Tales of Tear Jumpers Commissions

by Sage Striaton

Just a row of commission about the tjs I’ve written during the time. They mostly belong to Act II, two are from Act III, one is an Au. I do plan to include the Yang one and the kouatsu one in the main story though!

5. Chapter 5

Jenny and Ruko are the genderbending version of Jen and Ruki my dear Senpai created.

This chapter is dedicated to was supposed to come out on her birthday but I had many struggles in my daily life among uni and stress.

Still this is a chapter in which I've poured my whole love for her, so I hope you all will appreciate this silly AU that will open TJs 2021 season XD.

[AU • 2 In which the reader will be taken into a bizarre parallel world and will get to know about the most important stages of a relationship between soulmates. The reader has been patient so far, so they will keep being such while entering a story that's made up of smaller ones with different prologues. ]

XXX

[ In which everything starts with a random meeting, which is so short it is extremely frustrating to him. Weird, right? ]

When he saw her, his whole fierce complaints about people talking about that matter turned into sand.

It couldn't be, right? It couldn't!

He repeated those silly words in his mind, feeling the wish to hit his head while stunned violet eyes met lovely grey orbs shining along that sunny day. They made him already jump on clouds despite the fact his next flight was scheduled after lunch.

"Oh, is it something wrong, Sir?" She made some dark blue locks fall on her shoulders; some rebel strands that had decided to escape from her long braid...In truth, rebel wasn't a term he would have used to describe that tall young woman standing in front of him: she looked so impeccable wearing that suit which showed her curves he couldn't just help looking at. "Sir?" She tried again with that soft voice of hers that soon turned into a sincere chuckle he would have liked to hear again. "Oh sorry, I should say ."

She pointed her slender index at his shoulders, highlighting the presence of those symbols that are typical of pilots uniforms. That gesture had been the first contact he had had with reality since he found her waiting for her turn in the check-in area. He had been in such a dizzy state since that moment, and it was so weird to come down to Earth and realize he was holding a sort of little toy in his hands.

"Ah yes," He coped with his cotton mouth. "I think this is yours. No! I've actually seen you losing this...Thing."

The young woman laughed again for his delight as she reached out and took that small item.

"Oh, thank you for having found her. I should just put this somewhere in my bedroom as I keep losing her wherever I go," She showed Ruko her black phone after having quickly taken it from the pockets of her jacket. "It is enough to move my head while I'm talking on the phone and she will fall."

He stared at her in silence while she nimbly attached that object to the edge of her phone, shaking it and smiling at him.

That was such...An intense hit for his stomach; maybe it was the same for his throat too as an embarassing silence developed between them.

She eventually coughed as if she was embarassed, and slowly performed a perfect bow that made her glasses slightly slip onto her nose.

"I won't keep you here any longer, Captain. I thank you again and I wish you a good day."

Oh...

It was over, then? So suddenly? So abruptly? So fast? Again, what exactly did he want from a stranger?

"Yes, Ruko, what the hell do you want from a stranger, Dear Heavens!"

XXX

[ In which forcing Fate due to his struggle at controlling himself isn't necessarily a bad thing. ]

Some days passed, maybe some weeks. Who knew: being a pilot meant getting up and down a plane occasionally staying somewhere for a single day. He didn't care about time flowing as long as his life would keep on going like that: his passengers, his flight attendants, his budding second pilot who would still attempt to hide how sick some flights would make him feel from him.

"What a storm, right?" He teased the younger man, giving him a powerful slap. "I could have thrown up sooner or later".

He gave his best to mimick whatever gesture and facial movement could convey the feelings his victim was experiencing.

He had gone through that too, but he would have never admitted that to the younger man, of course, especially because it was so hilarious to see him expressing how uncomfortable Ruko's words were sounding: he was nervously rubbing his arm and thighs, and biting his lips.

"Oh s-stop, please," Yang begged with a whisper because he didn't probably want his flying crew to understand what was happening to his digestive system.

Ruko saw him getting closer with heavy steps and pushing him to a side by lifting and putting strength on a single thigh of his. It was so obvious he wouldn't manage to carry out his plan as he blantatly was so weak and thin, if you compared his physical appearance with Ruko's. Actually, the taller and stronger man sent him right to the wall of the corridor they were crossing, making a flight attendant gasp at the sight. Fortunately the woman started walking very quickly on her heels, deciding to ignore them, and followed her colleagues leaving the men all alone to their pretty childish game...That wasn't going to finish that soon, apparently, as Yang seemed to be getting a running start.

"Despite being so sick, you still have enough energy to think about defeating me at this," Ruko mocked him, while Yang pressed himself against him and pushed with all his might.

"I-I swear! I kicked my friend down to the floor last week! Believe me!"

He kept on giving his best to make Ruko surrender, but another hit made him fly to the wall again.

"Okay, okay, now let's stop," Ruko announced after having spotted a crowd of passengers approaching the entrance of the tunnel; fortunately there were such big windows that could let him see whatever was happening out there.

He picked Yang's hat and put it on his head in a very messy way. Giving a glance at his watch, he realized they had exactly landed at lunch hour. It had been a perfect flight even though they had to face so many turbolences, which had been created by a thunderstorm they weren't expecting at all.

He had loved the feeling of that challenge taunting him as if he would really abandon himself to the terror sooner or later. He was such a brilliant pilot, a captain, the so-called Eagle and he could have never reacted cowardly at the first sight of shining arrows roaring in that dark sky. Oh, he was so proud of himself; the applauses he got after they had landed were priceless.

Was there something better? No, there wasn't and he was so sure about that as he had found the purpose of his life in that perpetual routine someone could find so boring and lame (except when it came to him piloting, of course).

However now there was no time to waste standing and thinking about how great he had been: his belly was rumbling just like the sky of that spring day.

"I-I'm hungry too," Yang commented at that familiar sound he could hear coming from his captain. Judging from his tanned skin getting his usual tone, maybe he was feeling better.

"Don't you have to run to the toilet anymore?" Ruko smirked, never stopping to feel the desire to tease him. "I wouldn't like to wait one second longer to eat a good steak, you know?"

Without saying a word, Yang straightly stood on his weary and shaking legs and nodded with determination at him. Ruko could still see the burning need to throw up somewhere in those dark eyes that looked as humid as never before, but he pretended to believe him.

"Good for you. I would have let many ladies sit at my table without thinking about you even once," He punched him on the arm and finally decided to get out of the tunnel to head for the usual little restaurant they would always stop by.

Dragging their trolleys, they reached one of the many escalators of Shinjuku airport. It was as crowded as usual, maybe even more.

Yet...

His violet orbs seemed to widen when a lovely dark blue braid peeped among the silhouettes of those busy commuters and tourists. His hands abruptly left his trolley and he felt the impulse to run to that long swinging tress, to that black suit that had been ironed so perfectly, to that smile and voice that had remained in the depths of his soul.

"R-Ruko! What in the hell do you think you are doing?!" Yang opened his mouth observing the other man struggling to climb the moving steps. He managed to grab the trolley before it fell, but he couldn't just grab Ruko's shirt or belt to stop him. No, the man's apologizes got further and further from him while other people's complaints got closer and closer, eventually even becoming adressed to Yang. As if he was involved in that story! He didn't even know what was going on!

Meanwhile Ruko was holding onto the slippery banister feeling so many glances piercing through his skin, but he couldn't care less about what other people were thinking about him; his goal was a dark green trolley that would disappear from time to time due to some stranger's legs.

That escalator was very long but it had never felt that long!

Actually when he reached the top he felt like if he had climbed some very high mountain and was finally getting his so-craved reward: the young woman had finished her elevator journey before he had, but she had stopped for a second, as if she needed to check whether her jacket and trousers had got wrinkled.

"Hey!" He hastily reached her, waving his hand even if there was no reason to do that at such a short distance from her.

Her eyebrows arched upwards hightlighting the feeling he could read in her misty irises.

Confusion.

Ruko suddenly blinked, the same puzzling feeling spreading in his heart as he stared at her, his heart racing just like a herd of wild horses. What was he doing?

What am I doing?!, He repeated, looking back and slightly blushing at the realization some people were still so indignant due to his behaviour.

"I-" He nervously winced, his fingers were already touching the edge of his hat as a token of apology, but the story didn't go the way he was afraid it would and his wince became a wide smile.

The young woman had touched his shoulder with her determined hands and had dragged him away from the flowing river of people.

"Now I can hear you," She sweetly told him. "First of all, good afternoon, Captain. I didn't expect to find you again, but Fate did want us to meet once more."

"And are you happy it did?" He replied without pondering his words and he soon found himself covering his mouth, as ashamed as ever. It wasn't like that one had been a meeting that had been wanted by Fate...

"Of course I am," She chuckled, but he was too focused on dwelling in self-pity to notice she was so pleased by their encounter. The pose she had assumed was relaxed and calm; it still was characterized by the composure he had been struck by. Yet anyone but him could understand she was feeling very comfortable in his presence. "I could never forget the man who has saved my precious naughty baby."

He put an end to the whirlwind that was infuriating and mixing his emotions. He didn't really know what she was talking about, but he was aware she had said something very nice about him, which meant she wasn't that annoyed by his previous question.

"Are you off duty or are you preparing for another flight?" She genuinely asked, joining her tanned hands and falling in a patient silence.

"No, I've just landed after such a hard flight in truth," He fliddered with his hat, wondering if she could see through him with those beautiful spheres of hers. It was so hard to look at her face while he was speaking, especially if she greeted his lines with her sincere reactions.

"A hard flight! I'm curious. I won't hide I would be interested in listening to a pilot's tale."

As if his wristwatch wasn't working anymore, time seemed to stand still as their gazes got more and more meaningful, meshing into one while someone was really sewing their blossoming story from up above. Everything was falling so perfectly in its place somehow.

"Well, listen," He cleared his throat, feeling that silence turning into a burden oppressing his shoulders and back. "I often make people pay to listen to my adventurous stories, but a quick lunch together would still sound enough to me."

In the process he hadn't dared to look at her again but the little bud of his affection had been sent to her heart with success.

"It sounds absolutely great."

She beamed at his offer, grabbing his arm with joy already wanting to drag him to the place she had planned to have lunch at before meeting him, but he wanted that steak he had been dreaming about for the whole flight so much.

Therefore he pointed at the sort of fast food they were close to...His index fell on his thigh with a thump.

"What's the meaning of this?!" He growled, menacing.

The young woman inspected the tables of the fast food, bringing a thumb to her chin and scanning the costumers of the place: a couple most likely joking about the size of the burgers they had ordered, a family with a kid who was drawing on a tissue...And a young man who was blatantly trying suppressing his laughters behind the fries he was eating and who was sitting between two women who were almost cooing at him.

Even if she had a great spirit of observation, she couldn't even raise a lovely eyebrow to express her temporary doubts, as he instinctively grabbed her arm out of irritation and...A sense of shyness and ashamement somehow.

If he had noticed what he was doing, his cheeks would have burnt more as he had started a physical contact with such a sweet woman than because his colleague had decided to have lunch without him.

Miserable pullet, he grunted not realizing the woman was the one holding on his arm now, tightening her grip as they headed to that peaceful place she knew so well.

"Ah, don't you find it so welcoming?" She began, clapping her hands almost excitedly. "I feel at home here," She sounded almost relaxed to him as they unconsciously parted and took a seat.

He chose to sit in front of her, his hat had already been put on the chair he had refused to sit on.

Too close!, He had mentally shouted, but somehow the decision to be sitting while facing her wasn't making him feel so sure either: her grey eyes behind those professional glasses could fathom the layers of his consciousness, he knew it. There was such a beautiful mystery and power behind the most intense fog he had ever gone through.

"You know, I often come here. Indeed, I always come here," She chuckled out of blue, making him slowly awaken by that pleasant illusive slumber. "Like I was telling you before, this place is like home. I can order healthy and quality food and I do feel like waiters know me so well, almost as if they can predict what I'm going to order!"

"Quality food; here at the airport?" He spatted slowly paying attention to how rude that might have been. "Wow, that's new to me", He cracked a nervous smile, realizing his tongue couldn't refrain from adopting its usual behaviour in the company of...Her.

Still she didn't seem to have got upset due to that remark, judging by how enthusiastically she made the menu slip on the table to make it reach his arms. Her index scrolled through so many colourful drawn bubbles containing photos of salads of every kind.

Such long titles, Ruko could think as soon as he scanned the lucid pages.

"," She exclaimed, surprising him because of the positive energy he could feel taking over him as she talked. "I love the thai chile giving that extra touch this salad needs to make you have a sensational dinner. When I need a break from work, a good salad is what I want the most," She turned the page with a certain amount of curious suspence, like if she didn't know what was coming next in that list; instead, she obviously knew that menu at heart, Ruko was sure about that. "Oh then, this is Farro with Pistachios, Mixed Herbs and Golden Raisins. It has got a sweet taste, but I prefer adding ginger to it. Panache is always appreciated. This is..."

She talked and talked and at the beginning he wondered what he was doing, sitting there and listening to a stranger woman babbling about salads, a world he wasn't interested in, hadn't ever been interested in. All he could ask himself in those minutes, which seemed to last an eternity, was when he could finally boast about his brave pilot of line adventures; it was due to the fact she wanted to listen to his tales that they had decided to have lunch together, hadn't they?

Nevertheless, the weirdest event happened to him and he increasingly relaxed his muscles, his fists, which had no reason to exist at that moment; eventually even his vanity to show off disappeared and melted in a fresh delight that made him listen to her, absorbed into that river of words that were full of passion.

As if he was focused on the sense of that long explanation though.

"I suggest you should try the first one I've mentioned! You must be a person that has got a lot of chile in your personality, Captain, "He nodded pretty absently and did the same when she announced she would take a Vermicelli noodle salad. "Sometimes virtue lies in simplicity," She shrugged sending her braid down her back. "People often say virtue lies in the middle; instead I love trying looking for it where you all think it's unlikely you can find it."

He wasn't a person who liked philosophy, maybe he had even hated it at a certain point of his life as it just seemed a lame way for others to cheer him up in the toughest moments of his existence. He also detested thinking; it just didn't fit a man of action like him, which is what he liked considering himself.

Yet there was he, soon holding a pair of chopsticks and devouring a salad while chatting about a topic he was so inexperienced about , -cuisine-, and not caring about that at all; occasionally gentle giggles would escape from their mouths, especially whenever he showed he had never approached a salad in his whole life.

He found himself valuing the beauty of this simplicity, something that was so far from his personality but something he was ready to learn at the same time, if he could experiment such a pleasant armony forever -and if he could forget about his longing for boasting so easily-.

Why not: if he could forget about his steak hunger in a second too!

When the clock stroke half past two, they returned to the main zone of the airport, which was as busy as ever. The awareness they had to part from that idyllic picture they had created without any advanced plan fell on both.

"I've a had a very good time with you," He managed to say, his jaw almost falling as he couldn't believe he had won awkwardness for a brief second. He wasn't a shy man, he had never been like that along with women he had tried filtring with in the past.

Then why?!, He could have shouted right there, on that precise tile of the floor he was standing on. Still it was her voice waking him up from the intricated maze of his mind once more; no, maybe that time it was her tanned hand reaching out that made him find the thread leading him back from the dark confusion to the midday Sun, which was shining so enchantingly through the airport's main hall. And it was winter; it was a miracle.

"Of course, I had so much fun too, but I would like to know your name," She underlined, making him realize they had never told each other what their names were. "I'm Jenny. Jenny Lee."

"Oh, I'm Ruko. Ruko Makino".

He felt his heart flutter since that so unique slim body loving salads had a name now...A name that sounded so important and powerful even if he was only repeating it in his mind, like if he could have forgot it from a second to the other.

However the time to part had really arrived. Both were a bit uncertain about how to wave goodbye to the other; the first staring at the horizon, the second holding her trolley tightly until an abrupt movement made their hands lace in some kind of bow containing a solid promise.

He couldn't help taking the initiative, even though his strong legs were feeling like melted cheese.

Pathetic, Ruko, he greeted his teeth.

"I'd love listening to your vegetarian world again", He stammered, more than embarassed, his hand becoming slightly sweaty, which was the reason why he retracted it away. He hadn't told her what he wanted to yet, so he attempted to find his usual self: the brave Ruko, the captain that would send every flight attendants of his's hearts to the space, the Ruko who had defeated a thunderstorm on his resistant plane, but was struggling at dealing with that unexpected storm that was spreading its clouds in his soul. "Ehm, I would just like to do it again, okay? Eating together. I don't know your time schedule, but it could be awesome if we could meet up every Thursday like today."

He had ceased to the temptation of squeezing his orbs and could just blame himself with the fiercest invisible words he had ever adressed to him.

Then there was a warm feeling in the palm of his hand and the impulse to open those amethystes again.

"There! It's not like I'll only be able to have lunch on Thursdays. My job is so flexible when it comes to its time schedule; it depends on the type of projects we intend carrying on," She chirped while he stared at the little paper featuring a number neatly written on their surface. "So, whenever we are here and feel like chatting, let's text each other! Take your phone and send me a message on Line."

He did as she told, hesitant as his pulses had grown intense.

"What should I write you?" He ingenuously asked, pushing her to approach him and lie a hand on a firm shoulder of his.

"Send me this sticker." She pointed at a cute fox waving its paw.

Another reason to fall in a total and pure state of desparation: a man! A pilot! Showing his cutesy sticker to...A woman.

"Great, Ruko! Now we have shared our phone numbers!" She looked like the happiest woman on the Earth to him, while he looked a bit lost at the sound of his first name coming from her mouth. "Then, bye!"

Nevertheless he spontaneously smiled at her, every messy thought gave room to the desire to put an end to that surprising day in a sincere way. They just needed smiles, no words; simplicity had already become the basis to their growing relationship even if they didn't know it. They didn't need anything else except clinging onto the faintest noise that could be heard coming from their trolleys being dragged to the continuation of their life; it was as if they were still near to each other.

Ruko kept on holding his phone, his whole being was in a bliss he hadn't felt for ages and it increased when she immediately sent him a sticker featuring a bunny.

As adorable as her, he thought, and he bit his tongue, dilaniated among the shapes of his own wishes; frustrated...Behind a presence that didn't even attempt to hide himself from his infuriated orbs.

"Uh, uh, you already use first names. D-did you tell her we call you the Eagle here?" Yang nonchalantly walked to him, his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face that was so large Ruko would have gored him if he had been a bull.

Such a...Violent thought, man, He flinched, not already in control of his own actions. Actually he was already beginning yelling at that nuisance his colleague had become.

"What about it?! Has a woman never called you by your first name!?"

"Sure, s-some woman has, but not at our first meeting," Yang shrugged, showing nerves of steel in front of the anger that was also getting out of Ruko's nose taking the shape of his own breath.

"It's our second meeting, stupid country pullet."

"Y-yeah, yeah, let's call it a meeting, yeah...A very random one, too."

The way Yang was agitating his hands and arms in front of him was tremendously obnoxious to him; branches belonging to bare trees, metaphor of the winter forest his soul had been travelling through for years.

"That second trolley you have got there is mine," Ruko pouted out of blue, offended. It was blatant he didn't want to dwell on that topic any longer, not even intending to allow his brain to bring him back; back at those so blissful memories.

However, the mere action of holding his trolley Yang handed him made Ruko land on that moment during which his mind didn't have any form of control on his body anymore; he had found himself climbing an escalator, feeling the burning flame of...He couldn't really define that yearning, give it a name.

Yang stood still facing the mixture of expressions Ruko's features were showing him. He couldn't help but curl his lips, aware of what that sea of silence was covering under its veil.

Ah, his captain was experiencing love at first sight. How endearing, he could tell himself, looking forward to seeing how the whole story would develop especially because Ruko was such a stubborn person; of course he had to act in that way, closing himself in the dusty golden room of his heart.

Ruko's amethysts were trying squaring him for who knows what reason...Even if a pretty clear hyptohesis could arise among his thoughts.

"Thank you for having kept my seat at the fast food," Ruko made his trolley scarily hit the ground, disguising the relief he was feeling because of his success at turning the conversation away. What a pity Yang could consider himself as an expert about those kinds of tactics. He had been dealing with those attempts for years and years, but he had to admit he would have never expected to find himself seeing his captain in that state.

Interesting, interesting, he gave his best at keeping his laughters in his throat, his tanned long fingers pressing against his mouth.

"Well?! What are you laughing about?!" Ruko persisted, closer to him than before, their chests almost attached to each other's. "Did you have that much fun with those barbies?"

This time he let himself sigh heavily before shrugging in a very smug way.

" I would have let many ladies sit at my table without thinking about you even once. Doesn't it sound familar to you? I was hungry too."

Frightened dark orbs implicitedly started begging menacing violet ones for mercy, but those weren't enough apparently, as in two seconds he was was already touching the surface of a coloumn he had been sent flying to as fast as a jet. It was hilarious he would often wonder why his back would hurt so much between his job and Ruko's temper.

"You deserve that," Ruko added from afar, even though at the same time he had to confess to himself it was the first time his stomach wasn't feeling that heavy: salads' powers.

XXX

[ In which he has a change of heart he doesn't regret.]

His life had always been based on a routine that was made up of events that seemed to perpetually spin him in the same way throughout his existence.

If he had to be sincere with himself, he could think his life had turned into that non-stimulant linear path since it had become a mirror of the society surrounding him. He would often look at the world he had to live in: a place in which everyone looked in front of themselves, not stopping to try opening their views at the other corners life could offer them; a world in which it's difficult to grow up and not to blend with the crowd; a place in which everyone had to dress in a neat way to be accepted in their working environment... A world in which he had to cut his mohawk in order to pursue his dream career, which could make him experience a breath of fresh air in that suffocating grabber.

Yet...He would be a liar if he told himself there was no aspect of his life that could take him out of that loop.

Finally.

"You used to have a mohawk? I'm not sure if I can believe you."

"I can assure you it's true. I was so proud about it. It started from here and it ended right here."

Jenny laughed uncontrollably at him pointing at some random spots of his head, hoping she could imagine him with that mohawk he used to have; that hairstyle that would make him even more attractive in front of the ladies he tried to flirt with.

Still he wasn't that sure whether Jenny believed he looked extremely cool when he put his helmet off and reveal his auburn-coloured crest. Now that he was thinking about that, he didn't know if the woman liked motorbikes and would enjoy a ride with him.

A ride with Jenny!, he smiled at her making her giggles even louder.

"Why are you smiling?", She leaned forward, so comfortable at shortening the distance the table had created between them. That table was becoming so precious for both, the little space of the world they had been sharing since March.

"Ah nothing," He passed a hand through his short hair, closing an eye to pretend he didn't want to tell her. "I was just thinking we have told each other about our jobs and our food preferences-"

"Our philosophies," Jenny's grey spheres dwindled the wider her happiness would grow.

"Yes, our philosophies too," He continued, stumbling on his own worlds. "But what about your passions?" He wasn't certain about the way he had to begin. He could perceive his heart beating in his throat, as he did realize he was taking a step forward.

A step forward?

Jenny didn't hesitate before giving him a precise list of her most favourite hobbies among which riding motorbikes didn't seem to be able to find a place to sit on.

"Oh, you see, I have so many hobbies: I like reading -especially philosophy books-, I like cooking of course, I love meditating! Do you like meditating as well, Ruko?"

He froze at that question, imagining himself sitting on a mat and...Breathing? Counting? Waiting? And waiting for what?

"Nah, I'm not into boring stuff," Once again he didn't pay any attention to how he was speaking about his opinions. He focused on switching to his instead, averting his gaze and speaking slowly in the hope to make a strong impression on her.

" I repeat this to me everyday for so many times: I'm a man of action. I like," He thought a pause was indispensable to create the effect he wanted to envelop her with. "Motorbikes and extreme speed".

"Oh I see," Her reply slightly disappointed him, but he could read that she was feelings uneasy for the first time in the life of their relationship judging from her gestures; he had known her for almost three months, that was enough to state that! Her tongue watering, her lips that would close and reopen now and then, her fingers fliddering with her choosticks in the empty bowl, as if she thought she would find remnants of the salad she had ordered and loved so much.

"I love spending my free days with my motorbike, looking for quiet and desolate places in Tokyo to be able to only hear my motorbike roaring and clattering," He would have liked to continue expressing his endless adoration for his motorbike to her, but his arm , which he had raised to emphasize his excitement, petrified in the air, losing his vigour as Jenny's discomfort grew.

"What is it?" He asked her with such a sweet vein laced with his voice he got surprised.

"Ah, it's just that I'm not that keen of speed," She brought herself to state, smiling nervously at him: another dynamic he had never spotted on her long and elegant face before.

He would have surely let a escape deep from his chest, but it didn't happen as that thought was so distant from what he was really caring about. He couldn't obviously force her to confess him what was truly going on, especially if he took in consideration the fact he absolutely hated it when people acted in such a petulant way in his regards.

Yet she was Jenny. He detested admitting himself such a contradictory truth, but there was nothing more important to him than making her regain her usual cheerful mood at that moment.

"Jenny, if there's something troubling you, you can tell me. If you want and feel like opening up, I'll be there for you," She was such a magical being, he was so sure about it at that point: words, very affectionate ones that were flowing like a river of honey, were spontaneously sent up through his throat and didn't even keep him from staring at her instensively; in that way his feelings, his willing to support her -a complete new experience for him- entered her heart and disseminated a special warmth in both's most intimate being. His hand migrated beyond his bowl and glass, it surpassed the bottle of water laying at the center of the table, and gently overlapped his hand on hers.

Both smiled at each other, Jenny's other hand joined that interweaving with joy, gently caressed by that moment.

"I feel uncomfortable when I think about speed," She was giving a more detailed explanation about her previous statement apparently, and he was willing to listen to that and to their blood pulsing in unison. "When I was younger I wasn't liked by my classmates that much. It was because I'm half-chinese and they would often insult me due to that. That's why I was always alone," She raised her head not hiding the way she was biting her lips during that storytelling. That uncounsciously drove him to softly tighten his grip. "When I was in my sixth grade afternoon cleaning duty made me get closer to some girls of my class who invited me to go out with them once. We went to the playground, the one that's still in Shinjuku Park," Ruko knew that zone of the park well too. He had never been the most sociable kid, but he would spend some time there training his skills at the Digimon card game when days got warmer. Who knew if he had ever spotted her on the slide or on the swing.

"And?" He pushed, falling back on his doubts about why he cared about seeing her opening up, while he would have never ceased and done that in her place.

"And they convinced me to climb on the roundabout at a certain point. I was the only one on it while they would make it spin...And spin...And spin..."

She stopped letting her words fly like leaves that are carried away by an autumnal wind. She seemed to be the one delicatedly clenching the grip his hand, as if he was the thick tree she would attach herself to during a thunderstorm; or as of he was the steel edge of the roundabout she surely hung to cope with that torture back then. He tried imagining her for a second, sitting with her knees touching each other, her long braid flying in that unfair whirlwind, her eyes shut and still being able to express the terror she was feeling. That poor girl.

"The first thing I did was holding her near to my heart. A pretty useless action to do at such a horrible moment, but I told you: I crave, indeed, I've always been drawn by the simplicity life can offer us. So that's the reason why I couldn't think about anything else but taking her from my pocket and making our hearts connect in trouble." She probably noticed his confused reaction, which was highlighted by his furrowed dark auburn eyebrows, as she soon made her hands and his part so she could take her phone from her bag: she would always leave it in there whenever they were together.

"Do you remember her?" She sounded like if she was joking with him judging by the tone of her voice that had suddenly become playful: that was a relief, wasn't it? Still that wasn't the case: she had transformed her mood as she was recollecting that day Ruko and her had met.

"Ah, that's-" He lengthened his neck pretending he couldn't see properly that gadget dangling in front of him.

"Yeah, it's my special friend you found on the floor. My precious and inimitable Terriermon my father bought me when I was ten. I know it's silly but her staying with me helped me ignore those evil people'," She shyly brushed the object in question against her bony cheek. She was midly embarassed due to having revealed that secret, if he could call that such. Still he was endeared by that side of hers: he had always known the Jenny who would show herself to feel confident and comfortable in those situations they had found themselves in.

The discussion died there and Ruko accepted that; it was like if he knew she needed some silence to recover from that confession.

Ok, he didn't have to drag her that far.

He didn't have to! But he had done it and it let that particular not bother him that much. Everything had happened so quickly under the lens of his perspective; her asking for the bill, them leaving that usual restaurant, them reaching the main hall. He was too concentrated on the feeling he was experiencing on the tip of the tongue: that stinging urge to add that something to their previous conversation.

Still his nerves didn't want to collaborate with him that day, and he let her break that ice they had created between them.

"You can think whatever you want about me and my Terriermon. I won't judge you. I know it's a dumb thing, I repeat it."

Ruko put his hands in his pockets and stared at her as they walked next to the row of windows in indian file. He gulped without even noticing it and sighed due to an emotion he couldn't give a name to.

"You know, Jenny," They arrested their movements at once. "When I was a kid I used to play the Digimon cards game".

"I used to play Digimon videogames my father brought me from abroad. He was a memeber of those who invented the concept-"

"Yeah, but that's not the point," He cut her short in a way that didn't obviously befit a man talking to a woman. However he was aware the time they could spend together that day was coming to its end, so he needed to unleash that so alien need. They could talk about her father being one of the creators of a franchise he used to love as a child in another occasion -because it surely interested him!-. "I just wanted to tell you there was this card I had; it was a Renamon card, a very powerful one. I don't know if you have ever seen a Renamon, but, well, I was very affectionate to that card. I would use it in every tournament I attended to; I would rely on it when victory wasn't at hand, and sometimes I would find myself looking at it in a very intense way as if there was some kind of special connection between us".

He was feeling a bit ashamed at that moment; his face had transformed in a way Jenny found funny, judging by the very wide smile he was ignoring due to the wave of embarassment that had hit him.

"I really appreciate it, thank you," She brought a palm to her heart and closed her grey orbs. "You have never seemed that kind of person who opens up that easily to people. I'm so glad you did this, it means so much for me and our friendship. I know I couldn't really hide what I've felt after having told you about Terriermon, but you didn't have to push yourself that far. Yet you have gone beyond your limits and I can't express how important this is to me through words..."

He scratched his head nervously, but he managed to grin in that hot desert his being had turned into: he needed water so much! He couldn't help licking his flaming lips due to that irritating thirst.

Ah what could he have said?!

"I feel like I should have told you about this at the restaurant, but I kept myself from adding any kind of story to yours. I," His lids started scorching at the same time his heart began its arrhythmia. "I thought you needed some time to deal with your bad memories, and, even if I wanted to help you in some way, I just knew staying in silence was the best way to respect you I could choose."

She didn't hesitate before grabbing his hand and cradling it with hers; of course she used both during that heartwarming moment, one of her thumbs repeatedly rubbing his knuckles.

"You're a very considerate person and I will never blame Fate because it decided to make us meet."

She couldn't keep that pose for too long, but he could still perceive that blissful touch on his skin even when she wasn't holding his hands anymore.

Unfortunately, once more the clock that was hanging on the surface of a coloumn ,which was near to them, indicated the time of the conclusion of their pleasant meeting.

"I think it's time for you and Terriermon to reach the gate," He finally joked, feeling like he had surprisingly calmed down in such a short span of time.

"Yeah, we shoud hurry," She hugged that unexpected playful mood showing him a wink and raising her phone.

Like always, when her heels were about to leave, he invited her to stay for some seconds, having remembered he wanted to tell something else; yes, they only were imperceptible seconds, but they represented an immense eternity of happiness to him.

"Jenny, I was thinking," There were the obnoxious palpitations sounding like a drum in his ears. "I was thinking I could take you for a ride someday. Maybe I could help you overcome your fear. It's so debilitating to be aware a group of bullies is the reason why you won't try exhilaration of riding a motorbike."

"Oh I don't really know, Ruko..." She tensely made her pupils migrate from righ to left without a break

"I promise I won't go that fast at the beginning!"

"Only at the beginning?" She patted her foot making a serious atmosphere surround her frame.

He couldn't believe she wasn't teasing him, though; Jenny wasn't the type who liked teasing as much as he did, but he was so certain she was doing that right now. Actually both eventually bursted in laughters, keeping their stomaches like kids who have just pulled a prank on someone and are enjoying their success.

Who knew how it would have been if Jenny and him had known each other since their childhood, he found himself silently asking with a sour taste in his mouth, which could only increase the further she got away from him and disappeared from his sight after that beautiful day.

One of the most beautiful days he had experienced in his entire life, he considered pressing the spot Jenny's thumb had caressed: he could smell her perfume on it and he hoped that could remain during his flight too.

Absorbing that scent through his nostrils, he prepared himself to what that day had in store for him.

And what it had in store for him...

He was in a sort of daze thanks to the genuine experience he had had with Jenny, but this didn't mean he couldn't recognize the identity of a young man hiding his face behind a questionable magazine.

"You were following us?!" Ruko spatted tearing the cheap magazine away. Yang complained at his rude action, mumbling something about the fact he had reached the best part of his careful reading. Still Ruko didn't have enough patience to listen to a single word coming from the young man's ridicolous whining.

"C'mon, R-Ruko," Yang begged, but the older man was determined to drag the magazine higher and higher, exploiting his colleague's shorter height. "If y-you don't stop, I won't show you any of those chicks. And we do know so well y-you have a soft spot on roaring ladies on motorbikes," He managed to get back the object of his desires with a jump, but he remained with his arms raised for some seconds, smirking with malice and cackling while keeping his mouth shut. "Or maybe you don't like those kinds of women anymore."

"Try saying that again!" Ruko fumed, which made Yang snigger loudly now as he had immediately taken the bait.

"Oh-Oh someone immediately gets who I'm talking about. So-So adorable. I haven't mentioned any name. Yet...You are already thinking about her".

"I'm not!" It was pissing Ruko so much to realize he couldn't find any valid argument he could use to defend himself from his taunts. "I'm not! I'm not!" Why did he have to act in such a childish way!?

"I find that w-woman to be a great match for you," Pressing his chest with his magazine, Yang tried striking a sincere opinion up. "At the first sight of hers I wasn't that sure...I have always seen our Eagle as a man who would find a hot-headed, fiery woman to tame. Instead, you found a lady who's taming you, and that's-that's amazing. The way she-she manages to relax you and make you feel confortable...The w-way you opened up to her so naturally..."

It was so clear Yang had been overhearing them for a while, and that would have been the topic of his ruthless outburst, if the younger man's take on the couple hadn't perforated the tissue of his heart.

Did they seem so...Beautiful from other people's point of view? Did they? For real?

"You are," He began, as unsure as a deer walking in an open meadow. "You are just a pullet that's still squeaking in its nest waiting for Mum to come. Yet you dare to talk about love-"

"L-Love, you say?"

Ruko was used to those grins of Yang's that would terribly anger his soul, even if the fact the younger man had arrived at the point of acting in that way to him was a success; when he got to know him, Yang didn't absolutely give him the vibes of a sociable person and someone he would like hanging out with.

Nevertheless, that smirk he was in front of now wasn't aiming at whetting a frustrated reaction from him; on the contrary, it looked like if Yang was almost moved, his eyebrows being less contracted than usual and his orbs shining of an light that irradiated affection.

He was...

He was...

"I am..." Ruko started sweating profusely, and Yang probably noticed that as he attempted to play it down ,sacrificing himself.

"Have you-you admitted that? Is our Eagle entering mating season? Is he?"

"You do like to cross the limit that's between life and death, pullet".

And he chose accurately to cover his head before Ruko made his magazine crash onto it.

An emergency landing that had gone very badly.

XXX

[ In which a third and fourth wheel get into their blossoming love story without having received any invitation of sort...From Fate either.]

When he went out of the traditional japanese house he still shared with his father, Ruko thought the world was about to end. The rain violently hitting the ground was so thick he couldn't even see where he was putting his feet on; in the horizon he could discern huge cumulonimbus advancing, menacing.

Welcome, rain summer season, he winced, giving a glance at his motorbike, which was parked next to the main gate.

Surely there had been a time during which he would go anywhere while riding his motorbike, not caring about atmospherical conditions at all. However he had grown judicious about his passion; he was so immature at so many other levels of his being, but he had learnt how important to know his limits when it came to riding was.

wasn't really a word he liked imagining on his person, but he knew he had developed a knowledge about the matter that was enough to make him understand that day it was better if he took the underground.

Lame, he threw tantrums in his mind, but he wasn't a reckless teen anymore.

Better safe than sorry, Jenny would have said, wouldn't she?, He wondered during his trip to the airport, once again losing himself in the memories of Jenny he would meet soon.

The first flight of the day had been cancelled, but he would have never been absent at their meetings, even when he had a fever. He couldn't just spend a week without seeing her -which was pretty embarassing to him, if he dwelled on that more insistently-. He couldn't just mentally depict a week during which she wouldn't teach him about new idioms and wise sayings.

Who knew what she would have said if she had been sitting on the seat of the train; right there, next to him. What would have such a grey day represented according to her refreshing view about the world?

If he could be sincere to himself, such a dark day didn't promise any good to him, even if he appreciated rainy days more than people could imagine. They could be a good mirror of his own interiority.

But Jenny would tell me Sun will always shine after a thunderstorm, he weakly smiled at himself, at his reflection on the wet glass.

It was incredible how silly these reasonings would have sounded to his past self, to what he used to be some months ago. After all, hadn't he admitted Jenny was a sort of magical being more than once? She had truly been able to change him in such a short span of time. Maybe change wasn't the word he would have used: it was more like if he had welcomed aspects of life he had been rejecting for years, and it had happened in the most natural way, just like a hug.

Nevertheless, that day wasn't going to bring him and his heart good news.

He could suddenly feel that after finally stepping in the airport, the aseptic light washing his body and giving him chills: a mocking omen of what it was going to happen.

In truth the first person he met that morning didn't really convey him any bad hunch: it was the usual Yang wearing a towel on his head as prudence hadn't graced him yet.

"You really dashed through this shit," He commented, leaning on the backrest of a chair.

"Y-yes, I did!" Yang exclaimed with emphasis. His orbs were shining of excitement about that folly he liked calling heroic feat . From Ruko's perspective, he looked like a child waiting to be praised by his father; he truly was a kid at heart, that was what Ruko would think whenever he complimented the young man about him doing a great job during a flight. "I defeated one of the worst t-thunderstorms I've ever seen in my life on my baby. I probably almost destroyed the t-tyres but maintenance day is near. Don't you think I've got such a-a perfect technique at riding?"

"No, I'm not impressed at all. When I was as young as you I would reach such high speed rates I wouldn't become such a big wet pullet like you," Ruko said apathetically, rolling his eyes before checking his phone: Jenny was slightly late, wasn't she?

"W-what is it?! Do you have period or are you so unpleasant because your damsel isn't here yet?"

Ruko didn't pronounce any word at that cheap attempt at joking with him. He limited himself to puff so hard that air was also coming out from his nostrils ,like always; not a wonder if Yang believed he had suddenly become a scared matador in front of the most rebel bull he had ever faced in his whole career.

That wasn't enough to stop him, though. After all their relationship was also based on those light bickering that would make the whole flying crew laugh as well some tourists passing by next to them.

"Eh, I wouldn't be surprised if she was late because she-she has found a boyfriend. It-it isn't like that woman looks as a masochist to me."

Ruko would have really made the chair Yang was sitting on roll over, if Jenny hadn't approached Ruko at the same time, her petite heels rushing on the tiles.

Ruko couldn't absolutely care about Yang who had got pale and had brought his knees to the chest, so terrorized by the consequences of his buffoonery: that time he was about to risk his skin. It was so likely he would have worshipped Jenny on his knees, as if she was some kind an angel on Earth, if he hadn't still been shaking like a leaf.

Obviously Ruko's entire attention was focused on Jenny and her summer coat that didn't seem to have just come from the thunderstorm developing outside.

"I'm so sorry I made you wait, but today my plans changed at the last minute," Her explanation died at its very last letter as she felt that urgent need to pant.

"You didn't have to worry that much, Jenny," Ruko's voice mixed with her short breath, as shy as a teen crushing on someone for the first time. In the meanwhile he covered Yang's figure -in the case he got strange ideas-.

"Oh and what w-was that..." He heard: intermittent chuckles came from behind him and made his eyebrows twitch, but he managed to ignore that nuisance...That time at least.

Once more Jenny became the only living being of his world.

"Oh you must just hear what happened to me this morning," She could finally inebriate him with her ease at talking. "I was prepared to come here, but my phone rang and a friend of mine asked me if we could go together to the airport. My friend is in IT like me, but we work for different companies in Seoul. Yet today we can take the plane together like we used to some years ago!"

"Cool, I guess," He turned to swiftly beckon at Yang, almost if he was trying communicating with him telepathically.

Just dare to touch this woman while Jenny is here and I'll make you turn back into your egg, That one was his message and he did hope Yang understood what he wanted to tell him with that so creepy glare. He did know Yang would immediately attempt to hit on the woman, even if he was older than him: as if his younger colleague would worry about age; indeed, he had got to know about him only dating older women so far. A freak in his twenties flirting with Jenny's friend...This isn't what I need, absolutely!, He mentally shouted, gnashing his teeth at the only imagination of such a weird scenario. "So where is she?"

"Oh no, no: it's a he!" She promptly corrected him, entertained. "I left him at a newsstand," Performing an amateur pirouette, she pointed at a pile of journals peeping behind a colourful glass, as vivacious as their cover. She streched her neck to find out where her friend was, while Ruko could only stand still and use a hand to close his mouth that didn't just want to close on its own, like a normal mouth would.

A he! A friend. And a he..., Ruko reflected, a little alarm bell started flashing as Jenny raised her arm to invite a tall blonde man to stop browsing through some -maybe?-novels on sale and join her.

"Oh w-well, this is a turn of the story nobody expected, especially you," Yang took advantage of the empty moment to talk to Ruko's back again. He didn't really want to roam through the airport without a destination and miss this interesting distuption of the events. "He's also rather hot," He added without thinking twice and cashing a powerful kick on a shin, which made him emit a not that human-like yelp.

He insintinctively stood up and repeatedly hopped next to Ruko, pressing his leg against his chest and putting an immense effort to maintain his balance in that bizzarre movement.

Ruko would have gladly pushed him back to his seat or -even better- he would have pushed him away like if the younger man was a fly fluttering around and whose presence wasn't that welcome.

However he unluckily had to deal with something that was even more nagging than Yang; even more tedious; even more intolerable, so detstable he would have smush him against a window like a mosquito in a white summer night.

And what was this subject -he had known for two seconds- doing to deserve such a special treatment from him?

He was staying too close to Jenny.

"Alex, this is Ruko," Jenny quietly introduced the newcomer to him and he didn't feel guilty after having put much strength while squeezing his skinny hand. Ruko could swear he had glimpsed a dark bracelet slipping out of the sleeve of his shirt. "While this is..." Jenny didn't conceal her struggle at remembering the name of the young man wearing that improvised towel on his head.

"R-Ruko's colleague," He stuttered, reaching out to greet Alex and letting himself be taken aback by his porcelain skin, which was so delicate he could see his veins pulsing beneath it, and by his almost transparent light blue orbs. "R-Ruko's colleague who's not cosplaying Holy Mary," He stupidly joked, still alienated by the otherwordly appearance of the subject. Ruko didn't find that line funny at all. He was too tense to realize Yang was making fun of this man he could only describe as a weirdo, so he brutally threw the towel against the floor, leaving Yang's hair more ruffled than ever.

"Jenny didn't manage to tell me about you all while we were on the taxi," Alex meekly smiled at them, a grin that didn't really reach his spectral eyes; indeed, it seemed to make that melancholy halo surrounding him expand. "But I hadn't understood she had become friends with two pilots."

Ruko crossed his arms, taking that statement badly without a logical reason. He couldn't help growing more and more suspicious about that surprise the day offered him, and barked at him...Not even getting near to making him flinch.

"And who is this Alex?!" He didn't want to adress to him directly either. The question was directed to Jenny and only her, and that behaviour was already enough to make Yang's ears perk.

"Alex has been an university mate of mine, back when I was in America," Jenny calmly replied, perhaps feeling the heavy atmosphere that meeting was weaving.

"We got closer while making reasearch together."

"Yes, but I already knew Jenny, in truth," Alex placidly rectified. "Our fathers collaborated to create the Digimon game. We would occasionally meet when we were toddlers."

It's useless to illustrate Ruko's reaction at those innocent words: borrowing an expression Yang would have used at that right moment...He was totally dying inside; some little wooden boat was fighting against the highest waves inside of him, reeling to find even the faintest flash coming from a far lighthouse, its salvation.

"Childhood friend-friends," Yang whispered in his ears. "It's such a bad tale to hear. Imagine their fathers discussing about an-an arranged marriage. Not s-so unlikely, if you ask me."

Ruko's chest rumbled with a crescendo of anger Yang could clearly perceive. He landed on his heels, cautious but curiously looking at Ruko who was staring at Jenny and Alex in turn. His was a burned wrath: it was a fury that was blending with a repressed sadness meandering from the bottom of his desires. It was what he was feeling while just seeing Jenny and Alex talking about their past, a past he didn't figure in.

"So," He rudely interfered in their conversation. "Aren't you hungry, Jenny? Because I am," He couldn't keep himself from underling his with too much emphasis. He was also about to approach her, but Alex politely nodded at him, thinking he was really going to have lunch with them.

He would have never joined their special lunch! Never and never!, He imagined himself stomping his feet like a toddler making a fuss about some toy.

"Oh surely I am," She finally paid attention to him. "Alex is too. He has been working on algorithms since last night. He must need protein to keep on working on those."

Ruko winced, frowning as much as he could.

"Algorithms, uh."

"Do you know how they work?" Alex seemed surprised, interested in the possibility of chatting about programming with another person.

"Huh, surely I know them," Ruko puffed his chest, cockily. "I used to spend afternoons and night on...Algorithms for scho-"

"Idiot," Yang hissed, pinching on his arm, but Ruko had already made a fool of himself in front of the woman he liked.

Actually, both Alex and Jenny were chuckling, sharing some exhilarating glances at each other.

"Let's say my algorithms are a bit harder than those," Alex commented with composure. "Still they rule your world too. Avionics softwares. I bet you know about them."

Ruko and Yang remained in silence, dull orbs squaring the lean man. Ruko was detesting the way he was treating him like an ignorant.

He was exploding like a bomb.

"Well, I pilot planes. I don't care about how they work. That's our stuff's shit to deal with," He had made an immense effort at keeping his calm, but the tone of his voice was laced with the wish to challenge that stranger. "Just like I don't know algorithms, you can't pilot planes like me. And take in account I'm called the Eagle in my company; there's a reason if I'm called like this," Instead there was no reason behind him touching his hat.

A stony blight blew between the space dividing the two couples. Even Jenny didn't know what to say, but he was feeling so proud of the way he had held back for Alex, who had been mocking him since the moment they had met in his fervid fantasies.

"Have-Have you finished this circus?" Yang nudged at him, embarassed in his stead. "That was pathethic," He sighed, thinking about what he could do to amend his colleague's mistakes.

Fortunately Jenny was used to Ruko's behaviour -and she appreciated him the way he was just like it happened when it came to her other friends-. She clapped her hands in delight, announcing it was lunch time to rewind time back to some minutes before.

And no, Ruko couldn't do anything to convince her to leave Alex and Yang behind them. He could just accept that so obnoxious curse of the events that was only meant to worsen, as ,when they eventually reached , the special group had to face the fact only tables for two people had remained empty. After all, Ruko and Jenny's table was destined for two people and that place was usually so crowded only those tables lying next to the windows wouldn't be occupied by anyone...And coincidentally they were the smallest.

Jenny observed the situation and relied on her problem solving skill before turning to the three men and expressing her idea.

"We can't really wait for other bigger tables to be freed. So why don't we benefit from this unforeseen occasion and we try getting to know those we don't know that well better?" She pulled a pretty baffled Yang's sleeve and attracted him where she was standing in order to create new set of couples. "In this way I will be able to talk to Ruko's colleage while Ruko and Alex can socialize at the same time."

"This-This is a smart move," Yang timidly complimented her, assuming she had come up with that plan to make Ruko and Alex come to terms (as if Alex had ever acted rudely to Ruko, though!). "B-But," He babbled, feeling Ruko's intimidating glare shredding his flesh. "But I can't accept, Jenny-San. I'm so sorry, really, I don't know anything about computers and stuff. I can't even talk about Microsoft Excel...I-Imagine", He didn't let her reply as he had already hopped back next to Ruko, giving him a nervous smile.

"At this point let's determine who will sit with whom through a draw!" Ruko stated, placing his hands on his hips with confidence and ignoring Yang suggesting him that he shouldn't push his luck that far.

"I think it is a great idea too," Jenny agreed just like Alex who promptly used an app, which annoyed Ruko as he thought Alex was taking over his brilliant offer. In truth, the blonde man hadn't spoken once, since he had understood Ruko didn't like him that much, indeed, at all.

He wasn't surprised if the man raged towards him when the app chose Alex would sit with Jenny.

"It must be a mistake!" Ruko barked, quite clumsily as he had been possessed by his reaction so badly he couldn't formulate a coherent thought. "This app mustn't be working propery or you just told us about the wrong outcome as you want to stay with Jenny!"

The woman covered her mouth with a hand, choking her gasp.

"Oh Dear," Alex slowly shook his head, probably realizing what was going on. "I admit I wanted to sit next to Jenny because I would like to show her something on my PC I couldn't show her on the plane, but the results are accurate. I can let you check the chronology of the app, if you don't believe me".

Ruko was still unleashing his unmotivated hatred against Alex, their noses almost touching. Poor Alex didn't appear that scared, though, but he was a type that wouldn't externalize his emotions that easily; if he did, he would still look so sad and spectral -like Yang and Ruko had noticed-.

"Hm, if you don't know R-Ruko," Yang tried grabbing him from behind, forcing himself not to burst in laughters for the nth time that day. "Time won't stop for you. M-moreover it isn't that gentleman-like to make a lad-lady starve."

The thunderstorm finally ceased. Ruko blinked at Jenny more than twice, at that woman who gifted him with one of her bright smiles; he didn't really want to make that smile fade... Moving his head to Alex from Jenny, his shoulders sagged and he headed for his table without adding a single word.

"L-look, Ruko, I'm not used to be the one saying this, as in my life out of here I'm t-the one making shit and being kept out of trouble...But let me say you're screwing this so badly," Yang couldn't wait for them to read the whole menu to release his inner opinions. All in all, he knew he would order a bowl of crisps; the menu was more useful for him to hide himself behind it and speak without being spotted by Alex and Jenny, who were sitting quite far from them. "O-Okay he might be that kind of dude you would never go out with, if you want to look for women."

"What are you talking about?!" Ruko huffed, leafing through those usual salads and not feeling them that fascinating anymore. How could he feel their spark, if she wasn't there, sitting in front of him and babbling about their ingredients and properties?!

"I m-mean, he's a hot dude objectively. He would steal the attention f-from me. Not fair."

Ruko merely shrugged at him, occasionally making his pupils roll to -his!- Jenny leaning forward to that other man -who wasn't him...- in order to look at who knows what on his notebook. "I think Jenny-San seems t-to be a very quiet and level-headed person. Jelousy m-must exist in a relationship but-"

"I'm not jelous! I'm not!" He gave a punch to the table, making the napkins container fly upwards and returning to its place with a thud.

"It-It's not like it is a negative thing, you know..."

"But it doesn't have anything to do with me!" The pace of the way he was turning the menu's paces increased, as Yang's voice and the sighting of Jenny standing to sit next to Alex blended. It increased and increased until Yang kept him from generating a disaster.

"I do k-know where this would lead to. Once my friend smashed a-a glass with his bare hands out of jelousy...And it wasn't just a problem concerning the staff of the pub we were in...W-We are roommates, y-you know..." Yang slapped his forehead at that memory.

"Should I laugh?!" Pissed amethysts devoured him, finally detaching from Jenny's silhouette. It had started a tug of war between them. "Should I laugh after having been compared with your idiot friend?!"

"C-complain as much as you want, but you are only showing me someone who's worse at love than my friend exists." Yang brought his arms behind his head and made his chair rock backwards. He let himself swing in the complacency he

was tasting at that moment. "Just t-think about a woman like Jenny having to choose between such a grumpy being and a caring angel."

Ruko didn't waste time before stomping on his foot and making him fall back on the table. That movement was so abrupt he could hear Yang's cervical painfully crack.

"You do think you are a love guru, aren't you?" Ruko pressed his hand on his, not being aware of what he was even doing. He was really losing control like Yang had implied! It couldn't have been! Furthermore, why talking about love? That word...Love. It was too powerful, wasn't it?

"Not-Not really a l-love guru," Yang was stammering so hard now, which was betraying the fear he was slightly feeling along with that insane sensation of satisfaction.

" The reality is that you don't know about love at all. You are talking about people being bad at it, but the truth is that you have never experienced love in your short life. You just pick on women and take them to bed abandoning them the following morning!"

It was funny to realize some months ago at that hour Ruko's hand was gently enveloping Jenny's to cheer her up, while now he was rudely holding Yang's hand, flattening it without balancing his strength.

It was hilarious to realize some months ago at that hour Ruko was staring at Jenny's dreamy features that were being about to be awfully painted of a hazy concern...While now he was observing his colleague's rather sweet traits being stiffened by an accentuated melancholy.

"W-well, I s-surely wish I had grown in a different way, but..." Now it was Yang's time to point his sad eyes at Jenny, who was calling a waiter to -finally- order her and Alex's lunch. "I don't know anything about love, it's true, but I-I can understand when a man is so into a woman he fell with her the first time he saw her just standing somewhere, humming a happy song to herself, who knows...His world suddenly turned off and incredibly s-started rotating around a stranger; the curse of meeting such a great girl and not being able to talk to her in a correct way without looking like a fool."

Somehow Yang's words were making Ruko's head lower more and more. It wasn't feeling like if he was ashamed, but his ears were on flame, his body parts were pulsing according to the elevated rhythm of his palpitations. Yang's patchwork of corny descriptions unrolling so rapidly felt so vivid to him and it wasn't weordly annoying Ruko that much. On the contrary it was bringing him back to that meeting with Jenny he had lived in his mind so many times ago, as if it was a videotape.

Jenny standing in the check-in area with so much elegance he could have never helped noticing her.

Her humming to herself and him wanting to hear that voice again and again.

Their first meeting already making him shutting his surrounding and his ability to speak off.

"You're just a-a stubborn type, but stubborness...And shyness will only lead you to failure, believe me."

That statement had been so clear and fluid; there was no deeper meaning he had to explore: the answer was there, hard to accept but as transparent as water. It didn't matter if it was that hard for him to accept.

Examining Jenny's content conversation with that Alex made him wonder what was the reason why he was so reluctant about his feelings for her. Indeed, why was he so stubborn -to repeat Yang's exact definition-? Might it be her soft hair he wished to caress? Might it be her body he had always found so enchanting?

Immersed in his thoughts, Ruko didn't utter a word throughout his lunch. He would often slightly lift his chin or roll his eyes to still fall in the temptation to see how absorbed Jenny was by that man who had entered his day without being invited, just like some unforeseen thunder.

He could swear Jenny would occasionally mimick him, though, maybe sensing his gaze on her from afar.

And this was how their lunch went. He couldn't understand if it had lasted like an eternity or like the beat of a butterfly.

Who knew. Life was such a big mystery, but it wasn't that big mystery when it came to comparing it with his emotions.

He managed to come to reality for a second, only to check at his clock and sigh heavily as that day was gone. That day with Jenny, at least, as the day itself was so long and maybe it was going to feel even longer.

Because he hadn't spent that usual yet special corner of time with Jenny. He hadn't been alone, it was true, but he had been along with someone who wasn't Jenny, his Jenny.

She wasn't even going to bid him goodbye...For real? The mere thought was driving him mad, it was making his steps heavier, it was making everything around him spin. He did wish Yang's shoes would stop emitting that annoying tick sound; he didn't care about the fact his colleague had stayed in silence for an hour just like him: he just wanted that stupid sound to stop, as he was getting more and more irritable.

It had to stop!

"Could you please walk like a true man would, not like if you are wearing-!"

"Heels?"

Ruko's heart dived in that strong surprise effect. That kind voice appearing next to him from nowhere had made him curb of snap, the reflex of that movement made his hat fall at Jenny's feet.

"Since the so-called Ruko's colleague told me he wanted to talk to Alex before we leave, I thought you would appreciate to talk a bit to me," Jenny smiled, bending to take his hat and clean it from the dust that could have ended up there. "After all, today Fate hasn't been that kind to us, has it?"

Ruko had grown tongue-tied and you would think at that point he had grown used to that, but he hadn't at all, instead.

"We only have two minutes," He -pretty stupidly- replied.

"And it's a pity because today I had another plan," She passed a tanned hand through her dark blue locks, displeased. "I would have loved having a lunch with you all, seeing such different lives getting connected." She looked at the huge windows she had known for so long, caressing her long braid as her grey spheres merged with the cloudy sky waiting for both out there.

That colourless picture was what he needed to get out of those ropes nailing his personality down. Jenny was the best-looking woman he had ever met in his whole life for sure, but her beauty resided somewhere else and that was what...

Made him fall so hard for her.

He crossed his orbs, stumbling in his still position because finally the answer was there.

"Ruko, are you sure you're feeling well today?" She approached him expressing her concern, predictably touching his shoulder as now he knew it was her own way to show her closeness to others.

"I was just thinking silence doesn't fit the Jenny I know at all," He didn't notice how his body had taken over his mind, just like back when he made a fool of himself by trying taming the flow of an escalator to reach her. He was touching her shoulders too, giving birth to a sort of hug that just needed another push: she would have directly fallen in his chest and Ruko would have kept her next to his heart, longing for her to stay.

"Do you think so?" She slowly walked through the single letters her rethorical question was made of. Ruko couldn't read in her tidy soul, but he had made her unable to speak for the first time: he had infected him with the most blissful and innocent plague.

Still Jenny would be better than him at social relationships in that unusual condition that was too odd to her: she would always manage to compensate words with her spontaneous gestures.

She stepped forward, a movement that led her a millimeter away from him, and put the hat on his head.

It was a very playful way to part, but not the best one as that title would be given to each encounter of theirs: the following meeting was always better than the previous one.

"I think silence is one of the simplest elements of our life," She returned next to her trolley, leaving the warmth of her skin on his again. "Silence can speak, you know? For example..." She nudged at him with a large grin on her face: apparently that day was showing him new sides of that unique woman, and he loved everyone of those! "Your silence before lunch did tell me you don't like Alex at all."

He started coughing at once, a fist hitting the center of his chest...And his hat falling once again.

"Ahaha, what is that supposed to be, Ruko? Do you want to-to pretend you're dying? You mostly look like a dude suffering from acid reflux". Yang showed up next to him along with Alex, who got near to Jenny still embracing his taciturn behaviour. "He's in his thirties, y-you must be...Compassionate."

The first Ruko was directing to his chest now flew against Yang's stomach: two punches that made him thank Heavens he had only eaten that bowl of crisps.

"Jenny, be compassionate of him too. He's young, but he's a complete idiot," And another hit almost destroyed his ribs during that gig that made almost Alex laugh.

"I would stay with you until night, but we are already late for the gate..." Jenny implied the announcement that was supposed to arrive sooner or later.

"Very late," Alex seemed to be reticent about something, looking at Jenny with those gorgeous ill diamonds of his. She blushed evidently and Ruko was already going to scream, misunderstanding Alex's message.

However he was fortunately next to a person who would beckon at him to reveal him hidden realities. Actually the set of gestures Yang used wasn't the usual one that had the purpose to make him shut up and mock him.

"It's all right," The young man winked at him and his anger sagged, fortunately - because that anger would have ruined that last moment of the day with Jenny; it would have kept him from shaking her hand: another pretext to have a physical contact with her.

"Who knows if we'll see that ghost again," Ruko could only think about saying that as a form of relief when the two had got far away from them -reluctantly-.

"Ah ah, my Captain, don't forget he's a-a friend of Jenny's. Y-you'll have to invite him at your wedding, willy-nilly," Yang shrugged with that perpetual cocky grin of his on his face.

That attitude would really never fade. Ruko could chase him through the whole airport but he would still keep on teasing him. Nevertheless that day he didn't feel like punishing the younger man because of his long tongue. After all he had surprisingly played the role of the yarn helping Ruko get out of his labyrintine reflections.

"You're really impossible...Always prying in other people's business."

"It's not m-my fault if I want to support you in the best way I-I can. It's l-like if I've known you for a longer time. You're soulmates to me."

Ruko was impressed and shaken by that confession. Sometimes Yang would come up with such pure speeches he did sound like a child. Still Ruko didn't mind about that, especially that early afternoon Sun hadn't wanted to kiss yet. Therefore he brought himself to encircle Yang's shoulders with his arm, making him blink for an uncountable number of times, mire than confused.

"I just want to thank you because, ehm," It was hard for Ruko to externalize that nice intention. "I think you helped me today with that tale of yours."

"T-that tale, you say?" Now Yang's puzzlement was reaching the highest level.

"Yes, that tale about you falling for a girl who was singing a song. It was a really cheesy story to tell me, but something tells me it wasn't something you invented from scratch."

As if Ruko had pressed some button, Yang began wriggling in his friendly vice like a bird attempting to fly for the first time.

"I-I," He swallowed a bittersweet taste his saliva had assumed.

"You?" Ruko impishly tightening his grip. He was enjoying that overturning of roles greatly.

"I-I don't know, maybe..."

"Maybe?! We don't want to hear uncertainty here," He proceeded with that silly game, until when Yang opened the drawers of his memory, feeling like a train had run over him.

"W-well, there was a girl, okay...A girl humming a song in my elementary school's yard. She was a classmate of mine...And she was such until we finished high school. Still we-we never talked, because I stutter and I-I can't fight against my own awkwardness..."

"Now I do understand what you wanted to tell me back there," Ruko freed him but not stopped observing his colleague, who was clearly in a state of melancholy while opening up about his past.

"I just w-wanted to keep you from acting like my teen self, who eventually resolved to give her my jacket button...Hiding it under her desk. I never had regrets thanks to that decision, but..."

"But you still have regrets," Ruko continued, scratching his nose without needing to do that. "Otherwise your prep talk at the restaurant wouldn't have any value."

"I guess..."

"Where is she now, though? Do you know it?" Ruko hated admitting it but now he was the one sniffing around someone else's life.

"She was into i-ice skating. She was a very sad person, if you ask me. Something tells me s-she never liked doing that sport. Despite that she was great at it, so I-I think and hope she's pursuing a successful career in the field. As far as c-concerns myself I know past is p-past. I rarely find myself recalling her, because she's only a shadow belonging to a part of my life, i-isn't she? We just weren't soulmates like you and J-Jenny-San."

Ruko would have liked to say he didn't believe to any of those lies Yang had just told him, but he let the younger man laugh and point at him, holding his trembling belly and making some tears fall through his cheeks.

Tears of happiness and tears of sadness.

A rainy sky full of clouds that was hiding the brighest Sun.

XXX

[ In which others' misfortunes manage to give them the best day of their lives they deserved.]

Recollecting something was like scrolling a gallery of speaking photos in his opinion. It would be so amazing if photos could also talk: we could grasp that crumb of memory even more vividly and become lords of time. No long videos we have to sit through in order to relive a determined event; it would be enough a single frame and some flipping words to make us come back to that moment in an instant.

And make us forget about our present for a while. Maybe that was the reason why Ruko was concentrated on remembering the salient stages that took him...There.

The first image appearing in the folds of his mind was a phrantick young man making a sort of ticket flap in front of his nose. He annexed some short story to that piece of paper Ruko soon saw falling down on his hands.

"I-I found a way to enhance these gloomy holidays. You can't go to the beach, s-sure, but what about a day at an onsen? There it won't rain!" He had proceeded at babbling about his friend -with a capital "F"- and him who had bought a scratch card days before. They would have announced they had won who knew how much money to the whole Tokyo, if they hadn't turned the card upside down and hadn't found out they hadn't won anything that was conparable with a bunch of yen. "Good for you," Ruko had snorted, fliddering with his cigarette. "Have fun at the onsen. There you two will find lots of single chicks."

"Ah, no-no. In tr-truth my roomate is too busy composing invectives towards the world. He can't stand a-accepting he's missed the chance to escape from the life of a poor mediocre university student. He isn't feeling like looking for onsen girls wanting a sha-"

"Ok, ok, I don't care. I have heard enough. Good trip to the onsen."

He had heard Yang breathing out forcefully from behind his back and slapping a hand on the fence.

"Look at these. W-What are they?"

"Three tickets. Do you think I'm dumb?"

"E-Exactly!" Yang had raised his voice so much he could have made people passing by the park turn their head. "Three: me, because I-I won't miss this hot occasion, you and...The sweetest of sweetest Jenny-San. J-Just imagine water falling down her skin, making it lucid and making her shine like a-a statue under the lights...Hm?"

"You are such a big pervert, I swear. Nobody would tell...Wait. What have you said?!"

The fragment of memory strangely froze at the moment in which he had completely lost his mind and truly thought he could have chained his colleague to the handrail.

"I-I swear, if a woman did this to me, I would be so thrilled...But a-a man! This is so unfair! I'm just a poor pilot who hasn't had sex for so long..."

Then his personal interior gallery switched to a series of segmented frames, which were chopped because probably they were too embarassing to him: him eventually convincing himself to actually invite Jenny; him struggling to tell her about that on the phone because someone wouldn't stop laughing like an obsessed in the background; and, oh Heavens, him picking Jenny up by his motorbike that morning.

He had promised her he would take her for a ride. He used to think it would only be hard for her; instead, something went wrong with his hormones and getting on the motorycycle became the hardest feat for him to do.

I hadn't taken it in account, okay?, He tried justifying himself. I hadn't taken in account I would ride my motobike with her...Yes, with those attached to my back.

In a nutshell, his cheeks went on fire throughout the entire trip and wind didn't have the effect on them he had been waiting for; how was it they got even hotter than his motorbike's engine as the time passed by?

I hadn't taken it in account...I hadn't taken it in account...I hadn't taken it in account!, He mentally repeated accelerating the scenes of the day -more ashaming than ever- as if he was using a special remote control.

"You p-probably hadn't taken in account you would be naked in an onsen bath, apparently. You are so, so, ashamed," Yang's stupid chuckle echoed in his ears and he jumped, as stiff as a trunk, splashing the water of the little pool and hurting his backside -his naked backside, but he didn't want to think about that-. Yang wasn't there though; he was nowhere to be seen just like his unbarable jokes. The only person who was relaxing next to him was Jenny, sitting on that step lying underwater and occasionally strechting her smooth neck to the starry sky. The more he did that, the more her clevage would show, surfacing from the warm water.

Oh no, no, that was another topic he didn't absolutely need to dwell on...With his eyes either, because down there something was starting stirring and making him move his legs out of blue due to the sensations coming from that spot of his body.

"We have been so lucky to find such a calm and serene night to come here, don't you think?" Jenny commented, keeping her orbs shut.

"Yes," Ruko murmured, too abashed to even raise his head and look at their gorgeous surroundings. "I was convinced we would have our baths inside, since this summer has been giving us only rain and thunderstorms. I wanted to go to Onjuku Beach this summer, but holidays are already coming to their end."

"Then just enjoy what the moment is giving you. There's nothing better than appreciating what we have got in our immediate present," She tenderly smiled, opening her beautiful spheres at long last: they were such a breathtaking sight below the night sky. "I think your muscles are too rigid though. We have come here to get rid of our stress, haven't we?"

When he saw her straightening her back and getting closer to him, he did get this odd impulse to repeatedly hit the tiles of the pool with his feet. She reached out to his biceps, jiggling them one to one and worsening the way he was drumming below them. He felt petrified under her touch, just like a sleep paralysis experience in which a presence sits astride on your chest.

"Relax!" She ordered while laughing, enjoying herself because of the fact Ruko's arms would get tense once again as soon as she left them. "Oh c'mon, do you always keep your muscles in this state ?"

"Whenever I pilot a plane I will get so concentrated on the flight."

"But now you are not piloting any plane. You're at an onsen and you have to eliminate toxins from your body," Jenny raised her thick eyebrows, still as playful as never before.

She swiftly passed at pressing her hands against his knees, dragging them downwards but they quickly returned to their bended position.

"You did this on purpose," She pointed her index him, tapping his cheek with it. She suceeded at tearing a laughter from that extremely nervous Ruko, who was feeling the effects of vasodilatation growing more and more. He wished he had done that on purpose! "Oh, I know!"

He bended his head at Jenny, her back facing him now. She was tinkering with her braid, while he was trying keeping his eyes glued to the roof of the building not to stare at that mellow expanse of skin.

"There!" She soon chirped, making him agape at the sight of her long hair being detached by the braid he had known for so long. Luscious blue hair sensually found freedom on the torbid water, each lock tending forward like a giant web.

She didn't waste any time reflecting about inhibition, which is what he would have done in her place: she grabbed his hand, certain about what she had planned to do, and dragged him on the stair upwards so their necks could easily lean on the wall of the sort of fountain that was behind them.

"Do like me. Breathe in and breathe out. And close your eyes, most of all," She soothingly whispered, gradually massaging his palm with her thumb and sending so many pleasant feelings through his own being. "Like this," She continued and he was involved in the swirl of her instructions, in the whirlpool of her breath mixing with his and becoming one like their hearts, pulsing together and being carried by the imperceptible waves caressing them.

"Is this what doing yoga feels like?" Rukob wondered in awe, opening his orbs as he couldn't stand seeing what was happening around him anymore. He didn't know what kind of magic that was, but he wasn't feeling that ashamed of staying naked next to her like before.

"Hm, I usually do yoga all alone. This is more like an attempt to connect with the universe along with a person..."

"Along with a person I feel like I've known in another life."

He didn't believe in parallel worlds or sci-fi stuff he didn't even want to commit himself to understand. He just knew both had basically externalized the same perception in chorus and Jenny's orbs were open-wide due to the shock.

"Do you think that too? For real?" She asked him about that with an extreme caution, but that didn't keep her from smiling widely. "I've been thinking about this feeling since the first time I met you. We were meant to meet for real, Ruko. I think so."

Her enthusiasm was making her tighten the hold on his hand considerably, her excited fingers making bubbles run away en masse.

And that was the moment when he could only think about doing that single right thing there, below the starry and dreamy firmament.

"Jenny, you are too tense. Why don't you close your eyes?" He tentatively started, gathering the confidence he needed to pull that off.

Still, Jenny would always be such a great surprise to him.

She would never betray that characteristic of hers, not even when she planted her lips on his, as gentle as a butterfly flying on her favourite fower. It was a kinda timid kiss but it was enough for him to want and get more, his arms hugging her hips without restraint and their soul giving him to the flaming passion.

...

"Ah yes, flaming passion," Yang said to himself, his black eyes growing dreamy, not certainly because of the alcoholic beverage. Finding that little spot on that balcony had been the greatest part of that hilarious day. He knew they would end up kissing, but he didn't think he would ever assist to such a moving romantic movie-like scene.

Who would have ever thought about that!

"Good job, My Captain," He grinned, proud, disappearing in the internal section of the bar when he realized they were standing to go who knew where.

"Oh well, I've-ve liked prying my nose in this love story, but I won't surely pry my nose in their private moment. Just congratulations, you two."

XXX

[ In which the author know some readers want him to get what he deserves too. Does he get that? A change of perspectives to definitely enwrap this long tale. ]

The clock had decreeded that day Yang Wen would lose his first flight of his schedule.

"N-not bad. Not bad. It's Japan's fault making the sky rain in every d-damned season. How can a man cope with paying a maintenance for his motorbike each month? How-How? Can you tell me?!"

Not that he was expecting a reply from the taxi driver, but the poor man surely believed the passenger had got so mad at him due to his silence, judging by the way he had slammed the car door.

There were so many curses he could have screamed at Mother Nature, but the more he would insult it the more it seemed Heavens would want to punish him.

Actually, he suddenly felt such a piercing pain in his thigh he believed he was going to die sooner or later. He almost fell but his trolley, offering him support, prevented him from crashing against the wet floor of the airport entrance.

"What in the hell," He spatted, touching his thigh to figure out what kind of movement could have triggered that excruciating Calvary...

Until he saw her. His pain's cause was wearing a long red coat and suspiciously checking the state of her white umbrella's tip.

White, I did see something w-white passing near to me, He gasped and let anger take its course in his veins.

"Hey," He approached her forgetting he couldn't really throw time away in that way. "Wha-What do you think you're doing, holding your umbrella like that? What is it? Are y-you wielding a sword?"

The young woman squared him from up to toe, her long wavy hair soaking wet just like her coat.

"And you?! What do you want from me? Is this how you demand people to lend you their umbrella? You're dripping wet, do you know that?" She had immediately activated her defensive mode, revealing herself not to be that friendly. At all.

The stranger handed him her umbrella, pushing him away in the process. If he had to be sincere with himself, her traits were unique starting from her dark skin to her big orbs expressing her desire to see him get away from her in a jiffy.

"Why the stare now?" She winced, putting her hands on her hips and not hiding her exasperation at his demeanor. "Look, it's not my fault if that umbrella is broken. My flight has been delayed, that thing didn't want to collaborate and I'm a nervous wreck because a freak is making me stay outiside. I risk to get a cold in this state, can't you see?"

It isn't that broken when it comes to hitting people with it, though, Yang bit his tongue, even if he didn't really care about that accident anymore. He was too entertained by this rebel filly who wasn't worrying about taming her tongue in front of a stranger.

"Oh whatever," She raised her eyes to the sky at his silence. "You're pretty creepy. Forget whatever reason that made you think it was a good idea to approach me today. Probably you're a fan or someone who just needs a woman to flirt with; you wanted my umbrella because I was the one using it, perhaps. Oh, I don't know. There are so many weirdos out there; what am I scandalizing about?"

"You-you do seem to like talking to me, though," Yang laughed heartily, giving her umbrella back to the young woman who was clearly blushing now.

"Or maybe I just like talking," She barked back, accepting the umbrella with a fierce motion and turning around with an indignant gait.

"Oh, this g-goes in the album of my defeats," He sniggered at himself, so amused by that encounter. "Like I always s-say, every experience with a woman is a treasure, especially with such a wild baby. Caliente. Why didn't she give me a slap, though. It always goes l-like that, doesn't it?"

After having put an end to that nonsense monologue, he saw her coming back, which made him rub his eyes in disbelief.

Maybe the slap is coming...?, He asked himself but she kept her distance, patting her boots on the ground with impatience.

"I was just thinking if we have already met somewhere. This doubt wouldn't have let me sleep in peace tonight. I'm made like this. And yes, I also wanted to apologize for my behaviour but add period and a sick manager to the picture. It's not hard to pity me."

He pretended to be thinking intensely about it. He couldn't deny she did look familiar to him, but the possibility of his suppositions to be true was so low, in his opinion.

"Hm, let me think, w-would I get a special treatment if I were a person you already know? I w-would gladly lie, then, because my colleague will be on such a bad mood today...He has to propose to her girlfriend, so I wouldn't miss the chance to distract myself for a bit for anything in the world."