[Yama fic] Rental Lover (Chapter 22)
Title: Rental Lover
Pairing: Yama (Ohno x Sho)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, fluff, romance, drama
Summary: Ohno had a talk with his father and made a decision on his relationship with Sho. What would that be? Sho's father's gambling luck turned for the worse. What move would he take to get money?
Chapter 22
Ohno didn’t know what he could get out of his father. The old man clearly didn’t want his son to go after his boyfriend. Would he say anything helpful even if he knew something? But he had no other option now. His father was the last one to see Sho that morning. He had to find out what the two had talked about.
“Papa, I need to ask you something.” Ohno found his parents in the living room.
“What is it?” Ohno’s father put down the newspaper he was reading when he saw his son rushing in.
“Did you talk to Sho on the day he left?” Ohno asked straight out.
Ohno’s father paused for a second before replying a ‘yes’. Ohno was not surprised since Nishimura already told him, but he saw his mother looked up at his father rather surprised.
“What did you talk about?” Ohno asked anxiously.
“Nothing much. I just help him understand something. That’s all.” His father answered casually, and went back to read his newspaper.
“Come on, papa. You hardly talked to him even when I was around. There must be a reason for you to go talk to him in our room.” Ohno didn’t what his father said, especially noticing the pause his father made before answering him at first.
“You talked to Sho? I thought you meant you’re going to talk to Satoshi first.” Ohno’s mother jumped into the conversation. “Oh no, don’t tell me you - ”
“Mama, what do you mean? Talk to me about what?” Ohno was even more confused. Even his mother seemed to know something he didn’t.
“No, I didn’t. I just reasoned with him. Whatever decisions he made were his own choices.” Ohno’s father replied to his wife.
Ohno saw his parents exchanging words but both of them seemed to be ignoring his questions. “Please, can someone tell me what’s going on?”
Ohno’s mother stood up and walked towards his son. She put her hands on her son’s arms and looked at him. She could see the anxieties and worries in his eyes. Since Sho left, she could see how dispirited he had become and had even blamed Sho for leaving her son with a broken heart. She never imagined that it might very well be the doing of her own husband.
“Satoshi, when your papa found out about Sho’s family background, he had some doubts about Sho’s intentions of becoming your lover. I told him not to jump into conclusion before talking to you. I didn’t expect Sho was the one he talked to - ”
Ohno’s stomach sank upon hearing what his mother said. He could pretty much imagine what his father’s conversation with Sho was about.
“Papa, you kicked Sho out?” Ohno literally yelled. It was the conclusion Ohno came up and it made him rage.
“Nonsense!” Ohno’s father denied. “And mind your attitude.” He’s not thrilled that his son talked to him in such disrespectful tone.
“Then tell me, papa. What did you say to him?” Ohno is not backing down, but had softened his tone.
“I just made him understand the consequences of his actions. The decision to leave was solely his own, but I’d say he made the right decision. It’s best for everyone.”
“What actions? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Son, I don’t think someone got sent to junvenile hall for no reason. Besides, they’ve already got away with so much of our money. Not reporting them to authority is already the biggest condonation they could get from me.”
“So you did confront Sho with what you found. Oh god!” Ohno resented his father. He knew Sho felt shameful of his father and the family that he came from. Being confronted with his painful past was not something his lover could endure. “Sho had nothing to do with what I did. He had no knowledge of me giving money to his father behind his back. You can’t blame him for something he didn’t know.”
“I was just trying to protect you. Don’t you know that?” Ohno’s father raised his voice. He didn’t like his son defying him and still stood by what he thought was right. “May be he left out of guilty conscience. Forget about him. You deserve better.”
“No!” Ohno was agitated. “I will not forget about Sho. I love him and I’m going to find him whether you like it or not!”
“Baka! Don’t ever talk to me like that! I’m your father!”
“Calm down, both of you!” Ohno’s mother stood in between her husband and son trying to mitigate the tense atmosphere.
She turned to her son and said “Satoshi, you can’t use this attitude to talk to your father. Although I don’t necessarily agree with what he did and how he handled the situation, I can see that he did everything out of love and concern for you.”
Then she turned to her husband. “And you, judgmental as always. Whatever Sho did that send him to junvenile detention was a long time ago. You have no evidence to proof that Sho had anything to do with his father’s recent scams. I can already imagine what you said to that poor boy. He didn’t stand a chance.”
“Mama, I have to find him. I love him and I know he loves me.” Ohno pleaded to his mother, but he’s still angry at what his father had done and gave the old man a glare. “I don’t believe he’s a conman.”
Ohno’s father sighed. “What if you’re wrong and he’s not as innocent as you think he is? He will break your heart. Why not just back off before you are in too deep?” Protecting the family estate was one thing, but what concerned him the most was his son getting hurt.
“At least I need to find that out for myself. I have to take the chance of being heart broken in order to know what true love is, don’t I? These few weeks of living without him already turned my heart inside out. I never felt like this before. If I am wrong, so be it. I’ll live with my own mistakes. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life not knowing the truth.” Ohno poured out his heart.
Ohno’s mother listened to her son quietly. While it’s saddening to see her son so devastated, she was happy to see him stood up for who he loved and was willing to accept whatever consequences that came with it.
“Alright, Satoshi, but be very careful.” Ohno’s mother showed support for her son. “Sho may be a kindhearted man, but we don’t know much about his father. We don’t know what he’s capable of. Promise me you’ll come to us when you find any leads and don’t go after them yourself. Finding Sho is important, but putting yourself in any danger won’t help.”
“I promise. Thank you, mama.” Ohno walked out of the living room without saying a word to his father. He heard his father protesting, but he knew his mother could handle him just fine.
Ohno was just around the corner when he saw his cousin standing there leaning against the wall. It’s obvious that Jun had heard the whole conversation that just took place. He continued to walk towards the garden and Jun followed.
They sat down at the exact same chairs they did just a while before, but Ohno’s state of mind was totally different. Jun didn’t say anything. He just sat there waiting for his cousin to speak when he’s ready.
“How could I doubt him?” Ohno finally spoke, clearly blaming himself for not having enough faith in his lover. “I almost gave up on him, on us.” He covered his face with his hands, not dare to show his ashamed look.
Jun patted Ohno’s back as comfort. “It’s only normal how you felt given the situation. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
“I can’t believe Papa would ask Sho to leave.”
“Well, he didn’t exactly, according to him.”
“May be not in so many words, but you know how intimidating he could be.”
“It’s the first time I heard you stood up to him like this, you know?” Jun laughed. “I guess that’s the power of love.”
“Don’t tease me, please. I’d do anything for Sho. I’ll give anything to have him back.”
“Then put yourself together and go find him. Nino and I will help you any way we can.”
“Nino and you?” Ohno grinned. “Looks like you guys introduced yourselves, save me the trouble.”
Jun gave his cousin a gentle smack. “Focus, focus - ”
**********************************
Days seemed to pass slower then before since Sho left the Ohno villa. He was working two jobs, double shifts sometimes, not only to earn money to satisfy his father’s addiction, but also to keep himself as busy as possible. He had nothing to look forward to after work and he could at least keep his mind from missing Ohno while working. He didn’t know what his lover, well, ex-lover would think about him after he left him like that. He tried to convince himself that it really didn’t matter even if Ohno hated him. That would probably make it easier for the prestigious man to move on.
One thing he had not given up on and never would, his education. He had worked so hard through his teen years to get to this point. When he was looked down on during his childhood, he had sworn to himself that he would get a degree and make something out of himself. Even though he had hit road blocks after road blocks he had not surrendered. That’s the only thing that kept him going.
An electrical problem in the workplace had given Sho an unexpected day off. He’s glad that his father left home two days ago and hadn’t returned yet. It’s common for his old man to disappear without notice, sometimes for a night, sometimes several. He didn’t even bother to ask. The old man’s luck had turned for the worse lately. He had been on a losing streak on whatever bets he made. The money Sho had saved up was pretty much all gone. The longer his father was away the better because it’s still three days till his next payday.
Sho spent this quiet day he seldom had sitting on the couch which had been his bed for the past weeks reading his old text books and reviewing his half done graduation thesis. He still hoped to finish it and graduate someday. He dozed off from his reading and had a dream about Ohno took him fishing and they both fell into the water. He was trying to swim to Ohno but no matter how hard he swam, he could not reach him. It was when he saw Ohno got swept further and further away that he was awakened by some noises and realized it was all a dream.
He shook his head and quickly came back to reality. His father was back. The back of the couch served as his cover so his father didn’t see him. But judging from the tone of voice coming from the outside, his father was not in a good mood.
“Damn it. I was so close in winning that hand. Then I would have everything back.” Sho’s father yelled.
“Really, I thought you would definitely win. If not for that stupid fat bitch who dealt a card at the last hand, the dealer would burst for sure. Screw her!” Another man concurred. Sho recognized this voice was the tall and big man his father hung out a lot with.
Sho didn’t like to deal with his father when he’s in such rage and he’s certainly not interested in hearing about how they lost in their gamblings. He stayed where he was and hoped they would go somewhere soon. Unfortunately the book he was holding slipped his hand and dropped to the floor.
“Sho?”
Sho sighed. He had no choice but to greet his father now. “Yes, papa. I’m here.”
“You’re here. Good!” His father looked happy to see his son, but Sho knew very well that’s not because he missed him. “I need to talk to you.”
His father went to the couch and sat down besides his son, who knew exactly what was coming. “I need some money.”
Sho was amused by his father’s bluntness when asking money from him now. The old man didn’t even bother to fake a little bit of guilt or hesitation. “I don’t have much. My next pay day won’t be for another few days.” He took out all the cash inside except for 1000 yen he left for himself and gave them to his father.
His father took the money from Sho and started counting.
“That’s not nearly enough. We need more. We only have a few days -- ” The tall guy said loudly after Sho’s father finished counting.
Ahem Ahem. Sho’s father cleared his throat, with the obvious intention to stop his friend from finishing what he’s saying. “That’s all you have?”
“That’s all I have now. You’ll have to wait a few days if you want more.” Sho stood up and grab his books ready to walk away. He had nothing more to offer to the greedy men.
“You can go ask your rich boyfriend!” The tall guy said from behind Sho. “He’d never refuse.”
Sho’s protective reflex kicked in with the mention of Ohno. “Don’t even think about it! I already said he’s not my boyfriend anymore. He wouldn’t care what I ask.” Then he turned to his father. “Don’t even go near him. You knew what they can do if you cross the line.” It’s both a plead and threat by Sho.
“Yes, yes, I know, I know. Don’t mind him. You go get busy.” He gestured that Sho could leave as he wished.
Sho left the apartment and took a walk. His mind was still thinking about what his father’s friend said.
“.…We need more. We only have a few days….”
Sho couldn’t understand what he meant, what would happen in a few days. And then the mentioning of Ohno, which bothered him the most. Even though his father promised to stay away from Ohno, he knew he needed to pay closer attention to any move his untrustworthy father might make.
**********************************
Ohno and Nino just came out of class. This was their last class before summer break.
“Yay! Summer break finally here! I can finally focus on breaking level 7 of Avatar.” Nino stretched his arms when they were outside the building. His mind was already onto his video game.
“Don’t forget you still have to do your graduation project proposal. We have to turn it in first thing when school resumes.” Ohno was not nearly as excited as his friend.
“I won’t even think about it for another month. So when are you leaving?” Nino asked.
“Leaving? Where to?” Ohno didn’t know what Nino was asking.
“Come on. You went on a trip every summer. One year Europe, another year Australia. Where are you going this year?”
A sad look quickly emerged on Ohno’s face. “We were planning to go to Hawaii, and Sho was coming with us. He was so happy when I told him - ”
Nino touched the sensitive subject yet again. These days it seemed everything he talked with Ohno about ended up to Sho. He was glad that his friend had not given up in finding Sho after all, but hated to see his friend all gloomy.
“Jun-kun said he had a couple of leads on Sho-kun’s whereabout that he’s following. May be he’d have some good news soon.” He tried to cheer Ohno up.
“Looks like you and Jun are getting along quite well. He didn’t even tell me he had leads but he told you.” Ohno laughed.
Nino blushed on the remarks. “He didn’t tell you because he didn’t want to get your hopes up until he checked them out. Tease me again and I won’t tell you if Sho calls me.”
“Sho called you?” Ohno raised his eyebrows.
“No, I was just saying. See, that’s exactly why Jun-kun didn’t tell you - ”
Nino’s phone suddenly rang, preventing him from finishing his sentence. He looked at the display but it was an unfamiliar number. He wondered who would be calling but answered it anyway.
“Moshi, moshi”
“Nino, it’s me, but don’t scream and don’t say my name. Or else I’ll hang up!”
Speaking of the devil. “Sh - ”
“Don’t say it!”
Nino didn’t want to risk Sho really hanging up on him, so he refrained himself from saying his name. He had to keep the communications going in order to find out where Sho was.
“OK - ”
“Is Satoshi with you? A yes or no will do.”
“Yes” Nino glimpsed at Ohno. He’s dazing off as usual and didn’t seem to be paying attention to his phone conversation.
“Can you move away so he won’t hear you?” Sho requested.
Nino complied. He moved a few steps away from Ohno and turned his back on him. “OK now.”
Sho continued. “Please take him off campus, take him somewhere but not his home. Wait a couple of hours before letting him go home.”
“Why? What’s the matter?” Nino was confused of what Sho asked of him. But he knew Sho was not the type of person who do things without a reason.
“Just do as I said, please. I have my reason. And you can’t tell him I called.”
“Then at least tell me where you are. I won’t do it if you’d disappear on me again.” Nino knew he’s taking a chance. He felt that Sho really wanted him to do what he asked and hoped to use this as a leverage to make Sho revealed his whereabouts.
“Nino, please - ”
“Don’t Nino me. If you don’t trust me, then don’t count on me doing anything for you.” Nino tried to stay firm. He silently prayed that Sho would give in.
“There’s no time. You’ve got to act now. OK, call this number tomorrow at noon. I’ll tell you then. I promise.”
Nino wanted to push further, but he sensed Sho’s anxiety on the matter and felt he should act quickly. He could only trust that Sho would keep his words. “Alright. But don’t break your promise.”
“I won’t. Go now, please.”
To Be Continued....
Previous | Index | Next
Pairing: Yama (Ohno x Sho)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, fluff, romance, drama
Summary: Ohno had a talk with his father and made a decision on his relationship with Sho. What would that be? Sho's father's gambling luck turned for the worse. What move would he take to get money?
Chapter 22
Ohno didn’t know what he could get out of his father. The old man clearly didn’t want his son to go after his boyfriend. Would he say anything helpful even if he knew something? But he had no other option now. His father was the last one to see Sho that morning. He had to find out what the two had talked about.
“Papa, I need to ask you something.” Ohno found his parents in the living room.
“What is it?” Ohno’s father put down the newspaper he was reading when he saw his son rushing in.
“Did you talk to Sho on the day he left?” Ohno asked straight out.
Ohno’s father paused for a second before replying a ‘yes’. Ohno was not surprised since Nishimura already told him, but he saw his mother looked up at his father rather surprised.
“What did you talk about?” Ohno asked anxiously.
“Nothing much. I just help him understand something. That’s all.” His father answered casually, and went back to read his newspaper.
“Come on, papa. You hardly talked to him even when I was around. There must be a reason for you to go talk to him in our room.” Ohno didn’t what his father said, especially noticing the pause his father made before answering him at first.
“You talked to Sho? I thought you meant you’re going to talk to Satoshi first.” Ohno’s mother jumped into the conversation. “Oh no, don’t tell me you - ”
“Mama, what do you mean? Talk to me about what?” Ohno was even more confused. Even his mother seemed to know something he didn’t.
“No, I didn’t. I just reasoned with him. Whatever decisions he made were his own choices.” Ohno’s father replied to his wife.
Ohno saw his parents exchanging words but both of them seemed to be ignoring his questions. “Please, can someone tell me what’s going on?”
Ohno’s mother stood up and walked towards his son. She put her hands on her son’s arms and looked at him. She could see the anxieties and worries in his eyes. Since Sho left, she could see how dispirited he had become and had even blamed Sho for leaving her son with a broken heart. She never imagined that it might very well be the doing of her own husband.
“Satoshi, when your papa found out about Sho’s family background, he had some doubts about Sho’s intentions of becoming your lover. I told him not to jump into conclusion before talking to you. I didn’t expect Sho was the one he talked to - ”
Ohno’s stomach sank upon hearing what his mother said. He could pretty much imagine what his father’s conversation with Sho was about.
“Papa, you kicked Sho out?” Ohno literally yelled. It was the conclusion Ohno came up and it made him rage.
“Nonsense!” Ohno’s father denied. “And mind your attitude.” He’s not thrilled that his son talked to him in such disrespectful tone.
“Then tell me, papa. What did you say to him?” Ohno is not backing down, but had softened his tone.
“I just made him understand the consequences of his actions. The decision to leave was solely his own, but I’d say he made the right decision. It’s best for everyone.”
“What actions? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Son, I don’t think someone got sent to junvenile hall for no reason. Besides, they’ve already got away with so much of our money. Not reporting them to authority is already the biggest condonation they could get from me.”
“So you did confront Sho with what you found. Oh god!” Ohno resented his father. He knew Sho felt shameful of his father and the family that he came from. Being confronted with his painful past was not something his lover could endure. “Sho had nothing to do with what I did. He had no knowledge of me giving money to his father behind his back. You can’t blame him for something he didn’t know.”
“I was just trying to protect you. Don’t you know that?” Ohno’s father raised his voice. He didn’t like his son defying him and still stood by what he thought was right. “May be he left out of guilty conscience. Forget about him. You deserve better.”
“No!” Ohno was agitated. “I will not forget about Sho. I love him and I’m going to find him whether you like it or not!”
“Baka! Don’t ever talk to me like that! I’m your father!”
“Calm down, both of you!” Ohno’s mother stood in between her husband and son trying to mitigate the tense atmosphere.
She turned to her son and said “Satoshi, you can’t use this attitude to talk to your father. Although I don’t necessarily agree with what he did and how he handled the situation, I can see that he did everything out of love and concern for you.”
Then she turned to her husband. “And you, judgmental as always. Whatever Sho did that send him to junvenile detention was a long time ago. You have no evidence to proof that Sho had anything to do with his father’s recent scams. I can already imagine what you said to that poor boy. He didn’t stand a chance.”
“Mama, I have to find him. I love him and I know he loves me.” Ohno pleaded to his mother, but he’s still angry at what his father had done and gave the old man a glare. “I don’t believe he’s a conman.”
Ohno’s father sighed. “What if you’re wrong and he’s not as innocent as you think he is? He will break your heart. Why not just back off before you are in too deep?” Protecting the family estate was one thing, but what concerned him the most was his son getting hurt.
“At least I need to find that out for myself. I have to take the chance of being heart broken in order to know what true love is, don’t I? These few weeks of living without him already turned my heart inside out. I never felt like this before. If I am wrong, so be it. I’ll live with my own mistakes. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life not knowing the truth.” Ohno poured out his heart.
Ohno’s mother listened to her son quietly. While it’s saddening to see her son so devastated, she was happy to see him stood up for who he loved and was willing to accept whatever consequences that came with it.
“Alright, Satoshi, but be very careful.” Ohno’s mother showed support for her son. “Sho may be a kindhearted man, but we don’t know much about his father. We don’t know what he’s capable of. Promise me you’ll come to us when you find any leads and don’t go after them yourself. Finding Sho is important, but putting yourself in any danger won’t help.”
“I promise. Thank you, mama.” Ohno walked out of the living room without saying a word to his father. He heard his father protesting, but he knew his mother could handle him just fine.
Ohno was just around the corner when he saw his cousin standing there leaning against the wall. It’s obvious that Jun had heard the whole conversation that just took place. He continued to walk towards the garden and Jun followed.
They sat down at the exact same chairs they did just a while before, but Ohno’s state of mind was totally different. Jun didn’t say anything. He just sat there waiting for his cousin to speak when he’s ready.
“How could I doubt him?” Ohno finally spoke, clearly blaming himself for not having enough faith in his lover. “I almost gave up on him, on us.” He covered his face with his hands, not dare to show his ashamed look.
Jun patted Ohno’s back as comfort. “It’s only normal how you felt given the situation. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
“I can’t believe Papa would ask Sho to leave.”
“Well, he didn’t exactly, according to him.”
“May be not in so many words, but you know how intimidating he could be.”
“It’s the first time I heard you stood up to him like this, you know?” Jun laughed. “I guess that’s the power of love.”
“Don’t tease me, please. I’d do anything for Sho. I’ll give anything to have him back.”
“Then put yourself together and go find him. Nino and I will help you any way we can.”
“Nino and you?” Ohno grinned. “Looks like you guys introduced yourselves, save me the trouble.”
Jun gave his cousin a gentle smack. “Focus, focus - ”
**********************************
Days seemed to pass slower then before since Sho left the Ohno villa. He was working two jobs, double shifts sometimes, not only to earn money to satisfy his father’s addiction, but also to keep himself as busy as possible. He had nothing to look forward to after work and he could at least keep his mind from missing Ohno while working. He didn’t know what his lover, well, ex-lover would think about him after he left him like that. He tried to convince himself that it really didn’t matter even if Ohno hated him. That would probably make it easier for the prestigious man to move on.
One thing he had not given up on and never would, his education. He had worked so hard through his teen years to get to this point. When he was looked down on during his childhood, he had sworn to himself that he would get a degree and make something out of himself. Even though he had hit road blocks after road blocks he had not surrendered. That’s the only thing that kept him going.
An electrical problem in the workplace had given Sho an unexpected day off. He’s glad that his father left home two days ago and hadn’t returned yet. It’s common for his old man to disappear without notice, sometimes for a night, sometimes several. He didn’t even bother to ask. The old man’s luck had turned for the worse lately. He had been on a losing streak on whatever bets he made. The money Sho had saved up was pretty much all gone. The longer his father was away the better because it’s still three days till his next payday.
Sho spent this quiet day he seldom had sitting on the couch which had been his bed for the past weeks reading his old text books and reviewing his half done graduation thesis. He still hoped to finish it and graduate someday. He dozed off from his reading and had a dream about Ohno took him fishing and they both fell into the water. He was trying to swim to Ohno but no matter how hard he swam, he could not reach him. It was when he saw Ohno got swept further and further away that he was awakened by some noises and realized it was all a dream.
He shook his head and quickly came back to reality. His father was back. The back of the couch served as his cover so his father didn’t see him. But judging from the tone of voice coming from the outside, his father was not in a good mood.
“Damn it. I was so close in winning that hand. Then I would have everything back.” Sho’s father yelled.
“Really, I thought you would definitely win. If not for that stupid fat bitch who dealt a card at the last hand, the dealer would burst for sure. Screw her!” Another man concurred. Sho recognized this voice was the tall and big man his father hung out a lot with.
Sho didn’t like to deal with his father when he’s in such rage and he’s certainly not interested in hearing about how they lost in their gamblings. He stayed where he was and hoped they would go somewhere soon. Unfortunately the book he was holding slipped his hand and dropped to the floor.
“Sho?”
Sho sighed. He had no choice but to greet his father now. “Yes, papa. I’m here.”
“You’re here. Good!” His father looked happy to see his son, but Sho knew very well that’s not because he missed him. “I need to talk to you.”
His father went to the couch and sat down besides his son, who knew exactly what was coming. “I need some money.”
Sho was amused by his father’s bluntness when asking money from him now. The old man didn’t even bother to fake a little bit of guilt or hesitation. “I don’t have much. My next pay day won’t be for another few days.” He took out all the cash inside except for 1000 yen he left for himself and gave them to his father.
His father took the money from Sho and started counting.
“That’s not nearly enough. We need more. We only have a few days -- ” The tall guy said loudly after Sho’s father finished counting.
Ahem Ahem. Sho’s father cleared his throat, with the obvious intention to stop his friend from finishing what he’s saying. “That’s all you have?”
“That’s all I have now. You’ll have to wait a few days if you want more.” Sho stood up and grab his books ready to walk away. He had nothing more to offer to the greedy men.
“You can go ask your rich boyfriend!” The tall guy said from behind Sho. “He’d never refuse.”
Sho’s protective reflex kicked in with the mention of Ohno. “Don’t even think about it! I already said he’s not my boyfriend anymore. He wouldn’t care what I ask.” Then he turned to his father. “Don’t even go near him. You knew what they can do if you cross the line.” It’s both a plead and threat by Sho.
“Yes, yes, I know, I know. Don’t mind him. You go get busy.” He gestured that Sho could leave as he wished.
Sho left the apartment and took a walk. His mind was still thinking about what his father’s friend said.
“.…We need more. We only have a few days….”
Sho couldn’t understand what he meant, what would happen in a few days. And then the mentioning of Ohno, which bothered him the most. Even though his father promised to stay away from Ohno, he knew he needed to pay closer attention to any move his untrustworthy father might make.
**********************************
Ohno and Nino just came out of class. This was their last class before summer break.
“Yay! Summer break finally here! I can finally focus on breaking level 7 of Avatar.” Nino stretched his arms when they were outside the building. His mind was already onto his video game.
“Don’t forget you still have to do your graduation project proposal. We have to turn it in first thing when school resumes.” Ohno was not nearly as excited as his friend.
“I won’t even think about it for another month. So when are you leaving?” Nino asked.
“Leaving? Where to?” Ohno didn’t know what Nino was asking.
“Come on. You went on a trip every summer. One year Europe, another year Australia. Where are you going this year?”
A sad look quickly emerged on Ohno’s face. “We were planning to go to Hawaii, and Sho was coming with us. He was so happy when I told him - ”
Nino touched the sensitive subject yet again. These days it seemed everything he talked with Ohno about ended up to Sho. He was glad that his friend had not given up in finding Sho after all, but hated to see his friend all gloomy.
“Jun-kun said he had a couple of leads on Sho-kun’s whereabout that he’s following. May be he’d have some good news soon.” He tried to cheer Ohno up.
“Looks like you and Jun are getting along quite well. He didn’t even tell me he had leads but he told you.” Ohno laughed.
Nino blushed on the remarks. “He didn’t tell you because he didn’t want to get your hopes up until he checked them out. Tease me again and I won’t tell you if Sho calls me.”
“Sho called you?” Ohno raised his eyebrows.
“No, I was just saying. See, that’s exactly why Jun-kun didn’t tell you - ”
Nino’s phone suddenly rang, preventing him from finishing his sentence. He looked at the display but it was an unfamiliar number. He wondered who would be calling but answered it anyway.
“Moshi, moshi”
“Nino, it’s me, but don’t scream and don’t say my name. Or else I’ll hang up!”
Speaking of the devil. “Sh - ”
“Don’t say it!”
Nino didn’t want to risk Sho really hanging up on him, so he refrained himself from saying his name. He had to keep the communications going in order to find out where Sho was.
“OK - ”
“Is Satoshi with you? A yes or no will do.”
“Yes” Nino glimpsed at Ohno. He’s dazing off as usual and didn’t seem to be paying attention to his phone conversation.
“Can you move away so he won’t hear you?” Sho requested.
Nino complied. He moved a few steps away from Ohno and turned his back on him. “OK now.”
Sho continued. “Please take him off campus, take him somewhere but not his home. Wait a couple of hours before letting him go home.”
“Why? What’s the matter?” Nino was confused of what Sho asked of him. But he knew Sho was not the type of person who do things without a reason.
“Just do as I said, please. I have my reason. And you can’t tell him I called.”
“Then at least tell me where you are. I won’t do it if you’d disappear on me again.” Nino knew he’s taking a chance. He felt that Sho really wanted him to do what he asked and hoped to use this as a leverage to make Sho revealed his whereabouts.
“Nino, please - ”
“Don’t Nino me. If you don’t trust me, then don’t count on me doing anything for you.” Nino tried to stay firm. He silently prayed that Sho would give in.
“There’s no time. You’ve got to act now. OK, call this number tomorrow at noon. I’ll tell you then. I promise.”
Nino wanted to push further, but he sensed Sho’s anxiety on the matter and felt he should act quickly. He could only trust that Sho would keep his words. “Alright. But don’t break your promise.”
“I won’t. Go now, please.”
To Be Continued....
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