I know I promised this chapter would be longer than the last, but it's even shorter haha .

And to think this took me four days to write tsk tsk

But you know what they say, quality over quantity! (pfft quality work my ass)

"You'll be fine Ms. Ayuzawa. You're lucky you got away with just lots of bruises and scrapes." the doctor informs me, tending to a few of my bigger cuts. "But really...what were you doing jumping down a staircase?" she inquires. I laugh nervously.

"I actually have no idea. It's like my body had a mind of its own," I reply. Not entirely a lie, but not entirely the truth.

"Ah. Well, try to be careful," she says, dismissing the topic. After placing a bandaid on my lower arm, she sits back in her chair.

"Okay. All done. Make sure she's careful, okay?" she requests of Takumi. "Bye, Ayuzawa."

"Bye," I say, standing up. Takumi was leaning on the wall the entire time watching me. "Let's go," I tell him, grabbing his arm and pulling him along with me. See, the reason my injuries weren't so horrible is because I didn't jump very far at all and so it resulted in me tumbling and rolling down the staircase instead. Takumi ran up and stopped me around halfway down the staircase, so I only got bruises and cuts. He then rushed me to a nearby hospital- maybe around 10 minutes away, even though I assured him I was fine.

"Takumi?" I ask, exiting the hospital, his sleeve still in my hand. He doesn't respond. Slightly confused, I turn around to face him. He was staring at the back of my head the entire time- as expected -but wasn't talking to me.

"Err- Takumi...?" I ask again, waving my hand in front of his face. He grabs my wrist to make me stop moving my hand around. I wince at how rough he was, but don't say a word about it.

"Misaki...why can't you be more careful?" he asks, running his thumb along a bruise that formed on my upper arm. He was gentle, so his touch didn't hurt the bruised skin. I frown.

"I'm sorry," I sigh. I really dislike it when Takumi's upset with me. He presses his lips together in frustration. "I'm honestly fine, though," I say reassuringly. It was the truth- none of the bruises even really hurt unless pressure was applied to them.

"I know you're fine, but what if you didn't get so lucky? What if your head hit the corner of a step and you got a concussion?!" he scolds, his expression looking angry and concerned. I look down and avoid his gaze. I would actually find his worrying a bit cute if I weren't feeling so guilty right now.

"I...I'm sorry..." I mutter again. "What I did was reckless," I say, suddenly wanting to be close to him. I nervously pull my hand out of his loose grasp and instead loop my arms around his torso. I rest my head against his chest, allowing me to hear his steady heartbeat.

"Misaki...?" he asks in surprise. "Did you hit your head hard on the way down the stairs-"

"Be quiet. Just let me stay like this for a while, okay?" I cut him off. I feel him gently place his arms around me as well, causing me to smile into his shirt. I decide to enjoy his embrace for a while, in hopes of him being not angry at me anymore.

"I really can't stay mad at you," he laughs. I can feel him nuzzle his face into my hair, and instead of pushing him away like I normally would, I let him. Y'know, maybe I did hit my head too hard on the way down, because honestly, I don't know why I'm acting this way. I knew I liked him, but damn, not this much...

"T-Takumi?" I say.

"Hmm?" he asks.

"U-Uh, I...you know that question you asked me this morning?" I start. He stays silent to think for a moment.

"Which one?" he asks. I blush.

"Err- the one about me liking you..." I murmur. A few more seconds pass while we stay in each other's embrace, before he speaks.

"Ah, yep. What about it?" he inquires. I could hear a smile in his voice as if he already knew what was coming. He tries to pull out of the hug, but I quickly shove my body against his again, causing him to be surprised. I didn't want him to see my extremely red face.

"T-Takumi... I um," I stutter. Okay, deep breaths Misaki. Just say it all in one go. "I LIKE YOU!" I blurt. Shit, that didn't sound romantic at all! Did my voice hitch too high at the end?!

"I like you too, Misaki," he chuckles, snapping me out of my thoughts. My face turns even redder at this- if that was even possible.

"I-I know...you told me before," I mumble into his chest.

"Just wanted to make sure you knew," he says. I roll my eyes.

"W-We should probably stop hugging now. It's b-been like five minutes," I suggest to change the topic. He chuckles and unwraps his arms from my figure.

"That's what I was trying to do earlier," he states with a smirk. "Except someone else didn't want to..." he adds. I avoid his gaze and instead stare at a very interesting tree.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about..." I huff, crossing my arms in front of my chest. He laughs. Well, at least he wasn't mad anymore.

"Well then, Misaki," he says. "Shall we go on another date?" he offers, taking my hand in his larger one. My eyes widen in surprise. Staring at our intertwined hands, I can't help but smile. Does this mean we're dating?

"Yeah."

"Misaki, want any of these?" Takumi asks, pointing at a bunch of jewelry that was being displayed inside a glass container. I scanned the contents, and a certain necklace caught my eye. It was beautiful, but right when my eyes landed on the price below I froze.

"Nah, I don't like jewelry," I lie smoothly. I was pretty unfeminine in every other way, so it was a pretty believable lie. Honestly, I am a pretty famous actress who makes lots of money, but when I was younger I was very poor and had to work part-time jobs to care for my mother and sister. I guess I kinda got used to saving money and not being overly lavish. I especially hated using other people's money.

"I'd like this necklace please," he says to the lady that worked at the shop. I immediately glare at him. He stares back at me. "What?"

"I said I didn't-"

"That's what you said, but you didn't mean it," he retorts before I could even finish my sentence. I blush, knowing he was right.

"You're weird..." I mutter. He laughs as the worker hands him the necklace which she placed inside a small black square box. He hands her his credit card, she does something and hands it back to him, then he places it back into his wallet.

"Have a good day," the lady says politely.

"You too," I reply, while Takumi simply turns around and walks out the door. Geez, what nice manners my boyfriend has. Ah, it feels so nice to be able to say that word! Can I even call him that yet? Are we officially together?!

"Misaki," Takumi calls, snapping me out of my reverie. Only then do I realize I've been standing in the jewelry stop, hands tangled in my hair like a complete weirdo. I quickly smoothen my hair down and laugh awkwardly.

"I'm coming," I say, walking out the door which Takumi was holding open for me. As I walk past him, he swiftly grabs my hand. My face turns bright red once again. "Where do you want to go next?" he asks.

"U-Um... I d-don't know, you decide," I stammer, my eyes permanently glued onto our hands. It made me so happy that we were doing things a couple would do. That's what we are, right?

"Is the hand holding making you uncomfortable?" he asks, loosening his grip on my hand to let go. Suddenly, I squeeze his hand as if my life depended on it. I really didn't want him to let go...

"Oh? So you like it?" he inquires with a smirk. I turn my head away from him so he couldn't see the unnaturally red color on my face.

"As if," I scoff. "I'm just doing this because my hands are cold," I lie very unsmoothly, since it was the middle of summer.

"Ah, yes. The sun's making me quite cold as well," he agrees sarcastically.

"Shut up."