Chapter 21
It was Saturday night and Haruki was still working her ass off at her temporary waitressing job. It was supposed to be her off day, but since she had decided not to go to the party and she had nothing to do, she requested to work, and her boss approved.
Prior to Saturday, Haruki had gotten more and more invitations from various girls to the party, but she had declined all of them politely. The one girl that she wanted to go with, wasn't going. Haru had made Haruki promise to go to the party right after her shift ended, insisting that she could still enjoy the night as a single lady. The redhead just told her that she would try her best to make it to the party.
Now, Haruki was at the crossroad, literally and figuratively. Her shift had just ended and she was standing on the pavement outside the café. If she turned to her right, she would be going home. If she turned to the left, she would be going to the party. If she walked on straight, she would be going to the house of the person who had been occupying her thoughts recently.
Letting out a sigh, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages. There were tons of messages from Haru, asking her to get her ass to the party. As she was about to reply, she received a notification from her Instagram, prompting her to check it out. Isuke had posted something there. It was a picture of her laptop filled with interior design, with the caption that read: "All of these are nice. I can't decide."
"So, she's really at home, huh?" Haruki thought as she scrolled through her Instagram and suddenly laughed at a picture of Haru and Tokaku. Both of them were at the party now, having a time of their lives. Tokaku had on her default face while Haru was making funny faces in the pictures.
Then, she scrolled back up to Isuke's picture and finally made a decision. She went to a café from across the street and ordered some food and two cups of bubble milk tea, one strawberry flavoured and one regular, to take away.
Isuke was on her bed, browsing through pictures after pictures of interior design. It was only half past ten at night and she was already bored. Nio had been bugging her to go to the party all week and she had declined. She gave everyone and herself the reason why she wasn't going was because she had to help her dads with her brother's room, but Nio could see right through her lies. The real reason why she wasn't going, according to Nio, was because the one person she wanted to go with, was already invited by so many other girls. Nio had told Isuke that she could be the one inviting Haruki to go with, but she didn't want to give herself any false hopes and Haruki the wrong idea.
Her mind briefly wandered to the redhead, wondering if she is enjoying herself now with a date at the party. Her train of thoughts was interrupted, however, by sudden knocks on her door.
"Come in," she said.
Her papa opened the door and said, "Isuke, someone is here looking for you. She is in the living room."
"It's so late at night and I'm lazy to entertain any guests. Please tell them to go back home," Isuke grumbled in annoyance.
"Oh, ok. But Haruki will be very disappointed." her papa said and was about to close the door, when he was quickly stopped by Isuke.
"Papa, wait!" Isuke nearly lost her balance running towards the door to stop her dad from going downstairs. "Haruki's here?"
"Yes, and she brought some snacks as well," her papa said and smiled.
"Tell her to wait. I'll be down in a few minutes," Isuke said.
"Right. 'Cause you need to look your best for her, right?" her papa chuckled and quickly left before Isuke could throw him a murderous glare.
About twenty minutes later, Isuke walked down the staircase. Haruki was sitting at the living room sofa, being entertained by Isuke's parents, when she heard Isuke's footsteps. When she turned around to face the staircase, she wasn't prepared for the sight in front of her. Isuke was wearing a simple, yet elegant dress and her hair and makeup were on point. There wasn't a strand of hair out of place. Haruki didn't realize that her jaw had went slack, until Eisuke laughed from behind her.
"Isuke! What had gotten into you?! You've never dressed up at home before!" Before Isuke could come up with a witty response, her mama quickly got up and said to his husband, "Looks like it's the cue for us to go now, darlin'."
Isuke watched on as her mama whispered something in Haruki's ear and Haruki's face became as red as her hair after hearing whatever her mama had just said.
"Mama! Stop embarrassing my friend and just go already!" Isuke huffed.
Both her parents just laughed as they left the living room and went upstairs. As soon as her parents were gone, Isuke sat down next to Haruki on the sofa.
"So sorry for my parents. They really are an embarrassment," Isuke said.
"Ah haha, it's ok Isuke-sama," Haruki said awkwardly.
"So, what brings you here?" Isuke asked. "Aren't you supposed to be enjoying yourself at the party? Didn't you have people falling all over themselves asking you to be their plus one?"
If Haruki caught the tone of jealousy in Isuke's voice, she didn't acknowledge it. "Nah… that party isn't my kind of scene," Haruki reiterated what she had said to Haru with a casual shrug. "So I thought to myself, why don't I help you choose the interior design for your brother's room, huh? You asked for help in Instagram, didn't you?"
"That's why you're here?" Isuke asked.
"Yeah, and also, thought you might be hungry," the redhead said as she pointed to the snacks and the milk tea on the coffee table. "Maybe we eat first, then we'll-"
"Haruki, you don't have to go through all the trouble of buying food and come all the way here just 'cause of a random post on Instagram from me. I wasn't really asking for help, you know?" Isuke interjected.
"But you're worth the trouble, Isuke-sama. So it's not a problem for me," Haruki said with all the sincerity in her voice, as she gazed longingly at Isuke. She didn't know how she had missed it the first time, but there, she saw it. The light bouncing off the miniature nail polish on Isuke's neck caught Haruki's eye, causing her heart to skip a beat. Isuke was wearing the necklace that Haruki had bought for her.
Time seemed to stop as Isuke realized what Haruki was staring at. "Ok… I'll go bring my laptop down then," Isuke said, breaking the tension, and went up to her room.
Haruki was already in the middle of opening the take-away plastic containers when Isuke set her laptop down on the coffee table. It was all her favourite snacks, including the strawberry flavoured bubble milk tea, which was her favourite flavor.
A small smile was slowly forming on her lips as she realized that Haruki still remembered all her favourite food from the time when they always had breakfast together. That seemed like eons ago, when things were so much simpler, although Isuke was such a bossy bitch to her back then. She wondered how Haruki could put up with such a person like her. Heck, she wouldn't be able to put up with a person like her. But then again, she wasn't surprised, because Haruki is nice to everyone.
"Except for the time when she played you for a fool," her inner voice said. "But she didn't even go through with it in the end, because she lo-" her other inner voice said, but she quickly shook her head before she could finish that thought. She had forgiven Haruki, and there is no use dwelling on the past now. She has to move forward because that's the reason why she had chosen forgiveness.
"Isuke, what are you thinking about?" Haruki asked.
"Nothing," the pink-haired girl replied as she took a bite of the strawberry cupcake and gave Haruki a reassuring look. She realized that she must have looked like a fool in front of the redhead right now, who had been staring at her worriedly for the past few minutes while she was debating with herself.
Haruki knew Isuke was lying, but she didn't want to push her. She watched as Isuke turned on her laptop and made herself comfortable on the carpeted floor. The coffee table was too low for Isuke to be sitting on the sofa, so she had to sit on the floor. Chewing on a piece of Pocky stick, Haruki moved to sit next to Isuke on the floor as well, their knees touching. She looked at the laptop screen as Isuke scrolled through the pictures with her mouse.
"Oooh, this one looks nice," Haruki suddenly said as Isuke was still scrolling by.
"Which one?" Isuke asked and stopped scrolling.
"Scroll up… oops you've missed it… here, let me," Haruki said, and without thinking, she placed her hand on top of Isuke's to take control of the mouse.
Both of them froze upon contact. Isuke immediately tried to move her hand away from Haruki, but the redhead had already held onto her hand tightly, refusing to let go. Isuke mentally cursed herself for being such a nervous wreck. It was just an accidental hand contact, and here she was, acting like a teenaged lovestruck fool.
"Um… H-haruki, you need to let go of my h-hand so that you can t-take control the mouse," Isuke stammered as she felt her heart rate picking up.
Instead, Haruki let go of the mouse but still held onto Isuke's hand. It was now or never. She brought her hand to her lap and said in a very serious tone. "Isuke, I meant every word I said in the letter, you know?"
Isuke's head snapped up at that. "You mean the letter you wrote to me and then you tore it all up because you said you weren't in the right state of mind when you wrote it?"
"Yeah, that letter," Haruki chuckled, remembering the incident of her tearing up the letter. It was funny and childish, now that she thinks about it. "But even though I wasn't in the right state of mind when I wrote it, I still meant every single word in it."
"… which part?" Isuke asked in a quiet voice, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears as she looked at Haruki. There it was again. She thought she was imagining it the first time, but the yearning look was definitely there in Haruki's eyes. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but…
"The part where I said I love y-" Haruki didn't get to finish her sentence as her lips were captured by Isuke in a slow, dizzying kiss that left both of them dazed and wanting for more when they parted.
"-ou," Haruki breathed when they parted and smiled sadly. She licked her lips, savouring Isuke's taste. It had been a long time ever since she had kissed the pink-haired girl, and she had tasted just like how Haruki remembered. "I'm sorry, Isuke. I really tried to be your friend, like you asked, but I can't just be your friend when my feelings for you is still as strong as ever. I've never stopped loving you. I know that I've fucked up the only good thing in my life right now, and even though you've forgiven me, how could I ever forgive myself. I-"
Isuke hushed Haruki by placing her forefinger on the redhead's lips. "I think we're way past blaming each other and ourselves now, Haruki," Isuke whispered softly and bit her lips, tasting Haruki's mixture of lip gloss and chocolate flavoured Pocky on her own. God, she missed that taste that's so uniquely Haruki. "You know what's funny?" Isuke asked, smiling ruefully. "Even though I was so mad at you back then, deep down inside, I know that I still care about you deeply. I wanted to hate you, but I can't. I hate you for making me feel this way, so you'd better take responsibility."
She hated her conflicted feelings for Haruki, but most of all, she realized that another kind of emotion she was experiencing was insecurity about herself. She had never felt this way before; people get insecure around her, not the other way around. But she had come to accept that Haruki had made her feel a lot of things she had never felt before.
She didn't realize she had been crying until she felt Haruki's lips on her cheek, kissing her tears away. Isuke shifted her head a little to the left and as she did so, her lips gently brushed upon Haruki's. Before she knew it, she was leaning into Haruki for another kiss until Haruki was on the floor and Isuke was lying on top of her. Isuke wasn't the best when it comes to articulating how she feels, so she poured everything that she had to offer Haruki into that one kiss; her love, her affection, her desire; all for the redhead underneath her. As they kissed, Isuke's hand wandered to Haruki's and she guided Haruki's hand to cup her own breast.
Haruki immediately gasped and stopped their kiss. "Wait-"
"Haruki, we've been friends for almost a month already. We didn't even have sex when we were dating. This relationship is the slowest pace I've ever been in. If I were to wait any longer, I think I might become a nun before we ever get anywhere."
"Wow… when you put it like that…" Haruki said with her signature lopsided grin that Isuke love so much.
"Stop talking, Haruki. And kiss me now. Can't you see that I want you so badly?" Isuke demanded and began to lean in again.
"Wait… we're in your living room."
"So?" Isuke asked as she began to grow impatient.
"Um… your parents?"
Isuke had totally forgotten about her parents being at home, since she was so used to being all alone in the house up until recently. Wordlessly, she stood up and pulled Haruki along with her to the staircase and into her room.
Both of them were kissing on the bed the minute they reached Isuke's room. Haruki had forgotten how much she loved the taste of Isuke's lips, a light hint of strawberry taste and lip gloss. "God, I've missed this," Haruki murmured breathlessly between kisses. "And I've missed you."
As they kissed, Haruki flipped Isuke over so that Isuke was lying on her back. Her lips travelled down to Isuke's throat and she sucked on it.
"I've missed you too," Isuke moaned wantonly. She grabbed a handful of red hair and pulled Haruki's head up so that she could look at her in the eye. "So much," she added, her voice husky with love and lust for the girl in front of her. Isuke started to cant her hips upwards and ground on Haruki's thigh for emphasis. Months of fantasizing about this had her losing control of herself and she had never lost control that fast. But it's Haruki and having her on top of her now felt so surreal.
The moment Haruki felt Isuke grinding her hips on her thigh, her eyes widened as she watched Isuke's facial expression. Isuke's eyes were closed in pure ecstasy and Haruki had never seen her so vulnerable and hot before. The sight in front of her really turned Haruki on and her brain suddenly shortcircuit. What should she do next? Where should she go from here?
As if reading her mind, Isuke opened her eyes and slowly sat up. Giving the redhead a smouldering look, she started to unbutton Haruki's work uniform, her eyes flickering from Haruki's eyes, to her lips and the barrier between them. However, it did not go as smoothly as she had liked; her hands were shaking as she fumbled with Haruki's buttons. She silently cursed herself. This had never happened to her before. She had had plenty of sex before, but all of them were loveless and meaningless. This time, however, it actually meant something to her. For the first time ever, Isuke was actually nervous about having sex with someone.
"Here, let me," Haruki said gently as she covered Isuke's hand and unbuttoned her own shirt. Isuke's amber orbs never left Haruki's hands as she watched Haruki slowly taking off her shirt in front of her.
She had seen plenty of girls taking their clothes off for her, and while those girls are far more experienced and confident than Haruki, none of them had captivated her the way that Haruki had. And it was that that made her nervous for the first time.
As soon as Haruki undid the last button, she quickly tossed her shirt onto the floor. Isuke's heartbeat picked up as she drank in the sight in front of her. A surge of emotions welled up inside her as she suddenly remembered what had happened the last time Haruki got half naked in front of her. She had run away and then all hell broke lose after that. The unpleasant memories caused Isuke to stay rooted on her spot.
Haruki seemed to sense that Isuke was triggered by that memory. Her heart clenched as guilt overcame her. However, this isn't the time to mull over the past. "Hey, I'm not running away this time." She leaned into Isuke and whispered in her ear, before placing a reassuring kiss on Isuke's lips.
Isuke returned the kiss slowly and uncertainly at first, but as each second passed by and Haruki was still as present as ever, her confidence picked up and she kissed the redhead with much more fervour. When they finally parted for air, Isuke took Haruki's hand in hers and brought it to her lips before sucking Haruki's middle finger. It sent a shiver down Haruki's spine as Isuke said in a sultry voice, "I think you should know where to go from here~."
Haruki's throat went dry at Isuke's action, but she couldn't say the same thing happened to her nether regions. She had imagined this moment every time she helped herself but having the gorgeous, sexy, beautiful Isuke underneath her right now, so ready and wanting, goes beyond even her wildest imagination.
Haruki may be a virgin and inexperienced but she knows very well what Isuke meant by that. Letting her instincts guide her, she met Isuke halfway, pouring all her love and affection through her kiss as she gently eased Isuke down onto the bed. They continued to kiss, as Haruki moved a trembling hand all the way down to Isuke's thigh and lifted her dress up, before slipping into the waistband of Isuke's panties. She was surprised to find that Isuke was already drenched. One experimental stroke of Haruki's fingertip on Isuke's entrance had the pink-haired girl mewling. Encouraged, Haruki began to slip a calloused finger inside Isuke and pump slowly, worried that she might hurt the pink-haired girl.
"Is this ok?" she asked, her voice full of affection for the girl underneath her.
Isuke wanted to tell Haruki that there's no need for her to ask that question, but instead, she bit her lower lip and just nodded her head. It's so like Haruki to be showing unnecessary concern for her at a time like this. Haruki's just so nice and kind and gentle and all these qualities just made Isuke fall in love with her all over again. She felt even more aroused, if that was even possible. "More," she groaned breathlessly, slipping her hands down to take off her underwear so that Haruki has more freedom to move her hand.
Haruki's heart was now thundering at the beautiful sight in front of her. She complied and added another finger into Isuke. She started slowly, but as Isuke's hips began to move faster against her hand, Haruki started to thrust faster as well. She added her thumb to the mix by stroking Isuke's throbbing clit, eliciting a loud moan from the pink-haired girl. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she chided herself for being worried that Isuke may make fun of her for being inexperienced. It seemed like she had nothing to worry about because whatever she did to Isuke, the latter liked it, if her loud vocalization is any indication to go by.
In the midst of the haze, Isuke's hands reached out blindly for Haruki. Haruki grabbed onto her lover's hand, their fingers entwined together. Isuke's eyes flickered briefly to their locked hands, before landing on Haruki's toned abs, mesmerized by the clenching and unclenching muscles. Her other hand reached out and brushed Haruki's abs a few times, before sliding down to Haruki's pants and tugged on it impatiently. Haruki immediately knew what Isuke wanted.
"Hold on," she grunted as she let go of Isuke's hand and quickly pulled down her pants and underwear. Before Isuke could angle her hand properly, Haruki was already grinding her center on the latter's thigh. "Oh…" Haruki let out a strangled moan, momentarily dazed.
"Fuck," Isuke groaned, her voice thick with lust. "You're so wet."
"It's all because of you, Isuke-sama," Haruki said breathlessly. "I've been wanting to do this with you for a very long time."
Isuke moaned louder at Haruki's confession. "Me too." Was all she could manage because Haruki had slipped her fingers back into Isuke and picked up where she left off.
Haruki increased her speed on Isuke's sex as she ground harder and faster on her thigh. On one particular stroke, Haruki angled her fingers so that she was rubbing on the front wall of Isuke's vagina, causing the pink-haired girl to let out a guttural moan. Sensing that Isuke likes the motion, she did it again.
"You like it like this?" Haruki asked unnecessarily.
The pinkette was too far gone to come up with a proper reply. She just nodded her head, her body trembling involuntarily. Haruki knew that Isuke was close, so she moved her other free hand to pull Isuke's dress strap down until her bra popped out. Wasting no time, she removed her bra as well. Haruki went on to give butterfly kisses on Isuke's collarbone, while still working on Isuke's sex. When her lips reached Isuke's pink nipple, she gave it a lick before wrapping her lips in it and sucked. Isuke moaned loudly and closed her thighs tightly, trapping Haruki's hand between her hips.
"Haruki… oh…" Isuke whimpered in pleasure as she gripped her hand tightly onto Haruki's hair, keeping her head there so that her wonderful lips would never leave her nipple. "Baby, faster… don't stop… I'm so close…" she said urgently as her hips moved faster and faster, her head thrashing wildly from side to side.
Never one to disappoint, Haruki curled her fingers deep inside Isuke and stroke once, twice and the third time, she pressed her thumb on Isuke's clit and circled hard while her lips were still working magic on Isuke's nipple. It had the desired effect and Isuke couldn't stop whining, her voice getting airier and breathier, as she climbed higher and higher, until she reached her peak and screamed Haruki's name as she came hard.
Fireworks went off behind Isuke's eyelids as she arched her body up into Haruki, her hand gripping tightly on Haruki's arm until the redhead could feel her lover's fingernails digging into her skin. Haruki's hand stayed inside Isuke until she felt Isuke's body slackened, her other hand holding onto Isuke tightly with great care. Having Haruki's body pressing so close to hers, Isuke couldn't help but to wrap her arm around her tightly. This caused Haruki to press her palm fully onto Isuke's still sensitive clit, and she cried out as her body went rigid.
The moment Haruki felt Isuke's body tensed, she responded by pressing her palm harder on Isuke's clit and this pushed her over the edge. Isuke came with a sharp cry, and this involuntarily caused Haruki to grind her hips harder and faster on Isuke's thigh. Haruki was so close, yet so far. She let out a sob as her body trembled with pent-up frustration.
After what felt like an eternity, Isuke opened her eyes to find that Haruki was still moving on top of her, desperately chasing her own release. "Let me help you," she said, and Haruki just whimpered in reply. Isuke slid her hand down to Haruki's body and attempted to squeeze her hand in between their bodies. It was not easy with Haruki still squirming and writhing on top of her, but with her efforts and determination, she managed to do it and when her finger found the quivering nub, she gave it a stroke. Haruki moaned loudly, and Isuke did it again and again.
"Oh God, babe… I'm gonna cum," Haruki said in between her whimpers.
"Cum for Isuke~," Isuke said in a teasing tone, and encouraged by how Haruki was so receptive towards her, she put more pressure on Haruki's clit, eliciting a sharp cry from Haruki.
"Ofuck!" Haruki came with a sob, her body convulsing uncontrollably on top of Isuke while Isuke wrapped an arm tightly around Haruki, guiding her through her orgasm.
When Haruki finally came to, she found herself still lying on top of Isuke, her nose buried into Isuke's neck. She snuggled further into Isuke, breathing her in, before planting lazy kisses all over Isuke's neck. Slowly, she moved her lips down and traced her kisses along the necklace, until her lips reached the miniature nail polish. She kissed the pendant once, before lifting it up and kissed the soft skin underneath the pendant. Isuke groaned quietly at Haruki's romantic gesture as she melted into Haruki's embrace.
When Haruki lifted her head up, she found that Isuke was gazing lovingly at her. She stared back into the amber orbs, feeling like she could just drown in them. Wordlessly, Isuke pulled her lover down until their lips met again and again, until both of them were lost in their heady kisses, which led them to another round of passionate lovemaking.
The next morning, Isuke woke up to find herself curled up into Haruki's body, her head nicely tucked into the crook of Haruki's neck. Haruki's arms were lazily splayed over Isuke's torso and her head rested on the top of Isuke's head. Their bodies were still naked, both of them having fallen asleep immediately right after their lovemaking. Isuke buried her face into Haruki's neck and inhaled deeply. She could never get enough of Haruki's scent. She hugged the redhead tighter and marvelled at how perfect her body fit into hers, like a missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle.
Isuke blushed at the memory of last night and mentally scolded herself for treating her sex with Haruki like her first time having sex with someone. But last night was really amazing and she had a really peaceful sleep after that. She hasn't had a peaceful sleep for a very long time, and having Haruki sleeping beside her had really helped her a lot.
She shifted slowly and lifted her head up to look at her lover, who was still fast asleep. Suddenly, Nio's statement to her from few weeks ago popped up in her head.
For what it's worth though, I hope she's worth all the pain and heartache she put you through.
Then there was Haruki's statement to her last night.
But you're worth the trouble, Isuke-sama. So it's not a problem for me.
Haruki had put up with her attitude, doing all her biddings since day one because of Isuke's threat. But even then, she had done all these without any complaints and slowly, all of these became something she would do willingly, even when Isuke didn't ask her to do it for her anymore.
Suddenly, she realized why Haruki could put up with her attitude. Yes, there's no denying that Haruki is nice to everyone, but she had never went out of her way to do something for someone without being asked, except for her family. If she could list down all the things Haruki had done for her, a piece of paper wouldn't be enough. The reason why Haruki could put up with her attitude wasn't because Haruki was only nice, but it was because what Haruki had told her last night. It was because Isuke was worth it.
Haruki was wrong in the letter she wrote to her. It's not Haruki who didn't deserve Isuke, it was the other way around.
She didn't have the answer to Nio's statement to her few weeks ago, but she has it now. Very slowly, she planted a chaste kiss on Haruki's chin and whispered, "You're worth it too."
This is it, fellas! Thanks for reading my story til the end. It meant a lot to me. This story meant a lot to me as I was going through a rough situation and writing this fic with my favourite pairing was my coping mechanism with my depression. Thank you all for sticking with this fic!
Check out my other HaruI fics that I've posted at AO3 under my same penname, if you haven't already!
