I sighted an empty booth in a corner near the window and made my way there. A waiter came over the instant my butt made contact with the seat. What shocked me was the fact that I recognized the waiter.
The guy raised a perfect brow, his face blank. "Yes. Me. Is there a problem?"
I gazed at the new guy with interest. His voice was deep, like the rumbling that comes before an avalanche. His dark hair was full and wavy, cold dark eyes staring down at me, thin lips pulled in a tight line. He was wearing a pair of black jeans, a red shirt that accentuated his firm muscles with an apron tied to his waist, and a red face cap that had the restaurant logo on it. He looked... good.
"Nope. No problem at all. Lighten up man" I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. No one had ever spoken to me with such a tone before.
The guy scoffed. "Lighten up? You're that jerk who bullied that girl yesterday along with your friends. I don't like people like you"
I frowned at the word jerk but then smiled as I recalled Hina’s face. "Yeah right. It was fun" I relaxed a bit in the chair.
"Fun?" The guy spat. "You call ruining her reputation fun?"
"Woah cool down man. It's no big deal" I chuckled. The guy had no idea why I was doing those things. And it seemed fun toying with him like this.
His face scrunched even more. Cold eyes glaring at me. For the first time in my life, I felt a bit of fear but it quickly left. This guy can't touch me. I'm Yamamoto Aito. I'm invincible.
"No big deal?"
I rolled my eyes. "What's with you and repeating my words?" He was getting on my nerves.
"You're an asshole Aito"
Okay. I was slowly getting mad. "Dude there's no need for name calling. What happened yesterday was none of your business. If you're so bothered about Hina, go console her or agree to be the father of her child or something. I'm here to eat. Will you take my order or not?"
He glared at me for a while then handed me a menu. Satisfied, I let out a small smile. I skimmed through the list of food and then pointed at a line.
"Pancakes with a cup of coffee. Black"
The guy took back the menu. I glanced at his name tag on the shirt. Ryu. His name's Ryu. The dragon huh.
Ryu quickly scribbled down the order and then left. I took out my phone to reply to the texts.
Yua
Hey. I’m still mad at you. We're still going shopping later.
Hey. Suck it up. Be there later.
Haruto
Yo Aito, party at 8 tonight. Sara’s again. Wanna go? We could gather some dirt on her next.
Sure man. Pick me up
Toshiro
Hey man! Wanna hang out today?
We’re going shopping with the girls
Sakura
Aito-kun. Yua said shopping by 12 pm
See you then.
Sara
Hey, sexy;) Party tonight. Bring booze.
Sure thing;)
Mum
Hey baby. How are you? I know we said we’ll be back by Sunday which is tomorrow but some problems came up in our branch in Africa. We’ll be gone for two weeks. I’ve sent more money to your account. If you need anything, call me. Love you.
Alright. Love you too.
A plate of steaming hot pancakes was placed in front of me and a cup of black coffee. I gazed up at Ryu, flashing him a smirk. Now that’s better than sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.
The next thing I felt was wet heat all over my lap. I shot up from the chair, hissing in pain. Ryu had poured the hot coffee all over me. "What the hell!"
"Oops," he said, acting as if it was an accident. "Ever heard of karma, Aito-kun?". His voice was sickly sweet and a corner of his lips was turned up making my smirk dissipate like smoke. He bent low, only stopping when our faces were a few inches apart. I could feel his hot minty breath tickling the tip of my nose.
"What you consider fun and no big deal will come back to bite you in the ass one day and it'll be so bad you'll wish you were dead. After all, your heart is already as black as your coffee. Enjoy your meal".
He winked then walked away.
What th-
I was stunned. I looked down at the meal before me and I suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore.
So bad I'll wish I was dead?
Huh.
It's too late for that now. I'm already constantly wishing for death.
********
Shopping is one of the things I actually enjoy. It helps keep my mind off things and I like walking around malls, seeing new styles and new faces.
"How does this look?" Yua asked. She walked out of the changing room wearing a white crop top and high-waisted jeans. They looked quite good on her but...
"Too much skin," I said, frowning. "Your entire arms are exposed and the neckline is too low. Why do you like wearing such revealing clothes?"
Yua rolled her eyes and Sakura facepalmed. "We should have never invited him"
"Don't listen to him Yua-chan. You look sexy" Toshiro said, wiggling his brows.
I scoffed. "You should get a jacket to go with that. You can have mine if you want"
Yua suddenly beamed. "Really?"
Weird but "Sure...". I took off my denim jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She was smiling throughout the process and even winked at Sakura. I had no idea what was going on but whatever. I didn't care. Yua is like a sister to me. Even though I hate her for what she did to Aera, I had to keep acting normal around her.
"Okay next is lingerie" Sakura announced.
Toshiro brightened like a lightbulb and I blanched.
"We uh, we're gonna go check out the video games section. Text us when you're done then we'll go grab lunch" I said, feeling uncomfortable as the image of Sakura and Yua in sexy lingerie blossomed in my mind. I shuddered. Gross. I don't see them in any way sexual.
"You and who? Talk for yourself man" Toshiro said to me. He turned to the girls with a wide smile on his face. I could see him almost getting a nosebleed. "Now let's go pick you girls some nice sexy lingerie. Sakura will look good in pink or white. Yua, you'll look better in black. Or maybe red"
Sakura shook her head. "Ugh Aito-kun please take him away before he pops a boner here"
"Pervert" Lisa snapped. "Why can't you be a gentleman like Aito-kun?"
"Pftttt!!! Aito? A gentleman?"
I whacked him on the head. "What's that supposed to mean baka!" I grabbed his collar and yanked him away. "See you two later!"
"Noooo! Wait! Wait! I wanna see them in lingerie!!!"
"I'm the one who sucks at receiving" Aito replied then walked to the bench and sat down. Ryu followed rapidly. "What are you saying? You don't suck at receiving. You don't suck at anything"That made Aito giggle. "I'm not playing well. I shouldn't have invited you to watch me lose. I've wasted your time" He took a bottle of water from a bag under the bench and drank up half of it.Ryu grunted and placed his hands on Aito's shoulders, bending at the waist and staring right into his eyes. "This is not a waste of time. Anything that involves you can never be a waste of time for me. You don't know how happy I am to see this side of you. You don't even know how incredible it feels to watch you."Aito was stunned. He wasn't expecting that at all. He saw Ryu as a basic domineering CEO who liked to bury himself in work and sleep late. He invited him with the mind that he might not make it. He was actually surprised to see Ryu sitting with Kaito before the game.Ryu's hand went to Aito's cheek
The teammates laughed, clapping Aito on the back, happy he didn't give in to Yeo-sang's provocation."Who are you calling a child!" Yeo-sang exploded, clutching the net. "Are you insane!"Aito paid him no mind and continued to do some warm-up exercises. Being ignored, Yeo-sang's rage grew further for it made him look like a complete fool. He had always been arrogant and proud, wanting people to fear him. And the only person he never succeeded in scaring was Aito. He wanted to bring Aito down to his knees."You just wait!" he hissed, seething with anger. "I'll make you regret what you just said!". Then he stormed back to his team.Ryu was quite surprised that someone had beef with Aito. "Who was that?" he asked.Kaito sighed. "His name is Kang Yeo-sang. An insufferable brat if you ask me. He hates Aito""That's obvious" Ryu looked at the blonde guy thoughtfully. "What was all that he said about beating Aito three years in a row?"Kaito proceeded to explain. "Well even though he's reall
"Aito plays volleyball?" he asked, shocked as he watched Aito walk in with his teammates, wearing a blue and pink uniform with the number 10 on it. "He's going to play? He asked me to come and watch a game, not his game. When did he start playing volleyball? No. When did he start being active in general? The Aito I know doesn't like any sport." Kaito smiled, amused by how surprised Ryu was. "Oh he still hates being active but it was compulsory to play at least one game in his high school and he felt volleyball didn't consume as much energy as the rest so he joined the team and later learned to actually love it. He's been playing ever since" "Wow," Ryu breathed, eyes following Aito's every move. He looked so pretty. "Wait, he went through high school again?" "Yeah, well he had to" Kaito answered. "When he woke up from his three-month coma, we realised that he had lost two years' worth of memories so it was just the same as he didn't go to high school for two years. At first, his mum
Ryu leaned forward, as if he wanted to tell a secret then whispered, "I'm actually over a thousand years old. I've lived for centuries, accumulating wealth from all over the world"Aito also leaned forward with mirth in his eyes and whispered, "Oh my God, you're a vampire?""Shhh" Ryu shushed. "You're the only one that knows. It'll be our little secret" He winked and Aito couldn't help but laugh. Ryu was quite happy and he felt warm both in and out. Although he didn't like the fact that Aito couldn't remember their past, he felt that maybe this was better. This clean slate. The past should just remain in the past.He noticed a stain by the corner of Aito's lips made by the chocolate syrup. He extended his hand and used his thumb to wipe if off then stuck the tongue in his mouth, licking it away. Ryu felt it was even sweeter than he knew it to be.The action was done fast and it left Aito stunned. His smile was frozen on his face and he watched as Ryu's pink tongue swiped over his thum
"You like your coffee black because..." Ryu asked, dragging out the last word so that Aito would complete it but Aito only looked confused as he murmured, "I don't know. I can't remember"Knowing exactly why Aito couldn't recall anything, Ryu dropped the matter and asked something different. "Who is Jiwoo to you?" He had actually been thinking about it since he saw them talking in front of the school gate. When Jiwoo held Aito's hand, it took every bit of his rational sense to not storm over there and yank her hands off him.Aito was relieved to have a change of topic. Although it wasn't one he wanted to talk about, it was still better than having his head ache. "You mean 'was'. Jiwoo means shit to me now. We were dating in our first year of college. I thought she was the one you know. I mean, she had everything I've always wanted in a partner and I was ready to be fully committed but I guess I wasn't enough for her because she cheated on me with some other guy from our class. I caugh
Aito blinked, trying not to show his displeasure at Ryu's change of mind. Growing up, Aito learned that a lot of people befriend him because of his family's wealth. The only people who genuinely liked him were his inner-circle of friends but they were gone now. Only Toshiro was left. He was sure that Ryu didn't want to get close to him for money. Ryu was already a billionaire. But then, what did Ryu want with him?"What do you want?" he asked, feeling apprehensive. He didn't feel like this before towards Ryu. He guessed maybe it was Jiwoo's sudden appearance and the confirmation that she never truly loved him that left him rattled.Ryu smiled, easing a little bit of the tension in Aito's heart. "How about you accompany me for breakfast? I know a place that makes the best pancakes. I promise that you'll love it" After all, Aito loved eating breakfast there when they were together.Not expecting that, a smile broke on Aito's face and he chuckled. "Sure. I'm actually starving. I woke up