Prologue

The door opened slightly and he whirled, the present in his hands, and a half smile on his face, until he caught sight of who it was that waited for him.

"Kourin?"

The dark-haired woman framed in the doorway looked at him out of tear-stained eyes. Her hair was messy, half-out of its clip and scattered across her pale cheeks, and her eyes red and swollen from crying. Her clothes barely matched, and her posture, slumped and dejected, alerted him to the fact that something was terribly wrong.

"Kourin?" he asked cautiously, bending and putting the present down on the bed, and then taking a step towards his friend. "What's happened?"

She cringed in on herself as her eyes squeezed shut. "Houjun…"

"Did anything happen to Hikou?"

She shook her head violently, and the sobs intensified.

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Genrou parked the car in the lot, and then, whistling, switched off the radio and lights as he pulled the key out of the ignition. Opening the door and sliding out, the black suede boots making firm contact with the ground, he looked up and wondered if Houjun had opened the present yet. It was their one-year anniversary, and it fell coincidentally on his lover's birthday. He had gotten him a set of silk shirts, complete with matching ties and wrist cuffs. Houjun had complained the other day that he had had no time to shop since the business began making headway. He had included a bottle of wine in the box, as well as a small packet of dark chocolate shaped in hearts. Berating himself for the extreme sap factor he had indulged in, Genrou locked the car and walked to the elevator.

@@@

"Kourin?" Houjun was getting alarmed by now. "Calm down. Tell me what's the matter?"

She shook her head at him, and then, looking away, breathed shakily, in, out, exhaling with a tremble of her slim shoulders. Then she straightened and looked at him directly, as his eyebrows knotted together, puzzled.

"I—I'm in love with you, Houjun."

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Still humming softly under his breath, Genrou stepped into the lift and pressed a button, leaning softly on the back rail. The numbers on the top row lighted up as the elevator ascended, and he thought about what else there would be. He had made reservations at a small restaurant tonight, a private affair, just him, Houjun and nobody else. Smiling to himself, he stood and jingled his car keys absentmindedly.

@@@

He blanched.

"What?"

She stepped closer, with determination and hope so clear in her eyes he began to feel trapped. "I mean it, Houjun. I've been with Hikou for so long…but when I heard you were back in town, and living here with your—your boyfriend, I couldn't hide it anymore. I—I love you, Houjun."

He was feeling slightly breathless now. "There—there's nothing I can do about that, Kourin."

Disappointment and hurt flared in her face, and he regretted what he said almost immediately. "I'm sorry."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she moved in front of him, and darted so quickly in front of him he barely had time to register her proximity. "No. You –don't– understand, Houjun."

And before he could reply to that, she took that final step and kissed him just as the elevator doors behind her opened.