Salty Coffee
Chapter 5 – Love Rules
"See!" Sarah pointed toward the vast skyline with not a cloud in sight, but was almost covered with different types of neon light signboards. "Quick! There isn't much time left." Sarah beckoned. Soujirou became speechless when he saw four characters standing out prominently with the help of the morning sun. " Did you see it huh? Did you?" Sarah asked nervously as she scrambled onto a stretch of low cement boundary in front of Soujirou so that both at facing each other at eye level.
" What exactly do you want me to see?" Soujirou finally spoke out after a short moment of silent. Sarah was startled and her left foot slipped a little. She clutched at the higher boundary with her right hand to try to regain her balance. " You'll will fall and break your leg. Get down from there." Soujirou coldly remarked and gave a yawn. " Grow up." Soujirou said and turned to walk away without waiting for Sarah. Sarah grabbed his arm from behind.
" Didn't you see anything?" Sarah asked, sniffing a little. Soujirou still had his head turned away, "No." Soujirou could feel Sarah's hand shaking but soon she released her grip. " Jaa." Soujirou said and quickened his pace. " Jirou! I love you!" Sarah cried out but Soujirou did not stop. " I love you! This is what I was trying to tell you." Sarah cried out again when the door closed behind Soujirou. Much to her disappointment, the door never opened again.
Behind the closed door, Soujirou was stumbling his way down the stairs and trying his very best to ignore Sarah's constant crying for him and of course, her love declaration.
Give it up…before it is too late. Soujirou sadly reminded himself. Yes…for the sake of Kaasan, give it up…before it is too late. For the first time, he allowed his tears to flow freely from his eyes after realizing that he might never get the chance to see or pinch that adorable sleeping face again.
~*~*~*~
" Are we going home?" Kenmarou asked when he noticed Soujirou's blank expression, but he received no answer so he could only waited patiently for the next instruction. "The rain water is salty." Soujirou remarked. "Huh?" Kenmarou was confused; he gave a thorough check at the opened umbrella above Soujirou. There is no hole. Kenmarou quietly confirmed that it wasn't the umbrella's fault. Then he took another look at Soujirou. His face was wetter than before but those extra moistures did not come from the sky.
" Err…yah. The rain is quite usual tonight. It is really salty." Kenmarou said while passing a clean handkerchief to Soujirou. " Wipe those rain water off before you catch a cold." Kenmarou continued. He had to be careful to tell the exact truth. " Arigatou." Soujirou gave him a grateful smile as he wiped his face dry with the handkerchief." So, are we going home now?" Kenmarou repeated his question. "No." Soujirou answered. " Bring me to this address." Soujirou said as he passed a piece of crumpled paper to Kenmarou. " Hai!"
It would be too late…if I were to give up now. And this time, for the sake of true love… Soujirou finally set a new affirmation for himself as his limousine wheeled off to the requested destination.
~*~*~*~
The detergent coated porcelain cup had accidentally slipped from Yuuki's hand and dropped dangerously onto the kitchen's cold tiled flooring. "Yuuki!" The lady boss yelled out as she rushed into the kitchen, for the third time. " Again?" exclaimed the lady boss. "Gomen! Gomen nasai!" Yuuki quickly apologized while she tried to get as many shattered pieces as possible into the dustpan with the help of an almost bald broom.
" This is the third cup you have broken tonight!" The lady boss stopped in front of Yuuki. She wasn't much taller than Yuuki was, but her beady eyes were very scary. " Bear in mind that I will dock the cost of these this cup plus the previous two from your salary." She informed and started scribbling some figures on a notepad. Yuuki nodded in silent.
" They need help at the coffee corner and be careful with those cups eh." Then she turned away from Yuuki with a final "Humph" and marched out of the kitchen. "So much for a night's work." Yuuki muttered to herself. Annoyance took over from the vague sense of discomfort when she had felt since she had met Soujirou. I must stay strong! I must inherit Tsukushi-chan weed power too! Hoosh! Yuuki shook her head to clear away the memory of that untimely coincidence in Rosebud café before stepping out of the kitchen.
~*~*~*~
"Yuuki-chan! This cup of latté is for table two." Yuri passed the cup of hot beverage to Yuuki. " Quick! There are lots of customers tonight." Yuri reminded before continuing with the rest of the orders. Wow! Business is really good tonight, especially female customers. Weird. Yuuki thought as she brought the cup of latté out from the kitchen. She could even hear sounds of excitement at various corners of shop – dinning area, queuing line and even at the door. What's the commotion about? Yuuki wondered.
"Table two…table two…" Yuuki recited the number as she searched for the table within the crowd and finally she found it. It was a corner table. " Here's your latté." Yuuki said as she placed the cup onto the tiny table, her eyes looking down. " Thank you." A soft voice projected out from the corner. This voice! Yuuki gasped with her head slowly tilted up. "Konbanwa." Soujirou meekly greeted with an uneasy smile pinned on his face. "Konbanwa." Yuuki greeted back, having the same expression as Soujirou. Both stared in silent.
Why is he here? Yuuki thought.
What am I going to say next? Soujirou asked himself.
Eventually, both glances fell onto the cup of latté on the table. "Err…sugar?" Yuuki asked when she realized that the container that was used for stocking sugar cubes was not on the table. "I need…some salt." Soujirou replied, looking a little disorientated. However, he immediately regretted for having this weird request. Salt? What the hell did I ask that for? Soujirou wondered. Soujirou finally decided to remain cool about this weird request, nevertheless, he must have looked as shock as he felt because Yuuki finally turned to him, looked him straight in the face and asked, " Are you sure?"
…To be continued
NN: Thank you for reading this fic. All your kind words have given me lots and lots (x1000) of motivation in my fic writings! THANK YOU!