despair | h. rindo

XVIII

You didn't really know if Rindou purposely left his bike in the restaurant and walked you home, or if it was just an easier access parking to the highway. But now, he was sitting silently beside you on the bench of the porch of your house, sipping on warm chamomile tea, not even minding you stare every once and a while with a confused look.

You'd open your mouth to start questioning why he was still there when he could go home, but opposed in the end everytime.

"Alright- mph!" As you opened your mouth, Rindou shoved a piece of the cake from his plate. He looked back at the plate, now empty then continued to finish his drink.

Rindou sighed as he put down the cup. His leg started to bob up and down, getting impatient somehow with only the sound of his shoe tapping the wood floorboard accompanying the slow gushing of the cold wind.

"Saturday, huh?" You said, leaning back with your mouth slightly twitching as you stopped yourself from taunting the older male. "My cousin isn't going to take you on a date." He answered. "I didn't say anything about dates. Or your cousin." You smiled innocently.

"You were leaning into it though, weren't you?" He said suspiciously, "What makes you think that?"

You stared at each other in silence. Rindou's look of disbelief almost made you burst into laughter but you held a steady smile. "Stop smiling." He glared. "Why?" You tilted your head. "Cause you look ugly." He answered, taking the plate and cup inside.

You followed suit as you watched him wash the dishes he had used. "Are you jealous?" You asked, crossing your arms and leaning towards the post of the counter. "Why would I be jealous of my own cousin?" He turned to you, wiping his hands dry on the wash cloth by the sink. You shrugged your shoulders, taking a seat on one of the stools, resting your head on the palm of your hand.

Rindou sat across you, throwing a packet of the melon bread he had bought. You winced as the packet hit your face while the boy held down his laughter. "You wanna go on a date so bad, why don't you go out with me?" He joked -probably- as he tilted his head with a straight face.

Before you could react the door slammed open as the twins entered your home. "Wazzuh!" Nahoya greeted as he sat beside you grabbing your snack.

Souya on the other hand let the floor take him hostage as he fell asleep on it. "Souya, get up, please." His father shook him gently, only to rock him to sleep even more.

"Hello, Rindou-kun." Hayami smiled as she set her bag down on the couches. Rindou bowed slightly as he made his way towards the door. "You're leaving already?" She asked. "You could stay for dinner, you know?" She suggested.

The boy just smiled, declining the offer. "My brother might be worried by now." He said, earning a scoff from the older twin. "Alright. Take care, okay?" Hayami said, nagging like the mother she is.

"If you're not too busy, you could join us for Christmas!" She said enthusiastically. "Hun, he can't stay with us always." Her husband said, trying to carry the younger twin to the couch.

"I'll come by if I can." Rindou offered, taking his helmet from the rack. "I'll be going now, thank you for having me."

As he left, his "offer" rang through your mind as your cousin ranted about his day and how annoying one of the customers was.

He wasn't actually going to take you on a date. Probably. He had people grovelling over his feet whether it was about admiration or fear. He wasn't going to take you on a measly date.

~ ~ ~

"You're a coward and a loser."

"How inspiring." Rindou commented, turning away from his cousin. "You're going to grow old single, I'm telling you." Tomiko frowned, sitting down and patting her lap, signalling the ragdoll to come to her.

The blond didn't know if it was a smart move to offer you a date. It was idiotic for him to straight forwardly tell you about it when you both know you hate each other's presence. At least that's how you both see it.

"Why don't you go on a date with me." Tomiko said, pitching her voice down to mock Rindou even more. "Shut up." He glared. "Or what? You call yourself a Haitani, I'm embarrassed of you." She shook her head as she continued to pet the cat, satisfied to hear his purring.

"Better than you asking them out!" Rindou defended. "I asked them out better than you did." She stuck out her tongue, mocking him even more. Getting agitated by the second, without thinking, he threw a book her way.

"Ran might even ask them out better- AH!"

Silence developed around the room as Rindou realized what he had done.

"Wait no! Don't tell Ran! Tomi!" He panicked.

Even if the girl was only two years younger than him, he knew how much she was his brother's favorite. Despite his current pampering, Tomiko kept rubbing her forehead, trying to stop herself from wailing in pain though droplets of her tears kept spilling from her eyes.

I mean, who wouldn't cry after being thrown a 4-inch thick book?

~ ~ ~

"So she was like "Yeah sure." Twirling her ridiculously bleached, ass hair and batting her eyes like a little bitch." Nahoya mocked, playing with his hair and enacting the said, "disgusting view" he had seen while at work. It was surprising how his parents didn't mind or he'd have his tongue cut off by then.

"You know, if you keep talking about Kurumi, nii-san, you might end up with her in the near future." Souya commented, his mouth slightly full of curry. "Yeah, right! I'd rather eat shit." Smiley gagged, not liking the idea of being with the girl.

If you weren't so distracted by a certain blond, you'd be shit talking with Nahoya too, but you were. And no matter how much you tried to distract yourself, you just couldn't.

"Y/n, tell Souya how much of a stinky bitch Kurumi is," Nahoya ordered. "Nahoya, stop cursing, I'm warning you." Your aunt glared as she sat down, placing another bowl of one of her dishes. "Yeah, sure. I'm sleeping early, auntie." You said in a hurry, taking your dishes to the sink. "Are you sure? Hiromi is almost home, though?" Hayami said with a concerned tone. "It's fine."

The twins had a mix of confusion and concern as they eyed you making your way to your room. "They good?" Nahoya asked, turning to his brother. The younger twin shrugged, "If I knew, I'd tell you." Souya replied.

If love never worked in mysterious ways, you would've figured out how it really worked the first time you experinced it. But, Lo, behold! You were as naive as a child seeing a butterfly for the first time. So pretty, yet so hard to catch.

Now, it was even more confusing. It was consuming every part of you physically and mentally as if it was the blackhole of existence. You're a romance blogger, what's so confusing about this?

You shouldn't be confused about what to do, you should be able to handle this situation. But it seemed like you weren't prepared.

And they do say, an unprepared soldier who runs into battle will perish.