The Sweetness of Tears [IDOLiSH7]

1: Sweetness

The sound of the bicycle pedals creaked over and over again as a young boy rode from his shop to a certain house 500 metres away with some delicious bakery to deliver to his customer. He wondered why the customer did not just walk to the shop since it was so close by. He sighed as he left the old bicycle lying against the wall and walked to knock on the wooden door.

"Excuse me, I've got your delivery." Izumi Iori shouted as he heard footsteps approaching the door. The person who opened the door seemed to be a young boy not much older than Iori. The first thing Iori noticed was how brightly the red-haired boy smiled. It was so genuine, yet he felt strange from looking at it.

"Thank you for coming. Here's your money!" Nanase Riku said gleefully while handing over an envelope containing the exact amount of money. Iori took the money. He almost left quietly, but he could not stop his sharp tongue from working. "Sir, you know our shop is just nearby, right? You could have saved the delivery fee by just walking there."

Even though Izumi Mitsuki, Iori's elder brother, was an expert at dealing with customers, Iori turned out to be the exact opposite. The dark-haired boy was not as friendly and always kept the conversation to a minimum. Riku blinked twice in surprise. The truth was that he had been quite ill all day. It was hard for him to breathe even when he only stood up from the couch and walked to the bathroom. Iori's words actually hurt Riku but he laughed it off. The redhead was trying to come up with an excuse. However, Iori did not care to hear it. He got on his bike, said thank you just to sound more polite, and pedalled away.

"*wheeze* I wish I could walk that far on a day like this..." Riku was really upset because he was viewed as being lazy when he was not. His movement was limited by his respiratory disorder, which happened to get worse today.

Iori entered his empty home of a tiny bakery. He thought maybe he should not have said those words. It was clear the customer really was bothered by what he said. Iori sighed, went to his room, and lay down on his bed.

This was a small town named "Sinra". Most of the walls were made of grey bricks and were not very tall. Not much happened in this town. Most of the time, it stayed quiet, even boring. Izumi's bakery, despite its small size, could be seen easily from many angles due to its bright light.

Izumi Mitsuki was supposed to be in charge of managing the bakery. Unfortunately, he had to move overseas to pursue his dream of becoming a legendary idol like Zero. Iori supported his brother fully, and he did not mind looking after the bakery as he did not know what to do anyway.

Nanase Riku used to live with his twin brother, Nanase Tenn, who owned a business in a large, busy city. He decided to move out to Sinra, which offered more fresh air and a more relaxed atmosphere for Riku. Tenn would visit whenever he had time off. Riku could occasionally be seen singing by the river near the town.

~~

Riku felt much better the next day even though he was still a little pale. He decided to take a walk around town. After a short while, he spotted a shop with lights shining brightly. "Izumi's bakery" was written on the sign in such a sweet font. Riku thought the melon bread he had yesterday was so soft and perfectly sweet that he had to walk closer to the shop. His red eyes sparkled in the sunlight as he looked at the selection of delicious looking bakeries through the window. "Uwaaah!" To other people, Riku must have looked like a little kid staring at candies.

When Iori stepped out of his mini kitchen, he was surprised by the window-shopping Riku. Iori did not really know what to do. He could just stand at the counter and pretend to be working on something, or he could open the door to apologise for what he said last night, but that would be so embarrassing. Judging by Riku's facial expression, he was not about to walk away anytime soon. Iori sighed. The dark-haired boy approached the glass door and opened it, making the yellow bells clang. The sound startled Riku a little, and so their eyes met.

"Why don't you come in, customer-san? You can see better inside, you know?" Iori started.

"Ahh sure! I would love to smell those sweet-looking bakeries!" Riku stepped into the shop. "Uwaaahhh it smells so nice in here! Ooh! That cake looks lovely!" Riku hopped to the large glass display. It was a vanilla-flavoured cake with pink icing on top, decorated with fresh strawberries and a cute rabbit-shaped figure made of icing sugar. Riku loved sweets. The sweeter, the better. He could not take his eyes off that cake.

Iori thought the customer was so childish, yet he could not help smiling a little. Not a lot of people visited his tiny shop in such a small town. One thing was bothering Iori, though. He noticed that his silly customer looked a bit pale. I'm probably just overthinking things. Iori thought to himself. He was not sure why, but he went to the counter, took a matcha-flavoured roll cake and cut a slice for Riku. "Here, it's on the house." Iori handed the plate to Riku, who looked confused.

"Eh? Are you sure?" When Iori nodded, Riku grabbed the plate and emitted such a happy aura. His smile could not be any wider. "Ahhh, this looks so good! Thank you so much! Ooooh it tastes sooo nice~!"

Iori let out a little laugh. He stopped when his little train of thought kicked in. "I... uh, sorry about yesterday," he said quietly, still making eye contact with Riku.

"Eh...? Ah! That!" Riku's facial expression changed. He suddenly looked sad. "You actually... really hurt me." Riku looked down. He probably did not mean to say it out loud. His voice almost went unheard. Guess it was too late. Iori's eyes went wide. He felt so much guilt in his heart.

"But it's alright!" Riku looked up at Iori and gave his sincere smile again. "You don't seem like a bad person. Maybe you were in a bad mood? And you gave me cake!"

Iori did not know what to do anymore, or what he was supposed to be feeling. The whole place went quiet for a while before Riku broke that silence.

"I am Nanase Riku! What's your name, shopkeeper-san?"

"Izumi Iori... wait, Nanase?"

"Hmmm?" Riku tilted his head.

"The Nanase that owns a huge jewellery company?!?" Iori asked, surprised. After all, "NanaseJewel" was one of the country's largest jewellery design companies.

"Ah, my twin brother runs that company. He really is an amazing person. Ehehehehe~" Riku could not be more proud. He used to help Ten with paperwork. His health now was not as good as it was then.

Gee, the person in front of him was not just childish, he was also a brocon. Iori thought. He seemed to be enjoying his short time with this silly red-haired boy, though.

Riku had to start heading home. He should not be outside for a long time. He bought a few different kinds of sweet bread. Riku could not be happier, but Iori was hoping he could get to know Riku more. Riku opened the glass door and took one step out of the shop. "Wait!" Iori suddenly acted on his feelings, which was unusual. He grabbed Riku's arm gently. "W-why don't you come again soon? We make different kinds of products every few days or so." Iori stuttered. He could hear his heart pounding. He was not sure why he did what he did.

Riku beamed. "Of course! I'll come visit soon, Iori~!" With that, Riku left the shop and disappeared into the distance. Iori stood there with his trembling body. His face got a little red from embarrassment, but he felt a little warmth of happiness in his chest.

Iori had been working hard in his cute bakery every day, hoping someday Riku would turn up. However,..

Two weeks had passed. Riku had never once come to the shop.

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So first chapter! I hope you lovely people enjoyed this intro kinda thing~ Please please please comment I love reading them teehee~ I don't have much experience in writing romance (cuz uh I'm a lonely person T.T) but I do want to make this story good ^^