Physical Attraction | Sakusa Kiyoomi

24.

"You should eat something."

I didn't know how much time had passed when I finally stopped crying. Yet I was still sitting on Kiyoomi's lap, my face pressed against his now wet chest while he gently stroked my hair. Despite what happened a few days ago, I was glad that he was here, and I was glad that he didn't say much.

My heart was aching. Again, and again I had to think of my mother's message and visualized what had happened. How could you beat an old man? The thought of it left me so angry and sad.

"I'm not hungry."

"I know you probably have no appetite, but you should at least eat something." Gently, he pushed me a little away from him to look at my face. I immediately averted my eyes. I certainly must look terrible and I didn't want him to see me like that. "I got you something, but it's probably already cold. Shall I bring you something new?"

At the thought that he had been thinking of me and brought me something to eat, I immediately felt a little warmer around my heart. Even if only a little. "No, it's all right. Thanks."

"Would you like me to bring it to your bed?"

I shook my head tentatively. "No, it's fine. I'll eat at the table." Slowly I rose and walked to the table where I could already see the tray with food on it.

I could hear Kiyoomi's footsteps behind me as I stopped in front of the table to look at the plates. "Honeydew melon?" I asked.

He stopped beside me. "Um yes. Don't you like any?" he asked, and it sounded as if a bit of hope was resonating in his voice? Weird.

"No. I like honeydew melon. Thank you," I smiled dully at him and sat down at the table. Kiyoomi sat next to me while I poked the pieces of melon with my fork before I put some in my mouth. It was sweet and tasty and helped me to swallow a little bit of the bitter taste of reality.

"What is this?"

Chewing on the melon, I looked at Kiyoomi, who stared questioningly at my laptop.  My gaze also fell on the still open tap.

"Oh that," I said and again poked around in a new piece of melon. "I was looking for flights to Tokyo. But unfortunately, there are no more flights today. The next one isn't until tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. I have to talk to the coach about this." Biting my lip, I tried to hold back the new tears.

After I heard my mother's message, I called her back immediately. However, her phone seemed to be off, as it went straight to voicemail. Afterwards I instantly looked for a way to get home as fast as possible.

"Hey, wait until tomorrow," he said and stroked my arm gently. I would love to crawl back up his chest. "If you still want to fly, then the coach will certainly not object."

Nodding, I took the next piece into my mouth. I ate another two pieces, that was all I could eat. I picked up the bottle of mineral water in my hand and slowly opened the cap to prevent it from overflowing.

"You can go if you want to. Thanks for being here and thank you for the food." I sipped something on the bottle while he did not answer. Slowly I put the water back and tried to ignore his staring from the side. "I think I'll go to sleep now."

"You haven't touched anything of the food," he said in a serious tone of voice.

"I did. From the melon."

"That's not really food."

"Kiyoomi, I want to go to sleep." I didn't have the energy to argue with him, and I couldn't eat solid food. I slowly got up and looked at him. Even though he was sitting, he looked so incredibly tall. I tried with the greatest effort to find a smile for him. "Thank you for staying here. I really needed this-" My voice broke off.