CYPHER ~ Naruhina

Chapter- 24

Naruto slammed the doors of his car as he sat in. His hair was a little dishevelled, and his tie was looser than he had worn in the morning. He was finally done with his office matters and was rushing to make it in time.

Should I just call her before I drop in? But, I did tell her that I would be picking her up. But isn't it a basic courtesy to call? Should I ask Eri? His fingers tapped lightly against the steering wheel, as he turned at a corner. His car still remained at a considerable mile from the bakery at which she worked. Ah, fuck it. I'm not gonna think. He knew he was going to spiral into the same train of thought again, so he cut off his overthinking and decided to step on the gas instead. The setting sun shone off of his windshield gently, complementing the golden strands of his hair. His diligent secretary had summoned him for work after the increasingly awkward lunch he had shared with his most recent business partner, but that wasn't what bothered him. Haku had managed to ruffle his feathers by calling him a rowdy schoolboy escaping schoolwork. Well maybe I am, so what?  The lines on his forehead connected with ease; his clear blue eyes stayed on the road. I'm the fuckin' founder; am I not allowed to have free time? Of course, it was not coming from a place of malice or contempt towards his inferiors at work, but from all the pent-up desperation. It was almost time for Hinata's shift to end. He didn't want to keep her waiting. Arranging a chauffeur would have seemed like a better option, as his secretary had suggested priorly, but Haku knew that his boss wasn't going to listen anyway, so he did not bother to repeat it. That was why Naruto liked working with him. He knew how Naruto thought, and would pick up on hints with little to no effort. That was to be expected though, since they had been working together ever since the start of his company.

Lots of roadside flower shops and nurseries did catch his eyes, but he whizzed his car past them, convincing himself that it was too soon for flowers. He had already asked her for a Herculean thing, so he wanted to wait and watch where that went first. It would be way too awkward otherwise. Don't wanna get her creeped out. The lines of his frown creased more but relaxed when the traffic signal lit up green. His black vehicle shot through the streets as if using the speed to forget all the fleeting thoughts that were trying to cloud his clear sense of judgement. After he reached the bakery, he pulled into the nearby parking spots. Yup, pretty sure this is it. He had dropped both Erika and Hinata at the same place for work more times than he could remember, but he had never really stepped inside. 

Still garbed in his fancy, black suit, he walked into the homely establishment. A few pairs of eyes followed the way he roughly ran his brusque fingers through streaks of his hair, loosening his tie further down, and glancing at the glistening silver watch that adorned his broad wrist. He pulled out the phone from his pocket, so he would be ready in case she called him. Making his way to the glass door, he pushed it in, and the clinking of the bell at the entrance resounded cheerfully. 

The environment wasn't quite what he had expected. Naruto had been to more business meetings than hang-out spots. He hadn't necessarily gone on any dates either, and the most he had done was hang out with his childhood friends at a café near the beach villa that his family owned. That was an every-year thing, so it seemed more nostalgic than refreshing to him if anything. 

The place was full of dim, yellow lights. The customers were far from being sparse. They were mostly young couples sharing fancy pastries and sundaes and feeding each other. He cringed a little at the sight, but he was not jealous at all. Not even a bit. He turned away to find an empty table. There was a cheerful gang of school girls at one table, causing a ruckus over presumably, someone's birthday. There was a lot of clamour filling the four walls of the place, but what the blonde young man had on his mind was completely different. His eyes were preoccupied, darting from place to place, seeking to meet those special lilac ones, that almost always made his breath unsteady, yet seemed to calm him.