Chapter 16 - Kouen vs. Eugene
Kouen hugged her tightly, "I miss you so much, A-chan!" he whispered.
Akira tried to free from his hug but failed "Kouen, you're hurting me! Let go"
"No, I won't! I won't let you go again!"
Kouen felt a strong hand squeezing on his shoulder, it was Gene who's glaring at him "She said you're hurting her." he said in a serious tone.
He let go of her and looked at him, "It's been a while Gene, Noll" he looked at Naru and nod, the young man do the same.
"What are you doing here?" Gene directly asked "Didn't you have a lecture in Cambridge?"
Kouen smiled "I skipped my class by telling them that I have an important business to attend to"
"No wonder why the students who are under you, are getting dumber" Gene mumbled, Naru smirked hearing this kind of comment from his brother
"I didn't expect to meet you this soon En" Akira stated.
"So you are expecting to see me?"
Akira smiled "Of course, knowing that you are Lin's brother and working under the Davis'."
"A-chan..." he whispered "By the way, why don't we go to Crystal Palace?" he suggested
"That's a great idea! Let's go Naru..." Yasu agreed
"I want to see the exhibits!" Masako and John both seconded
"I wanna go shopping!" Ayako followed-up
"I see the women! Blondies!" Bou-san got a thwack from Ayako "What was that for, old hag?" he whined
"Pervert monk!"
The sound of their laughter echoed the room. Tears coalesce in Luella's eyes, she can't hide her happiness when she saw from afar that Naru finally knows how to make friends.
In the Crystal Palace, Akira can't feel at ease with these two men, who choose to be with her, glaring at each other.
"You know what, if you have time to leisure around here, why won't you help your brother in the BSPR?"
Kouen smirked "You're not helping Noll, either"
"He's busy courting Mai"
"Then same as me, I'm busy winning back A-chan"
Gene glared at him "Are you serious? What made you think I will let you?"
"Yes" he answered the first question, but not the second one. Gene was about to grab Kouen's collar when she stopped him.
"STOP!" Akira exclaimed, she looked at Gene "Will you please leave us alone for a moment? Kouen and I needed to talk."
"But –" he's wanted to protest but he saw Akira's pleading eyes, he sighed "Fine" he left but not so far from the two of them.
"En please, stop bothering me"
"A-chan, I'm serious. I want you back. I promise I will never hurt you intentionally. I will respect your wishes." Kouen pleaded "I can give you what Gene can't give"
"Eugene has nothing to do with this!" she yelled
"Then what's stopping you to be with me again?" He held her hands "I regretted what I did before, A-chan... Please give me a chance" he pleaded harder
Akira looked at him and sighed "Let me think about it, En. It's an easy decision where I can decide within a minute"
Kouen smiled and hugged her "Of course. I will wait."
Gene on the other hand, didn't like what he saw "Yo, Young boy!" Bou-san tapped his shoulders to get his attention "I noticed that you've been glaring at Lin's brother since earlier at the house, jealous aren't you?" he teased
"I don't understand. Why would Akira still talk to the guy who hurt her?"
Bou-san looked at the direction where Gene's been looking, he saw how Akira and Lin's brother talked and sometimes laughed "You know, she's a tough a lady" Bou-san said, Gene looked at him with a confused look "She can still managed to laugh with the man who hurt her, you can't see that everyday"
"Maybe she still loves him" the two guys turned around to see the miko, she crossed her arms and joined the two guys "You should tell her how you feel Gene"
Gene scoffed "Then you and Bou-san should tell each other how you feel first" he left the two exorcists with a bright shade of red on their faces.
"Naru, have you been here before?" Mai asked her narcissistic boss, she wanted to know if he still remembered her
"Once. When I was still a kid, but I don't remember much"
Mai saddened from his answer "I see..."
Naru took Mai's hand "C'mon let's grab something to eat" they both went to a food stall, and Naru bought a burger.
She raised her eyebrow looking at food that Naru bought "I don't eat junk foods"
"It's not. It's a vegetable burger" she took the burger and tried to taste it, "I like it!" she smiled at him.
"I'm glad." he stopped when he felt a sense déjà vu. He looked at his assistant "Mai, have we met before?"
Mai almost choke from her food, she was caught off guard with his sudden question "What made you think that?"
He shrugged "I just have a feeling that we met"
"Maybe, maybe not" she vaguely answered
"Noll! Mai!" the two was interrupted by Gene running towards them "Mother called, she wanted us to go back to house immediately"
"Mother what's the emergency?" Naru immediately asked her mother. Kouen drive as fast as he can to reached the Davis' mansion sooner, as Gene told him, their mother was somewhat in panicked when she called.
"I wrote a letter to the royal family yesterday, inviting them to the party"
Mai widened her eyes "You invited them?!" she, Akira, and the twins asked in unison,
"Yes dear. And then I got their reply just the moment ago, they said they can come, but not with their mother, and they said, they will come when there are no other guests, just us" she explained
Ayako scoffed "What a demanding people"
"And then? What do you want us to do?" Gene asked, their mother gave him a piece of paper
"I want you to go shopping, and buy all of that"
"That's it?"
Luella nodded.
Naru heaved a sigh "I thought something bad happened to you, but you just panicked because the royal families will be here tomorrow?"
"It's not 'just' Naru, they are royalties, of course your mom will panic" Bou-san said in as-a-matter-of-fact tone.
Mai took the list on Gene's hand, she took a pen and scratched out some ingredients and added some "They are allergic to peanuts, they don't like Cheddar cheese they prefer Mozzarella, more on chili because they like spicy foods, they like lean meat more than chicken. Here" when she finished, she gave back the paper and she noticed that they are all staring at her with a curious looks on their faces
Damn she thought
Akira laughed "You seriously research about them Mai? For your project?"
"Project?" they all asked
Akira nodded, "Yep. Mai's project in school was about the royalties here in England. And it seems she got carried away in researching about them"
"Oh. I see"
"So.. Uh.. Let's go shopping?" Mai tried to change the subject
The whole SPR team decided to shop together, the more the merrier as what Ayako describe it.
"I got carried away" Mai mumbled
"Yes you did, Your Highness" Akira teased. Mai widened her eyes and looked around if somebody heard her.
"Akira!" Mai squealed
The two young ladies both laugh and joined the others.
[A/N]
I wonder why I always made the character of Kouen as the third wheel? *laughs*
Uh-oh... Mai's childhood friends and future fiancée will come. Will she continue to hide her secret?