Na disclaims: Super Gals does not belong to me. If it did, why would I be making this fanfic? It could have been a tv series already!

Chapter 3:  Getting lonely

The month passed, uneventful. Winter was easily dissipating, and turning into spring. It was now February.

Aya was running late, and her conscience did wonders in reminding her. Despite turning in early, she had slept in. It was all because of that stupid dream. It was the reason she hadn't heard her alarm clock ringing or the incessant knocking that was her ride.

Contrary to what she thought of the dream, it had not been horrible in any way. It had actually been pleasant enough to see it through the end. It wasn't every day you dreamed you were getting married, and to the man of her dreams to boot, whoever he was. He kept changing personas. But that was what it was, a dream. And Aya woke up to the reality that it was ten o'clock in the morning and she had an appointment at 10:30.

There was barely time to drop by the coffee shop and get her morning energizer. Her patients could wait a little longer. She needed caffeine in her system.

"The usual," Aya ordered, panting, as the attendant recognized her. Of all days, why did the elevator have to fail her today? The flights of steps she had run down had been good exercise, but she reserved exercise for weekends. And for good reason too.

The girl at the counter smiled sympathetically as she handed the plastic cup to Aya. The wondrous smell of cocoa and an unknown substance wafted through Aya's senses, and she paid the employee hastily. In her haste, she failed to notice the person behind her, and ended up on the floor, the contents of her cup spilling all over the immediate vicinity. This was not her day.

"Gomen nasai. Honto ni gomen nasai," She apologized profusely, in spite of her growing irritation. Why me????

Her victim turned out to be a man in his mid-twenties, around her age. He looked familiar. She couldn't place him, but she knew she had seen him somewhere. Her eyes traveled down to his shirt where there was a telltale brown stain. Aya stared at it, horrified.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to–let me wipe it off." A bunch of napkins were handed to her by the girl at the counter. Aya proceeded to dab at the offending spot. She was thoroughly embarrassed, and her cheeks were as red as a tomato.

"Don't worry about it."

It took a second for Aya's brain to process that. When it did, she blinked, and eyed him curiously. "What?"

"I said, don't worry about it. My coat will cover it anyway." The man shrugged, and gave her an amused smile. "I don't know about your coffee though." Aya dismissed it with a shake of her dark head.

"I'll just buy another one," Her hands instantly went to her purse, and produced a one hundred bill. But he was quicker.

"I'll have two of her usual," He said to the employee, and to Aya, "It's on me." She just nodded dumbly, not quite grasping the circumstances. The next minute, the same heavenly smell of caffeine registered in her brain.

"A-Arigato." Apparently, her manners were still intact. The auburn-haired man smiled again. Aya tried to smile too, to show her gratitude. However, the sudden realization that she was going to be late made her frown instead. Now, how was she going to get out of this situation without being rude?

"Um…I have to go." Began Aya, as she inched away towards the door. To her surprise, he grabbed her free hand to stop her, and offered her a ride. How the hell did he know she didn't have a car? She became suspicious and declined.

He tried to explain in that smooth voice of his. "I'm Hatake Souji…you work in Tokyo General Hospital, right? I've seen you a couple of times. I'm a general practitioner there." Ah, so that's where she had seen him.

"Yes. Hoshino Aya. Nice to meet you," Aya forced herself to offer her hand in a cordial handshake. He shook it, and she was happy to note that he had calloused hands. Calloused hands denoted that he was hardworking. That was good.

"So how about that ride?" He was quick to move on to the business at hand. She accepted, after deeming him trustworthy. Besides, she was running behind schedule. Losers can't be picky, right?

…

On crisp mornings like these, Rei chose to stay at home and flip through channels. He carried a cold personality, but that didn't mean he liked the chilly weather. The heater was on, but it did little to keep him warm. He was freezing, and maybe coming down with something. He coughed, and was followed momentarily by a sneeze. Okay, scratch that. He was coming down with several things. He turned his attention back to the plasma screen television set.

'Animal Planet. How informative,' He thought absentmindedly. The show was doing a documentary on mice. A mental image of a certain ebony-haired girl flitted through his head. This was not the most opportune time to be thinking about her. It was only two days ago that he had cleared his mind of her. He changed the channel.

The next station was screening Inu-yasha. The white-haired person with dog ears, whom Rei presumed as Inu-yasha was swinging an enormous sword around. As he stared at the display, Rei's thoughts immediately drifted to the dinner at Yuuya's house.

The whole affair had gone rather well. Better than he had expected actually. He had been taken aback when Mami told him Hoshino Aya was coming. More so when she appeared again. But his friends never expected him to speak much, so it probably hadn't been evident.

His mobile phone was ringing.  The LCD was flashing an unregistered number, and Rei picked it up, annoyed. The peace he had been experiencing had shattered. "Hello?"

There was no answer. The person on the other line was talking to someone else. Most likely the call was an accident. As he motioned to push the cancel button on his phone, he recognized the caller's voice.

How did she have his number?

And more importantly, to whom was she talking to?

…

She had been meaning to call him, and today seemed to be the only time she had. Her life had suddenly lost track when she had met him again, and she wanted it sorted out. Now. She wasn't a teenager anymore to let circumstances pave the way.

Mustering some courage, Aya entered the numbers she had memorized over the week. It was ringing, and she heard his deep voice over the static.

"Hello?" The simple greeting made her rethink her decision. Aya's timidity had lessened, but inwardly, it still had a major influence in her life. Luckily, her secretary came to the rescue and interrupted.

"Sensei? There's someone here to see you."

Aya put the cellular phone down, but she didn't terminate the call just yet. "Who is it?" She was thankful for the intrusion because it stalled the inevitable. There was no avoiding Rei when he was distracting her.

An auburn head popped out from behind the door that led to the waiting room. "It's me, Hatake Souji? We met earlier." The brown-eyed woman nodded, her attention not entirely on her visitor. She tried to smile amicably from her seat, while her thumbs twiddled. Stupid nervous habit.

"Ah, Hatake-kun. Come in. What can I do for you?" The man returned her smile with one of his own, and entered the room. He closed the door silently behind him.

"I was wondering, Hoshino-san….if you'd like to take a break with me? You've been here for hours." Well, he certainly was forward. But thoughtful. Aya liked that about guys. Rei had been an exception though. He had been special.

Clearing her throat, as well as her mind of unwelcome thoughts, she said, "That would be nice. I'll just get my things." This wasn't the first time a guy asked her out, but still, the gesture was appreciated. Aya had dated a few men after Rei, but none of them had lasted. She was just too wrapped up with her work to have time for these things. Hopefully, Hatake-kun would understand. He was, after all, a doctor himself.

Her gaze shifted towards the discarded phone on her desk. The screen had reverted back to the screensaver. The call had been ended. Oh well, there were other opportunities.

…

February 13. The trivial day before Valentines. A few years back, Aya would have been picking out the best Valentines gift for a special someone. This year was different.

It was bleak outside; rain clouds were on the horizon, and Aya had barely gotten into the coffee shop when it started to pour. Hard. Not that she had anything better to do today. It was Saturday and she had weekends off.

Weekend mornings consisted of jogging around a nearby park for an hour. Then it was off to the coffee shop and down to the supermarket. Sometimes, she slept in, but that was a rare occasion. She hardly slept peacefully these days. The daily coffee kept her awake anyway.

Aya ordered a cappuccino this time for she planned to spend the whole night awake, and set off to seat herself. The table where she had met Yuuya for a little chitchat was empty, and she headed in that direction. It had a good view of the outside.

The world beyond the glass pane of the shop was wet. Drops of liquid fell from the sky, innumerable as the stars. Aya loved the rain. It wasn't cold and biting as snow. It was fresh and sort of cleansing. 

The door chimes signaled the entry of another customer. To her astonishment, Otohata Rei stood there, a bit soaked, but nonetheless all right. He seemed to find her presence in the place shocking for a second, before his face returned to that nonchalant mask she had grown fond of. Aya suppressed the smile that was coming.

Opportunity came in many sorts.

"Otohata-san! Would you like to join me?" She patted the seat across from her encouragingly, ignoring the glares she was receiving from the female populace. Rei still had a lot of admirers after all these years. It came as a surprise that he didn't seem to be dating anyone. Maybe she could ask him about it. Or maybe not.

Rei acknowledged her with a slight head tilt, and in all the years Aya had known him, that had meant 'okay'. She had been able to read him easily after they started going out. Every little gesture of his, she understood.

He dropped by the counter first, and went to her table carrying a cup of whatever he bought. When he neared her, she raised an eyebrow.

"Decaf? You don't like caffeine? Why didn't you tell me?" Aya pouted cutely.

"…you never asked."

…

"…you never asked." replied Rei, as he took his seat diagonally from Aya, sneaking glances at her face. He had been trying to gauge her reaction ever since he entered through those glass doors. She giggled.

"What?" He disliked it when she suddenly laughed out of the blue.

Aya stopped giggling, and settled herself with a cheery smile. "Let's stop acting like we're on hostile ground, Otohata-kun." The –san had been replaced. That always implied something.  She had little gestures that he understood too. But he chose not to dwell on it.

Instead, he turned his head and observed the rain.

 "Hn." Her eyes were watching him, and he purposely avoided them lest he wanted to drown in them. As if the rain outside wasn't bad enough. He had merely wanted to stay somewhere until it stopped, and he had to meet her. Not that he wasn't planning to. It was just really bad timing.

"Friends then?" Her voice made him tilt his head in her direction. Aya held an outstretched hand, like in a compromise. Rei stared at it like a death sentence. He didn't know why but the whole thing sounded absurd to his ears. Friends? He didn't think he could ever see her in that light anymore. But something compelled him to take the offered appendage, and he even shook it for good measure.

"Friends."

She smiled, and for a moment, Rei was glad he had agreed to name their relationship strictly platonic. Falling in love destroyed too many relationships, no matter how strong.

They talked idly for a while, though most of the talking had been done on Aya's part.  She kept asking him questions like how was he doing and about other minor things she might have missed in the past six years. Occasionally, he put in a question of his own.

"So, what are you doing this Valentines?" Aya asked all of a sudden, pensive. He made a noncommittal sound that was like a laugh. She looked at him oddly. He stared back, before answering with a shrug.

"I don't do Valentines, Hoshino-san." Did she have to bring this up? He didn't blame her for being curious, but it still bothered him to talk about it.

"Really? But you used to before–" She broke off her sentence. She seemed to have realized she was treading on thin ice. He applauded her silently for being so sensitive, but quickly took it back when she pressed further with another question that wasn't entirely unrelated.

"But don't you get lonely?"

He didn't answer, and an uncomfortable silence elapsed.

"I'm sorry." Aya apologized, stood up, and gathered her things. The rain had stopped, and she hurried out of the shop, not looking back.

…

Later that night, armed with a container filled with strawberry ice cream, a spoon and her softest pillow, Aya plopped in front of her medium-sized television set. She popped a random dvd into the player beside it, and the screen flashed to life.

"Nothing beats eating your favorite ice cream and watching a good movie." Aya said, quite satisfied with herself. It was her special recipe for temporary happiness. Hopefully, it would take her mind off this morning's events. She licked the cream on her spoon clean and looked for the remote on the beige couch and pressed play.

The movie she had picked was a romantic comedy. She liked this genre best, though she couldn't help but feel envious of the happily ever after stories. Happily ever after didn't happen in reality.

She continued to watch through the whole show, and was on her second movie when the doorbell rang unceremoniously. Aya glanced at the floral clock that hung on the wall and muttered something under her breath about the late hour, and stood up from her comfortable position. Whoever was ruining her marathon better have a good excuse.

Not bothering with the peephole, Aya unlocked the door that led to the outside corridor and was bewildered to find the last person she wanted to see.

"O-Otohata-kun! What are you doing here at this time? It's one in the morning."  Aya tried to cover her surprise with a frown and waited patiently for an explanation. Here he was, standing  in front of her apartment looking sort of lost. She had never seen him like this. His eyes were downcast.  That worried her greatly.

"Otohata-kun, is something wrong?" She watched him shift uncomfortably.

"I got lonely." It was almost a whisper, but Aya heard it clearly. Her face softened, and she wrapped him in a hug. It touched her to know that such a simple question of hers had driven him to show up an hour past midnight on her doorstep.

 "Happy Valentines to you too, Rei."

She didn't miss the smile on his lips.

Tbc

Na says: It's not Valentines but I got inspired! Hehe. Review! We have to believe in those two.