One More Chance

Chapter 8: The Haunted Mansion

*It's weird, you know the end of something great is coming, but you want to hold on, just for one more second, just so it can hurt a little more.

"Come on." Natsume grabbed Mikan's hand, and together, the two of them went to the other direction, leaving Megumi behind.

Mikan just let Natsume lead the way. She didn't protest; she didn't argue; she didn't fight with him. She was still too shocked from what he said earlier and she had not yet recovered from the effect of his words.

Because you've hurt and insulted the woman that I love. The words ran through her mind.

Immediately, her face started to become warm. He loved her. Natsume Hyuuga still loved her. Without realizing it, tears started to form in her eyes, and before she was even aware of it, she was sobbing.

"Hey, are you alright?" Natsume turned to look at her, and he stopped on his tracks when he saw that she was crying. "Are you hurt?" He asked, deep concern evident in his voice.

Mikan just shook her head. Her heart was hammering in her chest.

"Then why are you crying?"

"There's just something in my eye." She lied.

"You're lying." Natsume's crimson eyes bore into hers. "Mikan just tell me the truth." He pleaded.

Mikan looked away from him.

"Like I said, there's just something in my eye." She insisted. "I'll just go to the restroom for a minute." She quickly ran away before he could stop her.

Luckily, there was no one in the bathroom and Mikan was able to cry as much as she wanted. Minutes have passed, and she had finally calmed down. She looked at herself in the mirror.

Her hair was a mess, her eyes were red due to too much crying and there was a bruise on her cheek. She looked like she had been attacked by a harpy, a pretty nasty one she might add. She sighed and ran a brush through her hair. After fixing her appearance, she finally got out, only to find Natsume waiting for her.

"What took you so long?" He demanded.

"I didn't tell you to wait for me." Mikan tried to sound as normal as she could.

"Well, I did."

"Never mind." Mikan sighed. "Let's just go and find the others." She said.

The two of them walked together in silence. After all, Natsume wasn't much of a talker and Mikan just didn't know what to say to him after what happened earlier. It was tense, awkward and quiet between them.

When they finally got to where the group had met before, they found that there was no one waiting for them.

"Where are they?" Mikan couldn't believe that Hotaru and the others would leave them behind.

"Who knows? They're probably looking for us." Natsume muttered. Sighing, he took his phone out of his pocket and started dialling.

Mikan also got her phone out and tried to contact Hotaru and the others, but none of them were answering their phones.

"The number you have dialled is either unattended or out of coverage area. Please call again later." Said the automatic voice of the operator as Mikan tried to call Eiji's phone. Sighing, she returned her phone into her pocket and turned to Natsume, hoping that he was able to contact any of their companions. But based on the scowl on his face, Mikan doubted that he had any progress at all.