Chapter 8: Coffee and Snark
Even though both apparently have a rather flexible schedule, the promised coffee had to be postponed several times, to the point of it being changed a couple of times to diner plans, once it became an outing for drinks to a bar nearby, an early breakfast and they settled with brunch on a Saturday.
Their chosen place was a small restaurant that was known to only a few privileged people, and usually those who knew about it, only got there by sheer luck or mere coincidence.
Ironically, both Rei and Yuusaku found this place on a rainy summer day, where they were death tired and just wanted something warm and tasty after a hard day at college.
They decided to meet at 11:00, even if Yuusaku offered to pick Rei up, and drive them to the restaurant. Rei graciously declined his offer, claiming to have a previous appointment and that she wanted to walk for a bit to clear her thoughts.
What she did not say was that this "previous appointment" was something that shared her last name, but not her view of life. To be completely honest, Rei knew that any meeting with her father was bound to ruin her mood for the rest of the day, and was hoping that Yuusaku's presence would help to lift her spirits a little bit.
Rei was still amazed by how easily they fell into a friendship filled with snide remarks, sarcastic comments, weirdness and jokes that could be seen as disrespectful for anybody else. However, this kind of interactions worked wonderfully for them, helping them release some tension and even leaving them in a better mood overall.
By the time Rei got to the restaurant, Yuusaku was already there; they got assigned a table pretty quickly and a couple of minutes later, their orders were being taken.
Rei was still miffed by her morning activities; her previous walk being rendered fruitless to try to calm her a bit. Yuusaku noticed it, evidenced by her constant attempts to control her breathing or the way she kept closing her eyes in a futile effort to center herself in the here and now.
Efforts that were clearly just as useless as the walk.
Yuusaku was debating if he should just ignore the situation and wait till Rei managed to calm herself or subtly trying to pry into what was causing her trouble and, if she was open to it, offer her advice or comfort.
In the end, he decided to confront her, still, he somehow knew that if he asked her upfront what was bothering her, she would just snap at him and would not tell her a thing. So, little by little he started to ask about her morning, about her walk and about the temperature.
He knew he finally got to her main source of discomfort when he finally asked her about her previous engagement and got a slightly annoyed frown in return.
When he asked her further about it, he noticed how she again tried to control her breathing, and how she clenched and unclenched her hands, which made him think that whatever happened earlier could be more serious than expected.
Without hesitation, he offered his legal services, offer that was met with a rather… odd response.
First there was a confused and dumfounded expression. Then, the slight quirk of her mouth was the only warning he got before she exploded into a full blown laughter.
Which ok, he was somewhat used to some scorn or some nasty looks whenever his most acidic remarks or crude comments made someone uncomfortable; this was the first time when a genuine offer for help was received with such… laughter.
Perhaps she sensed his confusion, which was quickly turning into annoyance, or perhaps she suddenly remembered that there was someone that was awaiting an answer beyond her twisted humor, because after trying to control herself (again), she explained "I swear I am not laughing at your offering, in fact, I greatly appreciate it, and had it been something else, we would already be discussing strategies and fees"
She sipped from her tea cup, in a vain effort to hide her continuous laughter at the situation. "However, unless there is some sort of regulation that makes my father stop being a pighead, I don't think there is much we can do to solve my problem".
It was then that Yuusaku mirrored her previous expressions from confused to amused, though he wondered if laughing at Senator Hino's daughter opinion on him was crossing a line or if he could join in the joke without remorse. In the end an airy laugh escaped him which only prompted Rei's laughter to come back with a vengeance.
The rest of their brunch date passed in a much more relaxed way, both going back to their odd dynamic of bad jokes, snark and weirdness. They even indulged on some of the desserts the restaurant had to offer and by the end of their date, they were already planning on meeting again, knowing that they would actually change their original plan many times before actually meeting.
An hour later, and with a relaxed smile, they each went their way, moving onto their next appointments of the day.
A couple of hours later, an unassuming text message saying just "thank you" drew a smile on the lips of a young lawyer in the middle of an associate's reunion.
So... as said before, I haven't abandoned this story, nor had I moved to mars or something equally strange.
I just have been horribly busy, both with work related projects and some other things that are not related to my job (aka the SM mini bang)
Anyway, here, have a new chapter (I know, rather small compared to what I had been posting)
I am planning on making shorter chapters, but that get published once a week at least (I promise I'll try to keep up with this schedule). In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this.
Thank you, and I hope to hear from you soon.