Chapter Thirty-Four - Bad Mood
Zarine asked the question that she had been dying to ask, "Did you bury my parents? Were there enough of them left to bury even?" She didn't feel that she should have brought it up yesterday with everyone around.
"Yeah, the police found their burnt bodies…" Jeff replied sadly. He had been very fond of her parents. They treated him as a second son when they were still alive.
She looked relieved to hear it. "Good, then I can visit them still at the cemetery everyday when I go to Hong Kong with you."
He was very surprised. "Wait, what? Go back? I thought you love it here."
"I do, but I want to visit. I want to go back there for two weeks at least. Well, unless I'm not welcomed at your house anymore," she said, almost fearfully.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Of course you are welcomed to. But there's something that you should know…we don't live there anymore…not in the town that we used to live in."
"You've moved?" she asked quietly. "So even if I go back, I can't visit my parents everyday? Why did you move? Where do you live now?"
"Hold on," he said "We moved to a bigger house, a huge one. Not as big as Kai's mansion, but it's really nice, and there is a beach at the back! You will like it a lot. Dad got promoted in his company so he could afford a house like that, so he bought one."
"I see," was all Zarine said.
Jeff put his arm around her impulsively. "You should come back to live with us. You will get your own room, and we can go to school and spend everyday together like we used to. Please, come back with me…and Will."
"I dunno," she mumbled, nibbling on her half gone ice cream cone. "I have to think about it."
"Okay, but I know that your brother missed you a lot," he told her. "If you do go back with us, he will be really happy."
She did want to go back and live with them, but what about Ray? He stayed with her, and took care of her while they lived at Kai's. She couldn't just leave him all of a sudden…
"Hey," a familiar voice said ahead of them. It was Ray.
Jeff was all too aware of his arm around Zarine's shoulder. He didn't move it, however.
"I thought you were sleeping in?" she asked, surprised.
"I couldn't go back to sleep," Ray answered coolly, before practically snatching her away from Jeff. He shot an extremely cold glare at the brown haired boy.
"Ow," the petite girl grumbled, rubbing her arm. "Don't be so rough, Ray."
"Sorry," he replied, before putting his arm possessively around Zarine's waist. "Let's go back now."
"But –" she started to protest. Ray had already began to walk, and she was forced to follow him. Jeff hurried after them, he didn't know the way back and he didn't want to get lost. He shook his head. That is one jealous boyfriend…he thought.
Kai picked up the phone and dialed Jewel's number.
"Hello, if it's not important, hang up before your head is snapped off," Jewels growled on the other end.
Kai smirked amusedly. "It's me," he said.
"Who?" she questioned, pretending that she didn't know who it was on the phone.
"It's Kai."
"Oh, him! Right, the great Hiwatari who expects everyone to know him just because he is so damn and so filthily rich that it is to the point of disgusting."
"Stop fooling around," he grunted. "I want to spend the day with you."
"What an honour! Why, should I curtsy for you and fetch you anything that you like? I can bake you some cookies. I am not as good as Zarine is at cooking, but they will be edible."
"Stop that," he snapped at her.
"What!"
He sighed, "What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing, nothing, if you leave out the fact that Carrie had gone out with my parents to get ice cream, leaving me alone at home with no ice cream, I am just dandy," she muttered.
Kai couldn't help but laugh, just a little. "You are angry because your sister is getting ice cream but you aren't?"
"It's not funny!" she practically yelled at him. She in such a bad mood, she hadn't noticed the fact that Kai almost never laughed. "I need ice cream just as much as Carrie does!"
"What if I take you out for ice cream before we go to watch a movie?" he asked.
"Ooh, sure if I will get ice cream," she replied eagerly.
"That is scary," he mused to himself.
"What is?" she questioned wonderingly while opening a drawer for something to wear.
"You sounded exactly like Zarine just now."
"So?"
"Okay, I will pick you up in an hour or so," he told her, feeling strangely happy for some reason.
Her muffled reply was, "Sure, I will see you then."
Before he could ask her what suddenly happened to her phone, she had hung up on him.
Kai studied himself in the mirror in the bathroom. Deciding that the shirt with a skull was too gloomy, he took it off and tossed it aside. He looked down at his pants, and discovered a stain. Gazing back at his reflection again, he sighed. His hair was really messy too.
He went back into his bedroom and opened his closet. 'What can I wear that would make me look good for a date?' he wondered, and then mentally corrected himself, 'This is not a date!'
Finally, he chose a black shirt and jeans after staring at his clothes at a long time. You would have thought that it would have been an easy decision to make since he had so many clothes.
He smiled to himself when he recalled that Jewels had said once that she liked black on him. (I know, so OOC for Kai! But come on, it's Jewels!)
About an hour later…
Kai strode to the front door, feeling nervous. He hoped his hair looked all right.
Jewels yelled, "COMING!" when she heard the door bell.
"Hey," she greeted him breathlessly when she opened the door. "Come in, I am almost ready to go." She hurried up the stairs while trying to get Carrie's hoop earrings into the hole in her ear. She hadn't worn earrings for so long. She really hoped that the skin hadn't grown over the piercing.
She glanced at herself in the mirror approvingly before turning away. Then, she turned back again to stare. Why was her hair down, when it was so hot outside? And why was she wearing her favourite t-shirt that she knew that Kai liked?
She suddenly scowled and snatched up a hairbrush. She wasn't going to be brainwashed by some guy. If she didn't have the time to change her shirt now, at least she had enough to put her hair up into a ponytail, or so she thought.
Kai opened the door. "Come on. The movie will start soon."
"It's too hot outside. I have to put my hair up," she told him.
He sighed. "You are going to be eating ice cream in ten minutes. You are not going to melt that easily."
"Ok, whatever," she mumbled before putting her brush down.
Once outside, Kai noticed that she was actually wearing earrings! Little silver hoop earrings! He can't remember the last time when he had seen her wear any jewelry, let alone poking some through her ear. A ray from the sun hit her face, and he got even more surprised. Was that a sparkle on her face! This was getting way too weird. Jewels did not wear earrings, and she did not put make up on herself either.
"Stop staring," she said, irritated. "My face isn't that fascinating." All the same, heat rose up in her face. What was wrong with her anyway? Blushing like a goose head because Kai was staring at her. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became and the angrier she became, the redder her face got. Seeing her glaring at everything and everyone, people got out of their way to avoid the furious teenager who was stalking down the street.
Jewels calmed down a bit as she licked her ice cream cone. At least, she wasn't glaring at everybody like they should all go to hell.
Kai studied her face. God, but she was beautiful to his eyes. Her red hair fell to her shoulders in waves. "Why didn't you get an ice cream cone?" she demanded accusingly. "You know I don't like it when people watch me eat."
The fire in her eyes was back again, and Kai shook his head slightly. He would never understand the female population. What did he do? He bought her ice cream like he promised. And he couldn't even remember if she had even mentioned that she didn't like people watch her eat to him once.
"What movie are we watching?" she questioned, barely to manage to keep herself from growling at Kai.
"The Aviator," he answered shortly.
"Okay," she shrugged.
"Are you having second thoughts about going to the movies?" he asked.
She snapped, "No, why would you care? You already bribed me to come out of my hole…"
"That is how you see your house?" he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah, so what?"
"Interesting…" he drawled, leaning back on his chair and putting his arms behind his head.
She stared at his arms, suddenly looking dreamy. They looked strong and muscular. She decided that she would like to have them around her. She scowled at her ice cream at the thought of that. He was just driving her nuts!
"Let's go," she stood up abruptly, throwing her half eaten ice cream cone out. Kai could barely stop himself from gawking. When had Jewels ever, ever, thrown ice cream away before she made sure that every drop of it was licked?
All in all, it was a strange and awkward day for the two of them. Jewels had nearly bitten his head off for trying to pay for her movie ticket until she had realized that she had forgotten to take her wallet with her when she left her house. Even then, she was muttering something inaudible under her breath as Kai was getting the tickets. He wasn't looking forward to an even more prickly Jewels as they found a seat near the back.
He couldn't pay the slightest attention to what the actors were saying in the movie. All the thoughts in his mind were on the girl beside him. Why was she in such a bad mood? She didn't have the best temper, maybe it was PMS? He stole a peek at her and noticed that her hand was on the arm rest beside him. His hand twitched at the desire to hold it before he had clenched it into a fist. It was then that he had began to contemplate the fact that he might, just might like her more than his best friend.
'You've got all the signs of being infatuated with Jewels,' Dranzer murmured in his mind.
'I've told you a thousand times that I don't want you to read my thoughts,' Kai growled at his bit beast.
'Consider it as one of the obligations of having a bit beast,' Dranzer told him. 'I know that Jewels is infatuated with you too. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone to hold in your arms?'
Images of him holding Jewels in his arms immediately flashed in his mind. It was all the phoenix's illusions, Kai knew. It wasn't only his hand that twitched now, the arm that was closer to the red head began twitching like mad, and soon his whole body was twitching.
'You two will look so cute together,' Dranzer chuckled before leaving him alone.
"Kai, Kai, what's wrong? Are you having a seizure?" Jewels whispered concernedly, shaking him.
"No," he hissed at her, jerking his arm away.
"Fine," she shrugged before returning her gaze to the screen.
He could still feel the touch of her hand on his arm. Then he recalled the times that he had kissed her and remembered how sweet she tasted. He stared at her, unable to remove his eyes from her face. He looked away immediately when she turned her eyes to him. This was madness! This was weird! This was…not how things should be!
He began to wonder about what had changed that made it so awkward to be with Jewels now. Her feelings obviously hadn't changed. Look at the way that she had snapped at him. But him, that was a different matter. He had never thought of her as beautiful before, or wanted to kiss her. It seemed like that his world around him had crashed when he realized something. He must be in love with Jewels.
He could only sit in his seat, feeling numb and yet more alive then he had felt before. The girl he wanted sat next to him, she was what he had wished to get his whole life.
He came to his senses in time to watch the end of the movie, but he was impatient for it to be over, because when it was, he would do something he had never done in his whole life.
"Look, I don't know why you are so mad through the day, but…" he took a deep breath. "Will you go out with me?"
"What!" Jewels yelped. "Just because I am mad doesn't mean that I would want to go out with you!"
"I knew you wouldn't agree to it," he sighed. "I just thought I would ask."
"This is some kind of joke, isn't it?" she demanded, grabbing the collar on his shirt. Her eyes burned into his angrily, her face only a few inches from his face. "If you are, then –" She was cut off abruptly when Kai suddenly kissed her. Her anger melted away as she responded to his kiss, and her hands moved to wrap themselves around his neck, while his arms encircled her waist tightly.
"Jewels, I wasn't joking," he said huskily. "I was serious."
She stroked his neck softly. "If you put it that way…sure…"
He smiled at her, the happy smile that was now reserved for her. "Smile more often," she told him. "You look way better this way than with you usual smirk or the serious face."
"I have an idea…Let's not tell the others about this and watch them flounder around trying to make us a couple," Kai suggested.
She grinned at the very idea. "Of course, it would be very amusing…"
"You shouldn't be so jealous. He is my best friend, there's nothing wrong with us spending time together," Zarine told Ray, obviously very annoyed.
"It's not the fact that you were with him. It's the fact that he puts his arm around you like you are his," he muttered.
Her jaw dropped. "He used to do that all the time. Stop it! He isn't treating me any differently than he used to. It's not what you think." She lifted her chin up in defiance. "I am not going to tell him to stop treating me like his best friend just because you are unhappy with the way he treats me."
He glared at her. She let him have his way at the strangest things and yet so she could be so stubborn at other times that she shouldn't be stubborn about. "You are my girlfriend! You are not his, and I will never allow anyone else but me to have you!" he shouted at her.
It was his turn to be surprised when she blushed and said, "Well you have to share me with other people too, alright?" She touched his face gently. "Don't be so possessive, I am not going anywhere."
She always made his heart melt when she looked up at him with those soft blue eyes, and this time was no exception. "I love you," he told her. "I will try not to be as jealous as you claim."
"As I claim! You are! Don't deny it," she protested indignantly.
He grinned at her. "Whatever you say, darling." She refused to answer as she walked out the door, but not before he had spotted the red in her cheeks.
Kai came in a few minutes and asked, "Do you find that girls are the most bizarre creatures in the world?"
"I've lost count of how many times I had thought so, my friend," Ray answered and shook his head.
Ta da! I hope this satisfies your Kai/Jewels cravings! Review please.
