one [sachio ueda]

f o u r t e e n : m a i

The delivery guy was ten minutes late. Despite telling him that the house was on the right side of the lane and not the left side, he couldn't follow up with the instructions. When he had arrived, I snatched the packet away from him without making eye contact, just to make sure he knows he fucked up.

I adjusted myself on the carpet, placing the packet on the table in front of the sofa. As I pulled out the container, a few drops of the red gravy fell on the table. I let out a heavy sigh. If this was the carpet instead, I'd have to pay for the cleaning. Life was against me.

Sachio walked in with Coco when my mouth was full of noodles, making slurping sounds as I swallowed them in. I stopped immediately.

"You're making a mess." He glowered.

"I'll clean it up." I resumed gobbling.

"Do it before Coco attacks your food."

"Can't you let me eat in peace?"

"What happened to your diet?" He ignored my reply. There he goes again. Trying to vex me. It works every time but at least I'm good at hiding my anger.

"I'll lose weight steadily." I wiped my lips with my thumb and gave a reply, which seemed more like an assurance to myself.

Sachio is no different than Ciro and Koa. He doesn't say it but these standards are etched deep within his soul.

Surprisingly, he didn't say anything after that. Instead, he came and sat beside me.

"What?" I scowled.

"Give me some."

I gave him a look. "Why the fuck?"

"Ordering food and not sharing is unacceptable."

"If you ordered food, would you share it with me?"

"No."

"Then fuck off."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah, yeah." I cut him off, not even looking at him anymore. "The mighty leader of Housen who are basically nothing but a group of dumb baldies."

He coughed and pressed his lips. "They're not dumb."

"Oh, they're not? So they made you leader after a lot of judgement?"

He rolled his eyes and looked away. "No, they just liked the way I walked." He joked.

I momentarily stopped chewing. He didn't lie. The way he walked was like a model, turning heads everywhere he went. That's how he first caught my attention too.

"That's a dumb reason, princess."

"Princess?" He gasped.

"Didn't you just roll your eyes? That's my job." I pointed the fork at him.

He glared at me for a while. "Fine. Have fun eating all by yourself."

There he goes again, trying to make me feel bad. You're not that bad, Mai. Being selfish isn't a part of your personality.

"One meatball." I sighed, shoving the fork into his mouth.

I watched him chew it slowly, looking for any hint of dissatisfaction. I guess I was still a people pleaser, at least for Sachio, trying to get validated by him. Maybe it was because I was obsessed with him and didn't want him to have any negative images of me. Well, it's too late for that though.

"It's okay." He shrugged after swallowing the entire thing.

That meant 'good' in Sachio language. In this language, 'bad' would be simply ignoring. At this point, I knew him better than he knew himself.

As the day passed and I looked after Coco, I also kept an eye on Sachio. Seeing him cook and clean around the house evolved feral thoughts in my brain. He would make such a good wife. He even caught me staring at him but I didn't look away.

"What are you looking at?"

"You, obviously."

"You've never seen a man do house chores before?"

"No."

"What does your father do?"

That's when I shut my mouth.

He scanned my face before saying, "Why don't you talk about your family?"

"Because there's nothing to talk about."

"I know there is. Fujio's seen your parents. Your parents left the house when you were in tenth grade."

"How much did Fujio tell you?"

"You know he tells me everything." He sits down beside me on the couch. "You better tell me everything too." He raised his eyebrows. "Unless you want me to keep asking you about your family."

Think, Mai, think. You can either make up a story, tell him parts of the story or tell him the entire story. Making up a story is risky. If he goes to Fujio and asks him about me, I'll be caught lying.

"They just went to another country."

"And left you all by yourself?"

"I could take care of myself."

"Why did they leave?"

"I don't know."

That made Sachio give me a side eye.

"Fine. They went to stay with my brother. He's attending a good university and they wanted to give him all the support."

"And you?"

"What about me?" I scoffed.

"They didn't send you to college?"

"They didn't care enough."

"That's not true. Every parent cares about their child."

There he goes again. The self righteous justice warrior.

"All parents aren't the same." I shot him a glare, getting up from the sofa. "You asked me about myself and now you're also the one judging me?"

"I didn't judge-"

"Save it. Not every parent cares about their child like your mom cares about you."

"I understand..."

"No, you don't. You've got a good life with people who actually care about you. You're literally a gang leader. How could you have any problems?"

"Being a gang leader isn't that bad." He mumbled.

"Exactly my point. What would you know about family problems?"

Well, maybe my voice came out harsher than it should've.

I knew all of Sachio's problems. The past and the present. He was only as his worst when his mother was hospitalized. I didn't want it to seem as if I was victimizing myself but all I did was answer his question.

Alas, here it was. His puppy face. I even felt bad for yelling at him. He deserved it though.

"I'm going to sleep with Coco. Eat dinner by yourself." I picked up Coco and walked out of the room. "Also," I added before leaving. "Don't feel bad. Just pretend that I'm still pissed at my parents and not you."