:)


Two weeks later I'm sitting in the office of Aros going through some paperwork. Mimi and Matt are still in Tahiti on their honeymoon and Cale is still away on business in India. He keeps begging me to come out and stay a weekend with him, but I've been way too busy to do anything.

Two days after the wedding, when I get home from seeing Matt and Mimi off at the Tachikawa Air strip, I get a call from an up and coming Italian designer who wants to showcase her new line in my store. We chat for a moment before I decided to give her a shot. She has faxed quite a few pages of her designs and sent me a link to her website. Now I've got one more designer to try and fit into my almost full boutique.

That's when I decided to look into expansion a little more.

"Once I get home I'll help you start on it." Cale tells me while we're talking on the phone.

"Don't worry about it," I tell him as I relax in relax in my office chair. "I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow to talk to my dad about it. I know you're really busy."

"I'm never too busy for you though," He says sweetly. He can't possibly think that's true.

Once we hang up my phone rings again. This time it's Mimi.

"Hey, having fun?" I answer happily. I've really missed my best friend.

"Yes we are. It's good to sight see and shop around finally. Matt insisted we spend the first two of three days in bed!" we share a good laugh at Matt's expense.

"Well that's what you get for depriving him of sex!" I scold her playfully. I'm actually very proud of Mimi for abstaining from sex until after their wedding.

"I know. I almost forgot how good it was," she tells me.

"Eww, T.M.I Meems." I laugh.

"Whatever," she pauses and I already know what she's about to ask me.

"No Mimi I haven't called him." I beat her to it.

She laughs before saying, "Why not Sora?"

"Do I really need to explain that?" I reply sighing.

"Being engaged doesn't mean you can't have fun," she reasons.

"Mimi what would you do if Matt 'had fun' with another girl?" I shoot back.

"That's different and you know it. Matt and I are together all of the time."

"When he makes it big and is on the road all of the time, will you hang out with other guys then?" I challenge.

"Probably not, but I'm married now. You're not yet." She replies. I decided to drop it. This conversation is completely irrelevant.

"Meems, I'll call him if I have the time. He's busy and I'm busy." I sigh.

"Whatever Sor, I'm going back inside to tend to my hubby," she brags with a suggestive giggle.

"T.M.I Meems. Too much information!" I say again.

"Good night love!" we hang up and I groan banging my head on my desk.

Maybe I should call Tai? I've been burying myself in work so that I don't miss Cale too much. Maybe Tai can help me keep my mind off of him.

That's the problem; I know Tai will take my mind off of Cale.


The next day I meet my father at a small café near the Kyoto University campus. It's the first day of November and the air has a chill, so we decided to dine inside the small eatery.

"How is my beautiful little girl doing?" My father asks as we settle into our seats.

I chuckle, "I'm far from a little girl anymore Dad,"

"Not to me." He laughs with me, "So how are you Sora?"

I don't mean to sigh, but I do. "I'm fine I guess. I've been really busy lately."

"How long will Cale be gone?" he asks.

I shrug and look around the small café, "On and off for a couple of months."

I'm sure my father can tell I don't want to talk about Cale, because he changes the subject.

"So about this expansion project; you want to open up another location?"

I turn to face him again, ready to talk business. I know that he only has limited time before he has to go back to work.

"The drugstore next door is going out of business soon. I was hoping to just buy that lot and literally expand over," I explain before taking a bite of my salad.

"That will be very easy," he goes on to help me devise a plan, and promises to help me with my new project as soon as the lot is vacant, before we bid goodbye and he returns to work.

As I make the long trip home I try to rack my brain on what to do when I get home. I owe my mother a visit but I don't really want to.

I'm considering calling Tai. There's no harm in getting to know him better, as a friends I mean. I'll tell Cale about it and everything. I really don't want to be bored and lonely anymore.

I'm nearly home when I finally work up the courage to dial his number. That's four hours of bringing up his number and then deciding against it and deleting it. My palms are actually sweating! What is wrong with me?

I feel like the phone is ringing for eternity before he picks up on what ends up only being the third ring.

"Hello?" he sounds surprised.

I stumble on my words unsure of what I'm going to say. A slap on the forehead brings me out of the awkward silence.

"Uhh, Tai?" I recognize his voice but I ask anyways to bide time.

I hear him chuckle before confirming, "Yeah. What's up Sora?"

"Nothing much," I say as enter the much familiar town of Odiba, "Just getting back in town from Kyoto."

"That's a long drive," he says in amazement, "Business stuff?"

"Kind of, I was meeting my father for lunch to discuss a business venture." I tell him.

"Sounds interesting, so to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" he asks me in a charming voice that makes me smile.

"Well… I remember someone telling me to give them a call if I ever need something to do," I cringe to myself when I remember I didn't even bother to see if he was working first. "That is, if you're not busy."

"I actually got off of a twenty-four hour at noon, so I'm just relaxing at home." He tells me with a yawn. I look at my car's digital clock, it's four o'clock.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure you're exhausted. I'll catch you some other time." I say quickly. I'm sure my disappointment and embarrassment are registering through my voice so I want to get off of the phone as soon as possible.

"You can come over if you want to." He offers. "There's a soccer game coming on in a few."

I ponder his request for a few seconds. I think it would be more appropriate to hang out in public, but I know Tai needs to relax from his long shift. I don't want to be alone tonight, so I agree.

"Okay, that sounds…great," I reply, "Have you eaten? I can grab some food."

"I tell you what," he begins in a confident tone, "You come straight over, and I'll make you the best Panini you've ever had."

I laugh at his offer, "Okay sure. So umm, where do you live?" He gives me his address and I recognize the area as being close to where Matt and T.K. live.

"Okay, I'll see you in about an hour!"

"I'll see you then." He says before hanging up.


To say I was shocked that Sora actually called me would be an understatement. I was completely flabbergasted! I had just dozed off from my long work shift, so I was pretty sure it was just another dream, until I heard her voice.

Regardless, I was really happy she did call. I've spent a lot of my free time thinking about her. It had been two weeks since I gave her my phone number, and I was starting to think she was never going to use it.

Forty-five minutes after we ended our conversation, There is a knock on my front door and I open it with smile.

"Glad you could make it," I greet.

"Thanks for the invite," she replies walking past me. She sits her purse down on the kitchen counter. I note that it looks like one of those expensive designer bags; maybe offering to make Panini sandwich to a rich girl isn't very suave.

"You have a nice place," she says looking around, "Very… Manly."

I laugh at her compliment. I'm sure she's seen way better houses that my dinky little apartment.

"Uhh…thanks."

"No I'm serious Tai. It looks simple, and cozy." She insists. "I'm not a stuck up rich girl Mr. Kamiya. I'm very down to Earth."

"Well thank you," I reply genuinely. I guess you really should not judge a book by its cover.

"We can have a seat over in the living room." I say motioning towards the couch.

As she walks ahead of me to the living room area, I admire her body from behind. I was expecting her to show up at the door in some glamorous outfit and heels. I'm please to see her dressed casually in a pair of light grey sweat pants and a black 'Tokyo University' hoodie. I'm able to take notice of her nicely shaped behind before she take a seat on the couch.

"Nice T.V." she comments, kicking off her tennis shoes and relaxing on the couch. "Looks complicated though," she's referring to all of the wires and cables running from the many gadgets to the fifty-inch screen mounted on the wall.

"Thanks, it's some high-tech mess that Izzy set up. I'm still trying to learn everything about it. I just know the basics." I laugh sheepishly.

I walk into the kitchen and begin to dig out the ingredients to my sandwiches from the refrigerator.

"Okay, so I've got the works here," I tell her. "What would you like?"

She giggles and walks over to the counter opposite of me. "Surprise me,"

"Okay I'll make you my 'Taichi Special'," I announce proudly, "You're not allergic to anything are you?" She shakes her head 'no'. "Good, you go have a seat and find the game on TV, and I'll whip up the greatest sandwich you'll have taste!"

"I don't know Tai. I've dined in plenty of Italian delis." She challenges as she sashays back to the couch. I try my hardest not to look up and admire her ass again. This is somebody else girlfriend; no matter how beautiful she is she's off limits.

"Five bucks says this Panini will top any Italian deli in the world," I reply confidently. She chuckles before grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels.

"So who is Izzy?" She asks a couple minute later.

"My roommate," I reply while putting the finishing touches on one of the sandwiches. "He moved out here with me from Highton to help me pay for rent. He's a computer genius. He even graduated ahead of our class, despite being a year younger than me." I look up at her and see her nod her head. She's still looking at the television. I admire her side profile. She's pretty from any angle.

"Mimi is a year younger than us. She took a test to skip to the ninth grade when I went to high school."

"What a coincidence," I say as I work on the next sandwich.

"So how do you like living in Odiba?" she asks. The game hasn't started yet, so she sits the remote down and turns to face me in the kitchen.

"It's not much different from where I was before. It's nice to be closer to my family though, and I haven't been able to hang out with Matt in years." She nods but says nothing, so I continue. "Plus I get to keep an eye on my little sister and her love life." I laugh.

"I saw her dancing with T.K." she says finally, "It's a small world. Matt, Mimi, and I would always tease T.K. about the girl he was so enamored with. I've never met her, every time I see T.K. he's either on his way to go see her or just coming from doing so."

"Yeah, T.K.'s a good kid." I reply with a smile. "Kari's in some weird love triangle. T.K. and Davis,"

"Motomiya?" I hear her laugh.

"Yeah, you know him?" I ask her curiously.

"Not personally. But I know his sister, Jun,"

Now it's my turn to laugh because I know exactly how she knows Jun. "I take it Jun is still obsessed with Matt."

"You have no idea," Sora says continuing her laughter. "Mimi hates her. Jun shows up to every show 'Wolves' have with some pathetic scheme to see Matt."

I laugh again. Jun is a little obsessive, but not without reason. In high school, Matt gave her plenty of reason to be that way. But I don't dare mention that.

"Alright, I'll just pop these babies on the press and we'll be good to go in a couple of minutes." I place two of the sandwiches on my Panini press and store the other in the fridge for Izzy to finish when he gets home.

"Beer?" I offer as I rummage the fridge again.

"Sounds great." She replies to my surprise. I only offered as a joke, she doesn't strike me as a beer drinker. As if reading my mind she states, "What's wrong? Thought I'd be demanding Dom Perignon?"

"I keep on overestimating you." I say shutting the refrigerator door. I walk over to her with the beers and place them on the coffee table before sitting down next to her.

"Well don't underestimate me either." She states firmly, placing coaters under both bottles.

Our faces are only six inches away from each other and I'm finally able to look deep into her crimson-brown eyes. After a while she bites her bottom lip and I decide that our sandwiches have cooked long enough.

I clear my throat and stand up, "I better grab the food," I mumble before walking back into the kitchen.

When I place the plate on the table in front of her, she raises both eyebrows and smirks. "This looks quite delicious. Not to mention big, I don't know if I can finish all of this."

"Take a bite," I say before I take a huge chunk out of mine. She complies, closing her eyes and moaning as she savors the different tastes.

I chuckle, "I told you. Best sandwich in the world." I brag.

"You, my friend have earned yourself five dollars," she says once she swallows her first bite.

When Sora said she was a soccer fan, she wasn't lying. We spend the whole game screaming at the TV over stupid plays and bogus calls. She's a really cool chick.

"Want another beer?" I ask her as I collect our plates and walk into the kitchen.

"Sure, why not." She replies still slightly irritated by the game. I laugh quietly to myself.

I hear the locks clicking, and soon after see Izzy walk through the door.

"Geez its getting cold out there." He says as he takes his jacket off and hangs it on the coat rack. He looks over at Sora and raises both eyebrows before looking back at me.

"Am I…interrupting something?" He asks looking back between us.

"Izzy this I Sora Takenouchi," I say taking my seat next to her on the couch again, "The woman from the wreck I was telling you about."

"Oh yeah!" he replies walking over to shake Sora's hand, "I'm Izzy. Nice to meet you,"

"Nice to meet you too Izzy," She responds taking his hand.

"Well I'll leave you two to…" he looks up at the TV and groans, "Oh no, not another soccer fan!"

"What's wrong with soccer?" Sora asks folding her arms and sitting back.

"Izzy doesn't understand soccer, so he doesn't care for it too much," I explain. "I've tried countless times to explain it to him, but he just doesn't get it," I add with a laugh.

"Oh I see," she replies nodding her head slowly.

Izzy grins sheepishly. "Yep, looks like you found the perfect match Tai."

"Engaged; Remember Izzy?" I mumble slightly embarrassed.

"Oops," he chokes out before bee lining to that back of our apartment where our bedrooms are.

I turn to Sora and notice her blushing beet red. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine." She said quietly. I'm disappointed by next words.

"I think I better get going. It's getting kind of late."

It's not that late; it's only 9:30pm. But I know that she's uncomfortable now. We haven't done anything even close to intimate, so I would consider this the start of a great plutonic friendship. Still, she's getting married soon, and I understand her decision to leave.

As she gathers her things, I gather my words. I'm not sure how to depart after such a wonder night.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," she beats me to it after stepping into her black and grey Nikes.

"Me too," I say standing to walk her to the door, "Thanks for coming and keeping me company."

"No, thank you for keeping me company," she said putting emphasis on the words 'me' and 'you'.

"Sora I really want to hang out with you again." I tell her without thinking. "I mean that in the most appropriate way possible." I add.

She smiles sweetly at me, "I think that would be great Tai. Whenever you're free again I'll gladly come back over."

I smile happily before opening the door, "I'll walk to downstairs."

As we make our way to her car, I make the decision to slowly but surely cut back on my work load so that we can hang out as much as possible before she becomes another man's wife.


WooHoo Taiora!