Chapter 10: What are you not asking?
Sayaka never thought of herself as a spoiled brat. Growing up, she was given all the things she would ever need or want. But she never demands or begs to be given anything. Not that she would need to demand or beg. It's just that she never did. But right now, as she watches Touko try to convince Yuu to agree to the stage show, she is discovering what it feels like to be a brat. Her friend touched Yuu on the shoulders and shook her gently. At this, she stands up.
"Yuu, help me put these back in the file room." Motioning the bulky folders, they sorted earlier.
"Sure, Sayaka-senpai."
"You guys are in first name basis now?" Doujima said.
"Yeah, we had gotten really close over the weekend."
"Over the weekend?"
She ignored the remark and walked towards the file room with the heavy folders. Yuu follows suit. Sayaka is putting one folder back where it belongs.
"Are you alright, Sayaka-se…" Yuu receives a glare. "Did I do something wrong."
"You didn't, or maybe. I don't know."
"Please tell me what's bothering you."
"We will speak later. You are going to my house, right?"
"Yeah, your father wants to meet me and has invited me to dinner."
"Alright," Sayaka said, going back to the main room.
The student council was done for the day. The two boys left in a hurry. Yuu waved goodbye. She received a text from Akari earlier, asking for a quick meet-up after club activities. The second years was left behind as they locked up the room.
"Sayaka, is there something going on with you and Yuu?" Touko asks as Sayaka gives her the key.
"Why are you asking?"
"Earlier, you said that you got closed over the weekend. Even calling her by her first name. It took you months before calling me by my first name."
Sayaka didn't reply.
"Are you hiding something?"
"You are hiding something from me too."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I can't talk about this now. My father wants me home early today."
The second-year students separated at the school gate. Yuu came running as Sayaka fished for the phone in her pocket.
"Sayaka, did you wait too long?" Yuu asks as she gasps for air, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"I just got here. You didn't need to rush like that."
"I don't want to upset you further."
"I was not upset."
"But you glared at me."
"Come, my father is waiting for us." Sayaka said and began to walk.
"Can you at least tell me what's wrong?"
She was ignored as they advanced towards the parking lot near the train station.
When they were inside the car. Sayaka leans in to take the seatbelt from Yuu's side. But her effort was hindered by the younger girl.
"Please Sayaka. I don't like this."
"Can I kiss you?"
"Huh?"
"Please"
"You can kiss me anytime you want."
"Then let me put your seatbelt on so I can start."
The latch clicks in, and then Sayaka captures Yuu's face with both hands and kisses her deeply. It was a little rough, as Sayaka added some biting on Yuu's lower lip. Then proceed to undo the yellow ribbon to kiss her neck, find the bruised part on her shoulder, and bite down on it again.
"Aw, Sayaka"
"You told me you belonged to me, right?"
"I did and I am. What is happening to you?"
"I don't like it when Touko touches you." She confessed.
"You're jealous? That's it?" She didn't receive a reply. "Geez, will you bite me every time this happens?" Yuu inquires as she tries to massage her shoulder.
"You will let her touch you again?"
"I can't control how she acts."
"Like you let her kiss you the first time?"
"How did…"
"While you were drunk. You told me your first kiss was stolen by my friend."
"Yes, it was her. Sayaka, I will never let her kiss me again." Yuu said as she held her senpai's hand. "I promise."
"Kiss me"
"I can't do that if you are this upset. Can you look at me, please?" Finally, the green eyes meet the brown ones. "I belong to you. I have eyes only for you. I adore and admire you. You've got nothing to be jealous about. You are the one I love."
Sayaka moves to hug her, and Yuu is only too willing to reciprocate. Rubbing the taller girl's back.
"I am sorry. I am such a mess. I don't understand why I am feeling this way."
"No worries. I just need to show you that you can trust me. I will be patient in times like this."
Sayaka pulled away to face her. "You're the one who will adjust for me."
"It's not about adjusting. It's about building trust."
"But I am acting unreasonably."
"Everyone has their hang-ups, remember?" Yuu said as she tucked Sayaka's hair to the back of her ear.
"What have I ever done right to deserve you?"
"You played the piano, and the rest is history." She chuckled.
"Did I ever tell you that you cannot attend classical concerts?"
Yuu smiled. "You did"
"And avoid going to any musical events and avoid musicians."
"Ahahahaha, I will."
"Come here," the kisses that came were nothing like the first one that day. They were sweet, tender, and full of yearning.
"Feel better?"
"Much"
The two arrive at the Saeki estate. When Yuu got out of the car, she found herself in the middle of an enormous courtyard. In front of her is a two-story white mansion with a glass façade. The door to the house is open, and a middle-aged man with an excited smile on his face is waiting to welcome them. Sayaka led Yuu to the door, still holding her hand, which she refused to let go of for the entire journey home.
"My sweetheart is back." Greeted the man. He has green eyes and light brown hair, like his child.
"I am back home."
"And this must be the esteemed Yuu-chan."
"Yuu, this is my father, Takeshi."
Yuu tries to free her hand from Sayaka to do a proper greeting but was denied. She bowed deeply. "Good afternoon, Saeki-sama. Sorry for the intrusion."
"Ah, don't call me that, Yuu-chan, and it's no intrusion. You were invited. I am delighted to finally meet you. Please call me dad."
"Dad!" protested the daughter.
"Hmmmn, yeah, she must call her father like that. How about Papa?"
"You're embarrassing me."
"We can settle on that later. Come inside, you charming little girl."
Yuu turned scarlet, and the lanky girl burst out laughing.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"She doesn't like being called little."
"Oh, a thousand apologies, Yuu-chan. You are so adorable. I just said it without thinking. It is meant as a compliment, not an insult." Yuu can't seem to find her voice. She wanted to say that she was not insulted but was blushing because it's Sayaka's favorite tease.
"I will show her my room. You can fawn on her later."
Sayaka led her friend to the second floor and turned to the left. The glass wall at the end of the hallway shows the sun laying low on the horizon. She opens a door to an opulent chamber. It is much bigger than the suite they had at the hotel. The heiress has her own bathroom. A walk-in closet. A sitting area. A study area with a ceiling-to-floor bookshelf by the wall with a built-in movable red ladder. A cozy oversized half-moon reading chair with a floor lamp and table by the glass window, and, of course, her colossal bed in the middle of it all. None of it was explored, as after Sayaka closed the door, Yuu was held on the wall beside it.
"You told me I could kiss you anytime I wanted." She said dropping her bag on the floor.
"I did"
"Still stands?" She took Yuu's bag and dropped it as well.
"Always"
Her lips were captured in an instant. Much longing, much frustration, and much wanting. Yuu remembers that Sayaka said that she liked intimate kisses. They kissed inside the car earlier, but they are fully aware that they have a driver, divider or not. And the few days that they were back in school, they never had an opportunity to kiss. After student council, Yuu goes home immediately to help at the bookstore. While Sayaka had the crazy notion of buying the store so Yuu could spend more time with her, even she knows that's excessive, and Yuu would definitely reject that and think she's insane. She was then grateful that her father invited Yuu to dinner. Thus, this kiss.
When the tall girl finally let go of her lips in favor of her jawline and her neck. "What are you not asking?" Sayaka froze.
"I am not asking for anything."
"Not with words."
The green-eyed girl goes to the couch and sits down defeatedly.
"What is it?" Yuu asked as she sits beside her.
"I can't ask it."
"Why not?"
"I just can't"
"Is it something I can do for you?"
"I am not telling."
"Then how can I help you?"
"You are making it harder. Stop being so adorable."
"That will help you?"
"Stop fishing for information."
"I think I have an idea what it is. But I don't want to be presumptuous." Sayaka started to panic, but Yuu changed the subject. "Wow, you have lots of books." The little girl walks towards the mini library. Thankful for the alteration, the brunette trails behind and explains the collection. "Oh, you also have English and Italian books."
"Yeah, they helped me become fluent in those languages. I have the Japanese counterparts and compare them. It is fun to dissect different forms of the grammar when translated from one language to another."
"Can you read me something in Italian?"
"Oh, let's see... I know I have a book by Giacomo Leopardi. He is a famous Italian poet. Ah, found it." She browsed through the pages of a maroon-covered book and found a poem with a bookmark in it. Then goes to her immaculately white reading chair. "Come," she gestured for Yuu to sit beside her. The little girl obeys and leans on some comfortable throw pillows. Sayaka then draped an arm over Yuu's shoulder, and the other reciprocated by taking the slender hand with both of hers as the older one began to read Il Primo Amore.
Yuu can only marvel as she listens to the melodic words. Sayaka took measures to pronounce each word with feelings. The little girl follows along with her eyes, though she can't understand it. After the fifth verse, the brunette stops. "Want me to continue?" An eager nod was the response. After seven more minutes, the poem concluded.
"Wow I can't believe such beautiful words exist. They sound so musical."
"Yeah, Italian is a very romantic language."
"What did you read about?" Yuu asks enthusiastically, wanting to know the meaning behind such tuneful prose.
"Ah, the title is First Love. It is one of my favorite Leopardi poems." The brown-eyed girl's face saddens for a split second, then she asks the senpai to explain the poem more. Sayaka noticed the quick change but complied. "It was about the wonder, the joy, the appreciation, the excitement, the distractions, the pain, and the anguish of first love, and how most of the time it doesn't work."
"Most of the time." Yuu said quietly. "Did you think about your first love when you read it?"
Sayaka ponders for a bit. "I encountered this book last summer. When we visited Italy. An old man from a bookstore there told me about it. Yeah, I met my first love before that time."
"Didn't you say you had a girlfriend in middle school?"
"Yeah, but I was so young, I don't know if that was love."
"So, you met your first love in your first year of high school?"
"Yeah, I think."
"You think?"
"I thought that was love. I was convinced it was love for the better part of the year. I thought I could do everything for that one person. But now it feels like it was just a silly obsession."
"Why?"
"Because I think I am beginning to understand what real love is. Not entirely. I still can't grasp it, but I see evidence of it."
"Evidence?"
Sayaka laid the book on the table beside the chair, encompassed Yuu in her arms, and kissed her cheek. "I am still learning. Just an hour ago I realized I am childish when it comes to things I care about." She caresses the bitemark on her friend's shoulder. "Your patience and understanding are the evidence I am talking about."
"If you are trying to seduce me, you could do a better job." Yuu declared.
"I may still be learning, but I know numerous ways to make you want me." She smirks.
"I already want you so bad."
Multiple images flashed through Sayaka's brain. All of them were rejected. "Want to go to the music room? So, I can finally deliver a promise?"
"Yeah, zero seduction there." Yuu replied sarcastically. They both stood up.
"Wait, I want to change into house clothes. This uniform is too restricting."
"Please don't show too much skin, or I'll jump you."
"You shouldn't proclaim words like that so casually." Sayaka said as she tilted Yuu's chin upward.
"Don't worry, I only talk like this with you." Her breath danced on her senpai's face.
"Arggh… Stop with the seduction."
"You first"
Sayaka pecked her on the lips swiftly, let go, and turned around to go to her closet. 'I can't, I can't, I can't do that with her yet!' She rummages through her casual clothes and chooses an oversize, starchy white dress shirt and some fitted jeans, obeying the request not to show too much skin. When she emerged, Yuu was looking outside through the glass wall. She hugs her from behind.
"Mmmm…" Yuu turned her head a little to look back at her and saw what she was wearing. "How come you are wearing a long-sleeve shirt and jeans and still look so sexy?"
"Didn't we agree to stop seducing each other?" Sayaka said as she buried her face in Yuu's neck.
"I am not seducing. Just stating facts."
"Like you don't flirt."
"Exactly."
"Shall we go?"
"Let's"
The two arrive in the music room. Couches on one side of the room and musical instruments on the other. Mounted low on the wall, like it was floating, is a white boxy cabinet with piles of vinyl records, and on top is a modern-looking vinyl player. Everything in the room is meant for relaxation. The light is mild, and the decorations are simple. The grand piano is located near the glass wall.
Sayaka led her to the grand piano. "You can sit beside me."
"I don't want to be in the way." Yuu said and decided to take a nearby ottoman and place it where she could have a full view of Sayaka's every movement.
"You will ogle at me, aren't you?"
"If you have to ask."
"Fine. What song do you like?" Sayaka inquired as she sat down on the bench and opened the fall board.
"I don't really know any classical songs. Just play what you like."
"Hmmn, what about this?" Sayaka began playing Pachelbel's Canon. She would gaze at her kōhai from time to time at the beginning. When the song got complicated, she focused on doing the song justice. When she finished, Yuu's eyes displayed adulation and desire. "That's one."
"Senpai…"
"Is that the word I will always hear whenever I finish playing a song with you?"
"Can I kiss you?"
"Not yet. I have two more songs to give. This next one is something I recently learned. It is called Nuvole Bianche (White Clouds) by Ludovico Einaudi, and it makes me think about you. I hope you will like it. Wait, let me get the sheets. I haven't memorized it yet." Yuu followed her every move as she took the sheets from a cabinet and placed them on the music rack. She starts playing while reading the sheets. She needed to concentrate as this song, though less complicated than Canon, expresses the ebb and flow of a peaceful yet erratic emotion.
As she played the song, she was reminded of that stormy night when they first kissed. The shyness, uncertainty, dipping of toes, testing the water, then finding courage, taking the plunge, exploring, and discovering hidden feelings, then finding joy and acceptance. The peace that comes with the knowledge that she's not alone anymore. The song encapsulates a myriad of blissful emotions. Sayaka hopes that she can translate all those sentiments as she plays the song for this one person, who she knows loves her. And want to thank her without using words.
When the song concluded, she looked up at her sole audience. To her surprise, Yuu walked towards her and captured her face with both hands, tilting it upward. Her eyes are piercing, hungry, then she bends down and kisses her full in the mouth. It was the first kiss Yuu gave her without asking permission. She welcomed it, hugging Yuu's waist as she kissed back. It was intense and passionate. For a second, Sayaka thinks that the world ceases to exist as she gets lost in Yuu's unrelenting onslaught of deepening kisses. She was the one to break the kiss as air became a necessity again.
"Yuu" she pants.
"I love you, Sayaka." Yuu proclaimed and hugged her tightly. "You are so brilliant. I am so in love with you."
"Yeah, definitely no going to classical concerts for you." Sayaka pulled her friend onto her lap. "There are countless talented musicians out there who could replace me in a heartbeat." Yuu only shook her head in reply and hugged her tighter.
There was a knock on the door. Yuu tried to get out of her lap, but Sayaka didn't let go.
"Ah, there are the lovebirds. Come, let's eat. Stop hogging Yuu-chan. I am the one who invited her here."
"She's mine, though."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, she told me she belonged to me."
Yuu's face could not be any redder. And tried to escape the lanky girl's grip again.
"Is that right? Can you share?"
"No can do."
"Well, you girls still need to eat dinner. Come before it's cold."
"We'll be down in a bit."
Takeshi was smiling as he disappeared from the doorway.
"Sayaka…" Yuu complained.
"What?" Sayaka said as she started to kiss Yuu's neck.
"Why did you tell him that?"
"Lying is not tolerated in this house." Now kissing below the jawline.
"He doesn't need to know that."
"Honey, the moment you step inside the corporate building, he already knows."
"Huh?"
"Why do you think he invited you to go to the trip with me?" Now kissing the side of Yuu's face.
"I don't understand."
"If you think I am brilliant, my father is way more gifted than me." Sayaka said this while grazing Yuu's lips. "He knows before I know. And I am so thankful that he is my father." One last kiss, and she let go. "Alright, let's go down." She said taking Yuu's hand.
They reach the dining room. The married couple was already seated. Takeshi was telling his wife a story with animation. Doing voices and reenacting things with the movement of his arms. When he noticed them, the wife followed his gaze, saw the two girls, and eyed their linked hands. Yuu tried to free her hand, but Sayaka had a firm grip on it.
"You finally graced us with your presence." Takeshi greeted with a huge smile. Yuu bowed deeply in his direction and to the mother, who returned her greeting with a small nod.
"So, this is the kōhai who helped you over the weekend."
Yuu is feeling very anxious. The woman exudes eminence and authority.
"She has a name, mother." Sayaka said with controlled conviction. Yuu tried to free her hand in vain.
"Well, we haven't been introduced." The woman said coldly. The first year looks at the floor and moves closer to Sayaka, trying to occupy as little space as possible. She felt a squeeze from her senpai.
"Yuu, meet my mother, Yume."
"A pleasure to meet you, Saeki-sama." She bowed deeply and heard a chair move.
"Don't call me that!" Yume complained. She's standing up, leaning forward with her hands on the table.
Yuu trembled visibly.
"Darling, stop already, you are frightening the girl."
"But no one calls me that in this household. Especially someone who's making my daughter happy."
'Heh?!'
There was a chorus of gleeful laughter. When Yuu looks up, Sayaka is covering her mouth with her free hand, laughing heartily like her father and the mother is smiling fondly at Yuu.
"Come sit down, Yuu-chan. Thank you for joining us tonight."
"You must forgive us, Yuu-chan." Takeshi said holding his stomach and wiping tears at the corner of his eyes. "My lovely daughter wanted to tease you and we couldn't resist."
Yuu was glaring angrily at Sayaka and tried her best to free her hand. But she was pulled into a loving embrace and a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry honey. You are such a joy to tease."
"Stop standing there. Let's eat I am famished." Takeshi declared eyeing the food.
The rest of the dinner was spent in laughers, shy remarks from the guest and a competition on who did better at the team dinner.
"She is so great. She was able to give the guys master tips on how to play the game."
"How about you, knowing each one of their hobbies and making them blush."
The banter continues, and the old couple listens contently, being entertained by the duo and observing how much their daughter's countenance has changed in just one weekend. Happy that they let their child express herself freely and find her at her happiest. The girls' chairs are very close to each other. Sayaka is offering everything and making the little girl eat more.
When dinner was over, they moved to the living room. The father is sitting on a comfortable, oversized armchair. The mother beside him on a smaller one was talking to her husband about business. While the two girls are on a couch. Sayaka has an arm around Yuu's shoulder and is holding her hand with the other, facing her friend as she tells a story about a cat she had when she was little. Tea was served, and the couples enjoyed each other's company.
Yuu's phone buzzed on her pocket. It was nine in the evening and her mother is asking if she has plans to go home.
"Jin-san will drive you home, Yuu-chan." Takeshi announced.
"Can I come?"
"You should, sweet pea, or you are not my daughter."
"Thanks for a lovely dinner." Yuu bowed deeply.
"The pleasure is ours." Yume replied.
"You are welcome anytime, my dear girl."
The parents wave goodbye at the door as the pair enter the car. As always, Sayaka key in the latch of the seatbelt.
"Your father has many nicknames for you."
"He does. I am thankful he doesn't use 'honey'."
"Why?"
"Because that's what I will call you from now on. Unless we are around other people. And it fits since your eyes is the definition of melted honey."
"Who is upping their flirting?"
"Not flirting, just stating facts." She winks, captures her friend's face, and kisses her before she can respond.
They spend most of the ride kissing.
"I don't think I can survive a day without kissing you."
"Play me a song everyday and you will have it in spades."
"Then come live at my house. My parents will happily adopt you."
"Then we will be siblings."
"Ah, never mind then." The lanky girl leans closer and whispers slowly, "I have things I wanted to do to you that siblings don't do."
Yuu blushed in full force and Sayaka laugh out loud.
Finally, an answer.
