It Doesn't Matter (Matter #1)

38. It Doesn't Matter

Malkia walked out of Luke's house, it was a long walk to the gate because the premises were just so huge. She felt sort of exhausted by the time she was back in the neighborhood road. She looked this and way and that trying to think of where to go, wondering what was the quickest way to get out of there. She knew she couldn't walk all the way to the bus stop, she wasn't sure if they even had those around here. Requesting a vehicle online was a good way to go but the rates would be so high.
She had been in this line of thought when someone bumped into her.
The other person was a slender tall girl - no she was a young woman. She had to be in her twenties at least. She had the darkest hair Malkia had ever seen and skin so pale she was almost white. There was something about her, especially her eyes that was familiar but Malkia couldn't place where.
"I am so so so sorry," the girl said, she was carrying a hand bag in her hand, she had another bag on her shoulder and a large suitcase behind her.
"I should be the one apologizing," Malkia said still looking at her, she was very beautiful, she thought. She was so beautiful she wondered if the girl was real at all. There was something about how tall she was, how slim she was and the texture of her skin that made her seem so very magnificent. It had nothing to do with her how good she looked or how well dressed she was or the fact that she was wearing heels as she dragged all her luggage around.
The girl beamed "Then will you make up for it? Help with my luggage? Please, I thought I could carry them home myself but I didn't realize how far home was and I don't want to eat my words." she looked at Malkia with pleading eyes.
Malkia could sweat she had had those eyes look at her like that, but they were much darker and much more intense. She thought that the girl had the same eyes that Ryuu did but she brushed it off, it could all be because they came from the same clan.
"Sure," she said taking one of her bags while they both held the suitcase handle and dragged it along.
"I'm Eug Sung by the way," the girl said.
"Malkia," she said back to her.
They walked all the way to the second gate after Luke's house, it was a significant distance, it had taken them over twenty minutes.
"Alright," Malkia said when the girl rang the bell "I guess I better go now,"
"Oh no, no," the girl said clasping her hands "you have to come in and let me offer you a glass of lemonade at least, I can give you a ride as well there is no way you can walk all the way back there - where were you going anyway?"
She didn't get the chance to reply because the gate opened and then there was a flurry of people moving to help the girl with all her luggage and she had clung to Malkia's hand as they all forced her into the compound and got her on the cart wheels that made it easier to go from the house to the gate.
Malkia noticed that this house was much larger than Luke's, it was like a whole village, it had everything. She knew because they were passing through all these things, they passed the forest that wove all through the drive way to the house and she was sure she spied a pond in the middle of it with a wooden swing facing it. There were all sorts of flowers and all sorts of things, it didn't make sense for this place to be called a house, it couldn't all belong to one family, it had to be a resort or a place people came to have a peaceful time.
The house itself was another issue entirely, it was a three story grand castle, it had the largest windows and the most intricate design Malkia had ever seen, she was so awed she couldn't say a word when they stopped in front of the great glass doors and walked up the stairs - they were very grand stairs as well, it was similar to the one on Ryuu's space ship - she simply went along because she felt like she had to see the inside of the house now.
They entered the foyer and the girl turned to all the maids and butlers lined there, there were about ten of each and then said "Where is my brother?" and then she turned towards the stair case which was much grander than the stairs outside and yelled "Ryuu!"
Malkia felt the goosebumps appear on her skin and she took her hand back, this was Ryuu house? Somehow she was sure it was not another Ryuu, she even recalled someone saying Ryuu's sister's name and it was something with Sung. She had to leave! "I should go," she said but the girl, Eug Sung, just turned around and smiled at her before she placed her hand over her shoulder and said to the helpers "I want lemonade and the some biscuits, please make them just how I like them and bring them out to the back garden?" she smiled at them all and then said to Malkia "Come on,"
She was very pushy, Malkia noted, just like her brother.
She passed past the living area it was wide and not at all like a living area but rather like a great hall that was filled with fine arts and expensive vases and not enough seats. It was like the people who arranged the area didn't want people to sit but to stare at the artifacts instead.
The back garden was apparently on the other side of that area because they went straight through the open glass window/doors and walked outside to an intimate beautiful garden that had a small round table situated right outside the house with four chairs on it.
The view was absolutely amazing, again, Malkia thought that this couldn't all just be a home for one family it was too much. She found herself wondering how much it must cost to maintain the house and she felt a minor headache just from the cost of having ten maids and butlers greet you when you showed up. That didn't involve the gate detail and the cart drivers.
She hated that she thought of it but the thought came to her none the less, no wonder Ryuu acted that way.
Ryuu! She panicked, he couldn't see her there, she had to go!
"I really should go," she said to Eug Sung.
"Nonsense," the older girl replied as a butler pulled out a chair for her to seat on. Another butler did the same for Malkia but she remained standing.
"Why the hell would you disrupt my schedule?" she heard Ryuu say, he had to be coming down the stairs but he was so loud his voice carried all the way outside "I can always see her when I'm done!" the person he was talking to said something back to him and he yelled back "So what if all I was doing was stalking someone on the internet!"
He finally made his way to them and Malkia was careful in hiding her face, her heart was beating fast because she knew this was the last place she ought to be at. It didn't matter what she had said to Luke, she was mad at Ryuu and he was mad at her.
"Eug," Ryuu said her name like it was a complaint "why did you have them wake me up, why do they always listen to what you want over what I want?"
"I'm older," Eug Sung said getting up to hug her brother "You've gotten taller since I last saw you," she beamed at him.
"Don't be ridiculous, that was only three months ago."
"Far too long but you never want to come and visit me,"
"You live three planets away, why would I make myself go through all that, I always feel like I've lost some years when I come back." Ryuu said.
"You're such a bad boy, you don't do anything for your only sister - you should be like her, she helped me out even though we weren't related at all!" Eug Sung finally turned to face Malkia and she kept on hiding her face.
Ryuu knew who it was as soon as he saw her, he hated that his eyes roamed over her body, he hated that he liked how good she looked in that dress, he hated that she had worn it for Luke. She had never dressed up for him.
"What are you doing here?" his voice was cold.
"Don't be mean I brought her with me," his sister said shoving him forcefully "why are you so bad mannered?" she seemed truly affronted by his behavior.
"No, it's fine," Malkia said getting up "he has every right to talk to me like that. I shouldn't of have come here in the first place. I'll be on my way."
"What? No! This house is big enough for him and his ego, he should go away. I want you to stay." Eug Sung said.
"No, it's getting late and I live far from here." Malkia said, she tried not to look at Ryuu but he was glaring at her and she - she didn't think she could glare at him not when she had finally come to terms with her feeling.
Not when she was finally admitting to herself that she liked more than his smell and his kissing abilities, not when she was admitting that she missed both of those things so much her heart was aching. She missed how he talked to her like she was strong enough to take whatever he threw her way, like she was resilient and he knew it. The way he annoyed her on purpose so she would shove him, the way he listened when she asked him to stop, the way he worked on all the things about him she didn't like, the way he wanted her back even after she had kissed Luke, the way he was ready to forgive her if she chose him.
She felt her eyes start to prickle and ducked her head before she quickly ran out of there.
She ran all the way to the drive way that led up to her house; she was walking by the forest when someone finally caught up to her.
"Where are you going?" It was Ryuu.
"Home," she sniffed.
"Are you crying?" he seemed shocked and disgusted by this.
She whirled around and looked at him, she wanted him to see her tears because he had been the reason they were there the entire week "Yes! I cry when I'm hurting, I cry when I'm sad and I cry whenever I feel like crying, is there something wrong with that?"
Ryuu had obviously not expected her to say any of these things, he wore a shocked expression for a second but he fixed his face and said "So why are you crying now?"
"I feel like it," Malkia said looking away, she started walking again.
"Did you have fun on your date?" she could hear the question he didn't ask.
"Um..." she wasn't sure if she could say what she wanted to say, all the things she was feeling felt like a lot so she just said "it was fine."
He sighed "Well, I'm really sorry I tagged you again, I just thought I should get that out of the way if you're going to be with Luke..."
"Oh, um, it's fine," she said.
"It's not fine," he said as he stopped walking and turned to facing her "it's not I just - I wanted to have you hate me again, that way I wouldn't be tempted to do to Luke what he did to me."
Malkia felt her eyes widen, all this time she had thought Ryuu was the worst, but here he was being considerate of the friend that had done him wrong. Did it matter that he didn't have the best manners or people skills if he knew how to be loyal and have integrity? She didn't think it should, but it did matter quite a bit to her, but she knew who he was inside. He was a great guy, and she had blown it.
So she looked at her feet and said "Even if he did the same thing to you?"
"It's precisely because he did that that I don't want to do it to him," he sighed once more "I know how much it hurts, I just, I am mad but I don't think this will be the end of our friendship so I need to...I needed to see hate in your eyes when you looked at me,"
"And do you see it?" she asked raising her head to look at him, she felt like she was leaving her soul open.
"I don't know what I see," he laughed bitterly "I think I see what I want to see,"
"What's that?" why was she whispering? Was her voice sultry?
Maybe his smell is getting the better of you again. Just maybe.
He turned to look at her like he was seeing her for the first time. He was really looking at her and appraising everything that he saw in her.
"Sometimes, I think you do more than like me but you always speak like all you do is tolerate me so I'm never sure." He moved closer to her, he was whispering too "it doesn't matter what I see in your eyes, it doesn't matter unless you say it."
She opened her mouth, ready to say what she was feeling. It was so great and so raw it was choking her and keeping all the air from her lungs; but that could be due to his close proximity. She could smell him and it he smelled the same but better, like the fact that she hadn't been constantly smelling him this entire week made his smell that much more intoxicating. She shivered with need and want but she kept herself together.
She wanted to say all those words but they wouldn't matter if she spoke them right now before ending things with Luke, before she tried to be alone and sure of what she was feeling.
Because whatever that feeling was it was making her feel like it was the first time she had been in love. She wondered if that was how it was going to be, was she going to retract all past lovers when she met a new greater one.
"See?" he said reaching out and caressing her face "so many thoughts flash by but you don't say a word."
"I'm sorry," she said "I'm sorry I wasn't fair to you, after all you did for me, I spent this entire week in agony because you were everywhere I went, I remembered you so much I could barely stop crying. I felt so guilty."
"Wow," Ryuu said whistling to make an emphasis "this is the only time you haven't spoken to me like I'm an idiot."
"You know you're not always an idiot."
He laughed and she smiled along with him.
Ryuu called for a car and insisted to drive her home and she agreed after she made him promise not to take her right in front of her house so her mother wouldn't see him.
It was a long drive because Ryuu lived on the other side of the town. It was a remote area with very little bus stops and even fewer people.
"Here I am," Malkia said when they parked a few houses from hers "say bye to your sister for me,"
"She must of have really liked you to bring you home like that," Ryuu said fidgeting with his fingers.
"Really? I thought she was simply that forceful."
"She is but not to just anyone,"
Malkia nodded and reached to open her door but the driver got it for her so she put her leg out and was about to get out when Ryuu said "I would never dream of buying your love, I hope you know that I know it's not for sale,"
He looked so sincere she felt her heart ache and she regretted saying those words to him "I know,"