Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All rights to respective owners.
A/N: Yessss! You guys are still in suspense, my goal is achieved! Why is chess boy being so mysterious? Why does he not want to meet Usagi? Questions, questions huh? But rest assured my readers, all questions will be answered later!
Well I know it's been more than a month since an update but I struggled with the chapter and finally, I got to editing this thing so please enjoy and hopefully it's good cuz I REALLY struggled so this could be a bad chapter, your call!
But let's see if I can get you all strung up again with this chapter, shall we?
Shoutout to CassieRaven for your help and thoughts, it really helped me to post this chapter that I really was iffy on! This girl is awesome so check her out while you're at it! ;)
Chapter Five
"Checkmate is when the king is under threat, and when put into check, he can not escape thus trapping him and calling checkmate which is the end of the game."
Usagi bit into her nail as she gazed down at the chessboard in between her and Ami. "Soooo...how exactly do you get checkmate though? How do you trap the king himself?"
Ami sighed, reassembling the board into the same format from before. "Okay, so you see those pieces, how they're aligned with the king over here kind of. That means he's trapped so-"
The blue-eyed blonde bore into the black and white board with hard eyes. Even though she was now in constant contact with her chess opponent and they had developed a friendship of some sorts over text, their game of chess still continued on at the coffee shop.
So far, they were neck and neck, capturing each other's chess pieces in sync and playfully boasting about the small wins in their written conversations. But just recently, he had gained an upper hand on things and slowly, his black knights were creeping up on her lone king. He was coming to capture her king and thus the game would be finished and he would ultimately come out victorious.
And she was scared because she could see the end nearing for the little game. But more importantly the uncertainty that laid ahead.
"Usagi are you listening?"
Her blues hues snapped back up to Ami's ocean blues and gave a sheepish smile. "Will you still be my friend if I were to sayyy...no?"
"Usagi," the blue-haired woman muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her index and thumb.
"Alright enough with the chess lessons," Minako chimed in, cradling a slinky red dress, "Usagi you need to get ready for your daaaaattttteee."
"I know, I know," the blonde rose from the floor, "You don't have to remind me Mom."
"You think that's an insult? Your Mom is hot for her age so I'll take it."
Usagi snorted as she grasped the dress in hand and slipped into her bedroom, leaving the door cracked open. "Where did you even get this dress Minako?"
"A little boutique down in Shinagawa, 30% off and on sale," she responded proudly.
The satin material slid against her skin, sending goosebumps all over. It had a simple scoop neckline with an open back that was accented with several straps. She was a bit apprehensive with the few inches of slit that one side had and exposing her thigh even more than already, but why not be bold?
"Ohh I can't wait to send you off to a date I know will be great!"
"Minako-chan how will you know it's going to be great?"
"Hello super genius? Have you not seen her dating history? First it was that weird kid in middle school, then freshman year with those awkward encounters with braces, then it was the, truth be told, jerky football captain that she lost her vir-"
"HEY!"
"Sorry," Minako looked to the door but then to Ami once more in a hushed tone, "The football captain that she lost her 'flower' to. And then college is whole 'nother trilogy on its own."
"I remember the football captain one though," Ami commented, "Masao, he was kind Minako, not jerky."
"Yes he was. Always picking on the nerdy kids and even had the audacity to boast about his big conquest of sacking a virgin! Of course he got what he deserved at the end…," a large wicked grin spread on the blonde's face.
"But didn't he tell Usagi that he loved her with the whole thing with the no-"
"Ha! I still don't believe that he did that! I don't even know how Usagi had believed him!"
"...you guys know I can hear you right?"
Both friends gazed to the slightly ajar door with nervous smiles. "Sorry."
"My point is," Minako stated, "I know that this guy is a good one, could tell he was a gentlemen from a mile away."
"Here's hoping…" The long haired blonde strapped on her black lace heels and proceeded to walk out, makeup and hair skillfully done.
"Usagi-channn…"
"Stop with the fawning," she silenced the two as she shakily passed them. "I gotta get going and you guys saying 'awe' does not speed things along."
"But you look so good though," Minako called as her blonde friend came up to the side table that held her dismantled purse.
The bedazzled phone vibrated in Usagi's hand and she swiftly swiped the screen open to reveal her text messages.
"Why did you choose Social Work?"
She grinned, their last few exchanges having been all about her and her aspirations in life, something she couldn't ask in risk of revealing his identity.
"I chose Social Work because I realized that I care too much. My friends always say I care too much about what happens to people, that I emphasize a lot. I love helping people and caring so I decided to do it in a career."
"You seem like you have a big heart."
"Sometimes that's a bad thing."
"What do you mean?"
"Usagi hello upcoming date with a major hunk here?"
Sapphire eyes tore away from the phone screen and she met Minako's crazed hues of indigo, one hand helplessly waving around her simple black jacket. A sheepish smile later, along with silencing her phone, Usagi was picture perfect and ready to go forward to her predestined date.
"You know," Minako began jokingly as the dressed blonde came to the door, "I was kind of surprised that the guy even said yes. You should have seen her Ami, she spilled her full cup of coffee on herself trying to get his attention, and then he tried to help her which was a mess on its own-"
"I did not spill coffee on myself," Usagi sharply corrected. "I bumped into him and it spilled. He felt sorry so to make it up, I told him he could just take me on a date at the coffee house and buy me a replacement coffee. Thus, this is how we got here-"
"Plusssss," Minako continued on, "Me and my smarty brain came up with the brilliant idea to go on the busiest night at the coffee shop." Out of thin air, the red-ribboned blonde presented to her wide-eyed doctor friend a flashy poster with the bold thick title of "A Night Under the Caffeine" running across the top. "It's like legit a ball for all the regular coffee drinkers. Its combined with trivia, half off prices, jamming music, and so. Much. More!"
When the talkative blonde finished and peeled open one of her eyes to see their reactions, all she observed was some parted mouths and quirked eyebrows. "What? I like advertising."
"Yes Minako-chan," Ami agreed, "We can see that."
"Whatever," Usagi muttered defiantly as she already strutted out of her door and into the industrial-looking hallway, "Ami, feed me a few more intelligent words."
"Usagi just be yourself," the bluenette answered as they walked to the staircase with Minako a few steps behind, looking fondly at the poster in hand, "You don't need to memorize intelligent words to win this guy over, especially if he's the person who's been playing with you."
"Yea, yea, I know….I'm just nervous. What if he realizes how stupid I am and suddenly I stop getting responses?!"
"Then we'll know it was him."
"Minako," Ami chided scandalously as the offending blonde shrugged. "A little bit more positivity?"
"Hey if the date does go horribly, and she doesn't get any responses from chess boy, we'll have answers at least."
"That's true but," Ami leaned in and even though Usagi could still hear her, whispered, "You didn't have to say it out loud in front of her."
"Geez you guys are a huge confidence booster," Usagi added in as they finally reached the descending stairs.
"So, let me get this straight," he questioned with a twitch of a smile, "Your first job was being forced to dress up as a superhero and asked to dance around defeating evil in front of little kids?"
"Hey whatever paid my food addiction," Usagi defended herself with a laugh, "A girl's gotta do what she's gotta do."
He laughed good-heartily, a sexy rumble that made a tingle go up her body as crowds of people teemed around them, enjoying the lively, albeit chilly, autumn night. She had never seen so many people fill the coffee house, some faces she knew well due to her morning routine but some that were completely faceless, which wasn't entirely surprising since she always had trouble remembering faces…
But it was just a stroke of luck that the two at least found an open table to sit at with what seemed to be the entire population of Tokyo in one space.
"So businessman," she teased, "What exactly do you do when you're not bumping into girls and spilling their coffee?"
He chuckled again. "Well I run my father's business since he's leaving it to me when he retires. It's a tech company called KashioNow?"
She felt her mouth hang open and blue eyes go so, so wide. "No way. Thee KashioNow, like the same KashioNow that built my very phone?"
"Most likely," Mamoru responded with a smirk.
'Alright mouth stay cool and foot don't go into my mouth,' the reddening blonde wailed in her head as his perfect white teeth gleamed. 'You literally have the son of a technology god in front of you, smiling at you. Do not mess this up!'
Her date, and supposed chess player, was a good conversationalist so her suspicions hit the roof because his responses were so witty and ideal that it reminded her of a certain person that she always texted. Plus he was devastatingly handsome even out of his usual business suit as he wore a pair of charcoal pants and a black wool jacket that looked like so lush and soft and so expensive that it probably cost more than her tuition. Mamoru was literally her wildest dreams.
But even as he talked on and on, and she mindlessly kept up with his voice since he had such a captivating way of engaging people with his deep baritone, Usagi's mind and eyes always settled on the sleek black phone screen (obviously the newest model from his company) that rested near his propped up elbow.
If she could just send a text and when the screen would light up-
"Oh I'm sorry," his voice caused her to look back up and as she did, his hand swiftly caught his phone and shoved the cellular into his jacket pocket, "I shouldn't be so rude and have my phone out when I have a beautiful date sitting right in front of me."
Even as she weakly returned his kind smile, the blonde still cursed in her thoughts, having lost her only confirmation of him. But the action definitely sent suspicions to race in her mind.
"Mamoru-san," she sweetly called, mentally high fiving at her brilliant brain cells, "I realized I never got your phone number, you know just in case I have to call you, like my phone might not be working or something…" 'Okay, those were the dumb brain cells.'
"Of course," the dark-haired man nodded, "My number is 080 1-"
"Alright order #137."
Usagi laid deflated on their table as Wasu gingerly placed their respective drink orders in front of them. She was so close, so close to finding out….
"Okay," the usual fidgeting barista stuttered, "Do you g-guys need anything else?"
She sighed and shook her golden head with a frown. "Nah we're good Wasu-chan."
"And I think we're fine but thank you," Mamoru added in.
Glancing up, Usagi caught sight of the sad look on Wasu as he pushed past some customers but as her sight roamed she also found a familiar shock of blonde hair that seemed to be attempting to blend into the crowd a few tables away.
Her. Blood. Boiled. "Would you excuse me?"
"Yea of-"
"Great." The pig-tailed blonde had already vaulted off her high chair and created a b-line to the two women who were huddled at a table in the corner, one in bulky sunglasses, along with a familiar red bow, and the other appeared to have a scarf wrapped around her head with strands of rich raven hair helplessly escaping from it.
'You have got to be kidding me…'
At the sight of the reddening blonde pushing past the crowds, coming directly towards them, the woman with the sunglasses desperately tried to make it look like they were engrossed in a stimulating conversation.
"...I said that I'm for sure not going to wear stripes with fur. That is like the biggest fashion disaster ever!"
"Oh my god," the other muttered under her breath as Usagi finally reached their table with steam flowing out of her ears.
"Well hello young lad-"
"Shut it Minako why are you here!? And is that you Rei?!"
The woman flinched and avoided any eye contact. "Noooo….." A few beats later, and a defeated huff, the scarfed woman untied the floral fabric and revealed her jet black locks and regal face that displayed an apologetic frown.
The black-haired woman soon hissed as she was hit squarely in the shoulder with sharp orange nails. "What are you doing we almost had her?!"
"Minako you're still wearing your damn bow," Rei argued as she folded up the thin scarf, "I don't think we ever 'had her' baka."
"Whatever," the blonde finally slipped off the boxy glasses, pools of indigos being shown, "How's the date going?"
Usagi nearly tore out her pigtails at the causal tone of Minako's voice. "First why the heck are you guys here!"
"You're not the only one that loves a good night out on the town...in a coffee shop," Minako drawled on.
The ebony haired woman rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Alright it doesn't matter why we're here exactly-"
"- like to spy on my date or something," Usagi supplied.
"Details, details," Minako chanted softly, "Just tell us how the date is going with the hunk!"
The bunned blonde sighed, defeated, and gave in, a part of her wishing that her friends were a bit more subtle and maybe normal? "I mean it's fine so far," Usagi admitted hesitantly, "But I don't know if he's the one."
Violet and indigo eyes slid to the man in the tailored suit across the room. "He is a nice piece of man at least," Minako cheekily commented.
"Why don't you just ask for his phone number," the black-haired lawyer asked as she ignored the comment.
"I tried before but we got interrupted-"
"Then go do it now! Why the hell are you still talking to us?!" Minako's eyes practically bugged out of her head, her foot gearing up to kick her friend in the shin with a spiky heel. "You think you're the only one who's dying to figure out this whole chess fiasco!"
Usagi gaped at them as she took a few safe steps away from her friend's very sharpened Louis Vuitton shoe wear. "Well I-"
"Go," the two chorused harshly with narrowed eyes.
Walking back to her table, Usagi briefly wondered that even if Mamoru wasn't her chess boy, the dark-haired man was still one of the most kindest, gorgeous, well-meaning, succu-
"So you go to Tokyo-U huh?"
The blue-eyed blonde stopped a few feet away from her currently occupied seat that held a slip of a smiling girl who was twirling a piece of chestnut hair in her nimble fingers.
"Yea I do," her annoyingly high voice (even Usagi flinched at the pitch), "Maybe you could come by one time and I can give you a tour or something…"
The suggestion in her mere tone and the glint in her big eyes made Usagi's skin crawl and bile rise in her constricting throat, suddenly finding it hard to swallow. Standing there in her dainty red dress with the slit, she had never felt more small or plain in her life compared to the curves and image of another girl.
Her date slyly slid the written card away from the young girl and even with the added in noise of the loud people around her, she still heard the husky response, "I'll definitely think about it."
The girl, who looked no more than a sophomore in college, flicked a lock of her hair off her bare shoulder and left him with a flirty smile.
Usagi felt she was in a time warp, that suddenly she was thrown back into her high school years when she caught Masao cheating on her, or when all the girls consoled her after her college boyfriend, who she loved, dumped her after a year together. It was just like before all those times where she got hurt….
She dove into the crowd of people, thanking the heavens that Mamoru had his back turned towards her because she wasn't going to make a scene, she wasn't going to cry about it. It was stupid and ridiculous to have the idea of caring over someone she met yesterday.
Yet again, here she was falling for someone she may have never met, someone she communicates with only through texts.
What's wrong with her? Why couldn't she just stop, stop trying to find the romantic fairytale of a noble prince who would love her and they could live in a castle in peace and harmony-
'You are such an idiot and a loser,' she scolded herself, being so childish and nostalgic.
Pushing past coffee-drinkers and fun-going adults who were having the time of their lives on Friday night after a long vigorous week of work or classes, Usagi felt a vibration run through her body. She wiped away a tear and struck the home button with her shaky finger to see the message.
"One heck of a date you got there."
Her sapphire eyes went to the size of basketballs. She whipped around to catch a glance of Mamoru who was blankly staring at the crowd, chin in his propped up hand, looking every bit nonchalant.
Usagi's manicured fingers flew across the digital keyboard.
"Are you here?"
She hit send and waited with bated breath to see if a vibration would ring in the black-haired Adonis's jacket pocket. She waited long and hard for several seconds until again, a vibration from the phone made her jump three feet in the air.
"I like coffee, how could I not show up?"
The blonde picked up her head and observed her date, who had not moved an inch.
Mamoru wasn't….
Usagi pushed and excused her way through the flocks of mingling bodies who would glare at her back and comment on such a rude action but she didn't care because she had to get there.
When her and Mamoru had come in initially, the pigtailed blonde had noted that no new piece had moved on the board and thought nothing of it since she was utterly convinced that her opponent was right next her so she didn't have to watch the board like a hawk.
But as she stood with shaky legs in front of the wooden board, the recent capture of one of her knights resting off to the side and a slip of paper poked out the bottom of it.
In that same infuriatingly neat writing, it read:
"Catch me if you can Blondie."
Usagi nearly got whiplash as she scanned the bustling shop around her, craning her head to catch someone's eyes, darting looks in the corners and edges of the first floor.
Her heart picked up and she plunged into the crowd, moving through people, again with the looks and comments but not caring because he was here, he was here somewhere. She would have answers, questions still but he would answer the, because there was something about this person that sent her in a whirlwind of emotions and made her blush like she was fourteen again.
Usagi bumped past swift baristas, doting couples, groups of comrades, college students, older pairs - past everyone who wasn't important to her right now. She didn't even know who she was looking for but maybe she would know if she found him.
He cared and there was a reason why he kept his identity a secret, she could feel it and the feeling ate at her because she wanted him to know that -
"Usagi relax!"
Suddenly she was staring crazy-eyed in front of Minako and Rei who observed her with confused eyebrows and anxious crinkled eyes.
"What's wrong girl," Minako leaned in to talk with the mess of the crowd they were in, "It's like you're running a marathon or something."
"He's here," the strung up grad student huffed out, "He's here somewhere."
"W-wait wait how do you know he's here," her black-haired friend demanded as Minako was already bracing herself on her tippy-toes and looking over the sea of women and men surrounding them.
"I know he's here because he-"
"Blondie!"
The call made her freeze in her words and in her mind.
"Got a hot chocolate for Blondie!"
All three women turned in unison to the pick-up counter behind them where the bearded barista was hollering out the order.
"Hot chocolate for-"
"Who ordered this?"
The man looked directly at her and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I don't know. I just call out the drinks."
"Then who took the damn order," Usagi pleaded with anger, "I need to know who ordered this!"
"Lady," he bit out roughly, "If this drink's yours, take it and leave. I have a job to do."
Her small hand clenching up into a ball, Usagi swiped the container from the counter and stomped away with a few curses to the older man, who had no right to treat her like that, especially since he looked new to the shop.
She examined the cup, her only viable clue, but was discouraged to find only the baristas writing spelling out "Blondie" and nothing much else besides the order itself. All the workers were running around behind the counter and any that were left were roaming around the room making sure everyone was taken care of - it would be pointless to try and ask if they remember one order of an especially popular drink during this time of the year.
"Hey he bought you a hot chocolate," Minako cheerfully announced but whimpered when Rei pinched her, gesturing to Usagi's fallen face.
"You missed."
She clutched the phone in her fingers, so much so that it began to tremble and the knuckles shifted to a ghost white.
'Why can't I just meet him? Why is he avoiding me?'
"Usagi.."
A droplet crashed onto the lit phone screen. "I'm fine, I'm fine," the pig-tailed blonde sniffled, using her arm to wipe away anymore moisture that was being produced by her watery eyes. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"What did he say?"
"It's nothing," she swatted away Rei's hand and strolled past her worrisome friends to the trashcan where she chucked the hot drink. "I'm going home so you guys can leave too."
Minako reached out but was taken back by a sober looking Rei who knew that their normally bubbly blonde needed some space and time during situations like this.
The rest of the night went by in a blur to Usagi, having told her handsome, but two-timing, date that she wanted to depart then.
As the two exited the shop and into chilly breeze of a downtown street, Usagi felt the nagging continue in her head as they were about to part ways. She had to know for sure.
"Mamoru?"
He looked up from the sidewalk to her with confused eyes. "Yea?"
"I never got your phone number," she said with a weak grin. "You mind?"
"No of course not," he responded. "My number is (080) 189-5456."
She stopped listening after he said 189. "Thanks." And the pigtailed blonde twirled on her heel and shuffled away from the confused man who was questioning why she hadn't written it down but soon he walked off too, finding the loss of her not too hard.
He was startled out of his thoughts by his vibrating phone and his dark emerald eyes blinked at the screen. "Hello Mamoru Kashio of KashioNow….."
Usagi came home in a daze and anxious state, with the straps of the saucy dress sliding off her narrow shoulders and heels dangling off chipped fingers, wondering how she was supposed to go on until her phone vibrated with a new text message lighting her screen, and she felt her blood grow hot and furious once more.
"Sooooo…..how was the hot chocolate?"
She visibly shook as she squeezed the device in her hand as if it was a lifeline. His witty humor and comments were no longer amusing, just annoying and degrading.
"Why are you doing this?"
"What?"
"Why don't you want to meet me? Why did you avoid me like tonight?"
"Blondie do I have to remind you of the rules here?"
She angrily jabbed at her screen. "I am sick of the rules! It's bullshit and I'm tired of it because it's not fair."
"Blondie please-"
She didn't have the patience to let the next text bubble pop up, even when the three little dots that indicated he was typing, clearly appeared.
"Is this a whole game to you? Just make me go crazy with you laughing behind the screen? Some creep with a phone who loves to play with a girl's heart? Do you even know me? Do you know my damn name or Blondie is just easier to remember? We can't meet because once we do, your fun is over?"
Usagi didn't even register the moisture falling from her eyes until they splattered against the screen, hot and weeping. 'Why am I so naive and stupid, falling for some guy who I don't know, maybe a stalker or creep or some jerk who thought he would have fun with cutting down a poor girl's confidence.'
"Am I not pretty enough or something? Too annoying, too clingy, too stupid, too idiotic for your taste because I get that a lot. I know I'm not perfect, not even close but just tell me the truth."
No response for six minutes but the little check mark told her that he obviously saw the long slew of bubble texts she sent. He saw, he read, yet he doesn't respond. 'At least now I can move on.'
Somehow she will, but no time soon.
But her phone buzzed on the coffee table when she was about to leave and she snorted, amusing what kind of reply he could possibly give.
It was just one word but that one word collided into her being - into her heart - stealing a breath.
"Usagi."
Trembling hands wrote back. "What?"
"That's your name, I know your name. I've heard them call it for your orders. I know your name but I just don't use it."
She smacked her lips and struggled to swallow. "Oh."
What else could she say? 'Sorry I accused you of not knowing my name mysterious chess player?'
The pigtailed blonde was about to click off her phone but another message popped up that made her head spin even more.
"And you're wrong. You are beautiful and perfect in your own way."
She cocked her head, tailored eyebrows furrowing. "What do you mean?"
"You just mentioned how you thought you weren't pretty enough or perfect and I just wanted to say you're wrong."
Usagi pondered for just mere second before writing back, "Tell me."
"What?"
"Tell me how I'm wrong. Tell me what you want to say."
He didn't respond for a long time, almost to the point that she thought he had dropped their conversation. But he did respond and the tingles went up and down her body as she ate up his entire message.
"You're insanely beautiful. You have this smile that makes other people smile, it's just so bright and happy and infectious. And when that blonde friend of yours makes you laugh, it's just so angelic. Usagi, you have no idea how you affect people, how just a smile from you can make someone's entire day turn around or even a frown from you can make them feel your sadness. You're, you. Stunning, dazzling, happy you."
She stared at the words intensely, as if a second away would make them disappear from her sight. Never has she gotten such an admiration from anyone, especially not from the opposite sex. Too shocked and numb from the message, she didn't respond as quickly and something more came in.
"I've seen you sit at that coffee shop, doing your late night assignments, being fueled on only caffeine and you would play with your hair or nibble on your thumb. You looked so focused and stressed out but so adorable and-"
The text cut off until he wrote another text bubble.
"I'm sorry, you said to be honest and I was. I'm sorry, it was inappropriate for me to go on like that."
Fear seized her and finally, the sensation in her thumbs returned. "No, no. It's okay. No one's really ever said that kind of stuff to me, well best friends excluded. But I don't get that kind of flattery I guess."
"Well everyone deserves to have someone who does give them that kind of flattery. You deserve to have flowers on your doorstep, and coffee in the morning, someone to kiss you every hour of the day, go on little dates, remind you of how beautiful you are and how much they love you."
Her heart skipped three beats.
"You should have that."
For a time, she just sat on her rose colored couch, mesmerized to the messages on her phone. But finally something popped into her head.
"I get hurt a lot."
"What?"
"Before, you asked me why I thought having a big heart was bad. It's because of that big heart that I get hurt a lot, that's all I have been getting. Hurt."
"I'm sorry."
She needed more. "You said you were in love once. Would you be okay to talk about it?"
She paused, her finger over the screen but she let it drop and press send. She swallowed thickly in relief when his reply came.
"I was in high school but I knew the girl for years because of mutual friends and classes from before. She was-"
The message stopped again until he replied after thinking over it.
"She was the one person who made me truly feel amazing and happy because she was the most sunshiny person you could ever meet. I loved her, I knew that but I knew she wouldn't see me as the same, I wasn't really the most ideal guy. So I never told her directly and I still regret it."
"I'm sorry, I know how you feel."
"What is it you called us? A pair of hopeless romantics."
"Yea, I guess."
That little tidbit, that shred of his life he shared so willingly….she wanted even more.
"Tell me more, more about you."
"Like what?"
"The happiest moments in your life, the saddest, your dream for the future, anything that's about you, I want to know you and who you are without a name."
The three dots popped up on the screen and she gazed at the jumping spheres for a minute, then two minutes, then ten minutes until finally -
"Okay."
There spelled out in paragraphs on texts was the life of her mysterious player, going into the aspects of his live hood, giving what she craved most: intimacy in its purest form, and she soaked it all in as she read, considerate and understanding.
And she was patient as her chess mate wrote the paragraphs she had so desired, full of all the tiniest details of his life that she was clueless about but read with desperation as each text bubble popped up on her screen.
"I lost my parents in a car crash when I was younger….I couldn't remember...the orphanage was my home until I was fifteen…...I was shy and kept to myself…...I graduated and my dream is to be a doctor to help people…."
Never had she been a bookworm, never read so fast in her life until that whole night where it was almost two a.m. and Usagi still read his replies with drive up until her blurry and wet vision were focusing on the notification that stated her phone only had five percent of battery left.
Somehow she was laid on her made bed, still clad in her short dress that had ridded up to her hips, large beads of her tears soaking the skin beneath her droopy eyes and her alarm clock's big red numbers practically shouting at her to sleep because god knows she's going to be running late to class tomorrow morning even more than usual.
One more bubble emerged but this time it was a link to something.
"This is my favorite song because of the melody it carries. I figured you might like it too."
With the pad of her thumb, Usagi pressed the little triangle in the middle of the square and she was weeping for a new reason.
The flow of the music with the careful strumming of the violin as it sang its sorrow song, but the innocent keys of the cheerful piano as the music raised to new heights and everything seemed okay again even with the slow and distant mourning of the violin in the background, screaming out its sorrow but acceptance. You could imagine the stories that would follow the sheet of music; a lost love, a family member that left too soon, friendships forgotten, tragedy beyond words, death but then life after….
Tears seeped into her pillow case as she nestled even further into the featherbed material, the steady music bouncing off the colorful walls of her darkened bedroom. Eyes meeting the screen again, she noticed the name to the instrumental song pop up: "Aishiteru." The lump in her throat got thicker and the tears became more urgent, all over a simple title of a tear-jerking song he had sent her. It meant nothing, it was just his move to show her a song he liked, 'nothing more dummy.'
"Thank you." The blonde was surprised to find she could actually answer correctly with the amount of emotions sticking in her throat like peanut butter, and she barely got her swallow down.
"I want to meet you face to face. I do, more than anything. But I'm just not ready. Not yet."
The shimmers of salty tears arose in the crow's feet of her eyes and the little ball of sadness built up again but, she was at peace with it.
He wanted to meet but was scared to for whatever reason and she could respect that, she could understand that. She was scared as well because, what if she didn't live up to the dream, just fell flat of expectations as always in her love life.
She understood the fear.
So she responded with a miserable smile and typed up her response and hit sent with a hesitation but resolve.
"Okay."
Yes, yes, yes you still hate me but I promise these two lovebirds will find each other eventually. Happy endings are nice, no? Well it takes longer in my stories so bare with me? Anyway, review and tell me what you thought! Any theories, ideas, or guesses? Love hearing what you guys think!