Can You Keep a Secret?

Chapter 6 "Postponement"

Chapter 6 "Postponement"

I had been staring at Natsume for about three minutes. I could SWEAR there was something different about him today – he looked a little bit more stressed. Suddenly, I felt a sting of guilt inside of me – it was like I was the reason for that, simply because he must've not slept well last night because of me.

"There's milk in the refrigerator and cereal in the cupboard, in case you're hungry," he said in his usual, emotionless tone. "I'm going to take a shower for a while."

I could hear his silent footsteps across the room. When he finally entered the bathroom, I headed to his kitchenette, replaying on my mind what he said. I was about to pour the cereal on my bowl when I heard the door bang open.

"Nat-kun, dear! Good morning!" – OH GREAT, JUST GREAT.

I rolled my eyes at her, saying, "He's taking a shower."

At the corner of my eyes, I saw Sumire's body stiffen. She slowly opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I raised an eyebrow at her oh-my-god-I'm-seeing-a-damn-ghost look.

"What," she started, "the bloody, bloody HELL are YOU doing HERE?"

I shrugged. "As far as I could remember, you stole my room from me last night," I stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "And who was I with?"

Sumire's face became paler. "He let you stay?"

I opened my mouth to say something when I heard the bathroom door open. Natsume stepped out, wearing his faded jeans and a towel wrapped around his neck. I didn't quite have time to linger on the sight of his bare stomach because I was utterly distracted by Sumire's screechy rantings.

The olive-haired perm placed both her hands on her waist. "Natsume Hyuuga, you have a fiancée!"

Natsume simply ignored her and turned to me. "Polka, your turn," he said, pointing to the bathroom door with his thumb.

I suddenly had the urge to stick my tongue at Permy, but fought against it. It was fair enough that Natsume was at my side – well partly on my side.

"Your day-off today will be deducted from your salary," he said, walking to the kitchenette and grabbing a bowl.

I groaned. Why can't he be kind for more than one minute?

Before I entered the bathroom, I saw Natsume's ruby eyes glare at Sumire. Her hand was shaking a little as she left and gently closed the door behind her. Fury? I don't know.

Inaudibly, I chuckled.

* x x *

I sighed, as I faced the person beside me. Natsume was looking at his car window, though I wasn't quite sure what he was looking at.

"We've been to six different places and none of them seem to be good enough," I said as I crossed out yet another address from a newspaper cut-out. I added further, looking at the digital clock at his car."And it's past lunch time."

Natsume exhaled through his mouth and started his engine again, regarding what I just said wordlessly. Surely, he was getting hungry, too, right?

I leaned my back at the car seat, as I looked at Natsume. He wore casual clothes today, not his usual tailored suits, that are not usually properly worn. I noticed that the only times that he wore his suits properly was when he went to meetings, and then after that, he would loosen his necktie and unbutton the first three buttons of his polo. Today he was wearing a long-sleeved orange sweatshirt, layered with a dark-blue v-neck t-shirt – and of course his usual gold earrings that I've never seen him remove.