CHAPTER 13

Jurina and Rena were having their lunch in a fast food restaurant. Rena just sat down opposite Jurina, staring at her gulping down her burger like someone who hasn’t eaten in a long time.

Noticing this, Jurina swallowed her burger and asked Rena. “Why are you not eating your food? You’re not hungry?”

“Yes, I’m hungry. I’m just amazed at the amount of food you could stuff into your mouth. I mean, I never knew you could eat this much.”

“I eat like a pig when I’m hungry. Or maybe just because I have a large mouth. That’s why I could stuff lots of food into my mouth.” Jurina continued munching on her burger.

“Mayu has a large mouth. Too bad she uses it for talking instead of eating.” Rena said as she started unwrapping her burger and opened the bun. She then removed the few slices of cucumber off her burger and placed them on the plate.

Jurina gave Rena ‘the eye’. “Why are you removing the cucumbers off your burger?”

“I hate them.” Rena went straight to the point.

“You should eat your cucumbers.”

“Nope.. I hate cucumbers as much as I hate coffee.”

“I don’t care if you hate cucumbers. Eat them, Rena.”

“Err... No.”

“Take a small bite then.”

“Not a chance.”

“Alright, look here, princess. You better take a small bite or I’ll stuff five slices of cucumbers down your throat. I mean it.” Jurina definitely wasn’t joking that she would literally shove those cucumber slices down Rena’s throat.

“...” Rena contemplated for a little while.

“You really think I’m joking, aren’t you?” Jurina removed a few cucumber slices from her own plate and blankly stare right into Rena’s eyes.

Knowing that Jurina was really serious about this, Rena decided. “Alright. I’ll take a bite.”

“Here you go.” Jurina held a cucumber slice close to Rena’s face.

When Rena wanted to take the cucumber slice, Jurina immediately retracted her hand. “Nuh-uh.. Open your mouth.”

“E-Eh?” Rena blushed immediately.

“You can close your eyes if you’re shy. You don’t have to look. Maybe it will taste better with your eyes closed?” Jurina smiled.

“O-Ok..” Rena shut her eyes soon after. As soon as Rena opened to take a bite, Jurina immediately shoved three slices of cucumber into . 

“Blergh-” Rena immediately spit the cucumbers out and started choking. “You tricked me.”

Jurina started laughing hysterically. “You should have seen the expression on your face.. Priceless!!”

There was it again, Jurina’s super rare hysterical laugh. So far, this was the second time Rena heard this laugh from Jurina. The first time was when they first had a drink in Starbucks and Jurina forced the Triple Espresso down Rena’s throat. Rena pouted a little at Jurina. “You did that to me with the Triple Espresso last time..”

“Ah, yes.. I remember. It’s strange how time flies so fast, huh..” Jurina smiled at the memory that flashed through her mind.

Rena then giggled. “Yeah. Funny how we first met in a small accident and now we’re so close to one another..”

“So close, you say?” Jurina then rested her arms on the table and tilted her head over to Rena. Jurina’s head was literally a few inches away from Rena’s face, causing her to start blushing. Jurina smiled a little at Rena’s shy behaviour and asked sarcastically. “How close?”

Rena decided to ignore Jurina as she looked away with her face flashed in red. Basically she was too shy to look at Jurina at this time. She was fidgeting while eating her burger at the same time. It made her look like a squirrel munching on its food with small and quick bites. Little did Rena noticed that she smeared the right side of her lips with tomato sauce.

Noticing this, Jurina tried to contain her giggle and continued staring at Rena wrestling with her burger. Rena definitely sensed something wrong with Jurina’s expression as she looked over at her face. Jurina was obviously wearing an expression of a held in laughter. “What? Is there something on my face?” Rena started touching her face all over.

“Here.” Jurina grabbed Rena’s wrist down, avoiding her from searching for the stain any longer and gently wiped the sauce away from Rena’s lip with her thumb.

Boy did that make Rena blush. Jurina’s action made Rena flinched a little as she did not expect it. If that wasn’t enough, Jurina the sauce off her thumb after that, making Rena feel more embarrassed than before.

“Don’t do that..” Rena said in a soft and shy tone.

“Don’t do what? This?” Jurina moved her thumb over to Rena once again, but this time, Rena tilted her head backwards to avoid the touch. “Why are you avoiding it?”

“Coz when you do that, I will have an unsettling feeling in my heart and I feel weird stuff in my stomach.” Rena spoke out.

“Butterflies?” Jurina gave it a guess.

“Mmmm..... More like bees.. Bees stinging my stomach.”

“You know, only someone who is in love will experience this weird feeling when touched by someone.” Jurina shot a little smirk at Rena trying to imply that Rena is in love with her.

“N-No! I’m not in love.” Didn’t take Rena a second to retort in a slightly agitated tone.

“...” Jurina just kept quiet but there’s definitely something about Jurina’s smug expression she is wearing right now. Then comes a long silence. Rena kept rolling her eyes around, left, right, up and down but never front to face Jurina. But Rena did realize something, that Jurina was looking at her the whole time without looking away. That made Rena feel weird and was forced to confront Jurina from her pressuring gaze. 

“Err... Can you look somewhere else?”

“How about I choose to do what I want and keep looking at you?” Jurina replied. “Besides, is it wrong to look at a pretty lady?”

“Oh god...” Rena covered her face with both her hands to hide her pink, blushing face.

Jurina let out a small laugh at Rena’s actions before having a thought. “Hmm... I wonder what Yuki is doing now..”

Upon hearing Jurina’s sentence, Rena asked a question. “So...... What’s your relationship with Yuki? Do you like her? As a friend or more?”

Noticing Rena’s random question, Jurina placed her cup on the table and asked Rena the same question, “What about you? What’s your relationship with me? Do you like me? As a friend.....or more?”

Even though both Rena and Jurina asked the same question, Jurina’s question seem to have a bigger impact on Rena as it made her completely speechless right away.

“Let’s just continue eating...” Rena avoided the question while trying to restrain herself from blushing once again.

Noticing the change in Rena’s behaviour, Jurina chuckled. “What a strange lady.... How cute.”

“S-Stop that.. I’m not cute..” Rena stated while her head tilted down and her eyes looking at her food to avoid eye contact with Jurina. That’s because Rena knew if she had eye contact with Jurina, she would turn red immediately. Not like she hasn’t blush already.

Jurina rested her chin on her right palm and tilted her head a little. “You know.. I think I like you..”

Poof. There goes Rena’s blood pressure going off the roof. her face turned bright red in a second. She tried to stop herself from blushing but nothing seemed to work. Her heart thumping faster then before that she felt like it was going to explode. “I-I-I’m done eating. Let’s leave this place now..” Rena immediately stood up and left the restaurant.

Jurina knew that Rena was just too shy to face her any longer. She felt that it was actually fun and interesting teasing Rena like this. So, Jurina paid for the bill and chased after Rena. As Jurina caught up to Rena, she asked, “Why’d you leave all of a sudden?”

“No reason. I just wanted to leave the restaurant fast, that’s all.” Rena shrugged it off and answered without making an eye contact with Jurina.

“Alright...” It’s not like Jurina is that dumb to not tell what’s wrong with Rena. She’s in love with Jurina. She just couldn’t bear to continue facing Jurina in that situation. It was so obvious. “So, where do you wanna go now?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet..” That was when Rena saw a huge Ferris Wheel in front of her. “How about the Ferris Wheel? I heard that the scenery at the top is beautiful.”

Oops.. Seems like Rena picked the wrong ride if she wanted to avoid Jurina’s gaze. Guess Rena never thought about how small the gondola was. Or maybe she only thought about looking at the beautiful scenery that time. They entered the gondola and the person in charge closed the gondola door and locked it tight. Rena sat there blinking her eyes blankly as she realized that the gondola was indeed small. 

Without hesitation, Rena looked out the window out of shyness. Jurina merely smiled. It’s not like Rena could avoid her forever. It’s such a small place here. The Ferris Wheel then began to operate. There was just plain silence between them. That was until Jurina tried to start a conversation. “Why do you keep looking outside? There’s nothing to see yet.”

Rena sighed. “I’m shy, alright? I didn’t want to look right into your eyes. Cause if I did, I would blush. And if I blush, you would tease me again and again. So, nope. Not looking at your face from now on.” Believe it or not, Rena said all these while still looking outside.

Jurina did not answer to Rena. She just remained quiet and smiled. It was said that one full rotation of this Ferris Wheel takes up to 15 minutes. As for Rena, she felt that they had been in there for an hour even though their gondola was just half way up to the highest point.

As the gondola go higher and higher, the pleasing scenery of the mountainous area and trees with the sun setting in between two mountains were breathtaking. Rena immediately stood up and stuck her whole body on the glass panel. “Wow.. The scenery really is beautiful...just like they said.” 

“Yea it is..” Jurina who stood behind Rena leaned both her hands on the glass panel. That was when Rena caught something at the corner of her eye. She slowly rolled her eyes to the side and noticed that Jurina placed both her hands on the glass panel of the gondola. Slowly, she started feeling Jurina’s breath at the back of her head too.

Jurina then slowly shifted her hands onto Rena’s hands. Rena was stunned. She didn’t know what to do nor did she want to turn around. By the warm breath felt on her hair, Rena knew Jurina was standing really REALLY close to her. All her muscles tensed up and the irregular beating of her heart made her feel as if she had a heart attack. She had no intentions to turn around and get her face flashed in red for the 20th time. Without saying a word, Jurina turned Rena around to face her and gently pinned her on the glass panel.

“Why are you standing so close to me....” Rena softly and shyly muttered as she finally felt Jurina’s warm breath on her face.

“I don’t know either.. I just...feel like it..” Jurina’s voice was really soft and almost breathless as her face automatically got drawn closer and closer to Rena’s face.

Jurina’s loud and warm breath was like a drug for Rena, it made her feel weak on her legs yet craving for more. It was almost too much for Rena to bear and their lips weren’t even touching yet.

“W-What’re you trying to do?” Rena asked again in a shy tone. The world around her became silent. As of now, she could only hear and see Jurina right in front of her eyes.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” Again, Jurina replied with the y and breathless voice as her face drew closer and closer. So close that their noses were touching each other’s. “It’ll be a waste of chance not to kiss you right now..” 

Rena thought this is it. That she was going to have her first kiss. She had always wondered what kissing felt like. Some say that you’ll feel all weak in your legs suddenly. Some say you’ll feel a electric jolt down your spine. Some say you’ll feel butterflies in your stomach. Rena didn’t know until this very moment.

Jurina’s breath was getting warmer and warmer as her lips was just centimeters away from Rena’s. Rena slowly closed her eyes unconsciously. She didn’t know why she closed her eyes. It was involuntary action. Jurina also did close her eyes. Before she knew it, Jurina’s lips was already touching hers.

As their lips met, the first thing felt by Rena was a tingling and ticklish sensation at her lips. She wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. What she knew was that it made her crave for more. Jurina then pushes her lips deeper a little, that was when Rena felt a sudden electricity jolted down her spine. It definitely felt good. Way too good that Rena automatically had her arms around Jurina’s neck.

The kiss wasn’t the fierce kind of kiss. No tongue. It was just the locking of their lips. Just like how Prince Charming kisses Snow White. A couple kissing in the gondola with the light from the sunset shining at them like an angel light. What a beautiful scene.

As they were having such intimate time, they didn’t even realize that the gondola had came back down. The person in charge noticed them inside and decided to let the gondola continue moving for another round since Rena and Jurina were the last ones to take the ride. It’s not like there’s anybody left to take this ride anyway. 

As their lips separated slowly, they leaned on each others forehead and smiled sweetly at each other. Rena still had her arms tight around Jurina’s neck. Jurina then voiced out, “So, I guess we’re considered official now.”

“I don’t know... Are we?” Rena cutely rolled her eyes and acted dumb like a little child.

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.” Jurina smiled.

“Hmm? I didn’t agree to it though.” Rena tried to play the ‘hard to get’ role.

“It wasn’t a question, Rena. So I don’t really have to listen to what you have to say.” Well, Jurina definitely had the higher authority even when it comes to situations like this. Rena simply had nothing else to reply.

This sentence from Jurina literally made Rena smile wide like a little girl. Meeting with such a decisive and attractive lady, Rena thought to herself. “She’s the one.. I think I’m really in love.”

“So, yea.. That’s pretty much the whole story of what happened there.” Rena blushed a little after telling the whole story to Mayu about what happened earlier at the Theme Park.

Mayu who was laying down on the bed was so captivated by the story that she had open and her imagination started running wild. “Damn, Rena... You really had it good this time.” She then stood up and patted Rena on the head before sobbing in a fake manner and wiping off her non existent tears. “I’ve thought you well, my little one. Mama is so proud of you..”

Rena smacked Mayu’s arm away and hissed. “You’re not my mama, alright?

“But hey.. I really do feel happy for you. You finally have someone in your life. Not that I’ve not invaded into your life already. HAHAHAHAHAHHA.”

Rena rolled her eyes. “Yea. If you know that, then please stay away from me for once.”

“Pfft.. Not gonna happen. You and I are going to be stuck FOREVER!! Even after you get married, I’ll be always there in your house... Lurking.. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“......” Mayu’s silliness sometimes couldn’t get through Rena’s head. Rena just shrugged it off and smiled back at Mayu. “How about you? You’re finally with Yuki as well. How’re you feeling?”

“I gotta say this, I’ve never felt this way before. It seems like Yuki was the missing puzzle piece in my life. With her, I feel that my life is perfect.” Mayu smiled to hrself suddenly, remembering the scene at Yuki’s house earlier today.

“Well, you seem happy enough to start dazing around like this. Good for you.” Rena smiled a little. “Well, it’s really late now and we have work tomorrow. Good night, Mayu.” Rena opened the door for Mayu, inviting her out of her room. 

“ Good night, Rena.. And this teddy bear is coming with me.” Mayu reached towards Rena’s bed and grabbed onto the huge teddy bear given by Jurina and started walking off on her own.

“NO! Give that back!” Rena snatched the bear back into her hands. “This is precious to me! You’re not taking anything from me, Mayu.”

“Oh, come on! You don’t even like soft toys. Give it to me!” Mayu tried to snatch it back but Rena pushed her away, causing her to fall over. “Gah!”

Rena showed Mayu the tongue and smirked at her. That’s what you get for trying to steal my precious things.”

“WAR!!!!!!” Mayu pounced towards Rena and hugged the bear. As the weight from Mayu and the bear was too much for Rena to handle, she fell onto the ground with the huge bear on top of her and Mayu on top of the bear. “Ha! How’d you like that now!?”

“Omg, I can’t breathe..”

“Then give me the bear!” Mayu tried snatching it again.

“No! You have your so-called Sebastian already. Go sleep with him instead!”

“It’s with Yuki, so I need this super duper fluffy giant bear to sleep with me tonight.”

“Stop waisting my time here, Mayu! We have work tomorrow! And it’s late!”

“You’re the one who’s wasting my time! If you’d give up this bear right now, then we cold go to sleep right away!”

“Jurina gave this to me, so I can’t give it to you just like that! Can’t you understand!?”

“Yes, you can.”

“No I can’t!”

“Let go!”

“No! You let go or else!”

“Or else what, Rena? You’re gonna sit on me?” Mayu challenged.

“Gah!!” Rena pushed Mayu with all her strength and managed to drop Mayu down on the ground. This time, the bear was on top of Mayu and Rena was siting on top of the bear. “I gave you a warning, Mayu. Don’t challenge me.”

“Ok ok! I give up.” Mayu who was suffocating on the ground gave in to Rena finally. Rena then placed the precious bear back on her bed and smiled victoriously.

“Bleh! I don’t need your bear!” Mayu showed Rena the tongue.

“Bleh! Then get out of my room!” Rena replied with the same tongue gesture as well.

“Tch- Selfish.” Mayu hissed for one last time before exiting Rena’s room and went back to her own room.

With Rena left alone in her own room, she sat across the bear and smiled to herself once again while reminiscing the moments when she was at the theme park with Jurina and how today became the very day she had her first kiss and also official relationship. Mayu as well, she finally had the chance to confess herself to Yuki and also started an official relationship with her. How will their relationship end up in the future? Guess we’ll know very very soon.


CHAPTER 13
END