Roses and Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 23

"They will love you, Princess." Cupcake assures me as we walk up to his grandparents' house. Both sides of his family are here.

"What if they don't?" I ask. I am still not convinced they will all be okay with him dating a white girl. And a high maintenance one at that.

"They will." He repeats. "But if they don't, it doesn't matter, I love you, you are it for me Evangeline. I don't care what anyone else thinks."

Cupcake knocks on the door with the hand that isn't holding mine. I sigh in relief as I see it is Yumi that is opening the door.

She pulls me straight into a hug before motioning where to put my shoes. Cupcake and I both take off our shoes and set them right beside each other.

"Greetings, I am Sato Ena, nice to meet you." An older lady says slowly, she must be Yumi's mom!

"Hello, I am Evie." I introduce myself, stumbling as my nerves suddenly make me forget all the Japanese I am learned in the past few months.

"Evie, nice to meet you, my name is Matsushima Takiyo." A man says in Japanese, this must be Mr. Matsushima's father.

I get lost when they both start talking to Cupcake, suddenly all my knowledge of Japanese has become useless at the speed they are all speaking.

"You must be Kai's girlfriend." I hear, I perk up at the words I can actually understand. I look over and see a boy that must be about my age. I nod my head at him. "I'm Kisho, his cousin." He adds in perfect English.

I take a step towards him, letting Cupcake catch up with his grandparents, his other grandmother and grandfather have both joined the conversation.

"I'm Evangeline, but most people call me Evie or Vanni." I tell him.

"Do you like Japan so far?" He asks, I quickly nod my head. So far things have been absolutely amazing!

"It is amazing! Cupcake is the best tour guide ever! And the hotel is so pretty!" I look to Cupcake, his paternal grandmother fuming at his visible tattoos, last time he came he must have had very few, if any. "Some things are weird though, like the whole thing about people not liking visible tattoos. And PDA being against social norms, that's weird too, I really like hugs."

"He lets you call him Cupcake?" Kisho asks, inhaling to surpress a laugh.

I nod, "I call him Cupcake and he calls me Princess. Look at what he got me for Christmas!" I say, grabbing my necklace and showing him the pendants on it, I haven't taken it off since the day I got it.

"Vanni!" I hear as Yumi motions for me to come over to her.

I send Kisho a quick smile and then walk over to her. "This is my sister Maki and her daughter Makiko." She tells me, motioning to a girl my age and a woman that looks just like an older version of her.

"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you both." I tell them, speaking slowly and focusing on my pronunciation, they both smile at my attempt to speak their laungage.

"We are about to go make yaki onigiri, did you want to help?" She asks.

Immediately I nod, I have helped Yumi make them a few times already, so I am not afraid of messing up in front of new people.

I follow the three of them into the kitchen. It is on the smaller side, especially when compared to the rest of the house, but it is still beautiful.

"Evangeline, right?" Makiko asks me, I nod.

"Yeah, Evie or Vanni is fine though." I tell her with a smile.

"You are very beautiful." She tells me, my face going red.