usual tuna salad sandwich and lemonade. She popped a piece of sandwich into her mouth, her eyes fixed on the waddling ducks in the pond ahead of her. She glanced at her watch while taking a sip from her lemonade straw, and she was disappointed to see that she only had thirteen minutes left of her lunch break.
The dark strands of her hair blew with the wind as she chewed on another piece of sandwich, and her attention was now focused upon a couple in the distance.
There was the man, a dashingly handsome-type man with dark hair and a contagious smile, and the woman, a thin, beautiful girl with long blonde hair tied into an interesting hairstyle.
"Hmm," Rei mumbled to herself. "Looks a bit like she's got a meatball on each side of her head."
She giggled quietly at this thought, and her mind made up several jokes that all centered around the silliness of the girl's hairstyle. Yet, no matter how silly she thought the girl's hair to be, it seemed to fit her. It was different and exotic, much like Rei's violet eyes and violet- tinted hair.
The man and woman were sitting on a blanket in the grass, eating various foods from a picnic basket that also was positioned on the blanket. He said something to her that made her laugh, and she threw what appeared to be a grape at him. And then they did something that Rei did not expect. They kissed.
Normally Rei would be embarrassed to be staring so intently at a scene like that, but she just couldn't tear her eyes away from them. They were a beautiful couple, and there was something familiar about them that she just couldn't seem to shake.
She ate the remainder of her sandwich and got up to return to work. Before she reached her car she took one last look at the couple, and she noticed that they were both looking back at her. Her cheeks flushed with color as she slipped into the driver's seat of her Toyota Celica, and she headed back to the B & B building.
~ ~ ~
"Hey!" Mina shouted behind, startling Rei out of her seat.
"Geez, Mina- you certainly know how to make an entrance!" Rei stated, pushing herself back into her rolling chair.
Mina smiled, exposing her dazzlingly white teeth, and slammed a package onto the organized desk. Papers flew off onto the floor and Rei could have sworn that she heard the shattering of glass.
"This came for you," Mina explained as she locked her eyes on the brown wrapping of the box.
Rei rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. She poised her hands above the masking tape of the package, and asked Mina if she'd like her to open it.
"Yeah! I'd love to see what's in it!" Mina said excitedly. "Oh, but wait-"
Her face quickly formed a more serious countenance. She was going to be the bearer of bad news, and she was determined to do her duty.
"Is Jaden in? I need to speak with him..." she said, peeking through the glass to see the blonde-headed man behind his desk.
Rei became curious. Why did this conversation between Jaden and Mina seem like it would be important and intense?
"I hope you don't mind me asking. What is it that you need to talk to Jaden about?"
Mina gave her a grim look in return, and Rei instantaneously knew not to ask any more questions. Taking a deep breath, Mina turned the knob to the office and entered, closing the door behind her.
Awww, but Crissy- the beauty of hasty declarations and promises is that it's all too true to life; at least I seem to think so. I do everything hastily, especially in love. I know it may seem a bit off center- I just got caught up in all the romance. Besides- attraction can make people do crazy things.
Thank you to Lauren, Princess Ren, il0verice, Jabba, and others for reviewing. I wouldn't be able to go on if you guys weren't around and vocal- hehe.
You know, DragonStar, you just gave me a great idea. Hehe, I hadn't planned on Diana representing Usagi or anything, but wouldn't that just make everything more interesting? And of course, the former lovers must meet again (since she's still with the top executive). There are always two sides to every story...Happy Birthday, by the way!
And Minh Minh, I agree. Poor Chad. What did he ever do to deserve this? You know, I feel that this story could also be a representation of my own (if not everyone else's) love life. I always resent those who like me, like Rei, because I don't feel the same. I don't know why- resent is just what comes naturally. But hopefully, when my Jaden Parker comes...hehe. Oh, and btw Minh Minh, that song was actually a lot of my inspiration on that scene. It just put me in the mood I needed to be in.
Aamalie- I would probably watch Everwood too, if I had the WB! I'm so mad that DirecTV doesn't have a designated WB channel- and there's no way I could get it with cable. Not where I live, anyways.
Well, I thought I'd dramatically change my style and put the author's note before the story this time. Anyways, enjoy!
~ ~ ~
Title: Nasal Spray
Author: LoveeDucky
Given Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Same as before
~ ~ ~ Chapter 10: Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye
~ ~ ~ Thursday. The Next Morning...
Ring! Ring!
Rei tossed her bed covers over her head. It was too early to be dealing with loud, obnoxious sounds and objects.
Ring! Ring!
"Gods...who would call at this hour?" she moaned.
She fidgeted backwards a bit to get comfortable, and then raised her head to pat and fix her pillow.
Ring! Ring!
"Puh-leeze...be a nice annoying object and shut up!" she said before wedging her head between the soft mattress and the pillow.
Her nose took a small whiff of the aroma around her. She smelled several things: a rich blend of coffee being brewed somewhere in the distance, the sea salt from the ocean still absorbed in her hair, and this new, musky scent that smelled a lot like men's cologne. She took a larger whiff of the cologne- its scent enveloped her like a tight, friendly bear hug.
Ring! Ring!
Rei rose up onto her hip, her eyes trying to adjust to the lighting of the room. She saw an unfamiliar rug on the tile outside the French doors. Actually, she didn't remember having French doors by the bed in her bedroom...
Ring! Ring!
"Hino- are you ever going to answer that? It's been ringing for the past 15 minutes!"
Rei jolted awake at the sound of _that_ voice. Slowly, she bent her head to examine what she was wearing. It was a beautiful, exotic negligee. The color was a light lavender which, to Rei's surprise, blended well with her skin tone, hair, and everything,
Ring! Ring!
She turned her attention to her buzzing cell phone, the annoying object that had awakened her from her slumber. She picked it up off of the nightstand and examined the caller ID.
The lights centered on the words "Home #", and Rei immediately knew that there would be no plausible explanation for her disappearance in the night.
Ring! Ring!
The phone shook with fury in her hands. She bit down on her bottom lip, took a deep breath, and pressed the center button.
"Hello?" Her voice trembled slightly.
"Rei?! Darling! Where have you been? I heard you come in last night- but you didn't stay? What's wrong? Why aren't you-" Chad rambled on the opposite end.
"Listen," Rei interrupted. "I came in last night, but I was restless. So, uh, I went out- to the beach-and, well...I guess I fell asleep. But I'm fine now."
Chad's sigh on the other line signaled to Rei that he was not satisfied. In fact, he was probably more irritated and worried believing that she fell asleep on the beach. Rei's mind stirred up an additional, more credible lie.
"I went to Mina's after I went to the beach. Remember Mina? Well, I just needed to talk to someone, so I ended up staying here. And this is where I fell asleep. So I'm safe."
Just then, _he_ entered the room. Both hands were occupied by two cups of that heavenly coffee she had detected moments before, his blue eyes sparkled, and his physical build was enhanced by the absence of everything except his clover leaf boxer shorts.
Rei looked at him as if she was frightened of him. Her face began to pale, and she could feel a slight tremble running through her arms. He had the brightest smile on his face, and he looked at her as if he had known her his whole life. She still had the phone by her ear and she could hear Chad talking incessantly, but she had lost focus. Her mind was spinning with the reality of it all. How could a romantic walk on the beach cause her to falter so quickly?
Eyeing him, she muttered her goodbyes to Chad and clicked the phone off. She plastered a false smile on her face, her eyes blinking back the remnants of sleep. Jaden placed the coffee mugs down on the dresser drawer beside him and stood in front of her. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and he bent his knees slightly as if he were ready to pounce on her.
He was about to jump when Rei bounded up from the bed, her movements a bit slow from having just awoken, and made her way to the opposite side of the room.
Jaden watched her walk away from him, and his eyes widened with confusion. He let her wander a few moments more before he questioned her attitude.
"That was Chad on the phone, wasn't it?"
Rei's back was to him as she had been walking away, and at his words she stopped. She turned her head sideways in an effort to address him without actually looking at him.
"He's worried about me. I never leave in the middle of the night. It's out of character for me."
Jaden eyed the beauty before him and instantly complemented himself on choosing such a harmonizing night outfit for her. He approached her slowly as he tugged his hair back with his hand.
"Maybe you should do some things out of character once in a while. It might make you less bitchy."
She turned herself towards him now, glaring at him for his comment. He threw his arms up in protest, attempting to look somewhat innocent. His smile, however, stayed on his face. Rei shook her head in frustration.
"What time is it, Jaden? Did you forget that we have work today?"
He shrugged in reply and rapidly grabbed her into a unyielding embrace. He leaned backward as she fought to place her arms around his neck for balance, and the two ended up with their faces merely inches apart.
Rei did her best to scowl and pretend she wasn't affected by his youthful charm, and she would have effectively pulled it off-if Jaden hadn't teased her into giggling by making faces.
"There's the smile I've been waiting for," he said with affection, and he pushed his lips to hers for a kiss.
Rei's countenance suddenly softened at his touch, but she quickly pulled away. Jaden tried to lean further backward to bring her closer, but she resisted his efforts.
"Despite your persistence, I have to say that I think that this entire thing was hasty and impractical. I mean..."
Her words were muffled by another kiss from Jaden as he placed her back down onto the floor and kept her in his tight hold. Her arms remained encircled around his neck as she tried to recall what she had been saying.
"I mean...I'm your boss, and you're my secretary-" she said softly as Jaden's face mocked her.
She immediately regretted speaking.
"Oh, so I'm _your_ secretary?" Jaden repeated with a huge grin. He rocked her body back and forth as she stared angrily at him.
"You know what I mean," she added. Her arms loosened around his collar and fell atop his shoulders. She directed her gaze elsewhere.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I really hadn't felt any need to divulge my past to anyone before you came along. I can't explain it-it would probably sound really stupid if I did, just like this sounds stupid- but I shunned women as actual people for the longest time. It hurt so much. But now, with you-"
Rei laughed at his declarations, refusing to believe him. They hadn't known each other for very long, and despite what seemed to be a physical attraction, they had a long distance to go in order to make a valid, sensible relationship. Rei began to wonder if they had made a mistake, and bit down on her lip as her mind contemplated her options.
"Hino...don't try to analyze the situation. What happened, happened. There's nothing either of us can do about it."
He released his grip on her and started walking towards another door in the bedroom. She grabbed onto his hand before he could completely leave her, and they both turned to face one another again.
"Jaden...where do we go from here?"
Her voice was soft and desperate. Her eyes glistened with threatening tears, and her body was stiff with fear. She awaited his answer patiently, staying motionless even as he took a few steps closer to her.
"I guess there's nowhere we can actually plan to go."
Rei raised her face to him, her expression all too somber. Jaden wondered if anyone had ever seen her so weak and anxious for someone else to direct her decisions. He cupped the left side of her face with his hand, wanting to find an answer himself. He wanted the answer that he himself would be happy to choose.
It dawned on him as he searched into her eyes. Here she was, beautiful young Rei, in the arms of his own reckless, arrogant self. She had everything in her life that she could possibly want: a good, loving boyfriend, house, income...she had been fine without having someone like him to disorder all of it.
It took all the courage he could muster up within him to finally answer her.
"Let's just play it as we go," his voice cracked a bit as he spoke, and he pulled away from her and into the master bathroom.
She now stood as an emotional sapling- a twelve-year-old girl with stars in her eyes and a twang in her heart. Her brain was beginning to intercept her idealistic thoughts.
"I guess this is goodnight then, Jaden," she whispered to herself.
~ ~ ~
Rei Hino mentally reviewed the beginning of her day in her head. Compared to the awkward, distasteful morning she had had, her day at the office was a piece of cake.
Sure, fat Mrs. Johnson from the second floor had managed to break the only working fax machine before Rei could fax Jaden's twenty-three paged report on the effects of smoking on the common client. Rei tried to disregard the fact that the way the machine was broken was quite grotesque. She had been walking into the equipment room with the manila folder in her hands ahead of Mrs. Johnson, until the fat lady decided to speed up the pace. Pretty soon, Rei was smack dab on the table that had once holstered the ailing fax machine. The mentioned appliance was now in busted pieces against the wall, and the well organized papers were strewn across the floor.
Then, in order to be able to send the report in on time, Rei had needed to run to the nearest Kinko's. Of course, in order to get to the parking level quickly, one must ride the elevator. The lovely elevator made an unexpected halt between floors 4 and 3, stranding her in a confined space with Mr. Thornton. Thornton, as she had learned the hard way, had an uncontrollable gas problem. It was embarrassing for him and absolutely mortifying for her.
When she had escaped the elevator, very hurriedly compared to her usual dart out of the elevator, she had neglected to see the "Wet Floor" sign before her, and her brisk dash was cut short by her terrible meeting with the floor. Her lips and cheeks were smashed against the tile print of the floor, and her long hair was thrown every which way.
"Mother Nature must _really_ hate me," she had muttered incoherently as she continued to lie on the floor.
She had felt a strong hand lightly take her elbow and signal for her to stand up. Her head had flown up, hoping that the kind stranger was not the same man whom he always seemed to be (Jaden), and she had sighed with relief when she saw the letters "UPS" on his brown uniform.
"Oh, thank you!" she had exclaimed as she had carefully stood up.
She then had brushed her suede skirt off, grabbed the now tattered manila folder, and went on her merry way with a smile.
Now she was sitting on the wooden benches of the nearest park, enjoying her usual tuna salad sandwich and lemonade. She popped a piece of sandwich into her mouth, her eyes fixed on the waddling ducks in the pond ahead of her. She glanced at her watch while taking a sip from her lemonade straw, and she was disappointed to see that she only had thirteen minutes left of her lunch break.
The dark strands of her hair blew with the wind as she chewed on another piece of sandwich, and her attention was now focused upon a couple in the distance.
There was the man, a dashingly handsome-type man with dark hair and a contagious smile, and the woman, a thin, beautiful girl with long blonde hair tied into an interesting hairstyle.
"Hmm," Rei mumbled to herself. "Looks a bit like she's got a meatball on each side of her head."
She giggled quietly at this thought, and her mind made up several jokes that all centered around the silliness of the girl's hairstyle. Yet, no matter how silly she thought the girl's hair to be, it seemed to fit her. It was different and exotic, much like Rei's violet eyes and violet- tinted hair.
The man and woman were sitting on a blanket in the grass, eating various foods from a picnic basket that also was positioned on the blanket. He said something to her that made her laugh, and she threw what appeared to be a grape at him. And then they did something that Rei did not expect. They kissed.
Normally Rei would be embarrassed to be staring so intently at a scene like that, but she just couldn't tear her eyes away from them. They were a beautiful couple, and there was something familiar about them that she just couldn't seem to shake.
She ate the remainder of her sandwich and got up to return to work. Before she reached her car she took one last look at the couple, and she noticed that they were both looking back at her. Her cheeks flushed with color as she slipped into the driver's seat of her Toyota Celica, and she headed back to the B & B building.
~ ~ ~
"Hey!" Mina shouted behind, startling Rei out of her seat.
"Geez, Mina- you certainly know how to make an entrance!" Rei stated, pushing herself back into her rolling chair.
Mina smiled, exposing her dazzlingly white teeth, and slammed a package onto the organized desk. Papers flew off onto the floor and Rei could have sworn that she heard the shattering of glass.
"This came for you," Mina explained as she locked her eyes on the brown wrapping of the box.
Rei rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. She poised her hands above the masking tape of the package, and asked Mina if she'd like her to open it.
"Yeah! I'd love to see what's in it!" Mina said excitedly. "Oh, but wait-"
Her face quickly formed a more serious countenance. She was going to be the bearer of bad news, and she was determined to do her duty.
"Is Jaden in? I need to speak with him..." she said, peeking through the glass to see the blonde-headed man behind his desk.
Rei became curious. Why did this conversation between Jaden and Mina seem like it would be important and intense?
"I hope you don't mind me asking. What is it that you need to talk to Jaden about?"
Mina gave her a grim look in return, and Rei instantaneously knew not to ask any more questions. Taking a deep breath, Mina turned the knob to the office and entered, closing the door behind her.