When Mai heard a knock on her front door on Sunday morning, she honestly had no idea who it was going to be. So when she opened the door, she was utterly shocked to see Noll standing before her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, completely forgetting that she was annoyed with him.
"I speaking to you," he replied.
"But aren't you in trouble? With your parents? About Gene?" Mai spluttered.
"No," Noll said. "My mother was more concerned about why Gene was in hospital and whether he would recover. They're going to pick him up now and I expect they'll lecture him about worrying them. But she'll never stay angry at him."
"And she's not angry at you?"
"I don't think she expects any different from me," Noll said. "Besides, you said you wouldn't tell my parents."
"I lied," Mai said with a scowl. They were still stood in the doorway.
"What do you want?"
"To give you this," he said and held out his hand. He had an envelope clasped in his fingers.
"What is it?" Mai asked tentatively. "And who from?"
"A letter from me," Noll replied sarcastically.
"You know, I can just shut this door in your face," Mai pointed out. Noll rolled his eyes.
"Take it," he insisted.
"No," Mai said. "Read it to me."
"May I come in?"
"If you must," Mai said as she stood aside. Noll stepped inside. "Please, make yourself at home. Do you want tea?"
Noll nodded. He watched her boil the kettle, find tea bags and pour the water. A few minutes later, he was rewarded with a steaming mug of black tea.
"I want you to know before you start," Mai began. "That if you start of by quoting Pride and Prejudice or some other romance novel at me, I will hit you."
"Excuse me?"
"You know? Like 'in vain I have struggled!'" Mai recited dramatically. Noll silenced her with a look. "A girl can dream," she mumbled.
"I'm surprised you know the book that well," Noll commented with a smirk.
"Oh come on! It's like the most famous line from that book!"
"Hardly," Noll objected. "The opening is far more well-known!"
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune," Mai said.
"Must be in want of a wife," Noll finished. "But I don't want a wife; I want us to be on better terms again."
"Look, Oliver," Mai began.
"Call me Noll."
"I thought you didn't care?"
"I don't."
"Well then Ol-" But she paused at the look he was giving her. "Fine, Noll, I understand you don't shout about your emotions or whatever. I get that saying them out loud makes it a lot more real. And I know you're scared of getting hurt." Noll made to interrupt, but she raised a finger to prevent him speaking. "But I've lived alone for a long time. I don't have parents who love me." She paused for breath, but Noll did not say anything. "It hurt, what you said. To have someone I thought was a friend saying that I meant nothing to them, it hurt."
"It was a lie," Noll said quietly.
"I know," Mai said. She looked down at her cup of tea. "It still hurt. And…" She paused again. "I'm sorry for what I said after I heard you say it; I meant none of it really."
"I'm sorry Mai," Noll said.
"No more lies?" Mai offered.
"No more lies," Noll agreed. She gave him a small smile. He was about to return the smile, when his phone rang loudly. It broke the moment. He answered it. "Hello?"
Mai could just about hear the voice of Luella on the other end.
"Where are you?" she was demanding. "Did I not tell you that you were both grounded?" Noll sighed heavily. "Don't you sigh at me young man! Where are you? I have half a mind to confiscate your car keys."
"I'm in town," Noll replied.
"Well I want you back home right now. I need to give both you and Gene a good talking too."
"Fine, I will leave now."
Noll hung up.
"You are in trouble," Mai said with satisfaction.
"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" Noll demanded suddenly. Mai blinked at him.
"What?" she stuttered.
"Yes, you heard that correctly," Noll said quickly. "I need an answer now as my mother wants me home."
"Um, okay."
"Good." Noll downed the rest of his tea and left the cup on the table. "Bye."
He headed straight for the door and left without another word. Mai frowned after him, then pinched herself very hard. It hurt.
Then there was another knock on the door. Utterly bamboozled, Mai answered it.
Noll was standing there once again.
"I forgot something," he said. Then kissed her lightly on the cheek. "I have to leave now, bye."
Mai watched him walk away and a sudden thought came to her, maybe she did have some sort of effect over him.
Luella's lecture was not as bad as it could've been.
Truth be told, Noll tuned out to most of it. He and his brother sat on the sofa as Luella paced in front of them ranting about responsibility and whatnot.
"Noll? Are you even listening to me?"
"Hmm?" Noll looked up. His mother was glaring at him.
"You aren't even listening, what has got you so out of sorts?" she demanded.
"Mum, really? Where has he just come from?" Gene asked flippantly.
"Town," Luella replied.
"He's been at Mai's house," Gene explained. Noll had not told him this, but he supposed it wasn't too hard to guess. "Judging from the slightly shell shocked look on his face, they've stopped arguing and he finally asked her out. As he's not a brooding mess, I'm guessing she said yes."
"Is this true?" Luella turned back to Noll.
There was no point hiding it, he thought and nodded.
"Told you," Gene mumbled with a snigger.
"Oh Noll! This is wonderful!" Luella's previously furious face was now ecstatic. "And Mai is such a lovely girl! Oh! I'll have grandchildren yet!"
"Nice one," Gene muttered under his breath. "That's got her off our backs."
Noll began to roll his eyes, but was prevented from finishing said action by his mother swooping in to hug him tightly.
"I'm so happy for you!" she gushed. "I was convinced you'd be alone forever and now you've found someone!"
"Mother, I am seventeen," Noll pointed out. "It's hardly like I am past my prime."
"I'm going to have to find the video tapes! And the birthday photos!"
"Why?" Gene enquired.
"Well your no fun to embarrass, but I'm sure Noll would love to let me show Mai all the wonderful things he did when he was younger!"
Noll scowled.
"May I go to my room?"
"Yes, of course!" Luella was still beaming. "I must go and tell your father! Noll, be a dear and help your brother if he needs it."
Luella practically bounced out of the room.
Noll assisted Gene up to his own bedroom by carrying his bag as he hobbled ahead on his crutches.
As Noll made to leave Gene's room, his twin stopped him.
"You know Martin's going to give you the talk now?"
"What?"
"The talk?" Gene prompted. He made a movement with his head as if to suggest that it was obvious what he was talking about. "The sex talk?"
"Why?"
"He did it when I got my first girlfriend; he's bound to give it to you too!"
"You had your first girlfriend aged eleven."
"The talk was traumatising," Gene said, nodding.
"He won't do it," Noll said.
"I bet he will."
Noll closed Gene's bedroom door behind him and returned to his own room.
But he had barely opened his laptop when there was a knock on his door.
"Yes?"
"It's me," Martin's voice said. Noll mentally groaned.
"Come in."
Martin entered, closed the door and sat on Noll's bed. Noll turned to face his adoptive father with a stern look on his face.
"Your mother told me about Mai," he began. "I'm very happy for you." Noll did not say anything. "Look, Noll, I trust you not to do anything stupid."
"Good."
"But, I also understand that young people have a lot of hormones and…"
"I do not plan on having sex with Mai any time soon."
"Even still," Martin said, his face reddening. "If you want to do these things, your mother and I want you to know that we'd rather you did them here where you are safe. We don't want you doing things in some alley or…" Martin fell silent at the look on Noll's face.
"I appreciate what you are trying to say," Noll said.
"Well, good." Martin stood up with the air of extreme relief that the conversation was over. "I expect your mother will have forgotten about grounding you both by tomorrow, so go and see Mai, soon as it's the Easter holidays and all."
"Okay," Oliver agreed.
"And Noll?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm happy for you," Martin said from the doorway.
Noll nodded his thanks and his father left.
It was only after Noll had left that Mai realised that he had never read the mentioned letter out to her, but he had left it on the edge of the sofa.
She took it in slightly trembling fingers. Gingerly, she opened it and began to read.
Dear Mai,
I have read that sometimes it can be best to write down things when trying to clarify the situation.
I apologise for my words on Wednesday. I had not had time to think through the repercussions of my actions and my only thought was to get those girls off your back. I did not intend for it to end up this way. You are not idiotic and you certainly mean a great deal to me.
You told me to shelve my pride and tell people how I really feel.
I care about you more than I can admit out loud. At the orphanage, admitted you cared for something often meant someone else would try to take it away from you. Despite having not lived there for almost ten years, this mentality has been hard to shake. I'm sure at some point you must have felt that it would be easier not to care, than to feel pain.
You have made me feel things that I have not felt before for anyone. Normally, I would shy from physical contact and yet I crave your touch. Usually, I would not partake in frivolous games, but with you they aren't so tedious.
I want for you to be happy Mai, and preferably, for me to be there to see you smile. If that means labelling my as your boyfriend, then so be it. I will ask you tomorrow, or later today as it is now several hours past midnight.
You have my apologies for my inability to say these things aloud, but I hope for now, that this at least conveys those of my feelings that you wish to hear.
Noll
Mai read the letter through twice before believing the words were real. This was far more than anything she had ever expected from Noll.
She felt a slight twinge of guilt that he had stayed up so late trying to figure out his feelings, but at the same time… They were together now. Not that that would really change anything.
Mai couldn't help but beam. Oliver Davis had asked her out.
But a buzzing sound brought her out of her revelry.
My parents found out 15 minutes ago and my father attempted to give me a talk about sex and my mother is digging out childhood photos.
Mai giggled, she couldn't help herself. She greatly wished she'd been there to see it.
That is one advantage of being an orphan, I suppose! From Mai.
Are you free tomorrow?
Well I had a long day of lounging around doing nothing planned, but I could be persuaded to change my itinerary. From Mai.
She had to wait a few minutes for a reply.
Good, because the war isn't over.
Author's note: Well you weren't going to get a chapter today and then I started writing at like 10pm and its now almost midnight so apologies for every error in this chapter! I'm going to go to bed, so I hope to wake up to lots of lovely reviews :)