Current timeline.

"Who are you?" Shuichi's voice came harsh and dry as he looked at the man sitting at the table. He looked slim, muscular, with an almost perfectly symmetrical face. His tanned skin only helped to make his eyes pop up flecking with every shade of blue like the ocean.

"Hey! Who do you think you are to…" the man started before the lady sitting next to him interrupted.

"Brad, its okay he is my friend," Jodie said softly before looking at Shuichi, she went on a bit louder "or so he was"

"who is he, Jodie?"

"what do you care who he is? Just leave will ya"

Shuichi stood in his place next to the table, he looked back at Brad examining him with a glare that'd send a shiver down the spine.

"Shu!" Jodie hissed.

"yes" he replied without taking his eyes off of brad who sat calmly looking him back fearlessly.

"what do you think yourself doing?"

"can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?" he finally looked her back.

Jodie glanced at Brad to see his expressions, she thought for a while before excusing herself to go talk to Shuichi alone. They walked together towards the restaurant door without saying a word, but once out, Jodie started.

"Shu you have to leave now!"

"who is he?"

"can't you see! I'm on a date"

"oh" his dark brows went up as he went on "you shouldn't just date anyone, he might be sent by them to lure you out"

"he's not just anyone and I'm not stupid, now leave"

"I came here to eat, I already ordered" Nah, actually he didn't order.

"I don't care just take what you ordered home, you're ruining my date, Shu"

"Also I have to make sure he's a good guy so you..."

"I'm not waiting for your approval, I can date whoever I want"

"you're in a black mood today, I don't think this is going to impress him"

"Oh, thanks for the note!" Jodie said in the most sarcastic way "FYI I was fine until you showed up. What brought you here in the first place? This restaurant is a thirty minutes ride… were you stalking me?"

"why would I stalk you?" Shu muttered before he cleared his throat "Their Ramen is famous, I always come here from time to time. Customer service is always super friendly and always make ..."

"Okay, okay. I have to go back and you should leave"

Jodie turned to face the door, she took two steps towards it before looking at Shu over her shoulder, she found that he took a step towards it too.

"Shu!" she raged with her eyes narrowed.

"the food I ordered…" he started as Jodie kept her gaze on him with her lips tightening "Nevermind, I'll just leave" he sighed before turning on his heels and leaving.

Brad was a model, he was 27 years old and just signed a work contract with a Japanese company, he moved to Japan three weeks ago without knowing anything about their language which made it hard for him to gain friends. Luckily he met Jodie and he seemed to be thrilled to speak to a Native American way more than he had to, it was as if he found a human in a planet filled with aliens or so he liked to phrase it to Jodie who didn't mind his company, well he was a lot of fun.

They kept contact as she promised to show him around the city and on the third time they met he asked her out.

For Jodie, it was hard to process. She's been faithful to Shuichi for six years, four of which they weren't a couple but she just chose to stay single and wait for him. He was seeping deep in every cell in her, in every moment she lives, in every place she visits. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that she should move on or at least try to.

Brad happened to have everything she needed to make up for her deprivation, good looks… check, nice personality… check, aftershave and cigarettes smell… double check.

Jodie headed back to her seat. She observed him as he talked, his hair swayed down perfectly almost reaching his waist, he looked handsome and though skinny, his arms were filled with muscles just like Shu. He was calm most of the time but if triggered he wouldn't mind getting into a fight, she wondered who would've won if she'd let them fought before… Shu, he'd definitely be the one to win. Jodie blinked hoping that the thoughts of Shuichi would leave her mind, without realizing how similar the man who sat across from her to Shu's personality, scent and hair (before)…

Jodie entered the Kudos residence. She followed Shuichi to the living room where was Camel sitting. Moving her eyes around, she noticed that the ashtray was filled with tens of cigarettes one of which still leaking the stinky smoke, Camel wasn't a smoker so it had to be… "Shu, did you smoke all of this today?" she asked.

"If you weren't to be late I wouldn't have"

"I told you I was with Brad, you could've informed me yesterday about the meeting you can't just call me one hour ahead"

"Brad! Is he the one you told me about Jodie san? Your new boyfriend" Camel asked.

"yeah" Jodie smiled as she took a seat on one of the couches, she moved her gaze from Camel to meet Shuichi who was scowling with his arms crossed.

"I wouldn't call him a BOYfriend" Akai said putting emphasis on boy "he was carrying a purse"

"it's called a man bag" Jodie cleared.

"yeah, potato potato"

"Hey, are you jealous?" she suddenly asked.

Shuichi's face took a nice shade of red, a thing that rarely happened to him. He straightened up in his seat before he murmured "why would I be jealous?"

"From his taste in fashion, I mean he is a model so you don't have to compare your style with his"

"My style is fine" he replied, relieved that what she meant by jealousy wasn't what he thought.

"Anyways, why are we gathering? I promised Brad to have dinner with him so let's make this quick"

"you should call him and cancel your plans"

"why? There's still three hours until dinner, I'm sure whatever we're going to do won't take that long. What are we doing anyways?"

"we're writing a report to the FBI main headquarter about our progress for this year"

"Oh! I didn't know we do that!"

"we do that each year"

Camel finally broke his silence "Then I'm afraid I can't help you with this Akai san, I only moved back here three months ago, I don't know about your progress through the first months"

"its okay Camel, you can go if you want to, we'll call you when we get to that part if we needed help"

"Hold on, there's no way the two of us can finish this today, let's just meet up tomorrow morning and…" Jodie said.

"no, it has to be sent today before midnight"

"Crap!" Jodie sighed. She reached for her phone to call Brad as Shu walked Camel to the door, he then returned to the living room holding his laptop, he placed it on the table and sat on the couch before Jodie came to join him.

Shu looked at her from the corner of his eye remembering the day when they were in a similar situation and she leaned to kiss him, how he wishes it'd happen now, but Jodie just kept on staring at the laptop screen.

They worked for hours to make the imaginary report that Shuichi created just to prevent Jodie from going to dinner with Brad, he didn't know how but the words just came out of his mouth without putting much thought of it.

Hours passed and no hint of interest came from Jodie, she was mainly professional. Once done, it was almost 11 pm. Shu saw her dialing Brad's number and asking him to come pick her up, he just stood there helplessly, he couldn't possibly offer her a ride when he's supposed to be dead, it'd risk his mission and disguise as Subaru.

She headed outside and pretended to be coming out of Dr. Agasa's house when Brad showed up in his car, he got out and opened the passenger's seat for her, how sweet of him, Shu never thought about doing this before.

Anger swirled within Shuichi. His breath became harsh and shallow, as he watched them from the window, his hands automatically curled into fists at his sides, itching to swing out and put a dent in the wall beside him. She was his girl! he is jealous, he is in love with her, there's no need to lie to himself any longer than that.

Shu saw them smiling as they got in the car, he hadn't seen her smile like that in years, ever since they used to be together. She seemed happier, maybe Brad wasn't that bad after all, all that Shu brought her for the last couple of years was hurt and misery, she deserved someone better, someone, who'd open the car door for her to enter.

Shuichi closed the curtain and moved away to fill a glass of whiskey. No matter how terrible it felt, he wouldn't want to deprive her of her happiness, he loved her and so he should be happy now that she's happy…

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know it's just that… I don't know" Jodie sighed with her head tilted slightly forward "you're so nice and kind I'm sure that any girl would want to be with you"

"I don't want any girl, I want you" Brad said weakly.

"I'm sorry" she shook her head "it's not about you, you're how I always imagined the man I want to be with to be like but… I don't know there's something…about me and, and someone else and I feel like this is not fair to you, not that I ever cheated on you I swear, but just the fact that he pops into my mind from time to time makes me feel guilty"

"it's the man who showed up at the restaurant isn't he?" Brad asked, blue eyes fading and losing their dark shades. Jodie didn't answer, she was barely able to lift her head and look him in the eye "if you loved him then why did you date me?"

"I thought I got over him " Jodie answered gently. I thought I'll get over him was what she really meant, except that the three months she spent with brad only made her believe that she was cursed, cursed with Shu's love for eternity, he was all over her brain like terminal cancer and she finally gave up… there's no escape from him " you're a great person Brad… I'm sorry" she muttered before she went away.

Shuichi heard the bell ringing, he headed outside to answer it thankful that he had his disguise on, he turned the knob and opened the door only to find Jodie standing there weakly with her face buried between her palms.

"Jodie! What's wrong what happened?" he asked with a worry-filled tone.

"we broke up" Jodie was barely able to utter her words as the tears streamed down her face, Shuichi took her wrist and pulled her to the inside of the mansion right into his chest, he wrapped a hand around her as he closed the door with the other hand "that bastard, I'm going to find him and…"

"No, I broke up with him"

Shu placed his other hand on her in a way that he was wrapping her with both of his arms "did he do something bad?" he softly asked.

"No," Jodie said before her crying intensified.

"Shh! Its okay" he said as his hand moved to cup the back of her head "then why did you break up with him? Can you tell me that?"

Jodie didn't answer, and Shuichi didn't ask again. He just kept a promise to himself that if he ever crosses paths with Brad, he'll beat the crap out of him.

He couldn't hide the fact that he was happy she ended things with Brad, but seeing her cry made him more convinced that Jodie was totally over him and deeply in love with Brad and thus he decided to keep his feelings to himself, not that he was planning to tell her anyway, if anything he is good at, its making poker faces and acting as if everything is just fine despite having his brain boiling and his heart aching from seeing her with someone else.

Hey again! I can't believe there's only one chapter left, I'm not sure whether it should be a chapter on its own or if it should follow the story of this chapter! You can tell me what'd be better in a review.

Dear Sam! Thank you so much for your reviews! I really appreciate them and they motivated me to keep on writing :* this fic will be over but I'll be writing more about Shu and Jodie cuz Shu is my favorite character and they are my favorite couple.

In fact, I created a community called Redstarling but then failed to find any fics about them, I'm still looking though.