you belong with me | nishimura riki [니키]

⚘ ride [2]

"Five blocks from here. I just moved."

☾⋆⁺₊🎧✧

AERI'S POV

My eyes grew wide at once and shifted to look into his.

"WHAT?" With a louder tone than I expected , I responded.  I was stunned and found it hard to believe what he had just said.

"Woah relax.. what's wrong?" He looked at me in confusion and flinched a little at my loud shriek.

"Oh sorry, no reason! But, Welcome to the neighbourhood I guess." I mustered a smile, not sure how to react to this whole us being neighbours idea..

It's fine.  I can simply act as though I reside somewhere else. It's unnecessary for him to  know that I live next door. It's not like he's ever seen me leave the house.   

Oh, but I was wrong... so wrong.

It's like, he was able to read my mind. Was I that predictable of a person?

"I know you live next door, so don't even try to lie to me. Just now, when I was leaving my house to look around, I noticed you heading out as well. Then I noticed your bike in the grocery store. I decided to spend some time exploring the market then."

I pondered over responding before giving up. I had run out of things to say. I should've forced my brother to go instead. Ugh.

He opened his mouth again before I could gather my thoughts.

"And didn't your mom invite us to dinner? There's no point in lying. We're still going to have to see each other."

Oh, my.God. The dinner.  Why hadn't I thought of that? He's right. In any case, we will still need to face each other. I let out a defeated sigh as I glance down at the ground. 

"All right.Let's just get going now. I have to  return with the groceries and prepare for the dinner."

Not wanting my anxiety to get the better of me, I swiftly hop onto my bike and rev the engine.

Riki was just staring at me and waited for me to be ready, looking rather lost?

"Okay, you can hop on now. Be careful."

There it was, a massive weight pulling my bike and me down on my left side. I falter a bit before managing to regain my balance. 

Suddenly, I felt two huge hands grasping my shoulder. Uncomfortable at the unexpected feeling, I shrugged my shoulders in an attempt to warn him. He didn't move though.

"Um, Riki? Can you perhaps hold onto something else? People touching my shoulder while I'm riding bothers me a lot."

"Oh sorry." He releases his hold on me right away, but what did next, caught me off guard.

I wasn't expecting him putting his arms around my waist for support. I flinched.  This is awkward. My heart is racing. This is too close. I instantly froze.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Riki, you can grab on to the side of your seat you know," with hesitation.

"Oh ya, sorry!" He releases his grip on my waist right away, and I felt a tremendous amount of tension leave my body.

I speedily drive out of the market's parking lot before things can become much worse.

Oh please, let dinner be the last time we meet.

[POV ENDED]

Unbeknownst to them, someone was actually watching them, feeling rather betrayed and jealous.

———————————————— ˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧˚

Hi! I'm back with another update 🫶🏻 I really apologise if the storyline is kinda slow right now. I'm actually really bad at writing intro chapters. 😭🙏🏻 But trust the process guys, bear with me for a little longer. 🧸

ᡣ𐭩🧸ྀི‧₊˚ Do vote and comment if you're enjoying the ff so far! It means a lot! 🖇️✩ ₊˚🎧⊹♡