If only all love was so pure

Chapter 11

Brushing off the lonely feeling, I head to the kitchen and dad is already finished cooking. The intensity of the smell increases tenfold. I pull out a chair for Ren before taking a seat across from him. Ren sits down in the chair, taking in the mouth-watering food on the table and the interior of the house. He looks like a child who is going to Disney Land for the first time. Mia sits beside me and Dad sits at the head of the table. Dad looks at Ren and says "So, who is our new guest?"

"Hello Sir, my name is Ren. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Naomi's friend." Ren says calmly. My dad gives of a big smile before bursting out laughing.

"You don't have to be so formal, anyone who is a friend of my daughter is a friend of mine." Ren looks away embarrassed. I guess it was just a habit of his to speak so formally to adults, I have seen it before in class. "Oh Ren, you can call me Dad or Alex. Whatever you prefer." Ren's blush deepens.

"Ok Dad..." He says softly. He is so cute.

Dad gives another big smile before we all start to dig in. Dinner was filled with talk. Just simple questions. 'How was your day?', 'How was practice?'. The usual. Until Dad asked the big question, "Ren do you have a girlfriend?" He almost chocked on the fried rice, so did I.

"No, I don't have one." Ren says quickly before taking a sip of water. Dad gives me a quick wink. I mentally slap myself. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering, since you seem like a very nice person, and you're very handsome. I thought you would have one. My mistake."

"It's fine Dad. If you must know, I don't have a girlfriend because I haven't found the right one yet." I feel Mia kicking me under the table. This bloody fan-girl will be the death of me, and the cause of another bruise on my leg. She is kicking really hard.

"You will find her one day." He pauses. "Or you may have already found her." With that he stands up and starts to clear the table. Mia helps him and I take him to my room.

"So, did you like dinner?" I ask opening the door to my room.

"That was the best chicken I have ever had!" His eyes beaming with delight. He is so pure.

"Glad you liked it. Take a seat." I plonk myself on my bed and Ren occupies my desk chair. "What time do you have to be back?"

Ren takes his phone out of his pocket and checks the time. 7:45 pm. "I should probably leave around quarter past eight." He says sadly. Does he not want to go home?

"Ok, then do you want to play a game?"

"What kind of game?" He says eyeing me.

"Trouble!" I reach under my bed and pull out the broad game. I start setting it up on the floor. "The rules are simple: You roll the dice and if you get a six, you can move your piece onto the board. Until then you can't put your pieces in play. After you have a piece on the board, you roll the dice and try to reach home base. Do you understand?" Ren looks puzzled, my words went through one ear and out the other. I let out a small sigh. "It's ok, it will make sense as we play. But I am adding a new rule, every time one of us gets a piece back to home base, the other player gets a punishment." Ren jumps, and curls up into a ball, bringing his knees to his chest, he looks horrified. I move next to him and give him a hug. "It's ok Ren. I am not going to hurt you. It's a fun punishment, like being tickled for 20 seconds." I feel him calm down. I must have said something that triggered a bad memory.

"Oh ok. So that's what you meant." He says embarrassed.

The game begins and Ren has been blessed with beginners' luck. He gets three sixes in a row. I don't believe it. I don't even have one piece on the board. I am the first to get a punishment. Yay me. I look up 'fun punishments' on my phone and then hand the list to Ren. He gets up and sits next to me.

"Close your eyes." I shut my eyes tight. He places his index and ring finger on my forehead. I hold my breath. His middle finger flicks my forehead in excruciating pain. I open my eyes and cover the spot where he flicked. Who knew he was so strong?

"You didn't have to hit me so hard." I whined. The pain caused me to laugh. I lay on my back laughing hysterically.

"I'm so sorry Naomi. I didn't know it would be that painful. Sorry." His voice was full of sincerity and worry.

"I'll be fine." I remove my hands from my forehead and give a smile. I prop myself up on my elbows, and before I am sitting back up, he climbs on top of me. My heart is racing one-hundred kilometres per hour. He kisses the spot he flicked. The feeling of his soft lips overrides the pain coming from my forehead. He pulls away and looks at me, he is still hovering over me. Our eyes meet and I can't help but get lost in them. His hazel eyes remind me of the autumn leaves fallen in mid-April.

This moment feels so unreal. He brings a hand to my face and gently rubs his thumb over my cheek. His eyes travel to my lips and then back up again. I stay frozen, still in his trance. He leans in and we are millimeters away, when Mia barges into my room.

"Naomi! Do you know what time it is!" She yells. She scans my room looking for me before seeing us on the floor. "I'll just leave you two then." She backs out of my room and shuts the door behind her. "Next time put a sign on the door!" She yells from outside of my room. My face goes bright red. My eyes travel back to Ren's face, he moved back a little, but his eyes were still on mine. He leans in one more time, this time we are interrupted by a knock on my door, and the moment is gone.

Ren moves back to his spot on the floor. "Come in." I say. Dad opens the door a little bit, analysing the room. Mia must have told him. She can't hide anything. "Is there something I can do for you dad?" I say politely.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to check on you guys. It is also getting very late and I think it is time that Ren goes home." Dad shuts the door and the air in the room is heavy. My alarm clock read 8:13 pm.

"I should get going." Ren says getting up from the floor.

"Let me walk you home." I say getting up also.

"No, its ok and besides, it's too far for you to walk there and back in the dark." He has a point. We walk to the front door before saying goodbye. I give him a hug and surprisingly he hugs back. We don't let go until my dad clears his throat. We part and I open the door. The night is not a very cold one, the air is still slightly warm. The stars are out, and it is a full moon.

"Goodbye Ren. Be safe ok?"

"I will. Goodbye." He walks out of the house and the last thing I see before closing the door is how the moon's light is reflected on his raven hair. He looks breath-taking.