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guys, thank you for the reviews, and also... for those who included me and this story to their lists. My will to write still wrestles with my time but don't worry, the will sometimes win. ^_~
I'm working on the next one so... Hope you'll like this chapter.
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Dustups & Vows
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Monaco is beautiful.
But not as beautiful as my morning.
This morning's headache was one of the worst headache in my life history I didn't wanna get up that Hyuuga just brought the breakfast in my room, which is unexpected of him.
Unexpected… after all the pestering he did on our way here. The whole "courtship" stuff is getting into my skin like an allergy since he won't let me off with the questions about my health. Yeah… weird. He's asking if I'm sick, why I threw up after breakfast, why I have to see Roslyn and all related creeps but the doctor told me that I'm fine though she gave me a list of what to do like… go with my cravings, no alcohol, no caffeine, no second or third-hand smoke which is… totally weird.
But they said that I'm fine. Period.
But… Hyuuga just won't settle with the 'period' and he said he preferred a coma or a question mark. Oh c'mon!
"I'm fine okay? You don't have to worry and you don't have to care…" I told him when he pressed the question again.
"Yeah I have to worry and I have to care. I'm courting you remember?"
"Correction Reddie… It's an Insincere Courtship in which you're in." I snorted disgustingly and leaned lazily against the white leather-covered seat. He steadied his gaze at me for a while, stirring his glass of wine by rocking it with just one hand. I don't know what's running in his mind. One second he was relaxed with his interrogation but then he just turned suddenly serious.
"I am serious about this." He finally said. Yeah, that was what I just said.
"Oh… Seriously?" I leaned forward. The words are scrambling to get out of my mouth but I breathed and grab a rope of patience. I can feel my eyes narrowing at him, I breathed. "Being 'serious' is different from being 'sincere', Hyuuga. You can be serious when you're sincere but not… totally sincere even when you're serious." Wow, I finally said it. Brava, Mikan. I surely deserve a box of howalon later.
Reddie nodded, his eyes on his lap. He sure doesn't have any idea about this courtship thing. That's the problem with good-looking guys— they don't acquire the skill of wooing a girl because the girls are the one pursuing for their attention. Modern society sucks.
He heaved a heavy sigh and lifted his head, his eyes meeting mine. "What if I tell you that I'm beyond serious with this stuff?" What the hell… "That I'm pursuing you with sincerity because I care about you…" Damn, his eyes are narrowing. Not a good sign. But I know he's lying. He's just challenging me so I could fall into this and he's got the right to occupy my time and get busy cranking up his memories.
I chuckled at the reality. "You care about me?" I asked him again, my eyebrows in its highest peak.
"Uh-huh…" he nodded, lips pursed.
"Don't kid me Reddie, you don't care. If I remember it clearly, you told me that you don't want to be friends with me, right?"
"Yeah, I remember that." I smiled at him in approval. "But I also remember telling you that I don't want to… because I want to be more than friends with you, right brat? And that means I care enough…" He said, settling back in his seat and making me frown in disapproval.
"Not enough." I snapped in the next second. His head jerked up again. This time, with narrowed eyes and frown lines on his forehead. "Let's say you care… but you care because of your personal interests and not because you like me." I said sharply. God, let us be done with this… I hate having debates with this stubborn guy.
A smirk crossed his face. Another bad sign. For days I've been used to his expressions and the more nonchalant he is, the better. If he starts to frown, he's getting mad and that's equal to anything getting burned. And when he smirks, it's worse… because I'm in a very… very… embarrassing and awkward situation.
"You're quite an ambitious brat are you?" he chanted.
"Ambitious!?" I exclaimed. I can see him clearly but my eyes just can't help but widen. What does he mean by that!?
"I think I can name this game now." He paused, torturing me with the amusement in his eyes and this ridiculous smirk. "First you won't let me stay with you because I'm not your boyfriend so I have to court you and now you're playing hard-to-get so I'll pursue you with sincerity. You really have a bad case of infatuation with me, aren't you?"
Oh-my-God. Did I hear him… right?
Wait. Can I cuss right now? Just one…
WHAT THE FUCK!? See!? I'm in a very AWKWARD situation because he's too conceited to admit that he's doing all of this because he's a selfish bastard!
"Ah!" I exhaled and blinked… for several times. And then I shook my head, "To begin with… it was your idea to court me! It was you who's ambitious and wanted to be more than friends with me!" Okay, I can't hold it, I yelled at him. But it didn't help. Instead, his smirk became wider, it almost touched his ear. "And now you're saying that I have a crush on you? In your dreams, bastard."
"Why don't you just admit it?" he pressed on. I was still out of words so I gave him the finger. "Whoa polka. That's some kind of manner that will disturb your babysitter." He said in his ha-ha-ha tone, I have to glare at him.
"Kaname is not my babysitter." I roll my eyes at the clouds outside the plane. How I wish I can tell him that Kaname is not my babysitter but my boyfriend.
"Just admit it, polka-dotted panty girl." He mocked. Geez, I think it would feel so good to strangle him now and just throw him out of here so he can fly with his unimaginable fantasies.
"Okay, okay…" I breathed with my jaw clenched. Darn it, he's so annoying. "Let me get this one thing straight, Hyuuga. I. Don't. Like. You." I breathed again.
"Ouch." He muttered… sarcastically.
"I'm dead serious. I don't like you. You are a conceited, selfish, arrogant jerk and you're a bastard. Let's stop this game. You are not courting me and if you will still push that on me, well you're busted." I told him. I'm glad I breathed before speaking without pausing or I'm dead by now.
He tilted his head and smirked again. I hate that smirk.
I hate it because he looks even better with it.
He nodded slowly. I hope he did get what I mean. "Yeah, say what you want. I'm not buying it." He said and I have to breathe so deep I'll explode in annoyance. Oh my goodness, he's one hell of a hard-headed bastard. "I'm still courting you." And with that he stood up, hands on his pocket and gracefully walked away.
"Court all you want, nothing will change. I still don't… like you. And will never."
He stopped midway and looked over his shoulders. "Everything changes, polka…"
And there… I don't know what happened next. Maybe I fell deep asleep since I was in the hotel room when I woke up with the nagging headache. I'm half thankful that Reddie peeped in that morning to check. It was like nothing happened. He was back to his nonchalant attitude, brought me breakfast and made me borrow his healing alice necklace. And that's when I felt better and started to prepare.
So two hours later, here I am in a floral garden decorated with lavender chiffon, white tulips, violet orchids and baby's breaths, swearing to myself that I'm not marrying. Or at least not this... ceremonial. I will try my best not to like the ideas of wedding gowns, bloody red carpet and pastel flowers.
I notice myself fidgeting in discomfort and so did Hyuuga. The ceremony was supposed to start an hour ago but wedding march just started in the background, with the organizer yelling at the poor freckled cellist, the 3-year-old ring-bearer running around with a groomsman trailing after him to make sure that the rings are not lost, the flower girls stealing petals from each other's baskets and end up pulling each other's hair, and a bridesmaid tripping and falling on her face just near to where we stood. Hyuuga, who was beside me standing nearer the aisle, made use of some gentleman spirit to scoop down and help the lady up. She wailed in tears, I don't know if it's because it hurts or because Hyuuga was so handsome, she thought heaven's so unfair. But well yeah, she continued to take the path. Every maid did the same until the bride came struggling to walk amidst her i-bet-it's-so-heavy gown. And... She's crying, sniffing until she can't hold it so she started making weird piggy-ngorky sounds.
"Eh... why is she crying?" I wasn't able to hold my tongue. Hyuuga glanced sideways at me and smirked. One more smirk and I will hit him hard enough to make him cry. It's distracting, I swear.
"Overwhelmed maybe..." his eyes flickered as if something funny was going on inside his head. It was as if he knows that my stomach's making some weird flip because of the way he stares down at me or whenever he's close to me. And ironically, that's when I notice that we were holding hands. My face heated up in the instant. Geez. I don't like him… I don't like him…
"You're not supposed to make fun of her misery." I whispered, trying to get rid of the awkward feeling inside me while I try to take my hand away. But while I do, he just tightens his grip.
"I told you she's overwhelmed, not sorrowful." He replied. "And I' not making fun of anything or anyone..."
"Yeah, except for me…" I'm sure I saw a ridiculing smile across his face just now. "Then why're you making a face?"
"Hn," he said, his smirk became wider, his left lip corner is about to reach his ears and he'll soon look like Joker. "I just remembered a little brat in a wedding dress with the ugliest grumpy face one can ever behold." he teased. Stupid memories! I wish he'd stop digging his head for a while. It's unfair! He's got a lot of ideas about our so-called "present-life" and here I am, feeling so stupid while I wait for a flashback to whip my head painfully. Yeah that's just… ouch.
The bride walked past us but I can still hear her sniffs. I felt sorry for her, whatever her problem is. Well, I think I know what it feels to be in a wedding gown… and… cry…
Darn it…
I REALLY DID MARRY HIM!
I glanced sideways at Reddie but he didn't seem to notice me. My mind wanders again at the mere sight of him. Why 'did' or 'will' I marry him? I don't know… It's just that my heart beats at my ears, I can almost hear my pulse. The anxious feeling became stronger but it feels so unreasonable to feel this way.
Unreasonable because I don't know him, and I don't regard any feeling towards him. I mean… Romantic (if I can call it romantic) feeling like how I feel about Sempai. And of course there's the weird stomach flips and crazy heartbeats.
"There she is…" he whispered, distracting me from my thoughts. Whew, ironic. He's distracting me from my thoughts when my thoughts are about me. I think I need to take a neuro exam.
I look up at him to see where he's looking at but instead, butterflies invaded my stomach. My right eyebrow twitched. Why do I feel this way!?
What is it to me if he's wearing a suit and a lavender necktie, looking so fresh and… handsome while he smells like roses and—
"What are you looking at?"
"Dammit!" Shock has taken over me. Bad turns to worse. "I mean… I'm sorry, I'm… trying to… see where you're looking at." I responded nervously. I can feel the heat rushing on my face. 'Embarrassing' is written in big bold letters on my forehead.
"You're staring at me…" he said confidently. Of course with a hint of humor.
"N-no." I have to stop shaking. I tried not to swallow and steadied my feet, and took a deep breath while I look away to the direction he's looking at a while ago when I was… well… staring. I can still feel his gaze on me. "It just happened that I was confirming the direction of your stare when you looked down to see me. Now get over it." I said and gave him a quick eye-roll.
He shortly crinkled his nose, "You'll come around…"
"Yeah, sure…" I gave him a friendly grin. "When the crow turns white…"
"Want me to bleach one for you?" He retorted. Sheez, he's fast on retorting.
"Save the bleaching later, we need to get your grandmother to talk first." He rolled his eyes above and sigh. It's kind of funny to watch him doing that.
"She's there, by the flower arrangement near the candle stands." He directed. I kept my focus on the figure maybe four meters from us. "And we need to get her attention before she leaves again."
"Will it not be enough if you just ask her to talk to you?"
"She'll ignore me. Unless it's something important, she'll stick around." He said. His eyes wanders to his grandmother's direction. He's got this very serious but calm face and I guess he's thinking about some big attraction to offer the old lady. Okay, I'll leave that to him. I know he's better off alone with the thinking and take my eyes off him.
I let my mind slip for a moment and focus on the wedding. The minister's almost finished with his message and the ring-bearer went forward to give them their rings and the minister started explaining the meaning of the rings and they started reciting the vows.
"I, Adrian Calvin… take thee…" the groom started. A soft breeze passed by me, my heart started to work double-time again…
*"…and stand by you forever. I'm never going to leave you unless you ask me to… I will be your hope as you are mine, I will be your anything, and your everything… through joy, sadness, laughter and tears…"
It's someone else's voice…
Natsume Hyuuga's voice.
"Nothing that I'll do will ever be enough, not even my love.
And I promise to recite this vow everyday, especially when you're being such a brat because I love you… and nothing will change that, not even death…"
I look up but I have to stop midway. His head was almost leaning on mine, his lips was aligned to my ears, it almost touched mine if I hadn't stop. We both heaved a deep breath as our eyes met and I can see how his jaw clenched as his sight dropped to my… lips.
He was actually reciting it.
Everything just disappeared. My heart beats at my ears and it's crazy, I can't breathe. I have to part my lips so it can aide my nose in breathing but it just made it worse. He slowly moved his face nearer…and nearer. I don't understand why I can't move… Why… am I so compelled to his nearness…
"No…" I finally sounded out.
Hyuuga almost stopped breathing. He closed his eyes and made a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His hand reached up to my face, his thumb on my lips. "I'm sorry…" he whispered. He inched away but he kept his hand on my face. His thumb moved slightly to caress my cheek, and I can feel it warming up to his touch. The next thing I knew he drew me closer and kissed my forehead… and then he walked away.
AN: owkaaay... I'm looking forward to your opinions and reviews. Please leave one... Thanks you so much!
Love lots,
Konan
