Chapter 17

Smile at strangers and you just might change a life.

"Akihiko-san, where are you!?"

Misaki just now had experienced the dread of the unwanted catastrophe. He was lost! He and the silver-waned man went out for a tour around the New York City earlier; both of them were altogether until masses of citizens crowding the city set them apart.

He panicked that he hysterically ran while looking around, hoping that Akihiko is in sight or else he would stuck here forever. He rushed as far his legs could carry him until...

BAM.

"Hey, watch were you're going," said the stranger whom Misaki had just ran into.

"Sorry," the brunette bashfully apologized.

As Misaki looked up, his eyes began to inspect the every properties of the stranger face. He had a mix of Asian and European look as he has jet-black hair, crystal-blue eyes and incredibly fair skin.

The stranger kindly offered a hand to help Misaki to get up. "You're not from here, right?"

"He's huge!" remarked Misaki as he took the stranger's hand and stood up; his height was on par with the stranger's shoulders.

"Umm... Yeah, I'm a tourist here from Japan..."

"Heh~ You're a Japanese? Me too, but only by half. So what's your name?"

Without any insecurity to the stranger, Misaki introduced himself. "I'm Takahashi. Takahashi Misaki."

Upon knowing the brunette's name, the stranger covered his mouth with one hand and snickered, trying to hold his laugh.

"What so funny?" questioned Misaki, feeling slightly offended.

"You have a female name, so no wonder you look like a girl! I was trying to be a gentleman earlier..." he said before breaking into a loud laugh.

"Shut up!" the brunette barked to him as his pride as a man lost once again like it usually did (thanks to Akihiko).

"Oh I'm sorry, don't be mad!" The stranger playfully ruffled Misaki's hair. "I'm Darren Hotsuma, by the way. So did you come here alone?"

"No, and you see... I'm actually had lost."

"Really?" Hotsuma's expression began to gloom. "Well there's cafe nearby, so why don't we just talk more about the details at there instead? This place is not suitable at all. I will take you to the police station later."

"Uhh, okay..."

...

"What!? You're 22 years old!?"

It's very difficult for Hotsuma to believe what he had just heard from Misaki who were sitting at the opposite of him at the same table.

"Yes Hotsuma-kun I may not look like an adult but I'm still one," Misaki slowly sucked on his iced lemon tea through a straw while narrowing his eyes in protest; he also couldn't believe that this guy in front of him were younger, he's 19 years old for crying out loud.

"But you look like you're 16 to me..." Hotsuma rubbed the back of his head slowly. "I didn't know that I was being rude to you, so I'm sorry..."

"It's fine, I don't really care about that!"

"So Takahashi-san, do you have a good time here?"

"Err... yeah." Misaki wished that Hotsuma will not ask what kind of activity that he had done while spending time in New York as Akihiko's real objective of bringing him here is to marry him. The brunette in fact is a very bad liar.

"Do you stay here, Hotsuma-kun?"

"No, I live far away from here. To think that now I'm supposed to have a date here with my girlfriend..."

"Eh!? Really!? Then I'm sorry for-...!" Misaki quickly stood to leave but Hotsuma raised a hand, gesturing him to stop.

"Oh it's okay, she's my ex now. Recently she just left me."

"Recently? Since when?"

"A few hours ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that... But why did she leave you?"

"She said that I'm so boring and there are a lot of guys who are richer and better-looking than me."

"What? She's awful!"

Hotsuma were surprised with the sudden maddened Misaki with the brunette's voice had increased in its tone.

Noticing the latter's reaction, Misaki steamed down with his face being on the table. "I'm sorry... As a stranger I shouldn't ask about your personal matters... I can't help but ask because it must be really hard for you... I'm so sorry!"

"No, don't apologize! I was just shocked because you just barely met me and you already cared about me that much..."

Hotsuma shifted his sitting position into a more proper way before he continued. "You know, I did my best in spite of everything for her. I took over three part time jobs just to buy her things that she wanted for every month."

"And then she just dumped you so easily like a rock? She's so selfish!"

"Hahaha... Don't blame her; it's my fault in the first place. I was so fazed with her beauty that I'm being too silly, unaware that she's merely didn't give a damn about me at all."

Misaki put his glass down that he had finished drinking. "Hotsuma-kun, don't be sad... It's not your fault for falling in love with her. So just forget about her! I'm sure that someday you will find someone else that is better than her. Your ex doesn't deserve having a kind-hearted person like you after all..."

Hotsuma widened his eyes, suddenly struck with bolt from the blue. He never suspected someone who he barely known would come up with such answer. "Why do you think that I'm kind?"

"Because you said that you were willing to do anything to her, even if it means sacrificing your energy and time. And to think that I'm just a stranger to you, but you're being friendly to me right now and you're treating me a drink..."

"You're the first one to say that to me."

"Eh!? Umm... I'm sorry, suddenly my mouth moved by itself! To tell you the truth, I never had a girlfriend before so I have no experience while dealing with them..." said Misaki modestly while looking down, as Akihiko is not a girl to begin with.

"Geez, how many times would you apologize in a day? Actually that's a compliment," Hotsuma lifted Misaki's chin upwards with one hand, their eyes confronted each other.

"Takahashi-san, may I ask you a favour?"

"What is it?"

"Would you go out with me in place of my ex-girlfriend before going to the police station? To think that I have a lot of things planned for our date so I really wanted today to be one of the happiest days of my life, but..."

"If that could repay you for helping me later, okay then! But please make it not consuming too much time or else he will be worried..."

"HE? Who is this 'he' that you're talking about?"

"Ahh... He's...!" For some reason Misaki had a phobia for this type of question other than asking what kind of relationship he had with Akihiko. "My landlord! He's travelling with me!"

"I see..." Luckily Hotsuma was showing a normal expression on his face, without any precursor of suspicion or doubt. "What's his name?"

"Usami Akihiko."

"What!? That famous author!? You can't be serious!"

"Hotsuma-kun, you know him?"

"Of course I know! Some of his works are popular here too and I'm proudly a fan of his, you know." Hotsuma grinned. "Well can I have an autograph of him later? After our 'date' of course!"

"Sure..."

...

Misaki felt so over the moon while spending time with Hotsuma as the latter showed him around New York and several interesting places. At some points he had a dilemma whether he should go back to Akihiko or avoid him, he had some mixed feelings upon meeting him.

"Thanks for today, Hotsuma-kun! I had so much fun!"

"Yeah... So much fun with you that I felt like I want to kidnap you after this."

Misaki was unaware with Hotsuma's suspicious prose so he took it as a joke. "Haha, I know right? I hope we could meet again in the future, I will definitely miss you too..."

"Don't say that, I'm starting to feel sad here."

"No need to worry. We can exchange our phone numbers later," The brunette turned away from the black-haired guy. "So now I need to – "

Before he could continue his words a rag was shoved into Misaki's mouth out of the blue, then he smelled something sweet from the rag and everything went dark.

...

Misaki opened his eyes to find himself alone in a place with furniture around him; apparently he was in the living room of a house. Fortunately it was a clean and tidy place despite the furnishings were cheap-looking.

Things were getting horrific as he made a discovery of himself being strapped to the chair by ropes; his hands being tied to his back and his legs were securely bind altogether with the chair legs. He was unable to neither talk nor scream as his mouth was sealed with a sheet of duct tape.

"You're awakened?"

Misaki immediately reacted to the voice by turning his head to its source as it definitely belongs to his captor. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Ho-... Hotsuma-kun?!"

"Takahashi-san...You're so stupid yet so cute... You thought that I'm joking earlier." He crept closer to his hostage and bent himself down. "Now I have found a better love interest than my ex-girlfriend."

Hotsuma cupped Misaki's face in his hands and planted gentle kisses on each portion of the brunette's face – his forehead, his eyelids, his cheeks and lastly on his taped mouth.

"Please excuse me..." said Hotsuma as his hands slowly pulled the zipper of Misaki's pants down. Being sentient of what Hotsuma will do to him, Misaki swiftly shook his head to disallow him from proceeding.

"Aww, please don't be shy..." Hotsuma put his hand inside Misaki's pants and started groping.

"MMPHH!" Misaki screamed through his nose as he responded to feel of his cock being played by Hotsuma's hand in disgust, as Hotsuma's touches were nothing compared to Akihiko's touches.

"Well then," Hotsuma stood up, he unbuttoned his shirt and took it off.

"Let's have some more fun again, shall we?"

~Omake~

Sasaki Naoto: Uh-oh, Misaki had been kidnapped! I wonder who will rescue him...

A) The police will rescue Misaki.

B) Hotsuma's parents will rescue Misaki.

C) Misaki will rescue himself by escaping.

D) No one D:

Shinobu: You're not going to include them all this time, right? I mean, obviously this time it's impossible to do the same once again.

Nowaki: And I bet the readers will avoid D just like in the reviews for chapter 5.

Sasaki Naoto: Hahahaha, I wonder... Nevertheless, pay attention to this omake, dear readers! Prepare yourself to read next chapter which is the last chapter of the New York arc!

Hiroki, Nowaki, Miyagi, Shinobu: Why?

Sasaki Naoto: Not only that it holds the answer for the question above, but it also will show you more surprises... Just wait for it! Muahahahahahaha...