Oh, Brother!

dilemma

Takumi's POV
On his way to work at First Sight Café, Takumi thinks back on what had occurred between him, Reina and Shogo.

Reina and Shogo are dating. I thought I wouldn't mind it if I learned that she was dating someone, yet something inside me felt broken. Maybe I hadn't noticed it at first, but maybe I do like her.

Silently, I trudged my way into my workplace First Sight Café where I work part-time. I know that Reina and her friends frequently come here after school to have sandwiches and coffee. She hasn't been here at the café in a little over two weeks. I thought that she would at least stop by with her friends, but my hopes always seem to get crushed everyday she doesn't show up.

"Ah, Takumi-kun!" my co-worker Sachi-san called out to me upon seeing me hang my shoulder bag on a nearby hanger. "Didn't you check your schedule? You're not supposed to be working today..."

"Oh? The scheduling app must be acting up again!" Exhaling, I checked the time on my watch. Usually, Reina and her friends would arrive at the café around this time.

"Looks like you seem a bit disappointed..." Sachi-san gave me a concerned look. "Could it be that you're expecting someone to drop by today?" Sachi released a small giggle and continued, "You've been asking around about Reina-chan, huh?"

"Eh?" I yelled. "I-It's not like I like her or anything..."

"Oh! So it's like that?"

"Well, she has a boyfriend so I shouldn't be getting my hopes up anyways..."

"Hmm... Well, that does seem to be difficult... Her boyfriend is a total hottie... I don't blame her!"

"Sachi-san..." my voice trailed off as I simply stared at the front door of the café, hoping that Reina and her friends would walk through it.

"Takumi-kun, you have her contact info, don't you?" Sachi stated. "Why don't you give her a call?"

"Eh! Eh? No, I really shouldn't!"

"Why don't you? If you really wanted to talk to her, why don't you just give her a call? And even if she doesn't answer it, at least you tried, right?"

Sachi-san had a point.

Maybe I should call Reina.

However, I've been rather hesitant with trying to contact her after what had occurred the last time we met up. The truth is, I'm not even sure if I caught feelings for her or anything of that matter. With a sigh, I grabbed my shoulder bag off of the hanger, said my goodbyes to Sachi-san and headed out of the café. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of someone who looked familiar. "Reina-chan?" I mouthed to myself. Slowly and cautiously, I decided to follow her and ended up at her house. Suddenly, she turned to face me.

"Takumi-san?" Reina stated, a bit surprised to see me. "D-Did you follow me here?" Fiddling with her fingers, Reina nervously searched around her school bag for, what I assumed, her house key.

"Umm... I didn't intend to follow you here," I said in response. The two of us walked a little bit further until we reached the playground at Ueno Park. Reina simply glimpsed down at her shoes, too hesitant to look up at me as it seems. Maybe she was too ashamed of what happened at the café with Shogo-san. "Reina-san, do you think it's better if we don't stay in contact with one another? I mean, you do have a boyfriend. After all, Shogo-san seems like a really overprotective person. Maybe it is best that we don't see each other for a while..." As my voice trailed off, Reina immediately stood up from the swing set we were sitting on, and looked me directly in the eyes.

"Look, Takumi-san," she began, her face brimming with a blush pink color. "Shogo-kun and I aren't dating! My older brother Sho just wanted to scare you off by using him so I don't get closer to you. Shogo-kun and me... We're just old childhood friends. There's nothing else going on in our relationship with one another!"

"Eh? But he did kiss you though! So, he must have feelings for you, right?" Now, I was just being too direct with my word choices, but I couldn't help it. Somehow, somewhere inside me, I knew that maybe Shogo-san really does have feelings for Reina in one way or another. At this point, knowing this, I felt something inside me burn up with jealousy. If only I wasn't like this. If only, I had something more to me, then maybe... Wait, don't tell me I'm trying to appeal to Reina now?

"Takumi-san, I really don't think Shogo does like me. After all, he did reject me when I confessed to him a year ago. Him liking me now is impossible!" Suddenly, although quite out of character for me, I decided to take Reina into a warm and loving embrace. 

I didn't want to let her go.

I didn't want to. But as soon as I did, I noticed someone familiar staring at us with grocery bags in his hands.

"Shogo-kun?"  Reina mouthed but before she could explain anything to her childhood friend, I grabbed her by the wrist, restricting her from running after him.

Reina's POV

"Shogo-kun?"  I mouthed as I saw him staring at Takumi-san and me, who had just shared a warm embrace with one another. I was about to explain to him what had just happened, but he quickly left. Before I could run after him, however, Takumi-san firmly grabbed my wrist, restricting me from ever trying to run away from him. "Takumi-san, please just let me go! I need to explain!"

"No, you don't!" Takumi gently wiped away a tear streaming down my cheek and kissed me right then and there. It was sudden, yet I couldn't help but to kiss him back. I really like him. That's for sure. But, I certainly didn't want anyone else to get hurt. An hour passed and Takumi-san and I were walking around my neighborhood. "Owh look at the time!" Takumi-san glimpsed over at the current time on his watch, shocked by how much time had passed. "Well, it's about time you get home before your parents get worried about you. Hope to see you around more!" 

"Wait! Takumi-san?" I stated before he was about to take his leave. 

"Hmm?" was all he said in response. With a smile, he waited intently for me to continue. "Yes, Reina?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Takumi-san nodded. "Well, you see... If I told you my brother is famous, would you believe me?"

I waited for Takumi to answer, but was suddenly interrupted by the front door of my house opening, my older brother Sho grabbing me by the hand and leading me inside.

😱

Hello, everyone! I know it's been a while since I updated this story but I've been exceptionally busy with university life lately. Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting so far! Stay tuned for the next update!

XOXO,

Cath