Mai stared at the wall opposite of her with a sense of vacancy. She had been at her work office for about an hour now and still couldn't rip her mind away from the kiss she and Naru shared the day before. It was interesting, the way she was feeling because she suddenly felt like she was 16 again and still working at SPR. An innocent and youthful moment lit something deep inside her and broke her out of the mental pause that she felt consumed by for years. She responded to him immediately, and her brain took a few seconds to catch up with what her body was doing. It was desperate, passionate, dizzying, and perfect all at once, and, with a pounding heart, she wrapped her arms around his neck, savoring the beautiful moment. Until Hina snapped a picture.
"SHOOT." She had yelled. "The bloody flash was on."
Since then, Mai had felt very exposed around Naru and had found every excuse to avoid eye contact and being alone with him. Thankfully, after their moment, Kado returned as well and they got the opportunity to focus on something that made more sense to Mai: Work. They discussed how, at this point, they do not have a lead on Stone's whereabouts, and because of this, could only look at the evidence they recovered from the recent crime scene. This led Mai to backtrack and refresh her mind of all the things that they knew as facts about Stone and connecting it to his most recent murder.
His file was in front of her and she had been trying to focus on finishing up analyzing the evidence report so that she could move on to other cases that they did have leads on.
"Hello!" A high-pitched and sharp voice caught her attention. She looked up to see Maki waving a hand in front of her face. "Man, you were really zoned."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Mai said smiling at her. "What's going on? Do you need to borrow my stapler again? I thought you got a new one?"
Maki smirked. "Yes, I did, but this way I get an excuse to come bothers you!"
"Lucky me," Mai muttered under her breath. "How have you been?"
"Oh, you know, tired and bored." Suddenly her face lit up. "But last night, I met a guy! He's amazing! Super nice and handsome, just walked right up to me when I was out with one of my friends from University!"
Mai rose an eyebrow in surprise. "Someone meets your high expectations?"
"High? Is it so wrong that I want to date someone who is perfect in every way?"
"What exactly does that imply?" Mai tried not to snicker.
Maki huffed. "You know, handsome, strong, smart, kind, able to handle a crazy girlfriend…" She said the last part fairly quickly and with a cheeky grin.
This time, Mai let out her laugh. "Well good luck with that. I still have yet to find a person who can handle any kind of crazy."
"Are you kidding me? You have the most honest man right in front of you dangling on the end of a string – like bait if you will – and you have yet to notice he is head over heels in love with you!"
And just like that, Mai thought back to the fact that they had shared a kiss together. But she didn't want to get her hopes up, in any way. A kiss was a kiss and she was not going to assume anything meaningful from it.
The facial expression on her face must have changed to that of nervousness because Maki sat in one of the chairs in front of Mai's desk.
"Woah," She leaned forward towards Mai. "Something happened between you two, didn't it?"
"No, of course not." She said in a huff.
"Which of course means that something did happen. So, dish." Mai glared at her friend and the fact that their job required them to be observant which was now biting Mai in the butt.
"You're reading way too much into this," Mai said focusing back onto her work trying to ignore her friend. "Nothing happened between us. Naru went to Kado's, and Hina gave him a huge history lesson about me and Ren. Now get out of here, I've got to finish this so I can go to SPR. Remember, we still have to have a discussion about what to do about Ren."
"Oh, I see," Maki got up out of her seat and paraded around the room slowly in an act of intimidation. "So, I'm supposed to believe that nothing happened when I know full well Hina would have pulled some emotional strings to really stir up both of your attractions to each other." She stopped and looked at Mai, who wasn't focusing on what she was saying. "For all I know, you both probably kissed or something and…"
She trailed off when she watched Mai stiffen.
"No way." Maki sat back down and scooted the chair closer. "You did, didn't you?!" Mai decided it best not to reply. "Wait, does this mean I should be expecting another child sooner rather than later?"
Mai growled under her breath trying to rein in her irritation. If she didn't acknowledge Maki, she'll go away.
"Knock, knock!" Mai said pushing the door to SPR open. She had gotten off work after lunch and was now meeting up with Lin and Naru to discuss the theory that they had as to why these events were occurring at the school. "Anyone here?"
When she got no answer, she figured the two were out doing something and Mai took this time to start making tea and look around the office. Nothing had changed drastically and she found herself lost in memories of when she was younger. If someone told her that she would be having a baby at this young age, she would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the notion. But she would never want to change her life now. The whole road up until Ren was born were some of the most important moments of her life and she loved every stressful, emotional, and beautiful piece that created the puzzle.
She had just finished steeping the tea when she heard the door open and a conversation being continued through the threshold.
"No, we are not going to tell them anything right now and they can be patient," Naru said in a nettled voice. "I will talk to Mai and see what her feelings are on the matter before any of this is even thought about."
Mai creeped out into the main room and captured their attention by placing the tea down on the coffee table.
"Gentlemen, as much as I would love to ask you what that conversation was about, I would rather focus on what the hell you think is going on with Ren." She had one eyebrow cocked as if daring them to waste her time, and strategically avoided catching Naru's eyes for too long. She still felt awkward between them. "Sit. Both of you."
The two men looked to one another and decided it best to comply. Mai watched them, smiled, and took her own seat. Pouring out three cups of tea from the pot, she passed them around and crossed a leg over the other waiting for them to begin.
Naru sighed and took a sip of his tea. He wasn't sure how exactly they would interact around each other after their kiss, however, focusing on work rather than something personal was far easier to do. But he had also noticed the stark complete turnaround in the eye contact that Mai refused to give him now.
"As you are aware, SPR was called to the school to confront the paranormal events that have been occurring. When we did investigate the leads, we had from those that witnessed the events, we found a commonality among them, Ren." He took another sip of tea. "Before we were even aware that there was a possibility that Ren could have inherited my abilities, we also discovered that the events also transpired according to his mood."
"Alright, so, what exactly are you implying?"
"When I was younger, I had a lack of control of my PK and that resulted in complete emotional governing of them. When I got mad, objects around me became hectic and erratic. But it did not stop there, I would also have moments of unintentional summoning's of poltergeists, thus leading to more destruction. All of this was unknowingly executed for years until Martin and Luella adopted us and thankfully had careers in such subjects that they could help me."
Mai looked into her tea with contemplation. She wasn't stupid, and the thought did occur to her, but now having the true realness of the fact in front of her face, she felt more helpless. There was no way that she could help her son because she was not experienced in the matter.
"Mai," Lin spoke up, knowing what was going through her mind. "We cannot do much at the moment aside from emotional balancing and breathing techniques. He's still too young to really understand anything more, but we can offer him protection and guidance, and we can help you do the same."
"Okay," Mai started to feel more hopeful due to this and the weight on her chest lightened a bit more. "That is really reassuring. When should we start? I can figure out when he has time to allocate a few hours."
"That would be ideal, but we need to start off slow," Naru said folding his arms. "We need to keep in mind he's still a child. I don't want his childhood to be like mine, locked in training for hours on end."
Lin glared at his charge and rolled his eyes. "We still need him to come in and run a few baseline tests, but we need to ship the equipment over from BSPR, so we will be delayed slightly." He grabbed a few files off the table and stood and walked to his office before shutting the door.
Mai sighed and avoided Naru's eyes when she grabbed the tray full of their empty cups and pot. She made her way over to the kitchen and began washing the dishes before she set them out to air dry. Leaning her back against the counter, she brought both her palms up and pressed them to her shut eyes. A headache was starting to come back to her and she was hoping the pressure would ease the pain.
When she let her hands fall, she noticed a figure by the doorway. Right away she knew who it was, she'd known him long enough to know his body. But she needed to leave. She didn't want to confront him about anything between them. After having her heart broken by him one too many times, she didn't want to get her hopes up.
"Well, thank you for your time, but I have to leave and go pick Ren up," Mai said, her eyes cast down.
As she tried to move past him, he shuffled at a quick speed and Mai found her back against the wall, her wrists being held by his hands. Shock hit her and she looked into his eyes for a moment before biting her lip and turning away.
"That. Why are you not looking at me?" He said in a gruff voice. "Don't try to think I haven't noticed, Mai. You've been avoiding me and when we are in a room together, you can't look at me."
Trying her hardest, Mai opened her mouth and went to speak before something inside her stopped her. She was afraid of opening up to this man emotionally. He would likely just destroy her as he did when he first left.
He let one hand hold both her wrists and the other cupped her cheek. "Mai," He seemed somewhat angry. "Look. At. Me."
She forced herself this time but used her anger to push her. "What?" She said through gritted teeth. "Are you going to let me confess again so you can throw it all back in my face? Or leave me all alone with no one?" Tears of bitterness rolled slowly down her cheeks and her breaths were heavy.
Naru watched her through all of this, not knowing what to say or if what he would say could upset her more.
"Let me go. Now." She struggled with his hands. "I'm not in the mood for you to play with my feelings."
"I am not letting you go until you listen to me." He said stubbornly.
"Damnit, Naru!" She half yelled and then sighed as she sagged in defeat. "Fine. I might as well let myself learn this lesson all over again."
"First off," He started. "I did not reject you, I simply stated that your infatuations lied with someone else, not with me." Mai tried to bite her tongue and settled for a small growl under her breath. "You could not presume to know how I feel."
"Likewise, you ass!" She said. "How dare you even try to-"
Naru pressed his free hand over her mouth. "Listen to me." When she stopped moving her lips, he removed his hand. "I was hurt, very much so, when you declared your feelings to me. I apologize if I hurt you with what I said, but understand my perspective, Mai. Gene was highly sociable and I was entirely uninterested in engaging in any social interaction outside of those that were in my family or if I had to.
"So, when you told me how you felt, I panicked. I answered with the first thing that came into my head and walked away. Away from someone who I do not deserve in the slightest. Away from the one I held closest to me, no matter how hard I tried to keep you at arms distance." He brought both his hands to both her cheeks and cupped them. "I missed you every day you were not around me, and don't even get me started on the terrible tea I had to choke down." Mai sobbed a little laugh and looked back to Naru. He placed his forehead on top of hers and they both closed their eyes. "I had no idea you were going to be at the conference, but when I saw you, I knew I did not want to keep going without you."
Mai nuzzled him and wrapped her arms around his that were braced on the wall behind her. She felt the moment was somewhat bittersweet and that she was going to wake up at any moment now. But, God willing, she would savor every second.
"I love you." The words were easier to repeat now, and she found that she did not feel as irrational as she did when she was younger. Although the giddiness she felt was similar to the way she felt then.
He replied with a familiar phrase that she had engraved on her mind and she realized she would always love him.
Sei sempre nel mio cuore.
Hey! Welcome back, all! I think this chapter had its ups and downs, and I am not sure how I feel about it quite yet. Anyhow! There will likely be more MaixNaru in future chapters (as if there hasn't been enough). Let me know how you all thought about this one!
Also, just an update! Next week the update might be later than normal. I will try to keep it on the regular schedule! See you all then!
Cheers!