Showered by the Stars

38. His sad eyes

Umm—

It’s morning already. I slept so late last night. Ack! Now that I think about it. I talked to Eri-kun about my past. Eep! So embarrassing!

But, I didn’t get the chance to ask about himself. Geez—I was only talking about myself. Maybe I’ll ask about it today? Hmm—will it be good, I wonder.

I got up from bed, washed and changed my clothes. The food was already on the table. Eri-kun was outside.

“Eri-kun, have you eaten?” I asked.

“Er—no.” he said.

“Come on in. Let’s eat together.”

“Okay. I’m coming.” He said.

He sat opposite to me. Somehow, he’s rather different today. What it was, I wonder. He was quiet.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Ah? N-no. Why do you think so?” he stammered.

“You seem so down. What is it? Tell me.” I said.

“Eh? Er—it’s just. The view outside was just beautiful.” He said. Eh? That doesn’t make sense. If it was that then wouldn’t he look more alive?

“And yet you look so down—“ I said.

“Ah—well. It reminds me of the last summer I spent with my parents.” Oh! Ah—From what I can remember, Ran did mention that Eri-kun lost his parents when he was 10 years old.

“Did you guys have a lot of fun?” I asked.

“Uhn! Yes. It’s really fun.”

“Eri-kun, do you feel lonely?” It might be strange to ask but I want to know. He was silent for a while. Is it a topic he doesn’t want to talk about?

“For a while, I guess. Losing both parents is—well, hard. But grandfather was still there. He remained by my side even if the people I loved the most left me.”

“Oh? Ah—Eri-kun. Now. Do you still feel lonely?” I asked.

“From time to time, I guess.” He said.

“Really? Well, that would be as expected. Whenever mom or dad leave the house for business trip, parties or vacations, the house feel so empty and I just can’t help myself from being sluggish.” I said. He chuckled. I smiled.

“So then, this engagement thing is still good, no?” I said.

“Eh? Well, it would benefit both of our families.” He nodded.

I laughed. “I didn’t mean that. What I meant was, if the engagement will proceed then I’ll be by your side. Then, we can always have fun together. Don’t you agree?” I grinned.

He remained speechless.

“Awww—It’s not good?” I pouted.

“Ah! No. That’s not it. It just surprised me. But—yeah. My days will be fun.” He finally said.

“Yup!” The reason for his sad eyes must be because of loneliness. Even if he has his grandfather with him, he’ll still wish to be with his parents. And at a young age, he was able to receive so many accomplishments. I wouldn’t actually know but—if I were the only child in a group of adults, I’d feel so out of place. Maybe that’s why he looked like he was having fun when he was talking with our classmates at school.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“I’ll get it.” Eri-kun said.

“’kay.”

He opened the door. Chou appeared.

“Good morning, Konoe-san—Young miss—“ Chou said. “Your hair?”

“Ah! Chou! Here to pick us up?” I said, getting up.

“Yes. Your families were really worried that both of you disappeared at the same time. Master ordered all of us to search for you. It was just this morning that your mother told us your whereabouts.” He said.

“Oh? Well, I did promise her three days. I’ll just get my things. Eri-kun, we’ve paid the grandma, right?”

“Yes. But she said she’ll return later.” Eri-kun said.

“Ah! Well, why don’t we go to her place after we finish packing our things?” I suggested.

“Uhn!”

“Chou, you’ll wait for us, right?” I said, going to my room while Eri-kun went inside his.

“Yes, Young miss.” Chou bowed.

I went inside my room and packed my things. I also changed my clothes.

“You finished?” I asked Eri-kun. He nodded. We got out of the inn with our things, left it with Chou and went to the old lady’s house at the back of the inn.

We thanked the old lady. Chou waited for us in the car with a body guard.

“Chou, I think I’ll just ride with Eri-kun. He has a motorbike.” I said.

“No. That won’t do. Konoe-san, please ride with us. Toshi here will drive your motorbike instead.” Chou said. Toshi, the bodyguard nodded.

Eri-kun sighed. “Alright.” When it was settled, we went on home.

Just as we got off the car when we arrived in my house, the media flocked around us. They took pictures and asked a lot of questions but we were too tired to answer any of them.

I received a lot of scolding from grandfather. He only stopped when I said, “I’m here. I just took some time off.”