Chapter 14
Chapter 14 is here! Things are getting interesting for Jennifer, aren't they?
Chapter 14
I began to fiddle with my fingers, avoiding everyone’s gaze-Hayato’s especially (for some odd reason, Hayato’s eyes had a strange impact on me).
“Are you serious?” Matsumoto asked.
I timidly nodded my head, “Uh huh. My family is gone for the week, they went on vacation. There are enough beds for each of you to have your own and you don’t need to worry about food because my fridge is full of food. It’s a Filipino thing… my mom loves to cook a lot.”
It was quiet for a moment. I thought they were going to reject my idea, so I was ready to quickly say I was just kidding, even though I wasn’t. When I opened my mouth, Yuya interrupted me.
“Wah!” he screamed, “YOU’RE HONESTLY SO NICE~! You’re always taking care of your big brother Yuya! Thank you so much!”
Yuya ran up to me and glomped me in a bear hug. When he hugged me, I tensed up a bit because he caught me off guard. That, it seriously was just too sudden and too close for comfort. At least when he put his arm around my shoulder earlier, he did it at a pace that I was ready to accept his arm on my shoulder. This was just totally unexpected.
“OH~ I WANT TO HUG JENNIFER TO THANK HER TOO~!” Miura whined. He did what Yuya did, which made me tense up even more. I couldn’t move. I was too stunned to think about moving-I think I was in shock. I couldn’t breathe.
“You know,” Uebo interrupted, “If you guys hug her any tighter, she’ll die. Then we won’t have a place to stay…”
Yuya and Miura quickly let go of me and jumped back.
“Ah, sorry!” They apologized. When they let go, it was MUCH easier to breathe. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t breathe.
“It’s okay,” I said as I gasped for air. I placed my hand at the base of my throat.
I wasn’t prepared for what I heard next. Ryuu was laughing. He wasn’t bursting out laughing, but he gave a chuckle and then quickly stopped. I think he was trying to hold in his laughter. Too bad though, I heard it and I smiled at him. When I looked at Ryuu, he put his calm face back on and crossed his arms.
“Thanks…” he said.
“No problem,” I told him.
“Hey!” Matsumoto interrupted, “Why don’t we give Jennifer free tickets to the concert if we do the show here?” I quickly shot a look at Matsumoto.
“No no!” I began to say, you could hear the surprise in my voice, “You don’t have to! Honest!” I started to lift and shake my hands in front of me to express how much they really didn’t have to give me free tickets (even though I secretly did want them).
“Nonsense!” Matsumoto replied, “You’re letting us stay at your house and we might be too troublesome. The least we can do is give you free tickets. They’ll be front seat too, we’ll make sure we’ll put you in a place where we can see each other. How many do you need?”
I was speechless. Matsumoto was seriously SO nice. “Uhh… th-…three… I think?” I was stuttering. I was still in shock by the offer Matsumoto gave me. He was giving me free tickets to a YE concert. FREE ticket to a YE concert! Do you know how hard it is to get tickets, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR THEM?! And here I am, easily getting any number I wanted.
“Three, huh? Alright, three it is! I’ll get your address later so I can send them to you when we’re ready to distribute the tickets.”
I was seriously filled with happiness. I was ready to explode. I began to hyperventilate.
“THANK YOU!” I shouted, “Oh my god! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!” I began to jump in one spot, I finally then ran to Matsumoto and hugged him with all my might. “THANK YOU SO MUCH!” I continued to say.
“Wah! Not fair!” Miura whined, “Matsumoto-kun actually got a hug from Jen-chan!”
I quickly pulled away. I forgot about the levels of respect in Japan. It must have been awkward for Matsumoto to be quickly hugged by a girl that wasn’t close to him. I began to blush.
“I’m sorry…” I said. Matsumoto laughed.
“It’s alright,” he replied with a full-hearted smile and laugh, “Come here!”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me in for another hug. Thankfully, my face was buried in his chest, so he couldn’t see how red my face must have been.
“GROUP HUG!” Miura screamed, and he glomped me and Matsumoto. I was honestly so happy. It felt like these people were my family, all of them. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and we began to laugh, which just added to the atmosphere.
Ryuu and Uebo were the only ones who weren’t really laughing. Instead, they tried to stay calm and collected. But I could see kindness in their eyes. When I looked at Hayato, he gave me a crooked smile. It made me blush even more, and I decided to hide my face in Matsumoto’s chest again.
“There you are, Miss!” yelled a voice.
Our happy moment ended and we broke the hug. I looked for the source of the voice and saw a man in a blue uniform at the top of the stairs, leading to the centre of the stage. It was the policeman from earlier.
“Oh shit…” I whispered.
The policeman ran down to the stage, “I’ve been looking all over for you. I was scared those two men got you.”
“I’m sorry, officer…” I told him, “I did go to the washroom but then… I don’t know, I got… distracted.”
“I can see that,” the officer had his hands on his hips and irritation could be heard in his voice.
“I truly am sorry, it’s just that… I wasn’t ready to go. I wanted to rest for a bit.”
“You could have told me that, I would have let you rest in the office.”
“I know but… I wanted some time alone. You know, to clear my thoughts.”
“I understand, but Miss, you really shouldn’t have done that.” The officer stared at the six other men that were around me, “You must be the people who reserved the stage for today, I apologize for this little interruption. Let’s go, Miss.”
The officer grabbed my arm and began to drag me off. I was trying hard to resist, but after what happened to me earlier that day, all my strength was gone.
“N-n-no, wait…” I complained.
“Miss, these are very important people and I’m sure they don’t want to be disturbed any longer. Now, let’s get you home.”
“But…” I quickly looked back at the group of singers. I knew why they weren’t stopping the officer; it was because they didn’t know what was going on-because they didn’t know English. Despite my loss of strength, I continued to fight back. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to be pulled out of my happy dream yet. Not yet.
“Officer,” said a stern voice. It was Hayato. “She can stay here,” he told the officer. My eyes looked at Hayato and relief washed over me. “Hayato…” I whispered.
“Excuse me, sir?” the officer asked.
“I said she can stay here. She is our friend.”
“Are you sure?” The officer gave me a strange look and I stared back at him.
“Yes, officer. She can stay here.”
The officer let go of my arm, “Whatever you say, sir.” He then turned towards me, “Miss, make sure you’re careful next time.”
“I will,” I told him, “Thank you for helping me.”
The officer nodded at me and then to the rest of the people who were standing behind me. “I’ll be off then,” he said. He turned around, walked up the stairs and exited the stage.
I turned around and faced Hayato. “Thank you,” I told him. Hayato looked at me with a kind face. For some reason, I just couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. He smiled at me.
“So,” he said, “shall we go to your house now?”
“What?” I asked. I was caught off guard when he switched back to Japanese.
“Your house, shall we go?”
“Oh!” I began to talk in Japanese, “Right, sorry.”
“How are we going to get there?” Ryuu asked.
“Well… we could walk to the subway station, or take a taxi,” I told them.
“I refuse to take the subway again…” Yuya quickly added in and then he pointed to Miura, “Especially with him.”
I began to laugh, and so did Yuya and Miura. The rest of the members just stood there awkwardly. “I’m sorry,” I told the rest of the members, “You just had to be there for that moment… it was quite the moment.”
Hayato smiled at me. “So, I guess we’ll be taking a taxi then…”
“But it’s going to be expensive though!” I told them, “I don’t exactly live near here…”
“We’ll split the bill,” he said, “All six of us. It’ll be cheaper then.”
“Oh, okay,” I answered but quickly realized what he just said, “Wait, there are seven of us.”
He gave a small chuckle, “Did you really think we’d let you pay?”
I looked at him with disbelief and guilt. “But…” I began to say.
“NO WAY!” shouted Yuya, “We’re not letting you pay Jennifer!”
I quickly turned to Yuya, “But…”
“Consider this as our living expenses, okay?” Matsumoto added.
I felt like a spoiled brat! I met MUSIKK, had them perform personally for me, got three FREE tickets, and had them stay at my house. If you ask me, I felt like I got everything I wanted. But I knew I wasn’t going to win. Just look at the odds, six to one. I gave out a large sigh and said, “Fine…”
“Alright!” Miura screamed, “Let’s go!” Miura started to walk up the stairs. We all started to follow Miura. Yuya was lecturing Miura up at the front of the line.
It was only until a few seconds later that there was one person missing. “Where’s Hayato?” I whispered to myself. I glanced behind me to see if he was right behind me, but he wasn’t. I stopped walking and fully turned around so that I was staring at the stage. Hayato was standing there by himself with his hands in his pockets. I walked back towards him.
When I got close enough to him, I could see a weird expression in his face. He seemed to be thinking.
“Hayato?” I asked him. His head quickly shot in the direction I was in and his face wasn’t gentle like the way he looked at me before. Instead, it was surprised, probably because I interrupted his train of though.
“I’m sorry…” I told him, “Did I interrupt you with something?”
His expression quickly changed back into his gentle expression (DAMN! THESE JAPANESE MEN COULD CHANGE THEIR EMOTIONS SO EASILY!). He shook his head, “No.” He gave out a sigh.
“Umm…” I began to say, “Do you prefer to talk in English or Japanese?”
“I’d like to practice my English,” he said, “but we should talk in Japanese just in case the other members would like to join in our conversation.”
“How about… if we’re alone like this, we can talk in English? Is that okay?”
He gave a small smirk and laughed under his breath, “That’ll be perfect.”
“OI! Why are you guys taking so long?” Both of our heads glanced up the at the top of the stairs to see Miura waving frantically at us. “Uebo was able to get us a taxi! Come on, or we’ll leave without you!” Miura then ran off.
I began to laugh and said, “Stupid Miura…” under my breath, and then I started to run off in Miura’s direction but quickly stopped after Hayato said something.
“Thank you…” he said.
I turned around, “For what?”
“For letting us stay at your house. I didn’t thank you earlier.”
My huge grin faded into a relaxed smile as I stared at him. “You’re welcome,” I said.
Hayato gave a small chuckle and walked towards me. I was getting ready for him to do what Yuya and Miura did-the bear hug-but he didn’t. I was once again caught off guard. He reached for my hand and put it in his hand. He then lifted my hand up, gently, and then said, “Shall we go?”
“Huh?” I got lost in his eyes, and was not obviously paying attention to what he just said.
Hayato’s mouth formed a smirk and he gave a little chuckle. He then dashed off the stage and up the stairs, pulling me behind him.
Hayato could run really fast, but I didn’t really pay attention to it. I think I was slowing him down because I’m not exactly a… fast… runner. But even if, it felt like I was flying. Maybe it was because of what I was staring at when we were running; what was in front of me while we ran-our hands, with our fingers entwined together.
Chapter 14
I began to fiddle with my fingers, avoiding everyone’s gaze-Hayato’s especially (for some odd reason, Hayato’s eyes had a strange impact on me).
“Are you serious?” Matsumoto asked.
I timidly nodded my head, “Uh huh. My family is gone for the week, they went on vacation. There are enough beds for each of you to have your own and you don’t need to worry about food because my fridge is full of food. It’s a Filipino thing… my mom loves to cook a lot.”
It was quiet for a moment. I thought they were going to reject my idea, so I was ready to quickly say I was just kidding, even though I wasn’t. When I opened my mouth, Yuya interrupted me.
“Wah!” he screamed, “YOU’RE HONESTLY SO NICE~! You’re always taking care of your big brother Yuya! Thank you so much!”
Yuya ran up to me and glomped me in a bear hug. When he hugged me, I tensed up a bit because he caught me off guard. That, it seriously was just too sudden and too close for comfort. At least when he put his arm around my shoulder earlier, he did it at a pace that I was ready to accept his arm on my shoulder. This was just totally unexpected.
“OH~ I WANT TO HUG JENNIFER TO THANK HER TOO~!” Miura whined. He did what Yuya did, which made me tense up even more. I couldn’t move. I was too stunned to think about moving-I think I was in shock. I couldn’t breathe.
“You know,” Uebo interrupted, “If you guys hug her any tighter, she’ll die. Then we won’t have a place to stay…”
Yuya and Miura quickly let go of me and jumped back.
“Ah, sorry!” They apologized. When they let go, it was MUCH easier to breathe. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t breathe.
“It’s okay,” I said as I gasped for air. I placed my hand at the base of my throat.
I wasn’t prepared for what I heard next. Ryuu was laughing. He wasn’t bursting out laughing, but he gave a chuckle and then quickly stopped. I think he was trying to hold in his laughter. Too bad though, I heard it and I smiled at him. When I looked at Ryuu, he put his calm face back on and crossed his arms.
“Thanks…” he said.
“No problem,” I told him.
“Hey!” Matsumoto interrupted, “Why don’t we give Jennifer free tickets to the concert if we do the show here?” I quickly shot a look at Matsumoto.
“No no!” I began to say, you could hear the surprise in my voice, “You don’t have to! Honest!” I started to lift and shake my hands in front of me to express how much they really didn’t have to give me free tickets (even though I secretly did want them).
“Nonsense!” Matsumoto replied, “You’re letting us stay at your house and we might be too troublesome. The least we can do is give you free tickets. They’ll be front seat too, we’ll make sure we’ll put you in a place where we can see each other. How many do you need?”
I was speechless. Matsumoto was seriously SO nice. “Uhh… th-…three… I think?” I was stuttering. I was still in shock by the offer Matsumoto gave me. He was giving me free tickets to a YE concert. FREE ticket to a YE concert! Do you know how hard it is to get tickets, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR THEM?! And here I am, easily getting any number I wanted.
“Three, huh? Alright, three it is! I’ll get your address later so I can send them to you when we’re ready to distribute the tickets.”
I was seriously filled with happiness. I was ready to explode. I began to hyperventilate.
“THANK YOU!” I shouted, “Oh my god! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!” I began to jump in one spot, I finally then ran to Matsumoto and hugged him with all my might. “THANK YOU SO MUCH!” I continued to say.
“Wah! Not fair!” Miura whined, “Matsumoto-kun actually got a hug from Jen-chan!”
I quickly pulled away. I forgot about the levels of respect in Japan. It must have been awkward for Matsumoto to be quickly hugged by a girl that wasn’t close to him. I began to blush.
“I’m sorry…” I said. Matsumoto laughed.
“It’s alright,” he replied with a full-hearted smile and laugh, “Come here!”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me in for another hug. Thankfully, my face was buried in his chest, so he couldn’t see how red my face must have been.
“GROUP HUG!” Miura screamed, and he glomped me and Matsumoto. I was honestly so happy. It felt like these people were my family, all of them. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and we began to laugh, which just added to the atmosphere.
Ryuu and Uebo were the only ones who weren’t really laughing. Instead, they tried to stay calm and collected. But I could see kindness in their eyes. When I looked at Hayato, he gave me a crooked smile. It made me blush even more, and I decided to hide my face in Matsumoto’s chest again.
“There you are, Miss!” yelled a voice.
Our happy moment ended and we broke the hug. I looked for the source of the voice and saw a man in a blue uniform at the top of the stairs, leading to the centre of the stage. It was the policeman from earlier.
“Oh shit…” I whispered.
The policeman ran down to the stage, “I’ve been looking all over for you. I was scared those two men got you.”
“I’m sorry, officer…” I told him, “I did go to the washroom but then… I don’t know, I got… distracted.”
“I can see that,” the officer had his hands on his hips and irritation could be heard in his voice.
“I truly am sorry, it’s just that… I wasn’t ready to go. I wanted to rest for a bit.”
“You could have told me that, I would have let you rest in the office.”
“I know but… I wanted some time alone. You know, to clear my thoughts.”
“I understand, but Miss, you really shouldn’t have done that.” The officer stared at the six other men that were around me, “You must be the people who reserved the stage for today, I apologize for this little interruption. Let’s go, Miss.”
The officer grabbed my arm and began to drag me off. I was trying hard to resist, but after what happened to me earlier that day, all my strength was gone.
“N-n-no, wait…” I complained.
“Miss, these are very important people and I’m sure they don’t want to be disturbed any longer. Now, let’s get you home.”
“But…” I quickly looked back at the group of singers. I knew why they weren’t stopping the officer; it was because they didn’t know what was going on-because they didn’t know English. Despite my loss of strength, I continued to fight back. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to be pulled out of my happy dream yet. Not yet.
“Officer,” said a stern voice. It was Hayato. “She can stay here,” he told the officer. My eyes looked at Hayato and relief washed over me. “Hayato…” I whispered.
“Excuse me, sir?” the officer asked.
“I said she can stay here. She is our friend.”
“Are you sure?” The officer gave me a strange look and I stared back at him.
“Yes, officer. She can stay here.”
The officer let go of my arm, “Whatever you say, sir.” He then turned towards me, “Miss, make sure you’re careful next time.”
“I will,” I told him, “Thank you for helping me.”
The officer nodded at me and then to the rest of the people who were standing behind me. “I’ll be off then,” he said. He turned around, walked up the stairs and exited the stage.
I turned around and faced Hayato. “Thank you,” I told him. Hayato looked at me with a kind face. For some reason, I just couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. He smiled at me.
“So,” he said, “shall we go to your house now?”
“What?” I asked. I was caught off guard when he switched back to Japanese.
“Your house, shall we go?”
“Oh!” I began to talk in Japanese, “Right, sorry.”
“How are we going to get there?” Ryuu asked.
“Well… we could walk to the subway station, or take a taxi,” I told them.
“I refuse to take the subway again…” Yuya quickly added in and then he pointed to Miura, “Especially with him.”
I began to laugh, and so did Yuya and Miura. The rest of the members just stood there awkwardly. “I’m sorry,” I told the rest of the members, “You just had to be there for that moment… it was quite the moment.”
Hayato smiled at me. “So, I guess we’ll be taking a taxi then…”
“But it’s going to be expensive though!” I told them, “I don’t exactly live near here…”
“We’ll split the bill,” he said, “All six of us. It’ll be cheaper then.”
“Oh, okay,” I answered but quickly realized what he just said, “Wait, there are seven of us.”
He gave a small chuckle, “Did you really think we’d let you pay?”
I looked at him with disbelief and guilt. “But…” I began to say.
“NO WAY!” shouted Yuya, “We’re not letting you pay Jennifer!”
I quickly turned to Yuya, “But…”
“Consider this as our living expenses, okay?” Matsumoto added.
I felt like a spoiled brat! I met MUSIKK, had them perform personally for me, got three FREE tickets, and had them stay at my house. If you ask me, I felt like I got everything I wanted. But I knew I wasn’t going to win. Just look at the odds, six to one. I gave out a large sigh and said, “Fine…”
“Alright!” Miura screamed, “Let’s go!” Miura started to walk up the stairs. We all started to follow Miura. Yuya was lecturing Miura up at the front of the line.
It was only until a few seconds later that there was one person missing. “Where’s Hayato?” I whispered to myself. I glanced behind me to see if he was right behind me, but he wasn’t. I stopped walking and fully turned around so that I was staring at the stage. Hayato was standing there by himself with his hands in his pockets. I walked back towards him.
When I got close enough to him, I could see a weird expression in his face. He seemed to be thinking.
“Hayato?” I asked him. His head quickly shot in the direction I was in and his face wasn’t gentle like the way he looked at me before. Instead, it was surprised, probably because I interrupted his train of though.
“I’m sorry…” I told him, “Did I interrupt you with something?”
His expression quickly changed back into his gentle expression (DAMN! THESE JAPANESE MEN COULD CHANGE THEIR EMOTIONS SO EASILY!). He shook his head, “No.” He gave out a sigh.
“Umm…” I began to say, “Do you prefer to talk in English or Japanese?”
“I’d like to practice my English,” he said, “but we should talk in Japanese just in case the other members would like to join in our conversation.”
“How about… if we’re alone like this, we can talk in English? Is that okay?”
He gave a small smirk and laughed under his breath, “That’ll be perfect.”
“OI! Why are you guys taking so long?” Both of our heads glanced up the at the top of the stairs to see Miura waving frantically at us. “Uebo was able to get us a taxi! Come on, or we’ll leave without you!” Miura then ran off.
I began to laugh and said, “Stupid Miura…” under my breath, and then I started to run off in Miura’s direction but quickly stopped after Hayato said something.
“Thank you…” he said.
I turned around, “For what?”
“For letting us stay at your house. I didn’t thank you earlier.”
My huge grin faded into a relaxed smile as I stared at him. “You’re welcome,” I said.
Hayato gave a small chuckle and walked towards me. I was getting ready for him to do what Yuya and Miura did-the bear hug-but he didn’t. I was once again caught off guard. He reached for my hand and put it in his hand. He then lifted my hand up, gently, and then said, “Shall we go?”
“Huh?” I got lost in his eyes, and was not obviously paying attention to what he just said.
Hayato’s mouth formed a smirk and he gave a little chuckle. He then dashed off the stage and up the stairs, pulling me behind him.
Hayato could run really fast, but I didn’t really pay attention to it. I think I was slowing him down because I’m not exactly a… fast… runner. But even if, it felt like I was flying. Maybe it was because of what I was staring at when we were running; what was in front of me while we ran-our hands, with our fingers entwined together.