Chapter 12

I was sitting on my bed looking over some music sheets that our instructor had given us. When the smallest knock was heard from my door I called for the stranger to come in. I looked over and saw Haru open up my door and walk into my room.

"What're you doing here?" I asked him as I placed my sheets off to the side. I turned around, with my legs dangling off the side of the bed, so I could face him.

"I saw Kisumi today."

"Really? How is he? Is he doing well?" Kisumi was an old friend of ours. After middle school we never saw him again, so it was nice that Haru got to see him recently.

"He said that Yamazaki has a shoulder injury." I felt my face turn into complete confusion as I stared at my boyfriend.

"What?"

"He saw him at the hospital and apparently his shoulder was injured. Did you know anything about this?" I completely ignored Haru's question as I got up and shot past him. As I got to my front door I began to slide my shoes on, but I felt someone grab my hand before I ran out the door.

"I'm going to go see what's going on." I turned around to see Haru staring at me.

"Kei, wait-"

"What for? Do you want to come with me?"

"No."

"Then what is it, Haru?" As I waited for an answer Haru continued to stare at me. He wouldn't say or do anything and at that very moment that's not what I needed.

"Nothing." He answered as he looked away from me.

"Then I'll talk to you later." I stated as I turned around, pull my hand free of his, and walked right out of my house.

My foot tapped on the foyer floor as I waited for the elevator to signal for Sosuke's arrival. When the familiar ding sound rang I looked at the elevator and Sosuke walked out of the elevator doors.

"Kei, what a nice sur-"

"Don't 'Kei' me, you little faker." I growled as he looked at me. As he raised an eyebrow at me he began to talk cautiously.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong with me, but there's something wrong with you!"

"Maybe you shouldn't get upset in the middle of the foyer."

"Why not? Do you not want anyone else to hear about your shoulder?" I asked him, but it was then that I saw Sosuke's appearance change. He grabbed my hand and began to drag me out of the foyer. "What are you doing?"

"We're going to go talk, but not here." He instructed.

"First of all, you can't go running into the building yelling the building down and secondly, I didn't tell you about my shoulder because I knew you'd react like this." Those were the first words Sosuke said to me as he pushed me into the pool house.

"I didn't start yelling in the building, my voice just raised itself a little bit and that's no excuse! You should've told me from the start." I huffed as I stomped my foot on the ground and clenched my fists.

"How'd you find out?" He asked me.

"Haru."

"Haru? How did he find out?"

"Kisumi. He ran into him the other day or something and Kisumi told him that he saw you at the hospital."

"Damn Kisumi, he never did know when to keep his mouth shut."

"This is not Kisumi's fault, this is your fault, so you better start talking before I push your face into the wall." I threatened one of my closest friends. He sighed as he began to tell me how he hurt his shoulder.

"It was two years ago when I hurt my shoulder. I hurt it from overtraining."

"Two years ago? Then…wait…what about university? What about the scouts?"

"I lied. I'm sorry."

"You lied to me?"

"I know how much you hate lying after-"

"No!" I yelled at him. Sosuke stopped talking as he looked at me. My head hung low as I continued to think of how much pain Sosuke was in and how he didn't tell me anything. I could've helped him. I would've been there for him. "Why did you over train it? How could you be so reckless?"

"I needed to become faster. I needed to be the fastest swimmer."

"And now look! Now look what's happened because of that!" My head shot up as I yelled.

"You think I don't know that?" He yelled at me. "But that's all that was in my mind. I just needed to get faster, so I could swim on an international level! Do you think that if I knew this was going to happen to my shoulder that I would over train as much as I did?" He took a few staggering breaths to calm himself down before he continued. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but I didn't know how to. I was probably going to tell you after Regionals if we didn't make it to Nationals."

"You should've told me from the beginning." I mumbled. Sosuke reached out and placed both of his hands on my shoulders.

"I know and I'm sorry I didn't. I didn't lie to you…I just withheld the truth." My hands raised and I covered my face. I felt Sosuke wrap his arms around me as he held me against his chest. "Sometimes people lie to protect those around them, Kei." Sosuke whispered. My hands came down from my face as I wrapped my arms around him.

"But he still left me."

"I know, but you have to understand that, sometimes people lie to not hurt that person."

"I know."

"Do you forgive me?" I looked up at him. As his teal eyes met mine I felt the familiar feeling of a friend in front of me. Someone who I could always run to when I was upset or someone to bring me back to reality every once in a while.

"Always." I smiled at him as I pushed my face back into his chest.

"Kei?" I looked up and noticed how dangerously close my face was to Sosuke's. His eyes were such a magnificent colour that any girl could get lost in. "I only want the best for you." His right hand reached for my cheek. He moved a strand of my hair behind my ear as he cupped my cheek. "You know that, right?"

"Of course."

"Then…why Haru?"

"Huh?"

"You deserve so much in life. Is he going to give that to you?"

"We're still young, Sosuke. I don't want to think about that right now." I answered. "Where's all this coming from, Sosuke?" I waited for him to answer my question, but he continued to look at me. I felt like he was looking at my whole being and I waited patiently for him to say whatever was on his mind. He only gave me a small smile before answering my question.

"I just want him to treat you the way you deserve to be treated, Kei."

"He does, Sosuke. He makes me incredibly happy." Sosuke placed my face in his chest again as he hugged me a little tighter. I felt him place a soft kiss on the top of my head and I didn't say a word. This was a moment where I knew I shouldn't say anything, but I just needed to hold him. I needed him to know that I was there for him.

"He doesn't know how lucky he is. He really doesn't." Sosuke mumbled against my hair, but I just tightened my grip on him.

He needed to know I was there.

He needed to know that I care.

Not much Haru and Kei in this one, but more of a Sosuke and Kei one. What do you think? I wonder who made her hate lying so much? Leave me a review with your thoughts!

-xoxo