You're Beautiful - Part 2
Ohno sighed as he approached his house. Thinking that Sho was probably right, he stopped teasing Nino during their lunch together and as a result, Nino became more comfortable with him. Nino looked cheerful to talk with him as he asked about the latest game that Nino played. That is the only thing he talked about himself. Ohno tried to be careful by avoiding talking about the person who steals Nino from him.
And now that he was alone, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the person. Who is that person? He had been friends with Nino since they were kids and he knew Nino wasn't close with anyone else. There were only Jun and Aiba but he didn't think Nino likes them more than friends. It has to be someone else.
Suddenly he thought of the hints from their conversation. Nino accidentally said he had the same name and face as the other person. He didn't understand what Nino meant by that. It doesn't make any sense no matter how much he thought about it.
"Satoshi, are you okay?"
A voice from behind interrupted his thought. He turned around to look at his mother who was walking towards him.
"Yes, I'm okay. Did you just get home from the market?"
"Really? I think something is bothering you,"
"I'm okay, Mama," said Ohno, trying to reassure his mother. His mother doesn't seem to believe him but the giggling sound from the house distracted her from asking.
"I ask your sister to clean the storeroom but Kazuha dropped by. Instead of cleaning, I think they will be gossiping," said his mother as she unlocked the door. Ohno let out another sigh as he imagined that both Kazuha and his sister will try to know about his date with Nino.
"Hi, Satoshi," greeted Kazuha once she saw him walking behind his mom. "How was your date?"
As expected, she immediately asked.
"Date? What do you mean? Satoshi, who are you going out with?"
"Who else, Mama? The one and only in his heart" His nosy sister answered for him. Everyone in the family knows about his feeling for Nino.
"You didn't tell me you're going out with Nino. But, why do you look unhappy? Is everything okay?" Asked his mother once again.
"Well..." Ohno was hesitant to let them know the truth but it's the only way to make them stop asking questions. "Nino rejected me,"
All three of them were surprised, especially Kazuha.
"Are you sure?" Asked Kazuha in confusion. "I am certain he likes you,"
"Well, too bad, you're wrong," answered Ohno. "I’m sorry but I want to be alone,"
The three of them didn't stop him from leaving. He tried to avoid eye contact with any of them. He hated the way they looked at him sympathetically. Yes, he was sad with the rejection. But, he wasn't going to give up. He decided to give Nino time and would stop bothering him for a while as he thought of a way to win Nino's heart.
Someone knocked on the door when he was about to fall asleep. Grunting, he opened the door. Thankfully, it wasn't his sister or Kazuha who definitely wanted to know what really happened. It was his mother who looked at him with concern.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Don't worry. I just want to be alone,"
"I want to leave you alone but I need your help,"
"What is it?"
"Well, your sister only cleaned half of the storeroom. I really want it to be cleared by today. Can you do so?"
"Where is nee-chan?"
"Go out with Kazuha before I could scold her,"
Ohno stopped himself from sighing. He didn't want to be insolent so reluctantly he agreed to do so. Perhaps this would be an opportunity to stop thinking about Nino.
He needed to walk out of the house to get to the storeroom. His family house was an old mansion. A few generations of his family had stayed in the house. The storeroom was full of stuff left by the family before and no one ever bothered to clean them. Now, there was a lot of stuff from the house that should be put into the storeroom and that's why his mother wanted them to clean it up.
As soon as he opened the storeroom, he growled in frustration. Cleaned half of the room? He bet not even a quarter of the room was cleared. Do not want to waste any more time, he quickly began to work. There was a lot of ancient stuff and he would love to examine them carefully. But, he didn't have the time so he just threw away those stuff as he thought it was no longer important. If it was important, it would be in the house, instead of the storeroom.
"Satoshi, are you done? It's almost 6:30 pm," shouted his mother.
Ohno looked at his watch. He didn't notice he had been cleaning the storeroom for almost 4 hours. There was only one box left so he informed his mother that he will be done soon. He decided not to check the contents of the box and carried the box outside, where he put all those stuff to be thrown away. However, the box was too heavy and he accidentally let it fall. He cursed himself for being careless as he put back the stuff into the box.
'The life of Ohno Satoshi, yo!'
A notebook from the box caught his attention. The first reason is the owner of the book had the same name as him. The second one, the owner used slang and judging from the condition, he guessed the book was way before the slang was invented. Being curious to know more about the owner, he flipped through the pages. He was beyond surprised when he saw the last page of the book.
It was a drawing. A drawing of a beautiful woman. But, the woman looked familiar. He just saw the woman a day before yesterday. She looked similar to Nino who was dressed as a woman. It couldn’t be a coincidence, right?
"Satoshi, what are you doing?"
"Drawing,"
"What are you drawing?"
"Y... Nothing,"
Nino smiled as another memory came to his mind. But the smile didn't last for long. He remembered how he had crushed Ohno's heart that afternoon. Ohno had been his friends and crush before someone else came into his life. How cruel of Nino to break his heart!
Ohno and Satoshi. In a way, they were quite similar. They often space out and talented for various things. The only difference is Ohno knew how to flirt with him because he knew Nino felt the same way while Satoshi... Well... He wasn't confident with himself. It took him a while to believe that Nino was indeed in love with him.
For Nino himself, when he first met Satoshi, he rejected the man because he was different from Ohno. But, somehow, he found the shy and reserved Satoshi appealing and that's how he fell in love with him. If he wasn't in a coma, would things be any different? Maybe he and Ohno would be together now, without Satoshi being the hindrance.
"Nino..." A soft voice calling him from behind stopped his monologue. He turned around to see Aiba walking to him.
"What are you doing alone on the roof?" Asked Aiba as he sat next to him. Nino simply shook his head without saying anything.
"Why are you here?" Asked Nino instead.
"I went to your house to ask about your date," answered Aiba. "But I found out something. Just a warning, your sister will ask a lot of questions later,"
Nino sighed knowing what Aiba meant by that. His sister must have known that he had rejected Ohno and would question his decision. But, he didn’t have an answer for it.
"You know you can tell me if you have any problem," said Aiba.
"I don't have any problem,"
"Nino, I've known you for a long time. I may be stupid. But, I am not blind. I know you are worried about something,"
Nino chuckled to hear that. Aiba was not stupid. Well, he might have said stupid things sometimes but it was just because of his personality. If there was anyone he could tell about his weird experience, it would be Aiba. But, it was too absurd. Aiba wouldn't believe him.
"It's too stupid, you will laugh at me if I tell you,"
"I told you a lot of stupid things every day and you laughed at me. Give me a chance to laugh at you too,"
Once again, he laughed at what Aiba said. He knew Aiba wouldn't laugh at him. He just wanted to help by reducing the burden Nino felt. Feeling at ease to talk with Aiba, he started talking about what he experienced during his coma.
Aiba listened attentively to what he said. It was difficult at first but once he started, the story started to flow easily from his mouth and he felt lighter after finishing the story.
"Now you can laugh at me," said Nino once he finished. Aiba didn't look like he wanted to ridicule him. Instead, he genuinely looked like he believed him.
"Wow. You meet our doppelgänger there?" Asked Aiba excitedly. "How is mine?"
"Stupid like you," answered Nino causing Aiba to pout. "But, when I was doubtful whether I should be with Satoshi, he's the one who offered advice,"
Nino smiled fondly as he remembered the other Aiba that he met there. He was sunshine, just like Aiba who was sitting next to him. In fact, all the doppelganger that he met was similar to their counterpart here. He remembered how the other Jun was also a sadist, just like his other best friend.
"Kind of like what I did to you now," said Aiba looking proud.
"Whatever. I'm hungry,"
"Me too. Let's eat your favourite hamburger. My treat,"
Nino looked at Aiba sceptically, wondering why he wanted to give him a treat today.
"You look like a sad puppy. You must be missing Satoshi so much. This is the only thing I could do to ease your pain,"
Nino smiled at Aiba, feeling grateful that he had a good friend like him. Aiba didn't know. He already made him feel better by lending his ear to listen to his story.
"Okay. Let me change to proper clothes before we grab a burger," said Nino. They both headed downstairs. Once arriving at his house, his sister and Ohno's sister looked sad. Wondering what made them sad, he promptly asked them.
"What happened?"
"Daddy was promoted,"
"Then why do you look sad?" Asked Nino confusedly.
"We will have to move to Canada. I cannot see Mina anymore,"
Upon hearing that, Nino realized that today might be the last day he saw Ohno. He wondered why he felt like something was taken away from him, just like the day he realized he won't be able to meet Satoshi anymore.
Next
TBC
A/N: Well, another fiction from me again. I hope this fic is good and no so weird. I will write the continuation soon because I want to make the time jump. Like maybe 15 or 20 years from the setting right now. I want to see the response from the readers first. Hopefully, you will enjoy this and comment is appreciated :)
BTW, can anyone guess what happened to Nino actually during his coma?