Kevin had been tutoring Maiko for two months, teaching her the basics of English and also helping with her Korean as well. They’d spent a ton of time together and Kevin couldn’t help but notice his feelings for Maiko turning into something a bit more than friendship. After a bit of positive self-talk, Kevin asked her out. In the back of her mind, she was reluctant but decided to accept Kevin’s feelings and see where it took her. And today, Eun Mi had a surprise for her that would eventually rock their strange relationship to its core. . .

“’Ka-n a-i ba-ro yo ka ki-zu?’”, Maiko read from a picture book in English then repeated in Korean; “Can I borrow your car keys?”

A smile spread across her face as she turned to Kevin who gave her an approving look and pointed to the next sentence. She barely had time to open before the door slammed open and a chorus of voices sounded off, quickly shushed by a higher pitched one. Maiko saw it as Eun Mi just having a few friends over and cast off her initial fear of it being a group of rag-tag robbers. She continued flipping through the workbook and reciting sentences whenever asked to by Kevin. “All right,” Kevin ruffled her hair a bit, “That’s enough for now. Why don’t we take a break for a bit?”

Maiko nodded and pushed the book away from her, “So, now . . .”

Kevin took a side glance at her and pulled her back towards him whispering close to her ear, “We make-out?”

His words fell upon deaf ears a Maiko worked her way out of him arms and over to the door. She turned to look over her should at him with a red face. “But . . . But that so boring! Why don’t we spy on Eun Mi instead?”

Kevin rolled his eyes before moving off the bed towards her. “But we hardly ever have time together! We’re always studying or with Eun Mi and I never have time with just you anymore.”

Eun Mi smiled and hugged him, “I promise; I just want to see what Eun Mi is up to, Okay?” Smiling softly and taking her outstretched hand, Kevin followed close behind her down the hallway. She shushed his louder footsteps and peeked out the doorway to see seven men and Eun Mi sitting around and having candid conversation. Eun Mi spotted them first and motioned them over. Maiko hesitated a moment, allowing Kevin to walk in front of her. Peeking over his shoulder, she gave a slight gasp. It was her friends from her Japanese school! Recognizing her immediately, the group of guys shoved Kevin aside and enveloped her in an intense group hug. Kevin stood by Eun Mi, looking a bit put-out. “Reita, Uruha, Aiji, Maya, Kai, Aoi, Ruki!!” Maiko called their names out, stumbling a bit on the last one but hugging them all again and giving a bright smile towards Eun Mi, who obviously set this up for her. “How have you all been?”

All answered with their respective, “Awesome!”, “Great!”, or “Fine!”, crowding around her with more hugs and greetings than she could handle. “All right everyone, give the girl some room the breathe. And Maiko?”

The girl in question poked her head out from between Aoi and Aiji’s shoulders, “Hm?”

“Don’t you have someone to introduce?”

A red blush of embarrassment crossed her face and she looked over at Kevin. Walking over, she took his hand and turned back to the group-many of which having smug looks on their faces. “Ah-uhm . . . . This is Kevin. He’s kind ’a . . . . . My boyfriend. And such.”

Ruki averted his gaze to the ground and felt his mood deteriorate immensely. Ruki and Maiko’s relationship back in Japan hadn’t ever been more than friends. But, that didn’t stop him from having the hugest crush on her for the longest time. Everyone had known, except for the oblivious and innocent Maiko who wouldn’t know love if Cupid himself decided to strike her. And so, Ruki had spent most of high school protecting and coveting her from others who would rather have her for themselves. Only when she moved to Korea and met Kevin had Maiko ever been in a serious relationship; hopefully not too serious, Ruki thought to himself. Or else he’d spent years chasing after her for nothing.

 After much congratulating to both Maiko and Kevin, Ruki and the others sat down around the television to quietly watch a movie. Of course, Ruki had to sit across from Maiko who chose to share a chair with Kevin to save space. He found himself feeling more and more hatred towards Kevin as the horror movie Aoi had chosen played on. Why couldn’t he have Maiko-chan? More importantly- why couldn’t Maiko see just how much it killed him to see her sitting on the lap of some Korean guy she had only known for a couple months? If he had only followed after her, perhaps the relationship could have been prevented and avoided from ever occurring.

The movie ended fairly soon and conversation carried on, Ruki never commenting on anything. Which wasn’t completely abnormal for the normally silent adult, but his mood didn’t go unnoticed by everyone. Reita prodded the shorty with his elbow, giving him a concerned look. Ruki replied with no more than a glance behind his hands and turned back to looking at a particularly interesting wall, ended their short and silent conversation.

Maiko sighed inwardly and puffed her cheeks out. Talking with all her old friends had been a nice surprise and fun and all . . . But, she was tired. Spending all night long watching Anime hadn’t been a very beneficial idea to begin with and all the excitement had finally gotten to her mind-palace. Maiko was exhausted. “Kevin~,” She mumbled, letting her head fall back on his shoulder, “I’m sleepy~.”

He looked down at her and saw half-lidded eyes watching him. Fully convinced that Maiko couldn’t handle anymore, else she fall over and bump her head on the floor. “Hey, I’m gonna take Maiko onto bed now.”

“Aww, but she hasn’t even had a Chupa Chup yet!” Maya exclaimed, a lollipop of his own hanging out of his mouth.

As a final action, Maiko held her hand out and Maya reached and gave her one. She looked over with a sleepy-smile and put it in Kevin’s shirt pocket before waving everyone goodnight since words seem to be failing her again. Kevin positioned her on the bed and covered her with a throw. “Kevin,” Maiko grabbed his hand before he could leave for the door, “I’m really sorry, but I feel like that would be bad for us.”

Kevin sighed and sat down next to her, “It’s fine, really. I respect you and if you’re not ready for anything like that then it’s okay. I’ll still love you no matter what.”

Maiko smiled and finally stopped fighting sleep. Exhaling deeply, Kevin waved a hand through his girl’s hair and left to join the others in the living room.

Maiko woke up on her back in a tangled mess of limbs. Aoi was on her left and laying his head on her stomach, an arm over her hips and legs hanging over the side of the bed. Aiji laid to her right with his arms around both her shoulder’s and one leg over both her and Aoi. They were both messed up and smelled strongly of alcohol. After much struggling, she managed to end up at the end of the bed and free of everyone else’s grasp. Walking into the living room she realized that everyone else was still asleep, except for Ruki who sat at the edge of the couch with Reita’s head in his lap. He looked a little apprehensive about moving him. “Do you need help with that?” Maiko giggled under her breath before lifting Reita’s head so Ruki could stand up. His hair was an absolute mess and so were his clothes. Surveying the room, everyone had found a spot to sleep either on the couches, the chairs, or on the floor. Ruki messed with his hair a bit before commenting, “After you fell asleep, Eun Mi brought out some sake and then a couple people went out and brought back some beer.”

Maiko nodded, a grim expression on her face as she watched Uruha and Kai cuddle each other. That’s an unusual pairing . . . The two stood at an awkward silence for a bit. “So, you and Kevin?”

Maiko looked towards the interesting wall and nodded, “Yeah, for about a month now. He’s a nice guy, even spending his time teaching me English. He’s in a Kpop group. They’re really quite popular.”

“Are you in love with him?”

Maiko couldn’t help but stare back at him, his eyes smoldering and searching for answers in her own. It was too abrupt, too straight forward to be answered with a simple yes or no, she thought. “He and I . . . He wants things that I’m not ready to give him yet. But Kevin- He’s patient with me, doesn’t force anything. But still . . .”

“You have doubts.”

Maiko gave him a softer look before going back to the wall, “There’s this other guy who I’ve only talked to a few times. But he’s so sweet, and he respects me so much and seems really interesting in what I have to say- even shares some of my own values and such. But I’m with Kevin.”

Ruki nodded, disappointed that she still liked someone else. But, the knowledge that she wasn’t really all that interested in Kevin to begin with was something he would be sure to hold onto. Kevin didn’t seem to be making her happy in all, maybe even taking away from her own happiness in an attempt to fuel his own- Trying to force ideas into her mind even though she had made her thoughts clear multiple times. Ruki wouldn’t have any of that, not with his Maiko. “But really,” Maiko placed a hand on his shoulder, “It’s all right, it has to work out in the end!”

__________

FINALLY AN UPDATE!!!! Hope you guys like it. X)