Thorns and Roses

Chapter 22

"Come in. Make yourself at home." Jiro invited his guests inside the next day as planned.

"Thank you." They said while removing their shoes off and entered the house.

As a normal gesture, they roamed their eyes around the house and admired the minimal yet tidy set up of Kimura's semi modern house. You wouldn't think two men live there with how neat and clean the entire house was.

"You have a nice house, Jiro-san." Souta complimented.

"Oh, thank you. Here, have some refreshment." Jiro placed a pitcher of mango juice on the mini table and some glasses.

"We also brought some snacks." Aya said and placed a plastic bag full of snacks on the table.

"You can rest for a while then we can start on your research paper."

They all nodded and made themselves comfortable while still looking around with their gazes. They noticed that there's not a single photo displayed around the house. Or at least that's what Yui noticed. She thought maybe men don't usually want to display photos of them. Even his brother doesn't like to be photographed. Aside from that, everything else was pretty normal.

After a little chitchat, they decided to get on with their research paper as they all still have classes the next day. They started pretty chill. They really used Jiro's critics and advices on their project which truly helped them a lot. And just like that, hours passed.

Yui didn't expect she was able to focus with their works despite Jiro sitting really close to her and would help her from time to time. He even made sure she understood everything, as much as Aya and Souta, and would unconsciously pat her head whenever she gets something right. She felt like she could fly because of too much happiness, and she couldn't thank her friends enough for pushing this idea. They even joked around from time to time.

One after the other, they started stretching and sighed in relief as they wrap up with their research paper. Finally, they're done. When they checked the time, it's almost dinner time.

"Can I use the bathroom?" Yui asked.

"Yeah, of course. It's the second door to the left." Jiro said and let her pass.

On her way to the bathroom, she noticed a door slightly opened and something caught her eyes. It's the familiar snowglobe sitting on Jiro's study table inside his bedroom.

"It looks similar to mine." Yui whispered and headed her way to the bathroom.

When she got back, she instantly asked Jiro about it. "Jiro-san, your bedroom door was slightly open, and I saw the snowglobe on your table as I was passing by. May I know where you got that?"

"Oh, that's a souvenir brought by my brother from their trip."

Yui's eyes bulged and fought to hold her smile from showing, knowing that she just found something that she might consider their "couple" thing despite Jiro thinking probably otherwise.

"Do you guys mind staying for dinner? I can try to cook a simple dinner before you go." Jiro offered which lightened up Aya's face while she glanced at Yui who's already giving her a disapproval.

"No, it's –"

Yui couldn't finish her words when Aya cut her off. "It's fine with us. We would love that."

"Cool! You can just relax here while I prepare our food then."

"Thank you, Jiro-san!"

When Jiro excused themselves, Yui was about to pinch Aya but the latter ran behind Souta.