Chapter 5 – Balloons

"Yesterday...

We met on that day

And almost engaged in a fray.

Did you come to play?

Because you blew my mind away;

Your pearly whites in array;

Your pretty face and the cards you lay

To what dance do you sway?

Please, don't go astray

Hands of the clock shall sway

Then six o' clock, at the subway

Hope to see you today."

Shizuo clicked the middle button and his poem was sent to Kanra. He didn't even know he could write a poem until today. He admitted to himself that it was kind of crappy but at least it had everything he wanted to say. That's all that mattered. He wished that the girl would understand his message.

Izaya was on the corner of the street when his jacket vibrated. He saw Shizuo's golden locks at the corner of his eye. He decided to run away from here before anything else could happen. Oh, why did the thought of the big hunk chasing him sounded so exhilarating? Sadly, he must not let that happen today. He didn't want to smell sweaty for tonight.

A dark alley opened up to his left and he decided to slip in. A big trash bin offered him a good hiding place for the meantime. He crouched behind the stinky bin and fished out Kanra's red phone.

He flicked it open and the screen had a small envelope beside Shizuo's face. He read the message and felt his heart soar up to the blue skies. His smile kept widening with each line. With that text, he knew that Shizuo had fallen in love with Kanra! His plan was working and he loved himself for the success of it.

Hm, you're not so unpredictable after all, Izaya thought, as he stared at Shizuo's handsome face on the screen.

"Namie-san!" Izaya hollered when he stepped into his dim apartment. The smell of fish greeted him. This made him know that the woman was at the kitchen.

"Yo! It stinks! I think you burnt it!" Izaya joked, speaking with a gangster's accent. This earned him a punch from the doctor. But Izaya ignored the twisting knot of pain in his stomach and hugged the woman. Namie roughly pushed the raven away.

"Don't hug. Don't even touch me." She hissed.

"If only you can imagine me as Seiji. I bet you'll never pull away!" Izaya teased. Namie meant a punch meant at his face but he merely blocked it with a hand. "I only came to say I'm not eating dinner here."

"I hate you, you know that? I spent my own money to buy this and you tell me you're not eating here? I hate you." The doctor spat the words like it was scorching her tongue.

"Can't you even smell that?" Izaya paused to inhale the steaming dish. It smelt very enticing but he simply lied, "It's the smell of burning shit."

Namie bore her cold dull eyes on his pale face. She knew that he was simply toying with her feelings. If she reacted, he would spin the conversation to make it more "interesting."

"Why did you come home?"

"Ah, I knew you were gonna ask that."

Her eyes widened at those words. For a moment, she thought asking that would make her unpredictable.

"And to answer your question, I came home because I need balloons."

"Balloons?" Her brow arched up in confusion. Izaya was one unpredictable dude. And his peculiar ways were getting too annoying for her bear.

"A friend of mines throwing a dinner party," he explained. "But he's not being a nice friend and he gave us all assignments. He tasked me to bring balloons."

"Balloons? In a teen's party?" She kept her poker face that clearly said that she didn't believe in him. "Oh, wait, you're twenty-three, right? So, balloons? In an adult's party?" Her tone was so high, the raven unconsciously flinched back.

"As if you care." Izaya smugly said. This reply made the female silent. She couldn't say, "Of course, I do care!" because that would be a lie. And she couldn't even retort, "And what if I do?" because that would twist the conversation into an "interesting" one for the man's pleasure.

"Entre the stock room. The box with a B painted on it is where you'll find the balloons." The doctor glumly replied in defeat.

Izaya showed his gratitude by bowing lowly to her. His noisy shoes clicked against the white kitchen tiles as he skipped to the stock room. Then he shouted over his shoulder, "Can you smell that?"

Namie didn't understand what he meant until something poked at her own nose. She realised that she was still cooking. She turned to look at a pot that was steaming and bubbling.

"Yo! It stinks! I think you burnt it!" Izaya repeated in a sing-song voice that made Namie's head boil in rage.

A BIG 'THANK YOU' for everyone who loved the story XD I will keep on updating~

And, by the way, I use British English so there might be some words there that are new to you only because they're not the usual American words. You'll notice I spell things like "realise," "humour," and the like and that is simply me being all British-like XD So, pardon me if you're not used to the usual American-written stories.