hibiscus – delicate beauty
Chapter 4: Hibiscus
"So basically he declared he'd make you fall in love with him."
Tsuna sighed heavily, eyes closing in vexation and a tiny bit of confusion. He rubbed his temples gently at first, but then harder the more he thought of his problem. "Can you believe that he did it in front of Luce-san? He's so arrogant that I'm getting really pissed off."
The small, dainty café near the Sky's Flower was the place the two routinely meet at, aside from the cake shop the four of them frequented to. The café, with its simple interior design of solid wood wall and floor and comely paintings hanging on the walls, was not that distinguished in the town, but was renowned enough to be doing well in the economic aspect. Tsuna personally favoured this café as the staff were friendly and the atmosphere of the place, in entirety, was bright and relaxing for there was the lack of the typical chattering of the sundry of people.
Enma chuckled lightly. "Maybe that's good then. When was the last time you got angry?" When Tsuna shrugged listlessly, he continued, "See? I believe it was last year when we saw those guys persistently hitting on Kyoko-san. We were awesome, weren't we?" He leant back, palms resting behind his head.
Opening his eyes, Tsuna snorted loudly, a wide smile threatening his lips. "We were, we were. Those ten feet guys were no match against us."
"Yeah," said Enma. "No match for our hit-their-balls-and-run-skills." The two laughed for a while until Enma waved his hand. "All right, all right. Enough digressing. Have you ever thought that he was sincere about you?"
"Well, no," said Tsuna lowly, feeling a little weirded out about that prospect. "It's impossible anyway, right? Remember what Haru said about him being a big shot and all that? What are the chances that he's being sincere?"
"Let's ignore what Haru-san said and have you think about what you would feel if he's sincere. Go ahead and imagine it, Tsuna-kun." He nodded encouragingly.
Scowling, Tsuna, again, closed his image of Hibari Kyouya wearing his black suit coupled with his purple tie immediately filled his vision, an arrogant smirk tainted his thin lips, his sharp steel-grey eyes fell on him, Tsuna felt small under his gaze; it was intimidating, horrifying, and irritating. One way or another, it reminded him of someone he knew – a smirk that never left his mouth, cunning, annoying, and also conceited.
"I love you. Go out with me." Was Hibari sincere? Tsuna couldn't tell. The words were so, so familiar.
"I love you. Go out with me." Tsuna stopped walking, feet frozen on the wet ground; the pitter-patter of the rain amplified due to the silence between them. His heartbeat accelerated. He was scared and glad but terrified and relieved. How much had he longed for this?
Right. It was the exact words he had used. No wonder it was familiar.
"Oya. Did you think you were the only one?" he said, after Tsuna caught sight of him one day with, to his utter dismay, a female. He had willingly gave him his whole heart, and it was utterly crushed right in front of him. He did the first thing that ran in his mind – he escaped, ignoring the woman's look of perplexity and pity.
Tsuna swiftly opened his eyes, his breathing quickened. More than a year had passed and it was still utterly and beyond painful; almost two years of cuddling then kissing and arguing then crying, but everything went down the drain; every single day and hour and minute and second, every single kiss and hug that engulfed them in a sweet, warm sensation. Tsuna bit his lower lip in harrowed frustration, feelings of confusion and disconsolation sheathe him.
"Tsuna-kun! I said imagine not remember," cried Enma. Snapping out of his reverie, Tsuna stared wide-eyed at his friend, who was looking at him in concern. Enma slowly shook his head. "Well, I guess I can't blame you. After all, you two were all over each other... literally," he murmured. When Tsuna glared at him, he added, "Okay, okay, figuratively. Satisfied?" With Tsuna nodding, Enma sighed in relief. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure your plane of thoughts landed somewhere far away."
Tsuna looked away, guilt adding to his muddled brain. "I'm trying," he muttered. He returned his attention to his friend, a doleful smile curving his lips. "But it's hard to just, you know, suddenly move on and all that obligatory empty words of encouragement people say. 'Forget about him,' or 'stop thinking about him,' or even 'go find someone better.' It's not that easy," growled Tsuna. "Of course you would want to move on and just leave it all behind, but the brain and the heart will never agree with each other. You'll always think about the what ifs."
Tsuna continued, "What if I didn't do that? What if I did that? Would we still be together? Would nothing have changed? You'll drown in your own endless questions and your emotions will go haywire. But the problem is it already happened; you're powerless; you can't do anything about it, well, unless it's only a misunderstanding and they still like each other or something like—" He stopped, gasping, "Hie! I'm sorry, Enma-kun. I ended up babbling!"
"Tsuna-kun can be really deep sometimes." Enma chuckled. "Don't worry and just go on. I'm listening."
"No, never mind," said Tsuna, flushing. Noticing a man carrying a tray – which Tsuna assumed were their orders – near them, the flushing of his face intensified, aware of the possibility of the waiter overhearing their conversation, and adding the fact that this waiter was new for he was certain he had never seen him before.
The tall waiter set their order of strawberry milkshake and chocolate milkshake down and beamed. Immediately, Enma eagerly grabbed the former and thanked the waiter, swiftly sipping his shake. On the other hand, Tsuna took his slowly but didn't drink at once, raising an eyebrow at the waiter who was still standing beside their table. He asked, "Um, is there something wrong? I'm pretty sure this is all our order."
Yamamoto released a soft, sheepish laughed then lightly scratched the back of his head. He grinned goofily and said, "Well, I can't help but overhear what you guys were saying." Tsuna inwardly slapped his face. I knew it. "Ah, but I didn't eavesdrop on purpose! I swear on my baseball bat," added the waiter frantically, waving both his hands in front of him. "I just thought I could get some advice from you."
"Advice on what? And are you sure we can help?"
"Well," he mumbled, slightly florid.
"Love advice?" chimed in Enma, looking up from his drink. "Then of course we can help you. Are you on your break already? You're welcome to sit here." Enma pulled the chair on his left.
"Thanks. My shift's not over yet, but I can spare a few minutes, if you don't mind," said the waiter. "The name's Yamamoto Takeshi by the way." Grinning, he offered a hand to Enma.
"Enma. Kozato Enma." He shook his hand. Yamamoto then redirected his hand to Tsuna.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi. Just Tsuna is fine, though." Tsuna, too, shook the employee's hand. "And if Enma is right, I disagree with him. Love advice is really not my thing." He bit his lower lip.
"Come on, Tsuna-kun. Let's listen to what he wants to say first."
Yamamoto crossed his arms and rested it on the table. "So there's this guy I like." Oh, he's as straight as I am. "I met him around three weeks ago. He's really cute and fun to be with! I don't know if he's into guys, but I really want to ask him out! What should I do?" He pleadingly looked straight at Tsuna.
"Why not just give it a go? There's no harm in trying, and I think you're a really cool guy." Tsuna smiled. "Rejection's painful, but everyone's bound to feel that pain someday and it's better to regret having done it instead of regretting not trying."
"But if that person's already happy, sometimes it's better to just hide your feelings," said Enma. "Isn't love about wishing happiness for that special someone?"
Enma-kun? "That is hard, but I think it would be best if you'd be honest about your feelings and then move on. If not, then you won't ever move on unless you forget about it and meet someone that—that transcends your feelings for him or her. Now that's really hard." Tsuna shrugged. "And I think the one you confessed to will be really happy."
"Not everyone can be as honest as you, Tsuna-kun." Eh? Tsuna had to strain his ears to hear what his friend had said. However, Enma brightened up in an instant. "So deep of you, Tsuna-kun! Even as far as using transcend." Tsuna stuck his tongue out.
Yamamoto groaned. He raised his right arm and leant on it. "But I really, really, really like this guy and I don't want to get rejected—"
"Or maybe you should start thinking about getting fired first if you're not going to move your lazy ass."
The three of them looked up to see a silver-haired man glowering at Yamamoto, wearing the same white long-sleeved shirt, although the former's sleeves were wrapped just above his elbows, black slacks coupled with a somewhat battered pair of black shoes, and a denim-blue apron with the café's insignia on the front. Yamamoto laughed, surprising the two. "Oh, Hayato! Sorry, sorry. I'll get back to work now."
Hayato rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Before I fry your brains, if you had one." They watched as the man left their table and proceeded to another, flipping a page of his notepad and writing, a permanent scowl etched on his face.
"That was plea—" started Tsuna.
"See? Isn't he cute!" said Yamamoto, beaming at the man's retreating back. "Maybe I should just go for it, just like what you said earlier."
Please tell me what part of him is cute. Tsuna raised both eyebrows in disbelief. No wonder Yamamoto couldn't tell if he's into guys. I don't think he's into any human being!
"Anyway, I better go now. Do you mind if we exchange numbers?" Shaking their heads, Enma and Tsuna handed their phones while Yamamoto handed his first to Enma. After doing the deed, Yamamoto stood up. "Thanks, guys! I'll probably contact you soon."
Enma chuckled. "I think we need to buy a new dictionary, Tsuna-kun." Upon receiving a questioning gaze, he added, "The definition of cute seems to have changed."
Tsuna snorted in the middle of sipping his shake. "It did, didn't it?" Feeling his phone vibrate, he quickly retracted it and found a message from Luce. Aware that there was still time before his break ends, he worriedly read the message, anxious that Luce might need his help. After he was done reading the text, he redirected his attention to his friend. "Enma-kun, I have to go back to the shop now. We have new deliveries to take care of." I don't remember Luce-san telling me anything about this? Maybe I just forgot about it.
"Oh, go ahead, Tsuna-kun. I have a date to finish with my sweetheart right here," said Enma, licking his lips.
Standing up, Tsuna softly laughed then clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Right. See you!" Tsuna hurried off, amused that his rendezvous with Enma turned out to be a consultation of love. He appreciated his friend's effort in helping him but the problem was himself. Perhaps if his gullibility and naivety were allayed then, he wouldn't experience the suffering he had succumbed to now.
It was surprising, for Tsuna, to realise how much he had come to love him and how their relationship went uphill to downhill, from strangers to acquaintances, to lovers to a broken heart. He wondered how Nagi was. While Enma, Kyoko, and Haru were his classmates in both middle school and high school, it was only Enma who went to the same university as him, and where they met the two students who were famously dubbed as the Pineapple Duo – Mukuro and Nagi.
Mukuro was a year older than Tsuna, and was everything he wasn't: vibrant, clever, and popular. It didn't surprise him when they didn't hit it both well at the start. Mukuro was conceited and self-centred. If Tsuna hadn't met him, he wouldn't have believed that anyone could be so narcissistic about themselves. It was utterly infuriating for Tsuna. But the more Mukuro pestered him, the more he started learning about the man; the more he started learning about him, the more he warmed up to him; the more he warmed up to him, the more their feelings started to realign.
Here I am again, thinking about him. Tsuna ruefully smiled. He should had known that they would end up like this. The man, after all, had begun acting distant two weeks before he caught him cheating. But he tried – tried to fix everything, tried to save their relationship, tried to keep Mukuro in love with him, yet it all ended in naught. Mukuro chose his playboy antics over him who was by his side for almost two years. I did my best. It's not my loss but his.
"Tsunayoshi-kun, you're back." Looking up, Tsuna saw Luce standing right outside the shop, holding a green pail half-full of water. "I'm sorry for calling you back early. But I wasn't expecting..." she trailed off.
Tsuna waved his arms in front of him frantically. "No, no. It's fine. Did Aria-san send a surprise delivery? We weren't expecting anything for today, right?"
"Quite a surprise indeed." Luce giggled. "Go inside."
Feeling suspicious, Tsuna cautiously entered the shop, slightly comforted that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. He closed the door silently, the chime of the bell above softly filling the room. A flash of black to his left made him almost jump. He sighed in relief upon noticing it was only a man. Why is Luce-san outside when there's a customer here? "Good morning. Welcome to the Sky's. How may I—You! What are you doing here?"
The man turned around, carrying a bouquet of large, trumpet-shaped red flowers. He advanced towards Tsuna, his right hand stretched. "Here. For a delicate beauty such as you."
Tsuna sputtered, barely comprehending what the man said. "W-w-what?"
"Hibiscus symbolises delicate beauty. These are fireball hibiscus." Using his left arm, he pointed at the bouquet he held.
Scowling, Tsuna walked past him. "I know what they mean, Hibari-san. I'm a florist." When Hibari didn't answer back, he turned around, taken aback that the man was now smirking. "What are you smirking at?"
"I don't remember telling you my name. Interested now, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Hibari strode beside Tsuna, leaning against the counter with his elbows resting atop. Blushing, Tsuna turned away. Hibari continued, "Hibari Kyouya." He extended his hand.
Tsuna ignored the hand. "If you're not going to buy anything, please leave."
"I only came to give you this." Hibari handed him the bouquet.
"You should at least try to give him a chance and talk to him." Remembering Enma's words, Tsuna begrudgingly accepted the flowers, scrutinising it as he held it. It seems very well taken care of. I wonder if Hibari-san was the one who planted it? Tsuna chuckled. Fat chance. I bet he just buys it from another flower shop. "Thank you." He shrugged. "They're really nice."
Hibari glanced at his watch. "I am needed elsewhere. I will be back soon, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Just as his hand reached the door's knob, Luce entered the shop. She smiled as Hibari bowed a little and exited the shop.
"He's a nice young man once you get to know him, Tsunayoshi-kun," said Luce.
That's what they said about Mukuro, too.
"You just need to try to understand him."
But he didn't try to understand me.
Clenching his fists, Tsuna forced a smile. "So about those deliveries..."
"Oh." Luce blushed, covering her cheeks with her hands. "I'm sorry, Tsunayoshi-kun. There's no delivery for today. I felt bad for Hibari-kun, so I asked you to come back. I hope I didn't interrupt you."
"It's fine, Luce-san."
I'm fine.
