Chapter Four
"The Date Night Is Friday"
While Kaoru was still undecided on how to react to Kenshin's words, she received a painting in the mail. It was her portrait sent by her now ex-boyfriend and the art student who used to claim that she was his muse. The young university student recalled posing for it many months ago, in the dimly lit apartment, which now seemed so incredibly distant.
She laughed when he asked her to pose for it. The man had insisted that such a beauty as herself deserved to have millions of portraits painted of her, and he wished to at least paint the first one. And with a warm cup of tea in hand, with which she was trying to shield herself from the cold winds raging outside, Kaoru agreed, flattered by the art student's words which she was still not used to hearing.
Now, the young bright-eyed woman stared at the painting with a feeling of longing for those days and the ease of their relationship. With the painting, came a note which read:
"My dear Kaoru,
I won't hide the fact that I was mad after we decided to end our relationship. Despite the façade I put on in front of you, I truly wanted for you to ask me to stay, while confessing your love, or simply agree to come with me. I was furious with how cool you were with the whole thing, but mostly I felt hurt by how you had used me and then thrown me away when you were done. It might sound funny to you, especially, because I was the one to leave.
My pride didn't let me contact you for all these months, but while going through the mountain of boxes I had stored away in the attic of the house I'm currently staying in, I found this painting and realised that I was using you all that time as well.
We both had emotional needs which we couldn't find the right person to quench with. Thus, we used each other. We worked together because both of us did just enough to satisfy the very basics of those needs, but neither of us held the unrealistic expectations one would have towards their significant other while blinded by the feeling called love.
You can call me pretentious, but after moving out here, I started thinking about my relationships with people in general. I did it probably because it took me a while to meet new people and I was left alone with my thoughts a lot. In the end, I came to the conclusion that we were never truly happy while being together, but simply satisfied with the idea of having that someone who makes us feel a little less lonely than one usually is.
Kaoru, I hope that one day, you will find someone who will make you feel something more, not just distract you from your loneliness."
Once again, the red-haired man's confession rang in Kaoru's ears. This note almost seemed to be meant to serve as a push into Kenshin's arms.
A tiny voice, belonging to the hints of the feelings suppressed so long ago, whispered into her ear, that maybe that violet-eyed man, her brother's roommate, had the potential not to only prevent her from feeling lonely.
Kaoru dug out her phone from the mountain of pillows on her bed, but before she even began dialling the number, the young woman stopped herself. Was she truly doing the right thing? Maybe jumping into a new relationship just because of a stupid note wasn't such a great idea. Kaoru was aware that she had a bad record of regretting the choices she made just as rashly as she was about to make this one, and maybe this sudden need to do something was just caused by the envy towards her ex-boyfriend, who seemed to have found his peace of mind, while she was still torturing herself.
However, due to a reason she herself didn't even know, Kaoru still ended up dialling the number.
"Are you busy?" The woman inquired, after the person on the other end picked up his phone.
"I'm still at work. Did something happen?" She heard Kenshin's oh-so familiar voice ask in return.
"Can we talk later?" Kaoru ignored the question even though she knew that the redhead was right to be concerned. After all, she had never called him before.
"I can come to your flat after I'm done with work." The man on the other end sighed.
...∽∾●∾∼...
By the time Kenshin showed up, Kaoru had already started cursing herself for having called the man at all. This whole situation was shaping up to be even more awkward than all of those times she ran away from him. When they finally were in the same room, both of them acted so robotically, showing that neither of them were comfortable with as much as standing next to each other.
Kaoru offered Kenshin something to drink after having him sit down on the bed in her room. Truly, she would have preferred if this took place in the living room, but didn't want their conversation to be interrupted by her best friend. Even though Misao wasn't in the flat at that moment, the young university student didn't really know when her roommate was going to come back and wasn't really in the mood to deal with her having walked in on such an embarrassing conversation.
The red-haired man responded by asking for a glass of water. He knew that the bright-eyed woman in front of him was trying to stall, and, well, so was he.
After Kaoru came back from the kitchen, with a glass filled with water in her hand, they sat in an uncomfortable silence for the following few moments.
She kept playing with the corner of the pillow she had placed in her lap just a few seconds ago and he kept gulping down the water in his glass until it was completely empty. The young woman felt the need to stall even longer, claiming that she needed to use the bathroom, yet, somehow, she managed to control herself.
"I was planning to ask you to date me." She finally spoke, breaking the unbearable silence.
"Then, why don't you?" Was Kenshin's soft, yet not nearly as calm as usual, reply.
Neither of them were looking at each other as they talked. Rather, the redhead kept his eyes on the blank white wall in front of him, while Kaoru stared at the dark purple pillow in her lap.
"I don't know." The woman lied.
There was no way she could force herself to admit to him just how miserable she was feeling because of some measly note she got from her ex. This situation was humiliating enough as it was.
"It seems that you just need someone to talk to and help you organise your thoughts."
"I could've come to the same conclusion without your help." Kaoru laughed at his statement, but there were hints of tears in the very corners of her eyes.
"I can be that person you talk to. If you want, that is." Kenshin turned his head to look at the woman sitting beside him, who, as he found out, was already looking back at him.
"How about Megumi?" She squeezed the corner of the pillow in her hand, causing her knuckles to turn white.
"There's nothing between me and her anymore. There hasn't been for a while already." The redhead talked as he freed the purple pillow from the woman's death grip and started caressing her palm.
"Oh." Kaoru was no longer looking at his face, but rather at their hands in her lap.
"There's no need to rush, let's take it slow. First, let's become truly good friends, not just acquaintances, and play it by ear from there on."
The young woman nodded her head as the man sitting next to her flashed her a small smile.
"How about we start meeting every Friday? We can complain about shitty things that happened to us during the week and grow to know each other better."
Kaoru nodded in agreement once more.
That's how it all began. Those meetings were something that both Kenshin and Kaoru looked forward to during their whole week and which seemed to fly by far too fast. During most of those evenings, they were in a semi-private booth in a cosy restaurant, in a coffee shop trying out the newest concoctions the owners of those shops called items on the menu, in a bar sharing the largest serving of greasy garlic bread and sometimes in either of their rooms.
Kenshin's relationship with his roommate grew warmer once again too. It took more than a little while, but, finally, they were almost as close as they had been before.
Sometimes, Sano and Misao would join in on Kenshin's and Kaoru's meetings as well. However, never on Fridays. As the two of them started meeting more and more frequently and as most of their free time was filled with what they jokingly referred to as 'play dates', the two of them managed to avoid any intruders on Fridays.
...∽∾●∾∼...
It was one of those Fridays when Kenshin and Kaoru shared their second kiss. With Kaoru being the one to initiate it.
That night, nothing special happened to set her off. Everything was as ordinary as it could get. They both met up after work, argued for a while regarding the subject of where they should go, and after talking each other's ears off, they left the cafe on which they had settled earlier. And well, as usual, Kenshin brought his companion home after the evening they spent together. That evening, they didn't even go out drinking.
When it happened, both of them were sitting in the red-haired man's car, which he had only bought recently, about to bid their goodbyes.
Kaoru had put her hand on the young lawyer's shoulder, gripping the fabric of his jacket tightly, in hopes of lessening her nervousness, before going in for the said kiss. At first, Kenshin just sat baffled by the young woman's actions. Her kiss had come out of nowhere, as the man still believed that she didn't see him as anything more than a very close friend.
But soon, the man gave in, letting the burning passion completely absorb him and responded by gently touching her lower back with one hand, while playing with the woman's hair the other one. The carefulness, with which Kaoru started their kiss, was quickly swallowed up by the unimaginable need to hold each other as close as possible, press into the other with every inch of their bodies.
Once they finally pulled apart, both of them were out of breath. Kaoru nuzzled into the crook of Kenshin's neck, taking deep breaths and trying to regain control of her legs, as she was almost sure that she will have difficulty walking once she gets out of the vehicle.
...∽∾●∾∼...
Neither of them said anything because they simply had no need for words to understand what the other person was feeling. The heated, mutual kiss was enough of a sign that today was their first day as something more than friends.
Maybe because their relationship didn't change much, besides the more romantical things they started to do together, and the label they put on it, Kenshin and Kaoru didn't tell anyone that they started going out. Their mutual friends had already accepted that they will probably get together eventually, so even when they did find out no one was shocked or even surprised.
Only Misao and Sanosuke were a bit angry, as they found out the news not from the happy couple themselves but from a third party – Kaoru and Misao's neighbour, as well as their good friend, Tae. And Tae herself found out when she happened to walk in on quite an intense make-out session in the stairwell by yours truly.
Tae was a few years older than both women living next door to her. Her major was also different from either of them, all three of them even attended different universities, and the beautiful not-so-long-lived friendship managed to blossom simply because they lived next door.
Kaoru was the first one to get to know her because both women shared the love of drinking their morning coffee in their windowless balconies, which just happened to be separated only by few tens of centimetres of nothingness.
Though this wasn't exactly the reason due to which both women shared their first conversation. Rather, it was Kaoru's smoking habit.
The older woman suddenly started politely complaining about it one morning when Kaoru sat down in front of the small glass coffee table in her usual breakfast spot. To be honest, if it was any other morning, the young bright-eyed woman would have probably just put out her cigarette and continued having her breakfast, without blowing the whole thing out of proportion, but unfortunately, she had woken up in an awful mood that day. Just like an entire week before.
And, well, Kaoru showed her nasty temper which she could proudly display when someone or something made her mad. With the other woman not giving in, the whole situation grew into a huge argument, leading to Tae leaving her balcony without even taking a single sip of her coffee and seeking refuge inside her flat.
For the next few weeks, the women would exchange icy glares whenever they had the luck to encounter each other. However, once the pressure in university was off Kaoru, she started feeling bad for overreacting to such a degree. The woman next door hadn't done anything wrong in politely asking Kaoru to put out her cigarette and she was the one who turned the whole thing into a hundred and twenty episode telenovela.
...∽∾●∾∼...
One morning, completely ready to apologize, the bright-eyed female went out onto the balcony only to find the older woman drinking her coffee, reading and... smoking. The young university student was completely dumbfounded by this turn of events and was about to start interrogating the woman, until she heard her speak.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to quit." She said, flipping the page of the book in her hand and taking a long drag of her cigarette.
"It's okay, I guess..." Was Kaoru's only reply.
Deciding that there was no longer a single problem with lighting a cigarette herself she did so and after few puffs started laughing. The woman on the balcony next to hers joined in.
On the mornings which followed, both women ended up chatting occasionally. They found out that despite the outward appearances, they had a lot in common.
The older woman had also turned out to have been living on her own. She had no, even potential, roommate, hence the said flat was considerably smaller than Kaoru's. It consisted only of a bathroom, a kitchen, a single bedroom and, of course, a balcony.
Though Tae was studying management, but she also attended cooking classes on the side. During one of those chit chats, she admitted to always having dreamt of opening a small restaurant of her own. Kaoru, after having tasted the older woman's cooking on few occasions, promised to be a frequent customer in the said restaurant once Tae opens it.
After finding out that the bright-eyed woman plans on becoming a lawyer Tae promised to give Kaoru a bit of work as well – when she gets divorced from her future husband, whom she still hadn't met. The young university student, while laughing, agreed to help her with divorce as many times as she decided to have it.
Tae was one of those people who helped Kaoru greatly to get through those lonely months in still quite an unfamiliar city when Misao was abroad.
AN: So, as you noticed I changed my username. Actually, I'm not sure why I did it either, but in case anyone was wondering it is the scientific name of the true forget-me-not, which I find incredibly beautiful.
To be honest, as I was editing this chapter I had a clear idea of what I wanted to write in the author's note, but right now my mind is just completely blank, so I'm trying to win it and it clearly isn't going well. Ughhh. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Positive and negative comments are welcome.