10. Let's have some coffee!
Everyone was leaving. It was almost midnight.
Mikan went to Tsubasa and took something out of her tiny pink purse. It was a locket she had been keeping for years. She handed it to Tsubasa and he opened it, only to see a tiny photograph of Himself, Misaki and Mikan, taken when they were in the middle school. He closed it and put it in his pocket, touched. Then he hugged Mikan gently but tightly and kissed her on the forehead.
"Will you be leaving soon?" Mikan asked, tears rising in her eyes.
"Umm… We'll see Mikan… We can't even control our own lives." Tsubasa said, not wanting to see her cry.
"Hmmm… I know… I'm a grown up now…" She said out cutely as she hugged him again.
"So who's gonna take you home? Shall I drop you Mikan?" Tsubasa asked, concerned.
"No… Hotaru is waiting for me… Thanks senpai!" Mikan said before she bade farewell to them and walked towards the parking area.
Hotaru and Ruka were there waiting for her; Hotaru pissed off like always.
"You took more than 30 minutes to walk outta the house!" Hotaru said, pissed off.
"Don't worry… I'll take her home." Another voice spoke out. Ruka and Hotaru turned to that side and froze.
Mikan looked at Kaname, who had kindly offered to take her home and smiled. This time, Mikan wanted to give Hotaru's ego a huge blow.
"Yeah then… Looks like I have a ride…" She said as she gave a scornful look to Hotaru who couldn't believe that Mikan had just blown off her ego.
"Yeah sure." Hotaru said, blankly before she pushed Ruka towards the car and got in at once, slamming the door to go with her anger.
Within a minute, they drove off, leaving Kaname and Mikan alone on stage.
"Looks like your best friend doesn't like to see us together." Kaname said as he looked at the retreating car dreamily.
"She's always like that. We don't have to worry about her." Mikan said, nonchalantly. It was the first time she had ever told someone not to worry about her best friend. Till now, she never had seen her best buddy as a so-called barrier.
But now… To her, Hotaru was no one but an obstacle in her eyes.
If someone came in their way, now, she won't ever hesitate to eliminate that trouble, whoever they were.
This was a rare chance. So she had to play safe.
That night seemed darker than previous nights. She didn't know why.
They had been driving in silence till Kaname opened the conversation, not wanting to kick his luck.
"So umm… how're you feeling?" Kaname asked, not looking at Mikan who was looking out dreamily from the shutter, though she could see nothing but dark and some random buildings with neon lights. Hearing Kaname speak, Mikan was restored to the real world.
"Oh… Umm… great! Yeah… I'm feeling great!" She barely managed to answer to that sudden question. Seeing her situation, Kaname smiled.
"You're really different, from the other girls." He said as he concentrated again on driving. Then suddenly, a nice idea popped up in his mind.
"Shall we stop to have some coffee?"
Natsume couldn't sleep.
His bed seemed really uncomfortable that night. So he stood up and checked the time in his phone. It was 1.15 in the morning. He had been awake all the time. Not wanting to stick inside his room anymore, he stepped outta it and closed the door behind him without making much noise.
He climbed down the stairs and walked pass Mikan's bedroom. No sign. He turned and walked pass it again. Still, no sign. He could feel tension growing inside his mind. Therefore he decided to go to his business directly.
He walked towards her room and opened the door, slowly. He could see nothing in the dark but he couldn't just turn on the lights. So he walked towards her bed and reached for her to find nothing but a slight vibration from within her pillow.
He lifted the pillow only to find her vibrating phone. "Great!" Natsume said to himself as he took the phone in his hand. It was when he noticed that Hotaru was calling her. Confusion struck his mind. He knew she had left with Hotaru and was supposed to come home with the same person. Then why would Hotaru call her now?
"Where's she." Natsume asked soon after picking it up.
"Ah Hyuuga. She isn't home yet?" Hotaru asked, concerned. She always responded concerned to Natsume. Natsume was the only person in her acquaintance, she had considered "non-idiotic". So she always sounded serious to Natsume.
"No! Where the hell is she?" Natsume had lost his temper, especially after hearing Hotaru's reply. Hotaru knew how Natsume felt at the moment. So she didn't wanna hurt him more by telling the truth. So she had to think of something else.
"Oh… She said she'd come with Tsubasa senpai. She was taking so long. So Nogi and I left before her. Don't worry, Misaki senpai was there with them." Hotaru lied. That was the first time she had really lied to a person. What she always had done was just going through the information, but here, she lied, just to make Natsume feel at ease.
"Hn." was Natsume's answer before he hung up. If Hotaru had said Tsubasa and Mikan was driving alone, he'd have broken the phone in to pieces. But what she had said was they were not alone. So Natsume had nothing to worry about. But he couldn't just go back to his room and sleep.
Simply,
He wanted to see her home safe before he closed his eyes.
So he waited. Waited in the living room, lying on the couch. Another 15 minutes passed. Natsume was getting restless by now. He could hear footsteps, climb down the stairs. He knew who that was.
"Natsume? What're you doing here? Is Mikan home?" Kaoru asked, concerned.
"Uh. No she isn't. Imai called me and said she was fine." Natsume said. He had to keep his mother from freaking out. Hearing that, Kaoru sighed in relief.
"Oh…Okay then… So why aren't you sleeping?" Kaoru asked as she sat beside Natsume, putting her arm around his shoulders. Natsume never liked being treated like a little boy so he slowly put away her hands.
"I just didn't feel like sleeping in the bedroom tonight. Since that idiot is not around, I gotta taste my freedom." Natsume said out coolly.
Freedom? What freedom was he talking about? But Kaoru ate up his lie nicely.
"Yeah…Yeah! You wicked cruel boy!" She said and punched him on the shoulder, smiling.
"You go to bed now. There's nothing to worry about." He said and he hoped.
"Okay then… Sleep tight honey! And oh! Please let me know when she returns." Kaoru said and walked back to her room.
Natsume heard the engine of a car dying. It was almost 2.30 in the morning. He didn't turn on the lights and reached for the window to see what was going on outside. Then he saw it.
He saw the truth. The raw truth.
Mikan was there standing beside a white car, and the man he saw, he could say, definitely wasn't Tsubasa. To worsen the situation, he could recognize who that was.
"Son of bi#%$!" Natsume spoke out as he gritted his teeth, still looking at the smiling couple through the window.
He saw them clearly. He could see that man grabbing Mikan by her waist and what?
He could see that blonde haired guy, doing what he could never do.
He kissed her.
Natsume's fingers formed a fist.
She walked in, fully content that night. She had no one to welcome her home, and she was glad about that. She knew she was late. She was too damn late. So she slowly crept into her room and closed the door, locking it from inside.
She had never locked her door before, but that night, she needed privacy.
She hurriedly found her phone in the bed and dialed a number she had never had in her contact list. So she saved it.
"Kaname." She spoke out passionately as she typed it.
She was really happy, 'cause finally, she had won her prize.
Hotaru was in her bed. Confused. She knew Natsume must've known the truth by now, but still she had to find out. She couldn't sleep without knowing that Mikan is home safe. Looked like everyone had the same problem.
So she made the call. Directly to Natsume this time.
He picked it up, annoyed.
"Yeah, she's home and good story Imai!" He said without stopping and hung up in an instance before Hotaru could sympathize with him.
"Guys…" Hotaru thought before she drifted to sleep, not knowing what would happen in the future.
Everyone dozed off, except for one certain pair of crimson eyes. It was definitely a long night for them.
Whoa! I must tell you that these are the chapters I enjoyed the most! The 9th and the 10th! I dunno if you feel the same but whoa! My fingers just won't stop typing!
I was scared I'd make these chapters unnecessarily long. But I managed to stop here.
So how do you feel? Lemme know.
More to come people!
And I won't be updating anytime soon this weekend. Don't be mad at me okay…
I've given you 2 chapters at once so please do wait.
I gotta attend some classes. So PATIENCE people!
Till we meet again… just remember that I love you all!
And my kisses goes to all the people who've reviewed and favorited my story, including, newroz, HaCel and MusicIsTheWorld
Your reviews make me stronger. So if you want me to update really fast, just drop me a really convincing review that would make me cry! Hahaha :-D I really mean it!
See ya! :-* :-* :-*
-Awful Nightmare-