Youthful Days (Book 1)

66. Dark Paradise

They followed the cobblestone path leading back to the house. The door made a sharp creak when Ayuna pushed it open, making them pause. They waited while holding their breaths, listening to any movements from the inside. Thankfully, nothing came—the only sounds were their staggered breathing.

"This is fun," Fuji whispered as they both slipped off their shoes. It was pitch black, with only the faintest moonlight seeping through closed bamboo shutters.

"Not unless my parents wake up," cautioned Ayuna in a hushed voice.

"Are you afraid?"

"Aren't you?"

"Like you can't imagine."

His response seemed to give Ayuna some satisfaction. "I guess our prodigy isn't immune to fear, after all."

They felt around for the staircase. Starting up the narrow flight of stairs, the smooth wood felt cool underneath Ayuna's bare feet. Her heart was pounding at the base of her throat. There was a strange intimacy to being with Fuji while they snuck around in the dark. It was both rebellious and exhilarating. Alone in the night, they could both forgo rules, obligations and identities. Her stomach flip-flopped at the thought. She could hear his near-inaudible footsteps trailing behind her, and it made her hand quiver.

As they neared the top, Ayuna had concentrated so hard on listening to Fuji's movements that she lost her footing and tumbled backward. Before she plunged further, he promptly caught her by the elbow.

"Be careful," he said, a hand on her waist.

Ayuna gripped onto his arm, for a moment seeing stars. They stood for a minute with Fuji cradling her in his arms. Buried by layers of shadows, he couldn't see her face clearly, yet he knew she was looking back at him. Without thinking, he bent down and kissed her.

Ayuna's heart skipped a beat. In that split second, she thought of that provocative conversation with Momoko from weeks ago. She wondered if this was it, and the idea of it made her skin burn.

She clung onto him and opened her lips against his. In the pitch-black corridor, this kiss felt wild and foreign. Unlike their previously slow and delicate touches, their bodies now pressed against each other with urgency. An unknown rush of helplessness and sinking desperation seized Ayuna, as if time was falling through an invisible hourglass before her eyes. She let him kiss her: once, twice, until her nerves grew electrified and the world around her capsized.

Fuji pulled Ayuna up onto her tiptoes and pressed her against the plaster wall. He had a hand encircling her waist and the other at the frilled collar of her nightgown. Hands brushing past her neck, he loosened the top two buttons carefully. When the last button came undone, she felt his touch feather against her bare skin.

The unexpected contact made Ayuna tremble and her knees weak. Clasping the hem of Fuji's shirt, she drew him in closer as his lips traced the outline of her collarbones. Before she knew it, his mouth had moved to her throat, and a startled gasp escaped her.

"I'm sorry." Fuji instinctively let go of her, distancing himself. His voice sounded abnormally husky. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea..."

Ayuna caught his hand before he could back away further. "Don't go. I didn't mean... You surprised me, that's all."

Doubt and regret colored Fuji's expressions as his eyes gleaned over her disheveled nightgown. "Still, I shouldn't have—"

"Please stay," she tightened her grasp on his hand. "Or at least, come upstairs before we wake up my parents."

They climbed to the second floor soundlessly. Ayuna's room was perched near the opening of the corridor. The windows to her room had been left wide open. The scent of the night wafted in, sending the gauzy curtains flying.