Chapter 13: Regret

Jou woke up the following day feeling a little dizzy. He sat down and looked around, taking a while to figure out where he was. When he finally realized he was at Sora's apartment, he stood up and left the bedroom he had slept in.

He walked into her kitchen and saw that both her and Yamato were already up making breakfast.
"Oh hey, you're up." Yamato noticed him as he turned around to put a plate with some pancakes on the table. "Did you sleep well?"
"Y-Yes." Jou touched his forehead, that began to ache.
"Good morning, Jou." He noticed Sora was only wearing a large gray T-shirt that he immediately noticed belonged to her boyfriend.
"I'm sorry for asking to stay over for the night. I could have gone to a hotel, but…"
"Hey, don't worry about it." She reassured him. "You're welcome to stay over as long as you want."
"Thank you, Sora."
"So, what exactly happened?"
"Yamato!" She nudged him in the arm. "We agreed not to ask questions."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, it was bigger than me."
"I'm sorry, Jou. And as for you…" She turned to her fiancé. "You might want to put a T-shirt on."
"Fine." Yamato rolled his eyes and walked to her bedroom.
"That's alright, Sora." Jou smiled at the couple. "I appreciate that you two are trying to give me some space at this moment, but I don't mind talking. Actually, I think it will be better."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am."
"Okay then." Sora sat on the chair across him. "So what happened?"
"Mimi cheated on me. That's what happened." He rubbed his face with his hands, still having a hard time believing it.
"She what?" Yamato walked back into the room, now wearing a dark blue T-shirt. "What do you mean she cheated on you?"
"Exactly what it means. She was involved with another man for quite a while and didn't tell me until last night."
"Is he the man you talked about a while ago?" He looked up at Sora, who swallowed hard and immediately glanced down at their friend.
"So you knew about this too?"
"I… I…" She bit her lower lip. "I did, I'm sorry. I told her several times it wasn't a cool thing to do and it wasn't fair to you, but she wouldn't listen to me. For some reason she just couldn't stop going after that guy."
"Do you know who he is?"
"Yes. I've seen him a couple of times, I think. You're not going to do anything, are you?" Sora asked alarmed. The last thing she wanted was to start a physical fight.
"Are you alright?" Yamato immediately rushed to her side when he noticed her place her hand over her stomach and lean against the wall behind her. "You can't get stressed."
"I'm fine." She smiled at him and held his forearm.
"Breathe. That will help you relax."
"Is your blood pressure low?" Jou stood up from his chair and went to check his friend.
"No, it's fine." She shook her head. "I'm alright. Don't worry about me."
"We should go to the hospital."
"No, I'm fine. Really."
"Sit down then."
"I'm not sick, you know?" She insisted, but Yamato still led her to the chair she was previously sitting.
"I know. This whole thing is making you feel nervous, though."
"Yeah. I'm sorry for that, Jou."
"Hey, don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong."
"I should have pushed harder with Mimi. It wasn't fair to you and it's partially my fault too."
"No, no, you did the opposite, actually. You're not Mimi's babysitter, Sora. You can't watch every step of hers. I thank you for trying to warn her."
"You're welcome." She winced and placed her hand on her belly again when she tried to get up.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to a hospital?" Jou knelt down next to his friend. "It might be something serious."
"It's just a cramp, don't worry about it." Sora gave him a reassuring smile. "The truth is that Yamato and I are expecting."
"What?" He looked from her to Yamato. "Are you two having a baby? Since when?"
"We found out about a month and a half ago. Maybe more. It wasn't something we planned though."
"Oh my God… congratulations! You're gonna be great parents, I'm sure."
"Thanks, Jou."
"Have you been to the doctor yet?"
"No." She shook her head negatively. "I have an appointment next week though. So many things happened in the meantime and…"
"This baby has to be the priority now." Jou said firmly. "I understand that you want to help everyone and I think it's great, but you're carrying a human being now. It's a huge deal."
"I completely agree with him."
"I know." She finally managed to stand up. "So, what are you going to do about Mimi? She's your wife now."
"Yes, I'm aware." He lifted his left hand and stared at his ring. "I can't believe I never suspected of her reasons when she proposed that secret wedding. She said she didn't mind having a small celebration, but it's always been Mimi's dream to have a big wedding."
"I think she was running away. She doesn't want to face her own feelings, so she keeps running over everyone and getting them hurt. I'm sorry for what she did to you."
"Me too." Jou sighed. "And the worst part is that I was planning on moving here, so I'd stay closer to her. It's awful being across the globe, in a completely different time zone. We barely get to talk in a decent time."
"It's really awful."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"Well, I will go back to Japan. There's nothing for me here anymore and I can't stay with you forever, so…"
"I really don't mind having you here, you know that, right?"
"I do." He nodded. "But I would feel like I'd be taking advantage of your hospitality. Besides, you two might be moving in soon because of the baby. You don't need another burden."
"You could never be a burden, Jou." Sora poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him. "You're welcome to stay as much as need. And I mean it."
"Thank you, Sora. I really appreciate it."
"Now let's have some breakfast. I refuse to accept no as an answer from you. You don't want to contradict a pregnant woman, do you?"
"You make it so hard to decline it when you put it like that." He joked. "So let's eat."
"Great. It's not that large of a meal, but I guarantee everything here taste good."
"I was never a fan of large meals anyway." The doctor grabbed a toast and spread some butter over it. "When we finish here, I'm checking on your baby."
"Jou, you don't have to, really. I'm better now."
"I insist. It's never too much to be extra careful. It's a guest's demand."
"Alright." Sora gave in. "But just because you're a guest here."
"Can you find out whether it's a boy or a girl?"
"It's a little too soon for that, Yamato."
"I don't think so. Maybe not yet." Jou noticed his frustrated look. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. We'll find out soon."

.

Hikari's eyes went wide when she grabbed her phone to check the time. She never woke up past eight, even on weekends, as she tried to wake up at the same time everyday. She carefully examined the whole room without moving from her lying position. She noticed right away she wasn't in her house, but still couldn't figure out where she had spent the night until her hand caught hold of something - or someone beside her. It was only when she looked to the other side that she realized she was completely naked, but this shock was nothing close to the shock of finding out the person lying next to her was none other than Takeru.
"Oh God." She buried her face on the sheet after taking a brief look under the sheet covering his body waist down. "I wasn't supposed to do that. We only had dinner together last night. How did I get so drunk?" She pressed her palm against her forehead when it started aching.
"Good morning." Takeru's voice echoed all over the room, very sleepy, and Hikari brought her head up to look at him.
"What happened last night?" She completely ignored his greeting. She was pretty sure at some point she got lost in his beautiful blue eyes. "How did I end up here? I don't remember anything other than going on a date with you."
"You don't remember what happened after dinner?"
"No." Her voice was alarmed and she was terrified of his answer. "Oh God… we didn't… did we?"
"All night." Hikari could tell he was smiling when he replied. Her face was buried into the sheet again from embarrassment. "It was amazing."
"So that's why I woke so late. By the way, just out of curiosity, there weren't other people involved, were there?"
"No, don't worry about it. I only agree to take part on ménages in very specific circumstances. I wouldn't put you through this situation."
She didn't know whether she felt relieved about it or embarrassed with the fact he had just admitted having sex with two other people at the same time. She also didn't know how the words slipped out of her mouth, but they did. "Thank you."
"Are you okay?" He turned around and leaned on his elbow to look at her. "Do you need some aspirin or something? There's a bathroom right over there in case you need to..."
"I'm fine." Hikari was beyond thankful she didn't embarrass herself more in front of him than she already had. It would be awful if she had thrown up in his room or anywhere in his apartment.
"Alright."
"Where are my clothes?" Hikari wrapped his white sheet around her body and tried to stand up, but she felt so dizzy that she lost her balance and sat down on the bed.
"I'm pretty sure they are scattered around my living room. We weren't wearing anything by the time we came here."
Great. She didn't think things could get any worse. She looked over her shoulder and noticed from the corner of her eye that Takeru wasn't covered at all anymore. She blushed heavily and realized the sheet around her body was the same that was over him.
"I swear I'm never drinking again."
"Are you sure you don't want an aspirin? Or maybe take a shower to see if it helps with your hangover."
"No, I just want to go home. If I'm able to."
"Why don't you wait for it to get better." Takeru sat down on his bed. "I can make a very strong black coffee for you."
"I'm not exactly a fan of strong coffee, but I'll make an exception this time."
"Great." He threw his legs out of the bed. "You can stay here. I'll be right back."
"I think I can walk to the kitchen." Hikari made another attempt to stand up and it was a successful one. "And you might want to put on at least some boxers or whatever it is that you wear."
"Oh." He looked down and smiled. "Right. I need to remember not everyone is comfortable with me walking around naked."
"You don't wear clothes inside your house?"
"That's one of the benefits of living alone." He grinned at her as he picked up some boxers from a drawer and Hikari felt her cheeks burning again. "I'll make an exception for you though. But only this time."
"Should I feel flattered?" She flirted with him.
"Absolutely." He replied to her flirtation with the same grin.

.

"Hey." Koushiro sat down on the couch and watched Taichi play video-game.
"Do you want to play?" He asked without taking his eyes from the TV. "This round is almost over."
"Sure, why not?" The red haired man slid to the floor, beside his roommate.
"So… uh…" Taichi wasn't sure what or how to say it. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Koushiro replied after thinking for a moment and biting his lower lip. "Surprisingly, I am. I think everything got too confusing at one point. Mimi didn't know what she wanted. Actually, I think she didn't want to give anything up and convinced herself that things would go away magically if she married her boyfriend."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thanks. She isn't the only one to blame though."
"You were never confused about how you felt, so how come?"
"I shouldn't have back down and let her stay over that night." He looked at Taichi. "I helped her cheat on her husband and that was something I always thought I wouldn't do."
"Yeah…" The brunette nodded. "Though I think most of it was her fault because you did try to talk her out of it and she kept on insisting in sleeping with you."
"It doesn't matter if she did that or not. Would you be okay with it if you were her fiancé?"
"Absolutely not."
"Exactly." Koushiro shook his head and leaned ahead to grab one of the controls. "Maybe the timing was wrong, or it wasn't meant to be more than it was. Who knows? I just don't want to talk about it anymore."
"Fair enough. Ready?"
"You bet I am. Bring it on."
"Alright." Taichi started a new match. "So what are you going to do now?"
"Go back to my life before Mimi Tachikawa, what else?"
"Does that mean you're getting back with Natsuki?"
"Hell no." Koushiro frowned. "I value my freedom a lot. This is not negotiable."
"That's a wise decision."
"And you better not even consider hooking up with her if you love your life."
"I do. I thought you'd say because she's your ex."
"That too. But I care about you enough to see you fall for it and not do anything to help you. She'd turn your life into a living hell. You've seen how it was with me. I bet everything I have you wouldn't want that for yourself."
"Damn right I wouldn't. The mere fact makes me shiver."
"So don't ignore that."
"Are you going to play or keep talking about your love life?"
"What love life?" Koushiro joked and laughed. "Definitely play."
"I thought so." Taichi pressed the start button on his control. "We should order some take out. How about pizza?"
"Taichi, you do realize it's lunch time, don't you?"
"Of course. But that doesn't mean we can't have pizza."
"You have a really good point there. Okay, I'm in. The loser pays for it."
"Sounds great to me." Taichi grinned. "Get ready to lose then."
"I wouldn't be so sure about it."

.

Mimi wasn't sure how long she had been in her car outside Sora's apartment. She knew Jou would be staying with them temporarily until he found a place to stay, but she doubt he'd still be moving to New York at this point. She didn't quite know why she was there, considering he probably wouldn't want to talk to her yet - or maybe not at all - but she had to try. She quickly got out of her car and crossed the street when he walked out of the building along with Sora and Yamato.
"Jou."
The three people turned around and stared at her, but her eyes kept focusing only on her husband.
"What are you doing here, Mimi?"
"I needed to see you. Can we talk?"
"We have nothing to talk about anymore. You made your choice and I'm making mine."
"This isn't fair, Jou. Please."
"Mimi, pushing your luck isn't going to help you right now." Sora intervened. "Give him more time, everything is too recent."
"Stay out of this."
"Hey!" Both men reacted to her rude comment.
"Another proof we don't have anything to talk about anymore." Jou turned to his couple of friends. "Shall we go?"