off limits | petalz

16

"Okay, so explain to me the relationship between Chaewon and Yeonjun again."

"All right," Sakura agreed, pinching the fabric of her sleeve between her fingers. She pursed her lips thoughtfully and stared at the table, opening her mouth to explain. Kazuha stared at her from across the island, chin perched on her hands, and thought for at least the fourth time that morning how gorgeous Sakura was when she was pondering.

"So, Yeonjun does too much. It's natural to be evenly balanced in a relationship, no? He doesn't do that. He works as hard as possible to pamper Chaewon as much as he can. Chaewon, meanwhile, enjoys a bit of a challenge, and dislikes the fact that he never really lets her do anything by herself. When she asks him to do things herself, he doesn't take no for an answer, but when she says it's a personal thing, or a family thing, he'll let it slide- that's what I meant by he doesn't take no for an answer but respects her boundaries. It's not really a good mix though, because Chae used to think he didn't care about her family- turns out he was just too scared to meddle."

"So she's in a suffocating relationship, basically?" Kazuha wondered. "Well, that sucks."

Sakura smiled, a barely suppressed laugh on her lips. "Yes, Zuha, it really does."

"Well!" Kazuha said brightly, ignoring how lightheaded she felt from Sakura's usage of her nickname, "let's go."

Sakura blinked. "Go where?"

"I didn't tell you?" Sakura shook her head. "Yunjin invited us to sit in on an AESSERA practice. She has a new song she wants to play, and it's in Japanese, so she just wants us to fact check because Aeri's Japanese, apparently, is 'faulty'. I don't know about that but I think it'd be fun to listen."

Sakura pursed her lips and thought. That kind of exposure would be interesting- to see what would be going on behind the smoke and screenings of AESSERA concerts. "Sure. Let's do it."

Kazuha beamed eagerly. "Yay! I mean-"

Sakura was already laughing, giggling at her childish amusement. "You're cute."

Kazuha froze, her face and ears turning deep red, and Sakura began to blush also. "... You too."

Both girls, nervous smiles on their faces and scarlet red flushing their necks, nearly tripped over each other in an attempt to escape the awkward situation by going to get ready.

The soft pattering of raindrops distracted Kazuha from her reverie.

As the windshield slowly began to populate itself with rain, Kazuha reached over and flicked on the windshield wipers. Silence had punctuated the car for the past fifteen minutes, and Sakura, at present, was staring out of the window.

Just ask her.

Kazuha wanted to know if the kiss had meant anything.

Just ask her!

"Kkura."

Sakura's head snapped in her direction, hair falling across her face in her purported eagerness to reply. "Yeah?"

"Did..."

Just ask her. Do it. You're not a coward.

"....the, um..."

Do it, Nakamura Kazuha!

"Did, the, um, kiss mean anything to you?"

Sakura blinked and Kazuha squeezed her eyes shut. "Because you know, just wanted to ask because if you don't feel the same way I do that's like totally fine. I just wanted to clarify, you know? Because it would be really weird and awkward if it didn't, like, mean anything... but it's totally okay if it didn't! A-OK! Wow I've never said that, do you think-"