Meeting You Again

Ch 23: Discovery

~Maki's pov~

I feel shocked. This isn't like of Shuichi to act like that. Even Kaito was angry at Shuichi for his behaviour. He shouldn't have been so stubborn. He should be reasonable. And me thinking about this isn't helping. Could he be hiding something from us? If so, what could he be hiding? All of these thoughts kept racing through my mind. Finally, I heard my doorbell ring. I sighed and got up from my bed and headed towards the front door. I opened the door.

"Oh Kaito. What a nice surprise" I said, wondering what Kaito is doing here. He looked at me with sparkling eyes.

"I wanted to surprise you, Maki-Roll" He said, holding up a plastic bag filled with something. "I got chinese takeout for us"

I smiled. He came inside and started to prepare everything. I tried to help but he insisted he do this for me. I waited patiently for him to be done. In the meantime, I checked my phone and scrolled through social media. When he was done, he motioned me to sit at the dinner table. I sat at the table and started to eat. 

"How's the food?" Kaito asked curiously.

"You sound as if you made it" I laughed.

"Oh I didn't. I just wanted to make sure you like it" Kaito said blushing. Still blushing around me, huh?

"So any reason why you dropped by so suddenly?" I asked.

"Is there a reason I should see my girlfriend?" He smirked.

"That was horrible, did you know that?" I laughed out. He laughed out as well. We talked about some other topics and had a decent conversation. When we were almost done, I asked.

"Kaito, do you think Shuichi is ok? With the way he acted the other day" I asked, still worrying about Shuichi.

Kaito stayed silent for a while. "Shuichi is just stressed. He wouldn't just snap like that" I sighed.

"But what if he actually did?" Just then, a knock on the door could be heard. "I'll go get that" I stood up and headed towards the front door. I then peeked from behind the door. "Kaede, come in" Kaede entered and smiled warmly. "I just came over cuz I was bored" Kaede stated. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything" Regret filled her voice. "No no you are not, we were just having dinner" I reassured her. "Come on over" I led Kaede  over to the dinner table where Kaito was silent.

"Hey Kaito" Kaede cheerfully called out. Kaito stayed silent though his gaze met Kaede's.

"Kaito what's wrong" Kaede asked, clearly seeing something was wrong.

"Has Shuichi been acting weird at all?" Kaito asked with a worried look on his face.

"No but nowadays he's startled by everything and he looks as though he doesn't sleep very well and he keeps hiding his left arm" Kaede gave us a bunch of details. So It's just as we feared.

"Kaede do you think there's a reason he's acting like this?" I asked.

"I do have two theories. One, he has depression. Two, he's really stressed out. But I asked him if he was alright and he said he's fine" Kaede stated with a worried face.

Kaito and I exchanged glances. "Even Kaede could tell" 

"So he has depression and is really stressed out?" Kaede said.

"Yeah he has been stressed out lately and we don't even know why" Kaito said.

"I wonder what's wrong" Kaede looked down.

~Kaede's pov~

I can't believe Shuichi never told me. But then again, he probably didn't tell me for a good reason. He is under a lot of stress lately, and I shouldn't pressure him. But I will ask him about my doubts. 

After Maki and Kaito were done eating, they invited me to watch a movie. Throughout the entirety of the movie, I couldn't help but think about Shuichi. I'm so worried about him. I hope he's ok. 

~Shuichi's pov~

I groaned. Today as well as every other day sucked. I don't even know why I do things now. I fell on my bed and thought about everything that was wrong with my existence. After I was done, I headed to the kitchen. My gaze once again landed on a knife. I ignored it and went on to the living room and took out a cigarette. The stress is really getting to me. I keep overthinking about everything. I took a puff and switched the channel to &flix and watched a movie while smoking.

~Kaede's pov~

After the movie was done, I said bye to Maki and Kaito and started heading towards Shuichi's house. The way there was awfully quiet until I passed an alley. I heard coughing coming from behind so I turned around as quickly as I could only to find nobody there. The rest of the way, I cautiously walked to Shuichi's house. Finally I could see his house in my view. As I got closer, I couldn't help but smell something get stronger and stronger. Smoke? I walked up to the door and opened it.

"Shuichi!"

Shuichi flinched, resulting in him dropping his cigarette. His eyes met mine and  he started stuttering. "K-kaede w-what are you d-doing here? I-i didn't expect y-you here, well t-this is u-unfortunate" he scratched his head.

"Shuichi I didn't know you smoked" I said, shocked to learn that Shuichi indeed does smoke.

"I only smoke once in a while. It's no big deal" He said, waving his hands.

"Still, you could have at least told me" I sighed.

"I didn't tell anyone about my smoking and I wanted to keep it that way" He said while averting his gaze.

"Shuichi you can tell me anything and I won't judge you for anything. Just remember I'm always there" I said, trying to reassure him.

"Yeah I know. Are you ok with me smoking?" I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"No, but I can't stop you" I sadly smiled.

"Like I said, I only do it when I'm really stressed out, I don't do it frequently so don't worry" He said.

"So you're really stressed out, huh?" I asked, while staring at the cigarettes littering the floor.

"Yeahhh......" He trailed off.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked politely, not wanting to pressure anything.

"Yea I have something to tell you..." 

To Be Continued.....

A/N  well hope you enjoyed and see you next ep. Bye!  Fun Fact! sharks can't get sick at all <3