Lonely Hearts

Chapter 3: A Final Cup of Tea

INT. MAI'S APARTMENT, LATE EVENING

The three of them remained quiet as they reached her apartment. Once Lin had parked the van in her allocated (but always empty) parking spot he quietly got out, and went to the back. Mai realised she could either try to shuffle and exit via the driver's door, or wait for Naru to exit first. She began to move, but stopped when she felt Naru nudge her as he opened his door.

He exited the van, stretching before moving over to allow her to exit. As she did so, she stumbled when the 'pins and needles' sensation hit her. It shouldn't have surprised her, especially after having been on the road for so long. Naru, being so used to Mai's sudden clumsiness, reached out without thinking and steadied her before realising he had been holding her by the waist. He removed his arms nonchalantly and quickly turned away, walking to where Lin was.

Mai and Lin had become closer over the previous months leading up to this point, with him taking the role of a mentor in her life. They had discussed her academics, as well as methods for controlling her emotions and dreams.

He showed a rare sign of affection towards Mai and giving her a light hug and soft kiss on her head, very similar to Monk's affections. She knew this would be his private way of saying farewell. He released her and said "I'm sure you understand that we have to return to England now that we've found Eugene. There are many things we need to prepare for."

Naru, who had been watching this exchange, remained silent.

She looked at Naru, unsure of what to say. As she reached over to grab her small suitcase which was leaning on one of the doors, he beat her to it and picked it up. He looked at Lin, who gave him a discreet nod, "Come Mai, I'll walk you to your door."

They had reached her apartment door and stood there in silence for a few moments, neither looking at each other. Mai blushed, realising she didn't have her keys out and fumbled around for them. Naru pulled out the spare key he had been given for emergencies and opened the door, causing Mai to blush even more furiously. She gave a nervous laugh as she stepped in, "I should have gotten my keys out sooner. I forgot you had a spare key..."

Naru remained at the door after having placed her suitcase just past the door. She realised she wanted a few more moments with him, she quietly asked, "Lin told me you were returning to England... Can I offer you a final cup of tea before you go?"

Naru gave gave her a rare smile and nodded. As he passed her, he murmured, "You know me too well".

Mai busied herself with grabbing the small suitcase and pushing it into her bedroom, leaving Naru to look around the small one-bedroom apartment. She observed him through the corner of her eye, and saw he was looking at the different pictures she had on the wall. She came up next to him and saw him looking at a picture of both of them curiously.

"Yasu took that without us realising... He had it developed and gave it to me on White Day." They continued looking at the picture which showed them arguing (although there was a clear look of amusement in their eyes) over the tea that Mai was holding just out of Naru's reach. She looked up at Naru and realised how close they were and broke out in a blush again.

She turned away as she said, "It's one of my favourite pictures... I think it shows our relationship best.". She made her way to the kitchen, leaving him still looking at the picture. "Make yourself comfortable. The tea will be ready soon".

She glanced at where he was standing, hands in pockets as he did when unsure, and allowed herself a small smile while he glanced around. She was brought out of her thoughts as her tea timer buzzed. After straining the leaves, she took the teapot and cups to her kotatsu. The movement caught Naru's attention. Mai smiled at him as she put his cup near the centre, unsure where he would sit. She was surprised when he took the seat closest to her.

To save herself from saying anything, she began to sip her tea, savouring the taste of the earl grey tea she had grown to love - if only for him and the amount of times she had made it for him. She heard him inhale slowly as he began to drink his tea, and smiled into her cup. They remained in comfortable silence.

"So... you're going back to England.", she said more as a statement, rather than a question. Naru put his tea down and nodded slowly without looking up. "It's time to put Gene to rest and give him a proper send-off. I also have some unfinished business to attend to."

Mai nodded and said, "Speaking of Gene, I saw him when I was pulled to my astral plane."

Naru looked up sharply and startled her, roughly saying, "He's still lingering? I would have expected him to move on."

She shook her head and explained what Gene had said, about his brief ability to watch and hear them while they had all been in close proximity. She busied herself with pouring some more tea as she muttered, "Nosy spirit...listening into people's conversations..." Naru raised a brow at her, wondering if he had heard correctly.

Under the warm light it was hard to tell if she was blushing or not, but before he could ask anything else, she said, "He asked me to give you a message since he isn't sure whether he'll be able to communicate with you. Gene said 'to be happy, to open your mind and not lose sight of what matters". I didn't ask him what he meant by that, I'm just the messenger."

"Nosy spirit indeed..." said Naru, causing Mai to blush. So he had heard her then!

They remained quiet for a while longer as they continued to drink their tea. As they were sitting so close, she braved up and nudged him lightly with her knee which was within touching distance of his. He looked up when he felt her nudge.

She took a deep breath, grasped her hands together and looked at him, blushing furiously. "Naru... I... I don't think I've properly thanked you for everything. Yes, you may have been a complete jerk and narcissist when we first met, and no, it hasn't really reduced. But you did give me a new family. Even through the scary times, you have always been there to keep me ...and the others, safe from any real harm. I'm still sorry for all of the mean things I said to you during the investigation at Yasu's school. And I will always appreciate meeting your little pet."

She looked down, only just realising then that her eyes had begun to water. She had begun to reach out, as if to touch his arm, before hastily pulling back in the hopes he hadn't noticed.

She finished off, proud that there was no tremble in her voice, "Thank you" and almost inaudibly added, "...my narcissist."

Naru remained silent, unsure of how to respond. He had never been one for words, and was afraid he would say the wrong thing or spoil the moment. He saw that Mai was still looking down, and decided to go for it, although opted to keep his gaze down as well. He reached out and grasped her hand, gently tightening his hold on her. They remained like that for a few moments in comfortable silence.

They looked up simultaneously and kept eye contact before a pink dusting appeared on both their cheeks.

He let go of her hand, and stood up before helping her up. As if they had done this a million times, Mai picked up the teapot as Naru grabbed their cups, and in near perfect sync, made their way to her small kitchen. She had been in close proximity to him many times, but the sudden awareness of this happening in her kitchen had her heart pounding, completely unaware that it was having the same effect on him.

She walked him to the door and waited until he had put his shoes, coat and scarf back on. Before he could leave, she placed a hand on his arm to stop him so he could meet her eyes, "Can I come and see you off at the airport?". He gave her another rare smile and nodded, "I would like that." before walking back to the van.

She gave him a dazzling smile before closing the door. As soon as she heard the van leave, the tears began to flow freely. She knew she would be saying goodbye to him in less than 48 hours.