Borderline

Ch. 7

Shiraume tossed and turned, trying to block out the irritating doorbell sound. "Ugh!" she grumbled, shifting from left to right and covering both her ears with a small pillow. She hated waking up early in the morning; she needed her beauty sleep. "Hakuji!" she called out, hoping he would answer the door. But he didn't. Fed up with the ringing, Shiraume took off the pillow and got out of the couch, muttering to herself as she made her way to the front door. She unlocked the locks and opened the door with a scowl. "Whatever you have to offer, get out!—"

Shiraume didn't manage to finish her sentence when she saw an incredibly attractive man standing there. A young male her age with a slender body and flaming hair who raised both his arms apologetically. "I am terribly sorry miss!" he chuckled nervously. "I am not a salesman, but I am Kyojuro Rengoku! I must have the wrong door. Do you know someone by the name of Hakuji who lives in this apartment?"

She was speechless, unable to take her eyes off him.

"Are you alright?" he leans in slightly, asked with a concern expression.

"No, I mean, yes!" Shiraume cursed herself for not being dressed appropriately in her wrinkled school uniform, with her hair in disarray. She took couple steps back and laughs, "You're looking for Hakuji, right?" she asked. "He's here, and I'll go get him for you now!" Before the man could respond, she shut the door and quickly went to fix her appearance.

"What's going on?" Hakuji asked, groggily rubbing one eye as he held his shirt from the other hand.

"Some guy name Rengoku is at the door!" Shiraume replied as she looked around for the bathroom. "Where is your bathroom?"

Hakuji's eyes widened. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know," Shiraume said, continuing to look for the bathroom. "And why didn't you tell me he was this hot?"

"Uh? Why does that matter?"

"Where is your bathroom !?"

He pointed across his bedroom, he was shoved as Shiraume barged into the bathroom, locking it.

Upon noticing his shirt was inside out, Hakuji scoffed and made his way towards the door. "Damn it. I thought this dumb shirt was the other way around," he muttered under his breath and took off the shirt to start off while unlocking the door, he was greeted with a cheerful hello from Rengoku, who had a bright smile on his face.

"Good morning, Hakuji-San!" Rengoku exclaimed.

"Mornin', Kyojuro," Hakuji replied, trying to fix his shirt. His mouth pressed into a thin line with his eyes half-lidded. "I'm surprised to see you here this early in the morning," he added, peering out behind Rengoku and observing the sun rising above the nearby buildings.

"I'm very sorry to disturb you this early, but I wanted to come here to give you my biggest apology for what happened last year," Rengoku said, bowing politely and catching Hakuji off guard.

"What?" Hakuji exclaimed, stopping his attempts to fix his shirt and fully opening the door with wide eyes. "You're apologizing to me?"

"Yes," Rengoku confirmed, lifting himself up into a perfect posture. "I never wanted my father to overreact to the point of making a lawsuit against you. If I had convinced him earlier, you wouldn't have lost everything you had back in town and ended up starting a new life. I begged countless times for him to end this, but he refused. I'm truly sorry for everything you went through."

Hakuji scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Although he did make me go through hell with all the legal proceedings. Let's not forget about all the fees and shit," he said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "But I'm glad he did because my life here has improved so much, and so has my temper and mood. These changes almost made me forget about the whole lawsuit."