Chapter 4

"OH! Kai Toshiki has all of a sudden given his partner, Tokura Misaki, a kiss on her cheek!" The emcee said excitedly. The crowd went wild with awe and applause.

"Oh yes! I love this event so much! It makes my heart go Doki Doki desu!" Doctor O responded.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Misaki exclaimed with an extremely red face.

"It was in the card. It's not a big deal." Kai said. He looked away from her and she could sense he seems to be hiding something.

"That's impossible… Let me see the card!" She demanded.

"Everyone is doing the same. Look around."

True enough, when she looked around, she saw Koutei and Ren each giving their partners, Yuri and Asaka, what appears to be really embarrassing actions for her. Ren and Asaka were giving each other Eskimo kisses without any problems while Koutei was spooning a scarlet faced Yuri. Misaki couldn't argue anymore and decided that she couldn't stand the other couples' display of affection. Therefore, without another word, she got back to the ingredients on the table.

After a little while, it seems like everyone went back to their task at hand. But with her mind still in shambles, Misaki tried her best to measure the ingredients needed. It was tough, especially since her thoughts of the kiss kept overpowering the recipe she needed to recall then. It was a good thing she wrote what she could down onto the back of the photograph so Kai could actually work on it.

"Hey, could you pass me the sugar?" He asked her. She was still in a trance and was staring blankly at the eggs which were still in the tray.

"Tokura, I need sugar." He repeated. This time, she heard him. But her face immediately flushed a bright red as she thought the innuendo behind that sentence.

"Huh?" She stammered.

"Sugar, you know the container to your left?" He clarified.

"Oh, yes. The sugar in the container. Here you go." She handed it over to him, still avoiding his gaze.

She never felt more like an idiot for over thinking things especially now when she really needed to focus. She glanced up at the timer and realized that 15 minutes have gone by with her doing nothing more than staring at eggs. She looked at Kai, who was much more productive, measuring the ingredients and mixing what he could as he followed the instructions she had written down previously.

"I got to stay calm. This is ridiculous. It was just a kiss on the cheek. No need to be so flustered over it." She told herself.

She shook her head one last time to get those thoughts out of her head. Gathering the motivation she needed, she got back to work on the brownies they were supposed to make. Time flew by quickly when they were working. After mixing everything together, they poured it into the mold and put it in the oven. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she sighed in relief. Now all that was left to do was to wait for the brownies to bake.

Misaki avoided all eye contact with Kai after the incident at the start of this round. She would have loved more than anything to just forget about it and move on with her life. That was easier said than done, of course. Throughout the process of mixing the ingredients, she accidentally caught him looking at her a few times. She pretended like it was no big deal and went on with her work, but her stomach had other ideas; performing acts like releasing butterflies.

Now they were both cleaning up at the sink provided by the station, washing up the bowls and containers used when they were baking. All that could be heard was the murmur of the crowd that was anxiously waiting for the products of the teams' efforts. From the looks of it, Ren and Asaka had to bake cupcakes while Koutei and Yuri were working on cookies. She couldn't see what kind of cupcakes or cookies the other teams were making but they looked happy working together.

Misaki, still looking around at the other teams and working with her hands to clean up, was deep in thought. She got lost trying to calculate and estimate the probability of winning this round. She reached around for the sponge at the same time as Kai. She snapped back into reality when she felt the warmth of his hand immediately turned her attention to her hand.

The part where they touched sent shivers all the way to her spine. It took a while for her to suppress the shudder so he doesn't see. She looked towards him and saw him gazing at her with his bright green eyes. Though he looked surprised, he held his gaze and stared right into her sapphire blue eyes. Time seem to have malfunctioned at the point when they started to touch as it felt like a really long time. She saw reluctance in his eyes as he pulled his hand away before turning his attention to the oven to their left.

"I'll check on the brownies to see if they are cooked." He said.

"Why didn't I pull away before he did? I bet I must look like an idiot…" She thought with a small frown on her face. Kai took out the brownies from the oven since it was ready. Now, all that was left was to cool it down a little before serving. There was about 30 minutes left on the timer.

"Now, with only 30 minutes left on the timer, the pairs should be doing some final preparation on their baked products by now." The emcee started commenting again.

"Oh yes, I can smell the delicious aroma from here. I'm very excited and my heart is going doki doki!" Doctor O twirled around on stage again.

The crowd in the stadium all cheered on the couples in agreement. The teams were busy doing final touches. Ren and Asaka were putting frosting on their cupcakes. Koutei and Yuri were adding some rainbow sprinkles to their cookies. Kai was cutting up the now cool brownies into squares while Misaki added some sugar to on top to make it look prettier. That was when the buzzer sounded again. All the teams looked up to the timer which says 15 minutes, in confusion.

"That buzzer means that the couples have to do what's on the card again but this time, the girls have to give guys what they were given just now. So that means Usui would have to hug Koutei, she will be the hugger and he will be the hugee. Asaka would give Suzugamori… I think that doesn't matter because it's the same. And finally, Tokura has to give Kai a kiss on the cheek." The emcee announced.

Misaki's eyes widened.

This. Cannot. Be. Happening.

Her face turned colorless and in an instant turned red.

No. Way. This. Is. Not. Happening.

The couples all around were doing as their cards were told and the crowd was cheering again. Kai was standing next to her with furrowed eyebrows as he looked around.

I. Am. Not. Kissing. Kai Toshiki.

"Participant Tokura seems to be a little shocked with the news. So much so that she is unable to move. Oh my…" Doctor O commented.

"Oh dear, but rules are rules and she has to do it or else they'll be disqualified." The emcee remarked.

"Disqualified? What? That's kind of unfair!" Misaki was contemplating with herself.

"Kiss him, kiss him." The crowd started chanting.

"Oh, the crowd is supporting you, participant Tokura." The emcee said with a huge smile on his face.

"I…" Misaki started. Her face would rival a tomato in color.

"Are you really that uncomfortable with kissing people? Or is it just because you have to kiss me and that makes you uncomfortable?" Kai asked with his arms crossed on his chest. It may seem that he meant no harm but something about the way he said this rubbed her the wrong way.

"Argh! Fine! I'll do it!"

Slowly, she stood on tip toe so she could reach the person who wasn't trying to help at all. He was slightly taller than her and for her to reach his cheek, she didn't have a choice. She closed her eyes, hoping that it would help minimize her embarrassment. She couldn't really stabilize herself since she was standing awkwardly. But she tried her best. She, however, slipped on flour residue and fallen into the arms of the one person she had to kiss: Kai Toshiki.

Everything happened so fast. There was a loud clatter noise. The sound of the crowd chanting seems to have stopped. She felt something on her lips. Quickly, her eyelids fluttered open. She was staring right into the green eyes of Kai. Looking down, she saw that her lips were on his. She pulled away as fast as she could and noticed that his body was arched over the workstation and the spot where the brownies were left was empty.

"Oh no…" She muttered to herself, hands over her mouth as she looked to the broken pieces of brownies splattered on the ground after bending over the workstation.

End of Chapter 4

A/N: Alright guys, sorry this took me a while. It's not cool that the fic that is supposed to be a Valentine's day fic ended up still ongoing until now. Well, just so you know, I'm trying my best. I actually had a block for all my Kai and Misaki fics which are still ongoing. This includes "Don't Leave", "Meet the Family" and this particular fic. However, I'll try to finish this off as soon as I can. I only managed to unblock myself because I was procrastinating anyway. I have my finals actually and it appears so magically that I am able to write this chapter during this particular time. It seems like I kinda found the path I want to take and I shall venture into it. Ok so tell me what you think of this chapter please…