For His Happiness

Chapter 8: What Is This Feeling?

Dear, Reader,

Although this is a bit of a rush, I thought we might as well keep moving in the story, in other words, I admit I want us to keep up the pace to reach the point of this tale. As a matter of fact, I may know a great number of dealings concerning Alfred F. Jones and Kiku Honda, however, that doesn't mean I have to know every detail of their lives. Yes, I know you're going to say that it is ironic since I describe these occurrences with a myriad of facets, but these are just the snippets of their narrative, the most important memories they remembered the best. Recalling back, Alfred and Kiku met in high school, both were sophomores where Alfred was known as the star of the batch, and Kiku was a transfer student. They became friends and as time passed, they grew closer to each other, sharing the same heartbreaks and sentiments, even their health! A year later, they made their "first" kiss, and... what happened next? So far these are what we know about them. But rest assured, they spend more time with each other than we think. Even Gilbert and Matthias commented that Alfred was closer to Kiku than he was with them in high school, but who were they to complain? Gilbert has Matthew while Matthias has Liv.

One time, I asked Alfred (or was it Kiku) about what happened after their first kiss, he shrugged and answered, "Nothing's changed between us". He said that neither he nor Kiku confessed their true feelings. Although they became closer, or rather: they became more than just friends by name after the incident, like how they hold hands, hug each other, and help each other, and yet, their kisses became more platonic, aiming for the cheeks or forehead but never the lips like they did once. They never tried to become more intimidating to the other after Alfred asked Kiku what would happen to them, the Asian answered that they must "take it slow".

"'Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast' he told me with a raised eyebrow and, damn, he booped my nose!" Alfred once said while shaking his head and smiling. I laughed at his reaction. "Keeks is the most trusting and kindest person anyone could ever have. He's very patient and loving, and I don't want to him to lose a single strand of his goodness because of me. So, I agreed to what he said, 'let's not take this too fast. I know it's been a year, but we have to know each other more than what we already know'. Well, like what they said, 'only fools rush in', you can say he's not a fool, after all, that's why I fell in love with him."

So, there you have it!

* * *

When the boys reached the end of their sophomore year, they entered a new beginning in their junior year. Both Alfred and Kiku took AP classes in U.S History after passing the AP test in World History last year: Kiku, with his high IQ, got a 5, while Alfred, thankfully, got a 3. Throughout the course of time, even though it was a hassle and everything was hell surrounded by tons of workload, they did get to know each other better. For an instance: while Matthew learned to play jazz with his saxophone due to his French foster father, Alfred, despite that he drew Arthur's eyebrows as scribbles most of the time, had a knack of artistic capability if you encourage him. Matthew loved the classics their British adoptive father introduced them, but Alfred, as expected, found them boring and rather read graphic novels, however, there are certain books he likes, specifically those written by Charles Dickens, especially Oliver Twists, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Meanwhile, two of the many things Alfred learned about Kiku was that he is good in cooking. Although he's raised in a conservative Japanese home, that didn't stop him from exploring other cuisines that might benefit him in the future, which later became the fate of his brother Yao after he became one of the top chefs in the restaurant he is working in. The other thing Alfred learned about Kiku was that he could speak a total of five languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, Spanish, and of course: Filipino. There are many things Alfred and Kiku said about each other that it seemed like they know the tiniest detail of their routines, and believe me, you don't want me to make a list of it!