Chapter 12

"You've been staring at your phone for a while now," Dad noted while we waited for our flight to Australia to begin boarding.

I snapped out of it and looked at him. "Not really," I said. "I'm just getting bored." I shoved my phone back in my pocket and leaned back in my seat.

"Is it your boyfriend?" Dad smirked knowingly.

"What?" I exclaimed, startled. "No. I don't have a boyfriend. I don't know what you're talking about." Then I bit my tongue because of how bad I lied to my father.

Dad laughed and leaned back on his seat as well then slung his arm over my shoulder. "You know, Kai," he said, "as much as I appreciate your effort of lying to me, your mom already told me."

"You guys are still talking?" I said, mildly shocked.

"We're civil," Dad shrugged. "Who else can I ask about how you're doing? Certainly not your boyfriend." He let out another laugh while my cheeks reddened. "He's on the swim team, right?"

"Yeah," I fidgeted in my seat.

"Relax, Kai. I'm not going to interrogate you. I trust you to make your own decisions and be responsible."

I smiled at Dad. "Of course," I gave him a side hug. "Thanks." I pulled out my phone and checked for a message. None. I sighed and shoved it back. "Haru said that he would be coming to say goodbye," I slumped lower in my seat. "We're about to board soon, and he's not yet here."

"Traffic, maybe?" Dad said, patting my back in attempts to cheer me up. "I once missed to say goodbye to your mom when she left for Okinawa. You know what I did?" I shook my head. "I went there myself. Luckily one of our inns just opened so I wasn't completely useless when I got there."

I laughed until tears leaked through my eyes. "The best romantic gesture ever," I smiled a wide-tooth smile. Then I gave him a serious look. "What changed?" I asked. "You never really told me what happened between you and Mom."

Dad's eyes lowered, and for a moment, I thought there were tears welling up in his eyes. "Now's not the time to talk about that," he said. He got up from his seat and pulled me up to my feet. "Let's go. I'm sorry your boyfriend couldn't come."

"Haru?!" I exclaimed when I saw him in the hotel lobby the next morning. I couldn't believe my eyes, and without any thought of the fact that we were in public, I jumped into his arms and hugged him as tight as I could.

"No hug for me?" I heard a snicker behind me.

I raised my head and found Rin standing right behind us. "You can join in if you want," I smiled cheekily.

Rin laughed and settled for ruffling my hair. "Man, you didn't tell me you were rich," he said, whistling at the sight of the entire hotel. "I would've been nicer to you."

I let Haru set me down. "Well, too late now, sharkie," I stuck out my tongue at him. I turned to Haru. "You guys have a place to stay? Did the rest of the team come along?"

"Nope, just us," Rin shrugged. "I can't have a proper holiday with those idiots around." He took a seat in one of the sofas in the waiting lounge. Haru and I did the same on the sofa opposite to Rin. "We're actually staying at my home stay parents' home. They've grown really fond of Haru since our visit last year," he said.

"You've been here before?" I asked, turning to Haru.

"Yeah."

"You're free to stop by anytime," Rin offered. "If you wanna steal Haru and have him stay some nights in your room, you're free to do that too."

I blushed and whacked Rin with one of the throw pillows.

"Dinner?" I asked Rin over the phone. Over the past three days, Haru, Rin, and I spent most of our time hanging around beaches and having the occasional races — with Haru beating our butts every time, of course. The highlight of those beach adventures was actually stumbling to a nudist beach.

"Yeah, Russell and Lori are cooking up a dinner to get to know you," Rin said. "Haru is supposed to call you, but you know him and his cellphone."

"Right," I laughed. Haru's swimming trunks and goggles were more useful to him than his phone. "I'll go ask my Dad if he's cool with it. I'll text you later. Bye." I hung up.

I skipped over to my father's office and found his desk with stacks and stacks of papers. His phone was wedged between his shoulder and ear as he browsed through his computer with a file in his other hand. I sat on an empty seat and waited for him to finish his call.

"Yes, I'll go over it first thing tomorrow," Dad said. "Tonight? I'll see if I can manage it tonight. Alright." Then he hung up and fell back on his desk chair, looking haggard and exhausted.

"You want me to help you out with paperwork?" I offered. "You look like you could use a break there, Dad."

"I do indeed," Dad agreed, "but it's all good, Kai." He got off his seat and began stuffing his briefcase with more papers. "I actually have to go to Melbourne tonight. There's an emergency there. You'll be fine on your own, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I'll be back tomorrow by lunch, okay?" Dad said, slamming his briefcase shut. "So, what did you come here for?"

"Oh, right," I said, almost forgetting. "Rin's home stay parents are inviting me over for dinner."

"That's fine," Dad said. "Be back here before eleven, okay?" He cleared up his desk and grabbed his suit jacket. "Well, I have to go now," he kissed the top of my head as goodbye. "Be responsible. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." He gave me a wink and left his office.

"Aren't you lovely?" Lori gave me a hug once I walked in the door. "Come in! I just took out the pie to cool. It's not everyday Rin brings his Japanese friends over."

After sharing introductions with Russell and Lori — even Winnie, the family dog — we all got settled in the dining room in their humble home. Compared to the fancy hotel meals I've been having the entire time I've been here in Australia, Lori's home cooking was definitely better, and I found myself asking for seconds... and thirds.

"I honestly didn't expect that Haru would have a girlfriend first instead of you, Rin," Russell commented, making Rin choke on his fish.

"Are we always going to have this conversation?" Rin rolled his eyes.

"Absolutely," Lori giggled, taking a sip of water. "I've heard that that Charlotte girl moved to Iwatobi. They're having a new swimming program at Samezuka for girls, you see."

I became absolutely curious when Rin turned slightly pink and began finding his salad interesting. "Curious, isn't it?" I whispered over to Haru. He just hummed his agreement and gave my hand a squeeze before he resumed eating. I smiled warmly at him and also returned to my meal.

"Thank you so much for the meal," I thanked Lori, giving her a hug and shaking Russell's hand. "I was getting sick of fancy cuisines from the hotel restaurant."

"Nothing like home cooking, right?" Russell grinned. "We do hope you'll visit again."

"I certainly will," I promised, slinging my bag on my shoulder. "Bye." I was about to get the door when Haru hurried over and grabbed my hand.

"I'll walk you home," Haru said.

I checked my wristwatch. "It's not that late," I said. "I'll be fine." Haru ignored me and grabbed my hand, pulling me to walk with him.

The cab ride back to the hotel was incredibly silent, but Haru refused to let go of my hand. Even the driver caught sight of it and smiled fondly at the two of us. Once we arrived, Haru still walked me up to my floor and to my door.

"Good night, Haru," I got on my toes and kissed his cheek. Despite his stoic expression, his cheeks betrayed him and flushed a pink shade that made me chuckle.

Haru nodded and began to walk down the hallway back to the lift. I stared at his back as the distance between us grew. I found my tongue and called out to him. He stopped and looked back at me in question.

"Do you want to have some tea before you go?" I asked, spitting out the first excuse I had in my mind.

"Just take a seat anywhere," I said, putting my bag on a nearby counter. I rushed over to the kitchen corner of my suite and started the kettle. I grabbed some tea bags and set them near the kettle. I opened an overhead cabinet that displayed all the teacups and reached it.

"Damn it," I hissed, standing on my tiptoes trying to reach for the cups but to no success.

Suddenly, a warm body pressed against my back and reached for the cups I needed. I turned and faced Haru as he set the cups on the counter. His hands then trapped me and pushed me against the counter.

"Haru," I whispered before his lips captured mine. My entire skin lit up as Haru pushed himself closer to me, making the counter edge dig into my lower back. Haru, sensing my discomfort, hoisted me up and sat me on the counter, kissing me deeply.

My legs wrapped around his hips as my hands slithered under his shirt, feeling those hard muscles contract from my touch. Pulling away for breath, Haru trailed kisses down to my neck while his hands lowered further down my hips and settled one of them on my thigh. I could feel his hand burning through the fabric of my jeans. I was about to pull off Haru's shirt when a shrill whistle brought us both back to reality.

Haru stepped back to give me space to hop off the counter. Feeling the tension, I coughed off the awkwardness and went to turn off the stove. I poured the boiling water in a teapot and grabbed a tin can where I kept all my tea.

Opening the tin can, I asked Haru, "What tea do you want?" Feeling his burning gaze, I couldn't even look at him in the eyes when I asked him the question. I continued shuffling through the varieties of tea I had, trying to ignore that my heart was about to burst out of my chest.

Haru's hand covered the top of mine. "I don't want tea," he said in that familiar monotone voice. The only difference was how his voice was low and filled with desire.

"What do you want?"

"You."

Bam! Extra long chapter, and eyy, there's an extension of this chapter for those people who wants some lemony action. I'll be setting that chapter on private on my Wattpad account though, so if you're under 17 and not following me there, well. Uhh... Sorry? I just wanted it to be quite stricter in terms of age and at the same time some sort of extra/gift for my followers. Don't worry though. There'll be no important parts to the story in the extension, so you don't actually have to read it.

Three chapters to go, and we're on to the next bishie. If you haven't gone on my profile or caught on the foreshadowing of this chapter, go read it. That's all! Hope you loved this chapter.

Leave a review and follow/fave this story!