My Demons

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13

            Hearing Misaki tell me that he loved me made all the blood, sweat, and tears of my past, present, and future worth it… almost. If only he hadn’t added that ‘I think’ part at the end. Did he seriously doubt his feelings for me? He was jealous of his brother when I still loved him. He was so torn when he thought he was just a substitute for Takahiro. He was jealous and angry at Aikawa-san when he thought her and I were together. Everything he said last night indirectly screamed that he loved me. Didn’t he see that?

            I told him the truth about Aikawa-san and why she has a key to my penthouse. I have no idea how he got it in his head that her having a key meant we were lovers. He seemed pretty upset by the fact that he jumped to conclusions like that. It didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I was pretty happy that he was jealous. I thought it was just me that lost control, but in fact, he lost his cool over me.

            And he somewhat admitted that he loved me.

            I kept trying to get him to say it again after that. I’d ask him, “Tell me again what you told me that night.” He’d madly blush and lie, saying that he didn’t know what I was talking about. Or I’d just randomly tell him that I love him, hoping that he’d say it back in return. Instead, he’d blush some more and make a nasty remark to me, such as “Idiot!” or “Shut up!”

            Such a stubborn kid… but that was one of the many reasons why I loved him.

            I was a little worried to have Aikawa-san come back to the house while Misaki was there. On the one hand, I loved it when he became jealous over her. On the other hand, I hated seeing him so upset and hearing him cry. In the end, Aikawa-san decided for me when she still ended up coming over one morning before Misaki left for school to look at my manuscript.

            To my relief, Misaki welcomed Aikawa-san into our home with open arms. Of course, that could have just been because she had a box of chocolates with her. As long as he didn’t get jealous over him anymore then I wouldn’t have to worry about anything.

            My sweet Misaki, being the gentleman that he was, cooked breakfast for Aikawa-san and me. While Aikawa-san was deathly scrutinizing my writing, I watched Misaki toss some sausage links and vegetables around in a pan on the stove. It was so incredibly boring at that moment.

            I got up and walked up to Misaki. “Make the sausages octopus-shaped.”

            “Huh? I thought you were having a meeting.”

            I sighed and leaned on the countertop. “I’m bored…”

            “Don’t get bored!” Misaki scolded.

            “I saw on TV that sausages are octopus-shaped in normal households.”

            He glared at me. “I think that’s for households with kids in grade school or younger.”

            I looked up at him, trying to give him the saddest puppy-dog eyes I could. “So the only octopus I’ll ever eat will come from the ocean…”

            My pleading look worked and he began to cut the uncooked sausages and throw them in the pan. “All right already! Here you go! Sheesh… Aikawa-san’s here. She’s going to laugh at you for being such a kid.”

            I turned around to hear Aikawa-san giggling. Her eyes were wide and her face was lit up. She squirmed around in her seat. I could almost hear the inner monologue she had going on in her head. I had known Aikawa-san for quite a few years now. She took me up on my offer to write boys love novels because she is so passionate about it. She had to be thinking that Misaki and I were so cute together.