The Host of My Heart (On Hiatus)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Wait a second; I sat back up in shock as I remembered what Issen said at the beginning of our dinner.

“By this time next week, you’ll be beating off the boys with a stick. I guarantee it”

Issen had definitely said that we would be doing this ‘get me a boyfriend’ thing for a week! Why did he write a schedule for a month? I began to sweat and feel sick. How was I going to handle being around Issen day in and day out for a month? I was going to make an absolute fool of myself. And no matter how many times I pounded into my brain that Issen’s opinion didn’t matter, the feeling of complete and utter anxiety wrapped its hands around my neck like a vice. I was going to ruin Hikaru’s plan, I just knew it and Hikaru was going to hate me for it.

As the acid in my stomach began to turn and tumble I struggled to ease myself away from the edge. Issen was a simple man to figure out and obviously easy to manipulate. Just shake some money or pussy in his face and he would probably do whatever any woman wanted. I could probably do the same as well. I knew what I would do. I would pay Issen to leave me alone and lie to Hikaru! I almost slapped myself in the face for not thinking of this earlier. With Issen and I never making direct physical contact again, I would be free of him and this stupid feeling that blossomed whenever we spent prolonged time together.

I let out a happy breath and hopped off the couch. Despite how terrible this week had been it had finally changed. I decided that what this night needed was ice cream and Yamapi. I still had a carton of ice cream in the freezer, as always, and I had downloaded every episode of Summer Nude ’13. I was going to have a great night.

And I did. While I envied people like Hikaru who could go out and party with strangers without feeling sickeningly self-conscious and shy, I didn’t envy them when I was like this. Completely and utterly alone. Even though it often seemed like I didn’t like a lot of things about myself, I actually thought I was a pretty great person.

There, alone in my house, I was model, a singer, a dazzlingly fashionista even! The four walls of my apartment and all my cozy furniture made me the happiest person on Earth. It was other people who were the problem. Other people, strangers, even Hikaru had no difficultly telling me that everything I thought about myself was complete nonsense. I hated how much power total, unimportant strangers had over me.  It was more than a little pathetic.

Regardless, I fell asleep with a stomach full of sweet milky goodness and an empty peaceful mind. I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and content to shower and go to work. It was Thursday, meaning the week was basically over anyways. When I got home I would call Issen and pay him to call this whole mess off, which would probably leave me in a snack drought for a while, but my comfort was well worth it.

However, as I sat at my desk and watched my students work diligently, I couldn’t help but think about Hikaru. I was basically betraying her because I couldn’t handle stressful situations without wanting to hurl myself off a bridge. But then, wasn’t Hikaru being completely silly about this whole thing anyways? I mean it’s one thing to plot slightly to get a boyfriend, but this whole ‘get me a boyfriend’ scheme? It just seemed so convoluted and sly. Plus, didn’t Hikaru realize what kind of guy Issen was? He was a host! He didn’t care about Hikaru’s feelings in the slightest. All he wanted was her money and he was going to suck her dry like the big haired leech he was. Even to me, that was incredibly pathetic, and that was saying something.

But was it really any of my business what Hikaru got herself mixed up into? I suppose it really was, because whatever Hikaru got into, she dragged me into as well. It was the entire basis of our friendship.

Which again, was pretty sad.

On both our parts.

My entire day pretty much consisted of day dreaming, teaching and yelling at rowdy teens. I certainly didn’t remember being such a brat when I was thirteen, but that was probably because I was afraid of my own shadow. The day dreaming was filled to the brim about what I would do over my vacation. Two whole weeks! But at the moment I had to be happy with going to work and going to the sanctuary I called home. It was only for a little while longer.

I packed up my workbag and followed after the stream of students eager to leave after the last bell rang. I tried not to leave before the little monsters because they’d run me over in an effort to leave as quickly as possible. I walked down the stairs, anxious to be home and anxious to finally tell Issen to leave me alone.

However as I turned the corner to leave the school grounds, I noticed a very fluffy light brown head above all of the short little students. It seemed that Issen couldn’t wait to start doing all he could to squeeze every last drop of money from Hikaru.

While Issen’s arrival was a surprise, it wasn’t a very unwelcome one. Seeing Issen now would just speed up the separation process.

This was a good thing.

The internal repetition of that two word phrase wasn’t powerful enough to calm my overactive nerves, however. I could feel myself break into a cold sweat. My mouth became dry and sticky at the same time as my stomach began to rumble and roil violently. I wanted to turn around and run back into my classroom, close the blinds and curl up under my desk. At the moment it was the only thing I wanted in the world. But I couldn’t. I was an adult and I had to face my problems sooner or later. Running would only drag the torture out.

I wiped away the beads of sweat trickling down my face with the edge of my jacket and walked towards Issen. His back was turned to me and I watched as a stream of female students revolved around him.  I tapped him on the shoulder and squeezed my lips tightly together as he turned to me. Issen opened his mouth to speak but I decided to beat him to the punch. I needed to get this over with. I didn’t need him making things harder than it needed to be.

“I think we should stop seeing each other.”

Were the poorly put together words that tumbled out of my mouth.

Issen’s eyes bugged out of his skull as he shouted “You’re breaking up with me?”

I cringed as I heard the eaves dropping students gasp and the clicking of camera phones behind me.

“Shut up, you know that’s not what I meant. Look, I don’t like spending time with you and you certainly like spending time with me. Let’s just end this.”

I closed my eyes as I heard a whisper walk past me, “Wow…she’s so cold…”

“But what about my money?” He whispered distraught.

“We can lie. Aren’t you a professional liar? Just tell Hikaru that you did whatever with me and text me the story. You still get your money and with half the work.”

I bit the skin off my lips as Issen’s silence ranged over ten minutes.

“I’ll pay you!” I blurted out.

Immediately, Issen smiled and patted my arm. “Sold. I think $500 should end our engagement quite nicely.”

$500? This guy was insane! But god if I didn’t want this guy to fly into the sunset and never see me again.

“Ugh, fine. I’ll have to go to the bank; I don’t just carry around $500 around.”

Issen held up a hand and pulled his phone and a small, white cube out of his pocket.

“No need, “ he said as he clicked the cube onto his phone “My phone swipes credit cards.”

This guy was just too much and I was glad to finally be rid him I thought as I handed him my rarely used credit card. After I was handed back my credit I began to turn away but Issen stopped me.

“If Hikaru finds out, I’m putting this on you. I’m trying to put a down payment on a Bentley and I don’t need you leading away my biggest cash cow.”

I grimaced and muttered “Whatever, prick” before turning and walking away.  

I was a bit too happy to care about the words coming out of Issen’s mouth. A mouth I probably wouldn’t see for the rest of my life! I nearly skipped home.

My life was finally back to normal and I did it all by myself.