Ruki's Guide to Love and Fear (A JO1/Shiroiwa Ruki Fanfic)

Chapter 8

Ruki scrambled out of Momoko's reach. 

Shit.

"This is not what it looks like," Ruki said to Sho.

"I don't even know what this looks like," Sho said flatly, taking in Ruki's outfit, makeup, and Momoko, who was still at his side.

Momoko's cheeks instantly turned red. Surprisingly, she put herself in between Ruki and Sho even though both of them happened to be way taller than she was. 

"This is all my fault," she announced, looking straight at Sho.

Sho completely ignored Momoko. "Don't you ever check your phone? I called you like ten times! We were looking all over for you!"

Ruki bit his lip. He had completely forgotten about his phone. Sure enough, when he took out his phone and unlocked it, there were about thirty lost calls combined from Sho, Ren, and their manager. "I'm sorry, Sho," he managed to say.

Sho just stared at him. "Let me just call the manager and the other members to tell them I found you." Sho sighed as he dialed the manager's number. "Do not go anywhere while I'm talking on the phone."

Ruki smiled sheepishly at Momoko. She looked at the ground.

"You've got to know that this is really, truly my own fault," he whispered to her, "Don't worry about me, though."

Before she could respond, Sho grabbed his arm. "Okay, Ruki. We're going now."

Sho had already managed to wave down a taxi. As Sho dragged Ruki toward the taxi, Ruki looked back at Momoko who was still looking at the ground. "What about Ito? Shouldn't we make sure she gets back to her house safely?" Ruki asked Sho.

"You are not allowed to do anything else tonight," Sho answered stiffly.

"But—"

"We'll talk when we get back to the apartment."

"Goodnight, Ito! Sorry we had to leave like this," Ruki called in Momoko's direction, hoping she would get back to the restaurant safely by herself.

Sho shot him a dark look. Momoko didn't respond.

Although they were only a short distance away from JO1's apartment, the taxi ride seemed to take forever. They both sat in silence the whole drive. Finally, after Ruki and Sho had entered the apartment, Sho decided to speak again.

"What's going on with you, huh?" he said to Ruki. Sho wasn't quite yelling, but his usual mild tone of voice was gone.

Takumi, Shosei, Sukai, and Mame, who were all sitting in the front room, looked up at Ruki and Sho in surprise. Exchanging worried looks, they all collectively decided that it was a good time to exit the living room and relocate to their rooms.

"Now that they're gone, you can speak your mind. I'd like to know what happened before our manager confronts you about it tomorrow," Sho said.

All the sudden, Ruki was at a loss for words. He had literally no idea what was going on with him.

To put it bluntly, Ruki was uninterested in lots of things. Of course, he was interested in anything to do with being an idol—singing, rapping, dancing, acting, modeling, being charming, looking fashionable—but anything outside of that was kind of pushing it. Breaking the rules wasn't really an option for him if he wanted to continue in his indulging in his idol lifestyle.

So why had he spent so long with Momoko today, doing so many things that scared him and were against the rules? And then there was the whole other matter—he had almost kissed Momoko, and then Momoko had almost kissed him. It doesn't make any sense.