Red Strings ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Thirteenth String

Walking through the hospital even without her iconic red dress, Kurenai was turning heads. She wore a simple white silk camisole with an oversized turquoise blazer on the outside and matching trousers. Her heels were significantly shorter than usual, only about an inch tall, and she had her hair in a ponytail with two loose strands framing her face.

A simple look, but she caught his eyes.

"Good morning, Chishiya-kun. Coffee?" Honoka asked, trying her best not to take note of how he had his eyes on Kurenai the entire time. Even when she did not look in his direction.

"No thanks."

"Shuntarou." Calling his name as she poked her head out from the break room, Kurenai smiled. "Would you like some coffee? I brought my Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans."

With a nod, Chishiya was already walking toward the break room.

Honoka could not help but roll her eyes. What a hypocrite Kurenai was. In front of Honoka, she was always acting innocent and implying that she had no intentions of competing with her for Chishiya but her actions were quite the opposite.

When Honoka suggested sushi for lunch with Chishiya, Kurenai would buy sushi for all the staff. When she offered Chishiya a sandwich once, Kurenai brought in a Michelin star chef just to make one sandwich. And that one time when Chishiya wanted a bottle of water, Kurenai had ten boxes of VOSS delivered to the hospital. Not just the normal VOSS, but the fancy lemon cucumber flavoured sparkling version.

How was this not competing with her?

"You went with a different look today," Chishiya said, watching as Kurenai was making coffee with their machine.

"Hm? You noticed?" she grinned, though her focus was on the machine. It was different to the one she was used to at home. In theory, this was a lot simpler than the one she had, but she was having difficulty figuring out the mechanics. "It's not really practical to wear a dress in a hospital."

"You look good in dresses though."

He walked up to the machine and reached for the back, turning it on. Someone must have accidentally shut the machine off, though it was entertaining to watch Kurenai struggle with such a simple task.

Once it was turned on, everything else was easy enough and before long, Kurenai had a pot of coffee ready and the aroma filled the entire room. She poured a cup for Chishiya before taking a sip of her own. She hummed with satisfaction, sitting on the sofa.

"Where did you learn to make coffee?"

"Coffee is one of those things I prefer to make myself," Kurenai said, holding her cup with both hands, looking at the liquid inside. "Ayako-san's coffee is fine but not quite right. So I took a class, and after some trial and error, found a way to make it that is..." She kissed fingers like an Italian chef would.

Frankly, coffee was not something that Chishiya concerned himself with. If he needed one, he would make one in the break room. Or he would buy a can from the vending machine. If he wanted to indulge a little, he would head to the shopping centre nearby and get himself a Starbucks. He would not, however, spend time learning about coffee beans and how to roast them.

But the coffee Kurenai made was especially good.

"Is that Blue Mountain I smell?"

Disrupting the mood, Ichiro walked into the break room. He poured himself a cup of coffee, taking a sip, and let out a satisfied sigh. Instantly, Kurenai's mood soured and she was no longer enjoying her morning coffee.

"Good morning, Morita," she greeted, turning her laptop on. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Well, this is our project," he said. "You look like a hot secretary today, nice."

How crude, and classless.

Kurenai had to physically bite her own tongue so she did not blurt out something offensive. As much as she hated Ichiro's presence, he was on the project. If she got along with him, this would go a lot smoother and that would mean getting rid of him faster.

However, she did not have time nor the chance to say anything as a loud bang could be heard from outside, along with some scufflings and shoutings.

All three of them headed out to see what was going on, only to see a man frantically waving a knife around, shouting something incoherent.

As soon as he read the situation, Chishiya went to grab Kurenai by the arm. He had to get her to safety. Except, he was grabbing at air. In a panic when seeing the knife, Ichiro dove for the nearby ward though in the process, he nudged Kurenai who, caught by surprise, was now standing in front of the knife man.

The man was quick to grab Kurenai, hooking his arm around her neck and had his knife pressed to her throat. "Don't you dare come closer or I'll kill her! I'll do it!"

"Hey! Let her go," Chishiya said, holding his hands up to show that he was harmless. "Let her go, and we can work this out." When Chishiya spoke, the man had his knife pointed at him while keeping hold of Kurenai, stepping away from Chishiya. "Do not hurt her."

"Stop it! Leave her!" Honoka whispered, grabbing Chishiya by the arm to try and get him to hide like everyone else.

He flung her hands away, taking cautious steps toward the man but still keeping a distance. He was trying to think of a way to subdue the man without hurting Kurenai, and so many scenarios were running through his mind. She was too close to the man to get out unscathed.

"You said! You said she wouldn't die!" the man cried. "Your doctors said they will do their best to keep her alive! Why did she have to die when the punk who hit her didn't?! Why?!" His knife was back on Kurenai's throat, cutting into her skin and drawing a little blood.

"Do you know who I am?" Kurenai asked.

"I don't care who you are! You better bring me to that punk!"

"My name is Chuya Kurenai," she said, keeping her cool despite the position she was in. "And when I say you do not want to hurt me, you better trust me. Hurting me is not going to bring you anything but misery. If you let me go, however, I can help you. You know the Chuya Group, right? My father is Chuya Atsushi. We have all the money and the power to help you."

Kurenai's words were distracting the man as he seemed to be deep in thoughts. Chishiya took the opportunity to grab the hand holding the knife while pulling Kurenai away at the same time. Startled, the man pulled his hand away, slashing Chishiya's arm in the process. Security was quick to jump in, subduing the man.

"Are you hurt?"

Both Chishiya and Kurenai asked the same question simultaneously.

Chishiya lifted her chin, taking a look at the cut on her neck. Thankfully, it was not a deep cut and she was no longer bleeding. His arm, however, had received quite a cut. His white coat sleeve was dyed red, and only now was Chishiya starting to feel the pain.

How fortunate for them to be in a hospital.

He was brought down to A&E where a nurse stitched him up. Kurenai was waiting outside the curtain, and the moment the nurse walked out, she went in to see Chishiya.

"Hey..."

"Hey," he smiled.

"How are you?"

"I got six stitches. Probably a scar too. But I'm alr-"

Before he could finish the sentence, Kurenai was hugging him. Her arms were tight around him, like she was making sure he was really there. And while he was rather composed before, Chishiya suddenly felt overwhelmed.

When he saw the knife on Kurenai's throat, his mind went blank. He could not think straight because fear was all he felt. Not fear for his own life, or of the knife. But fear for Kurenai's safety.

"Thank you."

Pulling away from the hug, Kurenai held his face in her hands, stroking her thumb gently against his cheeks. She could not help herself as she was leaning closer until finally their lips met. And before she knew it, Chishiya was kissing back too.