Thank you everyone for 100 reviews! It made me really happy :D
Ahh I didn't realize how short this chapter looked until I started editing it. I'll definitely try to make the next chapter longer to make up for it! :P
"Misaki... Don't you think you should go to sleep soon?" Takumi asks me. I shake my head. Although the digital clock beside his bed read the numbers '2:14" I refused to go to sleep.
"No way. I have yet to beat you," I say, slamming a lamp- I mean, pawn, down on a black square.
"I don't want you to hurt yourself-"
"But I won't. I know my limits," I assure him, though I knew it was a pretty blatant lie myself. Luckily, he'd never seen that weak side of me before though, so he wouldn't know.
"If you say so," he sighs, moving one of his knights. I then move one of my pawns.
"Hey, Takumi," I say enthusiastically for no reason at all.
"Hmm?" he inquires. I quickly try to think up something to ask, since I couldn't just say 'I like saying your name' because that would sound really creepy.
"What's your favorite color?" I blurt. His hand freezes for a moment and he raises an eyebrow at me.
"Why?" he asks. "Does Misaki want to know more about me?" he smirks. I blush.
"No way- I was just curious!" I exclaim. "Fine, don't answer then!"
"Amber," he says. I give him a weird look.
"What?"
"My favorite color. It's amber," he repeats.
"Really? Why?" I ask. He stares at me as if the answer were obvious.
"Just because." he answers with a shrug, resuming the game. "What's your favorite color, then?" he asks.
"Hmm... Maybe green?" I try to decide. Suddenly I remember Charlotte's pale green eyes which I despised. "Like, emerald green," I add.
"Oh?" he muses, sliding one of his pieces over to my king. "Checkmate."
"WHAT?! You were distracting me with questions, this is not fair!" I protest. He sweeps all the chess pieces back into the box and neatly places the checkered board back in as well.
"If I'm not mistaken, it was you who started the questioning," he states. I frown at that.
"Whatever," I mutter, reaching out for the Chess box. Unfortunately, he raises it out of my reach. "Give it," I say.
"Nope. It's time for you to go to sleep," he remarks, getting off the bed and putting the box on a very high shelf so I wouldn't be able to retrieve it.
"Why won't you play another round?" I ask. "Afraid I'm gonna beat you?" I challenge.
"Not really," he chuckles. "Go to sleep. It's almost half past two in the morning," he tells me, grabbing my wrist and dragging me down into a laying position onto the bed.
"W-Who said I'm going to sleep here?!" I squeak, struggling in his grasp. His eyes flutter closed, and his hold on me tightened.
"Shh, stop moving around already..." he whispers, bringing his hand up to rest on my cheek. "Go to bed..." he murmurs, his fingernail grazing my left ear lightly. The touch sends shivers down my spine- the good kind. This doesn't go unnoticed by Takumi, as he proceeds to run his nail gently across my earlobe.
"S-Stop," I say weakly, placing my hands on his chest and attempting to push him away.
"You're not enjoying this?" he asks incredulously, bringing his face closer to mine. My face was definitely very red by now, no doubt about it.
"I-I'm tired," I protest weakly, turning my head toward the ceiling so I wouldn't be facing him. I can see him staring at me with his emerald orbs in the corner of my eye.
"Fine," he says. I let out a sigh in relief. "But first, you have to give me a goodnight kiss," he adds with a smirk. The short-lived relief I had disappeared as he said those words.
"No way!" I exclaim, throwing the blanket off both of us and trying to jump off the bed, only to be pushed back down by his arm. He looks at me with pleading eyes.
"I've never gotten a kiss initiated by you, though," he pouts. I scowl at him.
"Yes you did! Remember that game of Truth or Dare?!" I argue.
"But you said my kiss on the neck didn't count- so why should the forehead?" he counters. I open my mouth to make a snide comment, but realizing I had nothing to say, I close it. He smirks upon seeing my expression.
"You're the worst," I mutter. He grins.
"Love you too," he responds. My eyes widen at the comment. Even though it was meant as a joke, I could still feel my heart skip a beat at his words. God damn it, why did I have to fall in love with an alien?!
"Y-Yeah..." I muster up the strength to give a small smile. He continues to study my face- his eyes staring directly into mine.
"You okay?" he asks obliviously. I almost wanted to punch him in the face- no, better yet, I wanted to tell him how I felt so he wouldn't be so dumb and say such things as a joke. But I want my confession to be somewhere and sometime special, so I'll have to wait for that opportunity...
"Tired. Night," I say simply, turning off the small lamp beside us and curling up against the wall. I could tell he was still staring at me- after all, my mood changed within a matter of seconds, so I don't blame him for being curious.
"Okay... I'm expecting a good morning kiss," he says in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Keep dreaming," I snort, though I just realized I've been smiling at his stupid remark. "Actually, you better not dream about me, pervert."
"Of course, Misaki-sama," he replies promptly. Aggravated, I turn around and glare daggers at him.
"You make me sound like some sort of frightening person," I comment.
"Is that not what you are?" he asks, feigning innocence, although I could clearly hear the smirk in his voice.
"You better shut your mouth before you regret it." I warn him. Luckily, he had proven himself to be smart, so he shut his mouth and didn't utter a single word for the rest of the night.
Ring!
"Shhh..." I shush in an attempt to silence the noise.
Ring!
"Be quiet..." I groan.
Beep!
"MISAKI GET YOUR ASS UP RIGHT NOW AND ANSWER YOUR PHONE!" came a loud high-pitched voice. I jerk up and sit on the bed. I immediately reach for the source of the sound- my phone. Geez, leave it to Sakura to leave such kind and thoughtful voicemails.
Pressing on her contact information and hitting a green symbol, I call her back. Within two rings, she picked up. Already expecting a bunch of shrieking and squealing, I hold the phone a good four inches or so away from my ear.
"MIIIIIISAKI! YOU HAVEN'T CALLED ME IN SOOOOOOO LONG! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE THAT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME?!" Sakura demands. Leaning my phone against my right ear, I let out a small laugh.
"You're worrying too much. Nothing's happening- sorry I haven't been calling," I tell her. I figured that if I told her Charlotte kidnapped me and knocked Takumi out, her reaction probably wouldn't be so good.
"Nothing, eh? I find it very hard to believe that you're stuck in a freaking mansion-"
"Villa," I correct.
"Yeah yeah," she waves it off. "Anyway- I can't believe you're stuck in a villa with some super duper handsome guy and you haven't done anything yet!" she sighs. "Oh, speaking of, how did that confession go?" she asks eagerly. I stiffen up.
"The...confession? I didn't get to it," I say, adding a carefree laugh at the end to make it sound like I didn't care. "I'll do it some other time, kay?"
"Misaki..." she pouts. "You have to-"
"Sakura! Help me wash these dishes!" I hear someone on the other line call in the distance. It was probably Satsuki.
"Yeah, I'll help," she calls back, holding the phone away from her face. "Misaki, I'll call you back in a few hours. Bye!" Sakura chirps, bringing the phone back to her ear before hanging up a couple seconds after.
"Yeah...bye..." I mutter to myself, the phone still on my ear, though I knew perfectly well she'd hung up a few seconds ago.
I kneel over to place my phone back down onto the small table beside my- err, Takumi's bed.
"What confession?"
"GAH!" I scream, jumping at the sudden voice and landing backwards awkwardly onto Takumi's chest. My breathing was uneven and my face was red- not from the scare, but from the position I ended up in.
"An answer, please?" he requests. I glare at him.
"You scared the shit out of me," I murmur, lifting my head off his chest and getting back into my own personal space.
"Okay, I'm sorry," he apologizes with little sincerity in his tone. "But what confession were you talking about with Sakura?"
"How'd you know it was Sakura-"
"I just did. Now stop changing the subject," he sighs. I glare at him.
"There was no subject to even begin with," I say, playing dumb. I shove the blankets off my legs and stand up to walk downstairs. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled backwards as my back being slammed onto the soft and cushiony mattress. I stare up to see Takumi hovering over me with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Misaki, I have one question to ask you," he says. "Please answer it honestly." he tells me sternly. I try to answer but there was a lump in my throat- so instead I settled for a simple nod. He took a sharp inhale.
"Do you like me?" he asks. My eyes widen at the question. This certainly wasn't something I was expecting.
"Err- Takumi, isn't that a bit much... I-I, well..." I stammer, trying to find the right words. He chuckles, catching my attention once more.
"Sorry. You're right- I went too far," he says, the grip on my wrists loosening. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed as I watched him disappear from my sight and walk out the door. Does he think I dislike him now...?
"Takumi," I call weakly. No reply. I rush off the bed, not caring for the sheets that landed on the marble floor as I did so. As I slammed the door open, I caught sight of the blonde at the bottom of the staircase.
"TAKUMI!" I yell, causing him to look at me skeptically. The sudden adrenaline rush I had sent me going after him desperately- perhaps a bit too desperately? I honestly don't know why in the deepest pits of hell I thought this was a good idea, but I did it anyway. I jumped down from the top of the staircase- which was about 20 feet high.
Whoops.