Love and Hate ‒ ʰᶦᵗᵒˢʰᶦ ˢ.

two

✧ ✧ ✧

THE RIDE HOME WAS STILL QUIET. Whenever you think back about what happened, your face flushes and you keep imagining his face close to yours. "Why did he kiss you, (your name)?" your father's voice spat the words like acid and it hurt you to think that he even believed you two kissed. Hitoshi's lips didn't even touch yours, what the fuck?

"Dad, we didn't kiss..." you whispered to the thick tension present in the air. "... He just went closer to me. It just looked like it," Your father was still not impressed. "What do you mean by that? I saw what I saw..." You can sense the anger in your father's voice now and you blinked in annoyance. "And I said what I said...we didn't kiss!" It was not long before your father finally parked the car in front of your modern Japanese house. Your family moved here when your father got the promotion and for you, your life started sinking then and there. The two-storeyed house always made you feel weird deep inside because you weren't used to living in a place like this even if 2 years had already passed.

Sure, you were happy with it but it was always a reminder of pressure for you to strive better than your father. He worked this hard to get this done for all of you. Why can't you do the same? But along with the pressure, Naomi had noticed that you weren't your old self anymore. You didn't smile often and would only laugh when talking to her or Eri. Sometimes, you don't even join them for dinner and you would stay in your room. You didn't want to disappoint anybody-especially your family.

You got out of the car and grabbed your bag, the dried leaves present on the front yard crunching as you slightly step on them. You opened the door to reveal Eri and Mirio playing in the living room. "Big Sis!" Eri jumped up and down, raising her arms, asking for you to carry her. You placed your bag down and lifted the little girl from the ground. "How are you, Eri?" your voice made her eyes twinkle and she hugged your neck. "I got 5 gold stars today!"

"Really?" the smile on your face was wide and your clutch on the small girl tightened as you rubbed your face against hers. "Big sis is so proooud of you!" Mirio took the girl off of your arms and proceeded to carry her himself. "Well, Eri, you better let big sister rest because she had a tiring day at school today," Mirio knew when you felt down or disappointed because he has been around since you were first year. Mirio served as a big brother figure to you and Eri and seeing him leave for university next week bummed you out. Eri played with Mirio's blonde hair while the male chuckled at her actions, you stared at the two with a straight face since your mind went back to what happened earlier.

"Hey, cute stuff, you're spacing out again..." Mirio waved his hand in front of you after putting Eri down. You shook your head as your little sister ran to the kitchen probably to go to your mother. Your father directly went to his small office at the end of the bedroom hallways. You looked around and sighed, trying not to let it get to you. "...I know, Mirio... I'm sorry..." you finally shrugged and gave him a fake smile.