The next morning Kisho found it strange but nice (again) to be awake in Chrono’s arms. Usually, he would wake up in the bed alone as Chrono would already be out jogging and doing some morning exercising or making breakfast for the both of them. He didn’t know why he felt happy over something so simple.

     Chrono chose the moment to wake up and saw Kisho staring back at him. “It’s either I woke up late or you woke up early. Which is it?” But instead of an answer, he got a kiss. A long, passionate, tongue-lashing kiss.

    “Something good happened.” Kisho panted when he broke the kiss.

    “What?” Chrono was still left in daze from waking up and being kissed.

    “First, you’re back to normal and talking to me. Second, we slept together without and despite the sulking and being mad at me all day yesterday, you still hugged and cuddled me. Third, I woke up in your arms. Fourth, you may think it sounds corny but all those things made me happy. It felt as if…” Kisho widened his eyes a bit as he realized what he was about to say.

    “Felt like what?”

    “Nothing.” Kisho jumped out of bed. “I’m going to take the shower first.” He quickly escaped to the bathroom but he forgot to lock the door. Well, he didn’t really forgot since he usually wouldn’t lock the door since Chrono usually isn’t there in the room when he takes a bath in the morning. But since everything is different this morning, Chrono simply followed Kisho inside the bathroom.

    “It felt as if…?”

    “Oi, don’t you know how to knock?” Kisho still refuse to continue that sentence.

    “Don’t you know how to lock?” Chrono retorted. “Besides, it’s not like you have something I haven’t seen before.” His eyes wondered up and down Kisho’s still fully clothed body.

    Kisho blushed. “ert.”

    “Now don’t change the subject.” Chrono took a few steps closer to Kisho. “Since you’re unwilling to share your feelings, I’ll tell you how I felt.” He leaned closer to Kisho’s ear and whispered. “It felt as if we were more than lovers. It felt as if we were a couple.” He pulled back so he could look into Kisho’s eyes. “I told you how I felt. Will you tell me how you felt?”

    “It felt…” Kisho suddenly felt shy but refuse to look away from Chrono’s eyes. “…as if you love me.”

    Then suddenly the conversation went normal and casual again. “Anyway, I’m going to do my morning exercises and jogging. I’ll take a bath after that. Do you mind making breakfast for a change?” Kisho nodded. “Okay then, I’ll see you later.” Chrono kissed Kisho on the cheek and left the bathroom.

    Kisho placed a hand on his cheek. That was the first time Chrono kissed him on the cheek. “I seem to experience a lot of first times recently.” He said to himself as he started to take off his clothes and get in the shower. It felt unfair how Chrono was able to change the subject easily while he wasn’t able to do that. Thoughts that revolved around Chrono kept his mind preoccupied while having a shower. Then he came up with one question. “What if he really loves me?”

    “It’s not as if I’m falling for him. I just want to get to know him better.” Chrono muttered to himself as he was jogging. It felt more like he was convincing himself though. When he arrived at the house, he was right on time for breakfast. They ate in silence. Both lost to their own thoughts.

    “I’m done. I’ll leave it to you to wash the dishes. See you at the flower shop.” Kisho hurriedly tied his rubber shoes and left. He’s almost late for work and he doesn’t like to be late even though the owner named Chrono could excuse Kisho’s lateness.

    Chrono took his time to do the dishes and have a shower before going to the flower shop. When he arrived there, he saw how Kisho’s lips have swollen or the hair a bit disarray or the blush present on the cheeks. The customer from yesterday was there too. Apparently, it looked like he just finished purchasing a bouquet of flowers again. “See you around.” The customer said to Kisho and simply smiled at Chrono on his way out.

    Once the customer was out, Chrono raised an eyebrow at Kisho. “So what happened?” He could see how Kisho would open and close and open again his mouth but no words wound come out. “Nevermind. More or less I have an idea of what happened anyway.” Chrono said as he took a seat on his usual chair and opened the novel to the page where the bookmark was placed.

    “Sorry…”

    “There’s nothing to be sorry about. Can’t blame the guy for being hot and all.” Chrono said casually as he flipped a page.

    “I still feel guilty though.” Kisho said sincerely.

    “Why are you feeling guilty? You’re single. You’re not in a relationship.” Chrono found it easier to say that last sentence instead of ‘ we’re not in a relationship’.

    Kisho sighed. “I know I have this ‘no strings attached’ rule but when I have a lover, I still intend to be loyal and not just go around kissing other people. I still care for my lover’s opinions and thoughts. Besides, I don’t want you to be angry with me again.”

    “It’ll make me feel better if you’ll just tell me who that guy is.” Chrono saw how Kisho went tense again. “And why were you just kissing him? Though the answer would probably because you like him.”

    Kisho slammed his hands on the counter which almost caused Chrono to jump out of his seat. “He’s a good kisser. He’s ‘hot’ as you’ve described him. It can’t be helped that my body reacts. I used to like him but not anymore. He’s my ex.” He had an angry look on his face.

    “Ex? Ex-lover you mean?”

    “Ex-lover AND…” Kisho emphasized. “…boyfriend.”

    “What?!?! But I thought…WE, as in the entire school back then, thought that you never had any relationships before. All you had were night-one stands though I was an exception since we actually became lovers but nobody knew about that. You said it yourself that you’ve never been into relationships before.”

    “I lied.” Kisho shrugged.

    This time Chrono fell out of his chair and sat up quickly on the floor. “Okay, fine so how many relationships were you involved with? And what about your no-strings-attached rule?!?!” Silence again. “Here I thought you were starting to open up to me.”

    “How the heck did we end up with this topic?!?! I just wanted to know whether you care or not if I go kissing other people while having you as a lover because from the looks of it, you really didn’t give a damn.” Kisho sounded frustrated. “Here I thought you care for me.”

    Chrono was glad to be thinking before replying because for a moment there, he would have probably poured out and confessed his feelings, which probably won’t do good since Kisho has this no-strings-attach rule. “I guess it’s about time you look for someone else to hang out with anyway. My health is getting better fast so I probably could go back to work earlier than expected.” Then he added in his thoughts. // I should have satisfied myself with the 2 weeks and 5 days but no, I just had to extend it and now, this happens. Manager will be irritated with how I often change my mind with things and stuff.//

    “Unbelievable.” Kisho let out a bitter laugh. “So you’re going to leave me again, huh? It’s usually me who leaves people but with you, it just had to be you to leave me…and twice at that.”

    “It’s actually just easy to leave if you have no strings attached.” Chrono said in a matter-of-fact tone, which left Kisho a bit taken a back.

    “You know, I don’t care if you’re the owner of this flower shop or business but get out!!! I don’t want to see your face!!!” Kisho hid his hurt feelings by displaying anger.
 

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ End of Chapter 3
 

A/N: The chapters seem to be short @_@ but it's going to have more chapters than theprevious series anyway ^_^