25: Soulmates Part 5

Haru's heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute as her plane finally came to a complete stop on the landing strip. She closed the book she hadn't been able to read and slipped it into her carry-on bag as she tried not to panic.

Sure, it was easy enough to say, 'well, if Mom says I can come visit, I can.' But the situation wasn't a 'someday' anymore. It was today. No matter how things turned from here, she would know everything about Baron within mere hours instead of weeks.

Haru was so preoccupied with her worries that she accidentally waited a bit too long to enter the aisle to exit the plane. Not that it terribly mattered that she was now the last person, but… it was impossible not to worry.

"Are you feeling all right, Miss?" the flight attendant asked with concern, but she only flashed a tired smile at him.

"Just a case of nerves. Thank you for being worried," the teenager added gratefully before she took in a cleansing breath and focused on not tripping on the stairs leading down from the plane.

It was raining slightly with a soft grey overcast of clouds. Haru found it refreshing, but still pulled the hood over her hair in case the rain got worse.

… Had it really only been two months since doodling on her arm? She smiled down at the message that was partially concealed by her long jacket sleeve.

Work is holding me up, I'm afraid. Renaldo will remind you of an oversized teddy bear, but please don't tell him I gave that description.

As you wish.

Haru had to admit that she was feeling a bit giddy on using one of his snarky lines against him. It was easy for him to stay two steps ahead of her, so she was willing to take every little victory she could.

Thankfully, 'oversized teddy bear' was the only description she needed when she entered the terminal.

Renaldo was easily two heads over the majority of the other people wandering around him like the sea around an outcropping rock. He was wider than most, too, but Haru firmly decided to keep that to herself. He was wearing a fairly standard business suit, with the only distinctive mark being a small black pin on his lapel, glossy in the weak light of the terminal.

Haru confidently marched up to him and returned the giant smile he was giving her. "Nice to meet you, Renaldo."

"Nice to meet you too, Haru," he greeted warmly before shaking her hand. "Just about everyone back home can't wait to finally meet you."

Haru's stomach immediately clenched. "So, um… how many people know about…" she couldn't say it, not in front of all these strangers. A gesture to her marked arm got the point across anyway.

He gave a wicked smirk to that arm. "The people Baron loves best know. Everyone else suspects. Come along, let's get your luggage."

Haru nodded, still feeling ready to jump out of her skin with nerves as they strolled over to the right conveyor belt. She wanted to think of something else clever to say, but she could almost feel each individual blood cell racing through her body.

"You're not nervous, are you?" Renaldo asked slyly as he grabbed the duffel bag that Haru had started reaching for and slung it over his own shoulder like it weighed nothing at all.

"… Maybe?" Haru admitted a little shamefully, though keeping close to his side as he led her through the airport and out the doors.

He gave her another warm smile as he carelessly opened a plain black umbrella and held it over both of their heads. "If it makes you feel any better, Baron's worried senseless you won't like him in person."

That made her blink in surprise as they strolled through the parking lot. "Why wouldn't I? He's funny, smart, amazing, and if even half of what I hear about his grandma is true, she's going to have me wrapped around her finger with one sentence."

"Possibly less," he warned her with a wide grin, opening the passenger's side of a large truck for her, keeping the umbrella where Haru would get rained on the least.

Haru slipped in and buckled herself as he closed the door after her, keeping her carry-on on her lap. She couldn't help feeling a bit ashamed of herself as Renaldo quickly put her luggage in the back seat so he could buckle himself into the driver's seat. "I think what's more likely to happen is that I'll like him too much, and I won't be able to really talk to him in person."

"That's more along the lines he's worried about," Renaldo agreed, hesitating just a second before patting her shoulder. "Just remember he's the exact same guy you've been getting into book dissections with, okay? He's been thrilled to have someone with a different outlook to argue with."

"Discuss," Haru corrected with a nervous smile. "We've never actually had a fight."

Renaldo couldn't hold in a chuckle as he started the car and set the window wipers to work. "Baron couldn't have said it better himself. Relax. Everything will be just fine."

She gave him a warm smile, wanting to believe him. But some things were just a shade hard to shrug off.

The ride was mostly silent. Her large companion was focusing on the road and muttering dark things at the other drivers under his breath, and the teenage girl was twisting her fingers against each other in interesting shapes from nerves. She absently noted that instead of a logo, there was a black sphere on the dash in front of her, just like her new friend's pin.

'It's going to be fine. Renaldo still thinks Baron will like me. It's going to be fine. Mom was surprisingly understanding when I told her about the arm thing.' She couldn't resist cracking a smile, remembering when Baron answered her 'hi' right where her mother could see the word draw itself on her arm.

Even the sternest scoffer would have had a hard time explaining that away.

Of course, her thoughts kept wandering back to the 'why' and 'how' this phenomenon started. Baron had seemed as clueless as she, but things rarely started happening without a cause, even for normal things.

Before she realized it, she was gripping the words on her wrist with her other hand. Her lips couldn't resist curling into an ironic smile that she was taking comfort from Baron… in meeting Baron.

'Just calm down, already. He wouldn't have paid for my ticket if he thought I wouldn't be worth the trouble.'

Then she blinked in surprise as Renaldo turned into a park and slowed down to take the more winding path between the trees. "This looks a little too public for Baron's home."

"He told me to take you here," Renaldo assured her with a grin. "He's pretty certain that you'd prefer not to have a crowd of strangers around to witness your first greeting."

"That sweet angel of mercy," Haru couldn't resist whispering in relief. That had been the biggest reason she was secretly relieved when he wrote on their arms that a friend was picking her up from the airport.

Finally, Renaldo pulled into a small parking lot with only one other car in it. It was a lovely pearlescent car, and she could just make out the silhouette of one person in the driver's seat.

"I can do this. I can do this," Haru started whispering to herself as Renaldo's truck came to a complete stop, unable to stare at anything but the black circle on the dash in front of her.

"You can do this. You can do this," Renaldo assured her with a wide grin, gently reaching over to grab her hand from getting the door herself. Then he patted her shoulder, got out, and made a small run to her door to let her out.

Her hands were still shaking like leaves as she removed her carry-on strap from her shoulders and left it on her seat. For some reason, she didn't think it would be the right look for a first impression. If she hadn't spent the last hour of her flight alternating between a book she couldn't read and experimenting with how to wear her hair, she probably would have started fussing with it again, but tried to force her hands to stay still. A braided half-ponytail was just fine, and she didn't even have the time to pull it out, anyway.

Renaldo closed his truck door after Haru slid out, her legs still shaking a bit as she slowly approached the silver car. Renaldo followed her while keeping the umbrella over her head since it was still raining.

"Baron?" she called out nervously as she drew closer.

The driver's side opened, the one facing opposite of her before a grey umbrella opened up from that open side. Then…

Haru's jaw nearly fell completely off her face in shock and more than a little bit of terror as she stopped dead in her tracks.

The man that eased himself out to stand to a full height and give her a dazzling smile was no mere eight on her personal scale.

He was a twenty.