Painful Luck

Wally was in a good mood all week. And he knew it was the kiss that lit him up. He wouldn't admit it, but he knew. All week he had been touching that spot on his face and rewinding that special moment over and over again. He was so thankful for that moment that for the past seven days he favored his little brother so much. He took him out for ice cream, taught him martial arts, and played video games with him and even babysat him voluntarily. One day, Wally was teaching Joey how to skateboard but it lead to an accident with him breaking his leg.

"Hey Beatles" Hoagie opened the door to Wally's room, "Need anything?"

"No thanks" Wally replied.

When Hoagie left, Wally laid quietly on his bed and rested his head back. After just a few minutes, he heard the door open and the sound of a soda can opening.

"I told you I didn't want anything"

"Not even soda or fast food?" A girl's voice replied.

Wally looked up and found Kuki standing in the doorway with a soda can and a bag of fast food.

"What are you doing here?" Wally asked her.

"Hoagie told me about your leg and suggested that I take care of you" She smiled.

That moron…Wally thought of Hoagie.

"I brought you some food"

Kuki sat on his bedside and placed the soda on the side table.

"Here" She said handing the fast food to him.

Wally started eating and he was so busy that he didn't realize that Kuki was just staring at him.

"Ew, you eat like a pig" She said playfully. Wally looked at her and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

"That's not a way to wipe grease off your lips" Kuki smiled at him and then wiped something off the side of his lip with a tissue. "Can I sign your cast?"

Wally glanced from her to his cast and realized that it was still blank. It was then that he realized that if Kuki was the first one to sign it, he would probably receive more taunts from the others. But then again, he couldn't say "no".

"Sure, go ahead" He said. Kuki took a pen and leaned over to sign. While she did this, Wally stared at the back of her head. He gazed at her long black hair and he bit his lower lip as he suddenly became tempted to do something he had never been tempted to do before. Right away, he forgot about everything else and he easily gave in to that temptation. Slowly and quietly, he leaned over and smelled her hair. He leaned close enough for her not to feel him, but enough for the tip of his nose to touch some of her smooth strands. For some strange reason, the scent of Kuki's hair was hypnotic. It smelled really sweet. Wally didn't even realize that while inhaling the scent he couldn't bring himself to back off.

"Okay" Kuki said as she finished her signing. That was the end of Wally's trance. Right away he leaned back on his pillows, his face all flushed and warm.

"It's done" She said before turning to him, "Wow are you okay? You look sick"

"…I'm fine…" He replied nervously.

"Well, okay. I'll check on you later"

That afternoon, after a soothing nap, Wally got off his bed and made his way to the kitchen, where he met Hoagie.

"Damn, these things are frustrating" He complained about his walking sticks.

"Yeah well, it's all part of having a broken leg" Hoagie replied, "So…what do you think of your new nurse?" He smiled.

"Shut up"

"Oh come on, don't act like you don't like it"

"Don't like what?" Wally's dad, Mr. Beatles, entered the room. Mr. Beatles was like the older version of Wally. He had the same facial features and hair. The only difference between him and Wally was that he wasn't snobbish and vigorous. In fact, he was friendly and goofy. No one else in the family was a hardy like Wally.

"Good day boys" Mr. Beatles greeted.

"Hey Mr. Beatles"

"Hey Dad"

"What were you two talking about?"

"Well, I was able to get Wally a nurse to take care of him for free" Hoagie said.

"Oh really? Who did you get?"

"Kuki"

"Ah Kuki, sweet girl she is. You should marry her, Wally"

"I agree" Hoagie said as he nudged Wally.

"Dad! Don't say that!" Wally whined.

"Oh come on, she's not bad, right?" His dad chuckled, "In fact she reminds me of your mum when she was a young lass. She was a sweet, energetic and such a hopeless romantic. Believe me, soon enough you'll appreciate Kuki as much as I do to your mum"

"Dad, you're not serious!" Wally burst as Hoagie laughed at his side. And with that, Wally's dad left the room, laughing hysterically.

"Oh what's this?" Hoagie pointed to Wally's cast. Wally looked down at his cast where he found a signature of Kuki's name.

"Oh yeah" He said, "She signed my cast earlier"

"Ooh, special moment?"

"Shut up!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Abby who just arrived with Nigel, said as she came in.

"Look who was the first one to sign his cast" Hoagie laughed as he held the cast. Wally on the other hand tried to fight him off.

"Wow, special girl, is she?" Nigel said as he observed the scribble.

"Boy, you're in love!" Abby commented.

"Shut up you guys!" Wally snapped.

"Yeah, we should stop" Hoagie said, "I mean it's not like he's on the verge of sniffing her hair"

Wally's whole body became numb when he heard this. And it didn't take long before everyone realized he was shocked. The moment they realized that, they all exclaimed with wails of joy.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" yelled Nigel.

"YOU SNIFFED HER HAIR!" Hoagie accused.

"BOY YOU ARE REALLY IN LOVE!" Abby declared.

"I AM NOT!" Wally denied.

The taunts lasted up until they all heard the front door open.

"Guys?" Kuki called from the other room.

"We're in here!" Abby called back. Everyone was giggling wildly as Kuki entered the room.

"What's everybody giggling about?" Kuki asked.

"Nothing"

Kuki stared at them, dumbfounded but smiled suddenly, "Anyway! I got you something Wally"

Wally turned redder than before as he watched Kuki bring in something. It was a wheelchair.

"I know how you hate walking sticks so I thought I'd borrow a wheelchair for you from my grandma. This one's her old one" Kuki smiled.

"Uh…thanks" Wally blushed.

The next few weeks had been a mix of joy and torture for Wally. The torture was the endless taunts from Abby, Nigel and Hoagie but the joy, which Wally hated admitting, was how Kuki took good care of him. She visited him everyday, making sure he was alright. She brought him food and gifts from time to time and sometimes even cooked for him. For the first time in Wally's life, he didn't mind staying cooked up in the house for a few weeks.

One day as they were on their way to the backyard to get some fresh air, Kuki stopped in the living room.

"Hey look, it's your piano!" Kuki said, "Play something for me"

"I don't play the piano. I hate that thing"

"Oh come on, play anything! You have to know something, your mom gave the piano to you"

"I'm not playing, Kuki"

"Fine then, I won't move you"

Just as she said, Kuki didn't move. Wally tried to wait patiently for her to push his wheelchair but she didn't lift a single finger.

"Whatever" Wally held the wheels of his chair and tried to roll towards the sliding doors to the backyard. He couldn't. Kuki was grasping the handles firmly.

"Let go!" Wally ordered.

"Not until you play" Kuki said.

After a few more failed attempts to get away, Wally gave up.

"Fine…" He shrugged. Kuki's face lit up when he said this and she helped him get on the piano chair. He started to play a piece but it really didn't sound like he was playing.

"Wow, you're really bad" Kuki smiled.

"You didn't expect that?" Wally stopped playing.

"Too bad. It would be so cute if you were really good at it"

Wally's leg healed fast and the cast was off by the next month. Since he had not been out of his place for that long, he had a chance to engage in some activities that he usually would have never done at all. Like perhaps, practicing the piano. According to Wally, he just did it out of boredom, but he knew that boredom wasn't the cause of his effort to practice. It was the words of a certain Japanese girl who talked to him a few weeks ago.

"Wow, was that you playing Wally?" Kuki just arrived.

"Unbelievable, huh?" Hoagie said to her.

"To think that a few weeks ago it was as if you didn't even know how to play at all"

"I was bored so I just decided to do this"

"Teach me a bit" Kuki sat beside him.

Wally was about to speak when his dad came in the room.

"Good day kids!" He greeted in an Australian accent more fluent than Wally's.

"Hi Mr. Beatles" Greeted Kuki and Hoagie.

"Hey dad" Greeted Wally.

"Ah Kuki," He turned to her, "Have you heard Wally play?"

"Just now" She smiled.

"Good ain't he? He's got his mum's talent and all! By the way, she and I wanna thank ya for keeping an eye on Wally here for the past month. That was awfully sweet of ya"

"It was nothing"

After Mr. Beatles exited the room, Wally turned to Kuki.

"Why are you blushing?" He asked her.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're dad's super cute" She giggled.

"He looks just like Joey, Kuki…There's nothing special about that…"

"Funny…"Hoagie started, "Last time I checked, you and Joey both look like your dad"

Wally didn't really know why but what Hoagie said made him blush.