Last Chapter. Enjoy reading.

Chapter 10

A week has passed since his conversation with Oshitari. He tried to gather his courage as he sat inside his car, a few blocks away from Echizen's household. He pressed his lips together, his brows furrowed as he unconsciously massaged his chin.

"Young Master?" He heard the butler call for his attention.

Atobe raised his head and stared back at the worried look on the driver's face. "I'm alright. I'll give you a call when I am ready to leave"

The driver nodded his head. Atobe then grabbed the bouquet of flowers and got out of his car. He can see wandering eyes staring at him, as he carried the flowers carefully when he started to walk. He could hear whispers and people wondering why a rich young lad carrying flowers is in their area.

It didn't take more than ten minutes for him to arrive at Echizen's house. He closed his eyes and sighed loudly, making the people pass by hurrying on their steps. He then slowly raised a finger and pressed the doorbell beside the gate.

It wasn't long when he could hear someone speak from the speaker.

"Yes, yes. Who is it?" came from the lousy greeting by a male.

"Good day, I am here for Ryoma" he responded back, earning a flat silence in response.

"Ryoma's not here. You can leave", the masculine voice coming from the speaker responded back, a bit annoyed from the sound of their tone.

Before he could ask for his whereabouts, he heard some shuffling from the other end.

"Sorry about that Atobe. Come in, come in. Ryoma is here. Don't mind what he said just now"

This time a female voice spoke out, 'must be the cousin' he thought as he entered the gate after he heard a click sound from the inside. He stood in front of the front door waiting for them to open, it wasn't a minute later that the door opened and was greeted by a blue-haired woman.

"Sorry about just now Atobe. Ryoma is upstairs. I'll go call him. Come in first and wait in the living room."

As soon as she said those words, she left and went up the stairs. He then walked towards the living room, only to be greeted by the older brother.

"Yo, and here I thought I won't be seeing you anymore" Ryoga rolled his eyes, as he slumped his head back and sighed.

Annoyed, Atobe raised a brow. "Well, Nice to see you again Ryoma's older brother. I thought you already left for America. But I guess, being Bro-con must be hard for you."

"I am not. I just don't want you around Ryoma"

"Sad to say, But I will continue to stick by him unless we both get tired of each other. But I doubt that will ever happen"

Ryoga's smirk widened, "such confidence from a man who just did something to my brother." he then stood up from the chair and walked closer to the purple-haired man. "Let me tell you this. If you tried something to him, I'll make sure it will be the death of you"

There was a cough inside the room, earning both the boy's attention. Ryoma was currently standing in front of the two, looking confused and annoyed by what greeted him. "What are you doing here?" he asked his guest.

Atobe composed himself, as he stood up properly. Though he was left frozen in the spot when he can't bring words out properly.

With a sigh, Ryoma turned to his brother and asked him to leave. With a pout, the older man did so after sending another glare to the guest. Once Ryoga was out, Ryoma waited for Atobe to speak up. His eyes then wondered at the flowers he was carrying.

"Those flowers?"

"These are for you"

"And you think flowers will make me forgive you?"

Ryoma crossed his arms and asked him again. "What do you want?"

Atobe bit the inside of his cheeks, as he prepared himself to be rejected after minutes of thinking about possible situations running inside his head. "I just want to apologize properly"

Echizen frowned, his eyes avoiding his. He let out a loud breath and turned around. "If that's all, leave," he ordered and was about to leave the room. However, his arm was held by warm hands.

"Just for a minute at least, and after that, I promise that I won't bother you anymore"

Echizen scowled and released a deep breath. "Fine, I'll go change first and we can talk somewhere else" he agreed, noticing the eyes of his Father peeking from the slightly opened door. The younger lad harshly opened the sliding door, surprising his father who was listening in on their conversation and was ignored by his youngest.

Atobe remained silent as he was left with the younger lad's father looking at him curiously.

"You guys are still fighting?" Nanjirou asked with a raised brow, and arms crossed in front of his chest.

The younger lad remained silent with guilt. But suddenly remembered the flowers he just bought. "This. He took out his hand, and handed the flowers to the older man"

"Oh, how kind of you. But sadly I am already taken"

Atobe sweatdropped from his statement, not knowing what to say as he just stared at the older man taking the flowers and flung them by his shoulders. "Well, I'll gladly accept your flowers" The older man grinned, chuckling from the younger man's reaction.

"Anyway, want some coffee?"

"It's fine, Echizen. I mean Ryoma asked for us to talk somewhere"

Nanjirou pouted from the response and just shrugged. "Oh, I see. Then you better do it seriously" He smiled, as he turned around and started to head inside the kitchen.

Atobe stared at Nanjirou's back, confused by what he meant. It wasn't long though when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and was greeted with a frown by the youngest Echizen. With a curt 'Let's go' from the younger lad. He started to follow Ryoma from behind and noticed a racket that he's holding. They soon left the house and started walking somewhere until they arrived at the temple and are now standing in front of a tennis court.

"This is?"

He ignored his question and turned his attention to the older man "Where's your racket? We'll talk if you win a match from me"

Atobe smirked, as Kabaji suddenly arrived. "I had a hunch, so.." seconds later. The wind started to get stronger, making the younger lad raise his head to find something falling off from a jet. A few seconds later, a bag arrived tied to a parachute and landed just a few steps away from the court. Kabaji walked towards the bag and brought it towards Atobe, who accepted them with a smirk and took out his racket.

Echizen rolled his eyes at him and stood inside the court, waiting for his opponent to prepare. "As always you like to show off."

Atobe scoffed and smirked. "If it's a way for you to forgive me" he slowly raised his hand and snap his fingers. It wasn't that long when flower petals started to fall off above them.

The younger lad could only stare in disbelief, and annoyance as he stared at the flowers flowing with the wind.

"I don't even want to bother asking" he muttered and raised a brow at his opponent, who was still smirking at him. "I'm not sure if you're trying to ask forgiveness or trying to piss me off. But if you win a match from me, we'll talk. If you don't, then we won't" He reminded him as he started to bounce the ball from the ground.

"Fine then, I'll make sure that I will win"

Echizen formed a smirk from his lips and started to serve the ball towards Atobe.

Few hours had passed, it was already night time when Nanjirou was asked by his wife about their youngest. The older man just shrugged and gave her the letter that he found from the shoe cabinet. Rinko could only chuckle at the message that Ryoma had left before he went to play tennis with the young heir.

The next day, the head of the Echizen family was busy flipping his magazine while playing with their cat. When he was suddenly called out by his oldest son.

"Dad, I want to ask you something," Ryoga asked, scowling at his father.

"Ask, what?"

"Why did you lie about the curse? There's no such thing as turning into a cat if your love isn't reciprocated"

"Oh, that. I just wanted to play cupid"

"You are really an idiot!" Ryoga glared at his father and ignored his plea for help as the old man was now being scolded by his wife. After she noticed the magazine he was reading.

END

Yeah, the ending was boring but Atobe was too extra.

-B27