Betrayal

- Meeko Melodie

Meeko: Bonjour! (Hello in French . . . he he . . .) And one more thing: I got some comments from AznGurl3 and Lina567 saying that piano isn't Kouji's thing. I agree. To tell you the truth, I WAS going to use guitar instead of piano but since they don't have any competitions on guitar, I made him play the piano. Maybe in my next fiction, I'll make Kouji play the guitar, who knows? So keep reading!

Chapter 8: Complicated Feelings

Review from the last chapter

Now, waves were washing over Zoe's head, causing her to drink in the sea water and she couldn't breath; she was breathing in water, making her gasp for more air. But just when Zoe was still struggling, a strong arm pulled Zoe out of the water. By the time she was being laid on the beach, she was unconscious. The boy blew air into her mouth and some water was spurt out and Zoe opened her eyes; she found herself looking into a pair of deep blue eyes.

"Ko . . . Kouji," Zoe whispered weakly.

"Don't talk," the voice said kindly. But it wasn't Kouji's voice, Zoe would've recognized him if it was his voice.

"Kouichi . . .?" Zoe asked dimly. But without hearing the answer, she fainted.

End of Review

Zoe woke up, finding herself in a very, well, unfamiliar room. The walls were painted a cerulean color, making the room feel fresh, there was a clean desk, and a book shelf and she was sleeping on a light blue colored bed. She rubbed her eyes lazily and felt a little dizzy when she sat up.

Someone knocked at the door and turned the door knob, Zoe quickly lye on the bed and closed her eyes. She could hear the person's steady breathing (Meeko: Guess who it is?), the person put down something on the side table and seemed to be standing there, looking at her. Zoe tried to breathe normally when she was asleep and she could feel the person's hand stroking her face gently.

"Zoe," he said softly to himself, "I'm sorry I did this to you." He kissed her delicately on the cheek. She shivered slightly. Just when he turned to go, Zoe called out quietly, "Kouichi."

Kouichi turned back and he noticed that Zoe was not asleep, he blushed lightly.

"Thanks . . ." Zoe said weakly, getting herself into sitting position again," for saving me."

"No problem," Kouichi answered, smiling a little, and continued," Why did you try to drown yourself? Do you know how worried I was?"

"I wasn't thinking straight," Zoe said, thinking back yesterday," Kouji and I. . ." She trailed off.

"What happened?" Kouichi asked worriedly. Zoe just shook her head in despair and he knew what it meant. "I'm sorry," Kouichi apologized.

"Come on, Kouichi," Zoe said, trying to be cheerful, "you know it isn't your fault." Kouichi shook his head in disbelief. But none of them said anything for a while. Suddenly, Zoe remembered. . .

"Oh no! How long have I been sleeping?" Zoe asked in alarm.
"About ten hours," Kouichi answered, then reassured her," If you're worrying about your parents, don't be. I called them yesterday to tell them you're sleeping over at a friend's house."

"Once again," Zoe said to herself softly, recalling the time she spent her night at Kouji's. "I have to go now," Zoe said, getting up on her feet.

"Eat something first," Kouichi said, pointing at a bowl of porridge on the side table that he has brought in, "before you go. I don't want you to faint again." Zoe grinned sheepishly and started to eat the porridge.

===

"Thanks for letting me stay through the night, Mrs. Kimura," Zoe said to the tired-looking woman, after she finished the porridge.

"Don't mention it, dear," she smiled and said," Be brave, Zoe." Zoe nodded and gave her a smile. Mrs. Kimura patted Zoe's shoulder and she went back into the kitchen.

"Thanks again, Kouichi," Zoe said and hesitated before she gave him a friendly hug. Zoe waved goodbye to him and walked back to her house. Kouichi waved back and slowly closed the door behind him.

"Mom, I'm back," Zoe shouted, but the house was silent other than the humming of the refrigerator, which she had never notice it before until now.

"Zoe?" a groggy Mrs. Orimoto said.

"Mom," Zoe said, running over and hugging her. Mrs. Orimoto patted Zoe's back awkwardly before she asked," How's the sleep over?"

"It was great," Zoe lied. This time, her mother didn't notice, so she just cooked herself some breakfast in the kitchen. Zoe walked back up to her room and lye down on her bed, trying not to think too much about Kouji. She tried to read some book, hoping she could get her mind on the plot, but she just couldn't; she kept thinking about him. Nothing could get her mind off the song Kouji had played for her or the words he had said on the beach the other day.

Two weeks later . . .

Kouji was practicing harder than ever these few days since the competition was drawing nearer and nearer. After that day he played the song to Zoe, he had never seen her. He wanted to talk to her on MSN, but when ever he was on line, she would go off line.

"Why did I have to be so rough on her?" Kouji asked himself, as he was stroking down the piano keys. He tried to convince himself that Zoe wasn't the only girl in this world; he could try to go for other girls. His mind wanted to forget about Zoe, but his heart wouldn't allow it.

On that very same day, Takuya phoned Zoe. RRIINNGG!

"Zoe, go get the phone please," Mrs. Orimoto shouted from her room. Sighing to herself, Zoe answered it.

"Hi, Orimoto residence," Zoe answered in a bored voice.

"Zoe?" Takuya said.

"Yea, I'm her," Zoe replied in a stiff voice.

"Kouji's competition is next Friday," Takuya said.

"So?" Zoe said in a pretended careless manner, "What about it?"

"So?!" Takuya shouted (to the phone) in disbelief, "come on, aren't you going?"

"No," Zoe said in a tired voice, lying on the sofa.

"Oh man," Takuya said disbelievingly," you're not going? I don't believe this."

"Well, believe it, pal," Zoe said, playing with the phone cord.

"Why not?" Takuya asked.

"Because I don't feel like it," Zoe answered coolly.

"Okay," Takuya said, and asked," There's definitely something wrong between you two, isn't it?" Zoe sighed loudly and said," Don't talk about it, please."

"All right," Takuya said," Are you sure you don't want to go?"

"Uh huh," Zoe replied," It'll be better if he didn't see me."

"If you're sure," Takuya said.

"Yea, I am," Zoe convinced him, "look, I have to go now. I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Bye," Takuya said and hung up the phone. Zoe put down the phone back to its place and sat there, staring into space again. She had been like that ever since she came back. She was always thinking if she should go to the competition to see Kouji or not. Zoe really wanted to go but she was not sure if Kouji was ready to face her yet, since Kouji didn't phone her nor did Zoe.

Minamoto Residence

Kouji was still practicing on the piano. He had been playing non stop for at least four hours now.

"Kouji, are you trying to wear out your piano?" Kouji's dad had asked.

"I need to practice, didn't you remember what Miss Kaiyami had said," Kouji replied.

Flashback

"Kouji," Miss Kaiyami said in a serious voice, "you need to do way better than this to win the competition."

"But I already did my best," Kouji argued.

"No, you didn't," Miss Kaiyami said sternly, "This is not your best. You were doing great in the last few weeks. What happened now?" Kouji knew that in the last few weeks, it was because he still had Zoe by his side but now. . .

"I think we'll need a miracle," the teacher sighed.

"A miracle will happen," Kouji said convincingly, "I promise you, Miss Kaiyami."

"I promise you."

Meeko: (yawning) All right, people! How was it? I spent so long thinking on this chapter, I couldn't even sleep last night.