Adaline
I hugged him tighter, wanting nothing more but to feel him close to me. I didn’t want him to leave. This time, I won’t let go of him.
I’m sorry, Emily girl, but I want him. I need him. And I won’t lose him this time.
He responded to me by drawing me closer towards him, in a way saying that he won’t leave anywhere.
I smiled a little.
I’m sorry, but I won’t stay away from him. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Sorry, Sam, but I can’t.
It’s funny how just a month ago, I didn’t really like Ayato. It’s funny how I wouldn’t think that I would like him. But now, it doesn’t seem that impossible anymore.
I like the guy with a weird Japanese name and a weirder personality.
Speaking of this, I might as well ask him about his name.
“C’mon,” He whispered softly in my ear. I shivered from his warm breath that hit my neck. “Let’s go to the others.”
He pulled away from me, taking my hand in his. There was a tingly feeling in my stomach when I felt his warm hand wrap around my hand. His hand was so much bigger than mine.
Well, I guess that that’s normal.
We were walking beside each other, Ayato leading the way to where Jem and Finn would be.
It’s been good minutes since we were walking, and now I’m thinking that Ayato doesn’t really know where he’s going to.
His eyebrows were furrowed as he was watching left to right. I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion.
“Ayato,” I trailed off, his eyes looking at me from sideways.
“Yes?”
“Do you even know where are we going to?” It’s not like I don’t like holding hands with you. It’s that I’m scared you don’t know where Jemima and Finn are, I wanted to say but restrained myself from doing so.
“Yes…?” He said making it come out as a question. I raised my eyebrows at him. He looked at me then quickly avert his eyes.
“Of course that I know where we’re going to. We’re going right in this di—” He stopped then turned the other way.
“This way.”
Five minutes have passed again, and we still haven’t arrived at Jem and Finn. I heard a sigh.
“Okay, I admit it. We’re lost. I don’t know where Jemima and Finn are,” Ayato said. I looked towards him and pursed my lips.
“Well, at least you admitted it. Took you long enough,” I muttered the other part while looking away from him. I felt his eyes on the side of my face, then a hand poked my belly. I put my free hand on my belly, and gasped.
I glared at Ayato. “Hey!”
“Oops. My hand slipped,” He said sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yeah, sure. And you want me to believe you.”
“Yes.”
I rolled my eyes at him, and changed the subject. “So now, what are we gonna do?”
“Umm, we’re gonna head towards the exit, then meet with my mother.”
I nodded my head, a sudden thought coming to my head. I face-palmed.
“Have you gone crazy?” Ayato asked, giving me a weird look. He didn’t even let me answer because he went ahead. “For me?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
I stared at him for a second before bursting out laughing.
I wasn’t laughing just because he was giving me a funny look or because he made a joke, I was also laughing because what he had said was true. But, of course, I couldn’t tell him that.
“No,” I said, giving out one last chuckle. “I just realized that we could’ve called Jemima or Finnegan.”
Ayato snorted. “I don’t have my phone with me. You call them.”
I sighed and took my phone out. Pressing the button to turn it on nothing was happening. What?
I pressed a lot of times on that button, but still the phone wasn’t turning on. What the hell?
“What happened?”
“The phone won’t turn on,” I told him, a little bit of frustration in my voice. He chuckled, and took his hand out of mine, only to wrap his arm around my shoulders.
I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. He was giving me a side, naughty-like smile which made my stomach churn.
Uh-oh…
“Then what do you say about us walking around here and talking? We still have like—” He trailed off, looking at the watch on his wrist. —20 minutes ahead of us. We can stay a little bit more and chat. What do you say?”
I looked at him sideways, the corner of my mouth pulling up in a tiny smile.
“Does that mean this is a—”
“Date?” He finished my question. “Well, if you want to…” He trailed off again, looking at me.
I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know what to say!
He sighed and unwrapped his arm from around my shoulders. He sped up, walking ahead of me. I stared at him, my heart starting to hurt a little.
“Okay then, if you don’t want to, I guess we should find the exit.”
I bit my tongue and sped up to catch up with him. I wrapped my hand around his wrist shyly, and averted my eyes when he turned around to look at me.
“I-I guess we can call this a date,” I murmured, in my throat beginning to form a lump. I felt his wrist slip from my hand, and in its place came his hand. I sucked in a sharp breath.
He gave my hand a little squeeze. I looked at him through my eyelashes. He was smiling down at me. A small but genuine smile.
“Then, let’s go!” He tugged at my hand and began to walk with me through the Mirrors’ House.
“Oh by the way,” He leaned down sideways towards me, and whispered in my ear. “Don’t you think that girl is beautiful?”
He pointed to my side and when I turned around, I saw my reflection in a mirror.
A smile came on my lips. I locked eyes with Ayato through the mirror, him coming towards me and wrapping his hands around my waist from behind.
Isn’t this too intimate for a…. non-couple?
“I know we have known each other for only a month, I know that this might seem too fast, but, Adaline,” He stopped, seeming nervous all of a sudden. My breath got stuck in my throat. He called me by my name! I want to scream! This is too good to be true!
“I got to say that…”
That…?
“I like cherries.”
Umm…
I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. I thought he was going to say he liked me.
Oh wait…
I widened my eyes when I felt a pair of lips touch my cheek. My heartbeat got pretty fast when a voice whispered in my ear.
“That means you, Cherry.”
I froze. I didn’t know what to do. What to say. How to act.
He’s not like Tyler, or maybe he is.
He’s not a player, but maybe he is.
He’s not a bad boy, but…. yeah, he’s not even near a bad boy. Besides the way he acts with the teachers and/or students.
He’s not really mean with me or anything. Just annoying.
But what if he’s just playing with me right now?
What if…
His hands gripped my shoulders and turned me around. His eyes were staring hard into my eyes like he was trying to read me.
“You don’t believe me,” He read right through me like I was an open book. I swallowed the lump that was again forming in my throat.
He gave out an exasperated sigh. “I’m telling the truth. I like you, Adaline.”
I gave him a suspicious look.
“But…”
He furrowed his eyebrows.
“But what?”
“But… Emily?” I asked and all of a sudden he stiffened.
“Umm…” He trailed off and then began to chuckle. “I guess it’s time to give some answers, huh?”
I gave him a puzzled look. He threw a glimpse in my way an sighed.
“Let’s walk,” He said and took off, this time not taking my hand in his. I caught up with him, warily walking beside him. I quickly looked at him, then looked away.
“Emily was my first girlfriend nor did I ever had one after her,” He started, making my attention go on him. “She was… everything to me. Even with her flaws, she was perfect in my eyes. Beautiful, caring and had the brains too, she was literally perfect.”
My heart hurt with jealousy. No time for jealousy, Addy. Ayato said he likes you. Now, shush, and listen to his story.
“I met her in sophomore year when I was walking down to school. She bumped into me while she was on her skateboard. I guess you could’ve called her a tomboy,” He laughed. “We began to talk. I was a nerd back then as hard as it is to believe. Anyway, we began to talk and one thing led to another and we became a couple. I was in love with her. Nothing could’ve gotten me apart from that girl… Just one night at a party. I made the mistake to let her alone while she was drunk. She left the party, and got into a car. It was too late when I saw her. She was already speeding off the road. I screamed after her. Maybe if she didn’t hear me then—”
He stopped and swallowed. He sighed. I touched his shoulder.
“If you don’t want to continue, it’s fi—”
“No. I have to. I started this, I’ll finish it,” He looked at me, determination in his voice and expression. I gave him a short nod.
He closed his eyes, sighed, then opened them again and continued his story. “If she hadn’t heard me then, she wouldn’t have turned around and the car that was coming from the other direction wouldn’t hit… her.”
I knew this was coming, but my heart still dropped. Poor girl. Poor Ayato.
“Of course, she died. Her parents were devastated. I was devastated. The whole school was devastated. No one was blaming me for her death, but me. I was blaming myself. I still am a little. I still remember how she was calling me,” He gave out a sad chuckle. “Ian. That’s why I want people to call me Ayato, even if it’s such a weird name. Every time someone calls me Ian, it remembers me of her.
In the newspaper, that was the article about her. That’s why I reacted like that. Anyways, that happened like two years ago. I still miss her, but I learned that I can’t do anything about it. I can’t bring her back.”
I was tearing up a little and by the time Ayato looked at me, a tear fell down from my eye. He laughed a little and wiped my tear with his thumb.
“I’m supposed to be crying, not you,” I laughed at his words and took his hand in mine. I stared in his eyes.
“I can tell that Emily was a great person,” I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me. We gazed in each other’s eyes for a few seconds before realizing that we stopped in place.
We started walking again.
I cleared my throat, breaking the silence. “How did your parents decide to your second name Ayato?”
He laughed at my question. “Well, you see… My father’s father was adopted by some Japanese people and they named him Ayato. Right on the day I was born, my grandfather died, therefore my parents named me after him.”
I nodded my head, finally understanding how he got that Japanese name.
I thought his parents were watching anime when they were younger.
Don’t judge me, some animes are very cool! And God, the guys in them. Per example Ayato Sakamaki from Diabolik Lovers. I loved Ayato’s name because he had the name of Ayato Sakamaki. I’m getting off the subject right now…
“So… You didn’t tell me…” Ayato snapped me out of my train of thoughts.
I furrowed my eyebrows.
“Tell you what?”
“Do you like me or not?”
“Oh… oh… umm…” I looked around, suddenly nervous. “Y-Yeah…”
I could see that his eyes sparkled when I told him yes, but yet he still decided to tease me a little.
“Yeah what?”
“Yeah… I-I- umm…”
“Y-You- umm, what?”
“Yeah, I l-like you too” I murmured, embarrassed and nervous.
He embraced me, holding me tight. I was a little surprised, but relaxed nonetheless.
“Say it again,” He whispered. I raised my eyebrows, my heart beating very fast. I was 99% sure that he could hear it.
“I-I like you.”
“Again.”
“I like you.”
“Again.”
“Ayato, I already said it thrice.”
“Please just one more time. For me.”
I sighed and wrapped my hands around him. He leaned back so he could look into my eyes. I smiled.
“I like you, Ayato,” I told him and he took me by surprise by pressing his lips against mine.
I forgot how good his lips feel. It’s like I’m in heaven.
I felt him pour all of his emotions into that kiss. It wasn’t a fast paced kiss nor a slow one, it was just one of these kisses: his lips lingers on yours for a few seconds. But it was so good!
He pulled away and smiled. We looked in each others eyes, smiling like idiots.
“My, my, what do we have here?” A voice snapped us from our moment, making us turn around fast. Jemima.
“It seems like two dumbasses finally found the courage to admit that they like each other,” She continued, her voice sounding low and mysterious. Her lips broke out into a smile and she squealed.
“Oh my God! I’m so happy for you too! Seriously! I was waiting for this moment for months! Well, just one month, but it felt like forever so… Yes! Oh God! I have to take a picture of you two! Where’s my phone? Where is my phone?!” Jem began to frantically search her phone in her pockets before a hand that touched her shoulder calmed her down.
“Okay, Jem. This is enough. You don’t have to take any pictures,” Finn appeared by her side. Jemima looked at him, and pouted her lips.
“B-But…”
“No but,” Finn told her and she crossed her arms over her chest, looking away from him. He sighed, giving back her phone. Jem squealed and took the phone out of his hands, kissing his cheek. Finn rolled his eyes, but blushed nonetheless.
Jem tapped on her phone then looked at us. “Now say, cherry.”
I laughed, Ayato hugging me from behind. I placed my hands on his hands, blushing.
We both smiled as Jemima took a picture of us… or more. But I didn’t whine about it. I liked it. And I also liked Ayato. And I still do.
Now, I’m waiting to arrive home so I could ask Sam what was that all about.
Why did she say I should stay away from Ayato?