You're All I Need - Nishimura Riki

Chapter 29 : The Lonely Dinner

School the next day was the same. Lots of schoolwork, not much socializing, and finally it's time to go home.

"Hana!" Someone yells, making me turn around and look in the voice's direction. I see that Sunoo is the one calling me and he's running over to me. "Hana! Would you like to come and get ice cream with Yena and I this afternoon?" He asks with a super big smile on his face, making me smile along.

"Sorry, Sun. I would love to but Jay came back yesterday and he told me that he's going to take me somewhere after he finishes his online classwork. Have fun with Yena!" I say.

"Oh... that's too bad... wait, Jay's back already?" He asks, surprised.

"Yeah, just for a few weeks. Something happened at the international student's dorm so he was sent home until they get it fixed," I explain.

"Ahhh... okay. I'll see you at school tomorrow then. Bye!" He says and runs out of the gym, holding his bag in his hands. I continue walking and leave the school.

When I reach home, I come in to Jay sitting by the front door as he usually did before he left.

"Hi, Jay," I sigh.

"Hey, Hana. How was school?" He asks while eating a banana.

"It was fine. Just... school."

"I noticed you were walking home alone," he says as I'm walking away.

"Yeah, I did..." I say, still walking.

"Okay..." he says. I must've sounded annoyed or something because he stops talking after that.

I go upstairs to work on my homework before Jay has the chance to tell me that it's time to leave. Luckily, I'm able to finish it all in about an hour.

I go downstairs to find Jay and ask when we're going. I find him sitting with Jake in the basement playing video games.

They're yelling at each other in English, but luckily I picked up on a lot while Jay was learning it.

"Jake! Get the box! No, there's someone to your left!" Jay yells.

"What do you want me to do? Shoot the guy or get the box?" Jake yells back.

"Both!" Jay says. Jake throws the controller down and looks at Jay with his eyes wide open.

"What do you mean 'Both'? I can only do one thing at a time!" Jake yells, clearly annoyed.

"You should've shot the guy then grabbed the box!" Jay yells again.

"You didn't tell me that, you just said both! How was I supposed to know-"

Jake is interrupted by Jay's exasperated scream. "No! We lost the mission!" I look at the screen and see the words "Mission Failed" cross the screen in big red letters.

"It's not my fault we lost! Be more specific with your instructions..." Jake says getting quieter as his sentence goes on.

I sit in the chair next to the couch and both boys stop yelling and look at me.

"Don't stop arguing just because I'm here. Continue," I say, laughing at them.

"Arguing? We weren't arguing. We were... expressing our love for each other," Jay says and puts his arm around Jake's neck. They're both smiling, but I can see how fake the smiles are. Jake punches Jay's side and Jay winces.

"You little-"

"Aren't we going somewhere this afternoon, Jay?" I ask. He gives Jake another death glare before turning to me.

"I was going to but Mom said to do it another day because we have guests tonight," he says.

Is Jake the guest she is referring to? As far as I know, Jake isn't a "guest" in my mom's eyes. He's another child for her to care for.