Ghost Hunt: The Return

The Down Under I

Chapter 6: Thoughts and Things

June 6th
1:03am

A young, darkly dressed man was lying in bed, thinking about the day's events. And these events heavily revolved around the one person he'd have preferred to stay away from.

Mai Taniyama.

He told her about SPR's opening. And somehow, with her insane compelling spell, she'd gotten him to agree to contacting the former irregulars of said business.

How did this happen? he asked himself waringly.

But he knew exactly how it happened. Mai happened.

So in other words, his weak and cowardly resolve was the cause.

Naru had had a feeling that he'd see her again during his visit ever since that chance encounter when he'd first arrived. He told himself that if- when- that happened, he'd play it safe and ignore her very existence. It seemed easy enough; until that blasted woman decided to throw a smile at him. God, he really needed to work on his resistance. That had certainly never been a big problem before... What changed?

Well... Scratch that.

But now, the young man was questioning (for the nth time) his plans. Would he stay in Japan? Or was it better to leave and return to the UK before things got out of hand?

Naru let out a frustrated sigh and brushed his hand through his now unkempt hair. Then, he shifted in bed to turn off his light, and returned to his spot.

With thoughts still lingering, Naru willed his eyes shut and went to sleep- probably dreaming of cinnamon-colored hair and fleeting smiles.

***

3:00am

Mai was having a slight crisis.

As she sat at her desk, she couldn't stop replaying her conversation with Naru, and more importantly, his parting words.

"I missed you," he'd said.

Okay, now what did that mean? Was he actually saying that he missed her? Or maybe she was misinterpreting this whole thing and there was a secret meaning. But how else would that phrase be interpreted?

"Mai, calm down," the brunette said to herself, slapping her red cheeks. "Okay. Work. You can do this. Just focus on the paperwork, and you'll be fine. Distracted."

With no guests in the hotel, the lobby was eerily quiet and resulted in no people interaction, but Mai shook it off. Paperwork wasn't that bad. She just wished she wasn't so... Alone. And with everything that's happening, it felt even more amplified.

She sighed and finished typing info from the stack of papers into the computer data sheet. Now she could overanalyze and dissect the black-haired man's words.

It wasn't that she wanted to. She couldn't help it. The person in question broke her heart unintentionally all those years ago, and while she somehow did manage to get over it, she didn't know if she forgived him. He hadn't really confronted her on that matter, and Mai didn't want to talk about it yet.

"Me? Or Gene?"

Really! What the hell kind of sick question was that? Well, scratch that, she could see where he was coming from, but to doubt her feelings so quickly? It was like he'd ignored everything about the brunette and assumed the worst. Now that she could differentiate between the two twins, it was obvious to her which one really held her heart. While both of them caused her much happiness and love, they were on different levels.