~TOWICL~ Phantom Thief Returns

Chapter 31: Decision Part 1

He stood up and headed towards the stairs. He placed his hand on the railing and turned his head to face her.

"I'm not encouraging you to do it. It is something for you to decide."

With that, he headed all the way to the room and closed the door. He left Riku wondering, thinking about the subject matter over and over again. It was something that she couldn't get off her mind easily.

She stood up and started cleaning the mess on the table, trying to divert her thoughts to something else. However, the more she tried, the more she failed.

- FLASHBACK -

Riku knew that she was attracted to him ever since they met. But that time, his force landing on her balcony frightened her. Of course, who wouldn't be afraid? A man dressed completely in black broke in to your house that easily. Criminals were all over and he was one of the most famous, after hearing the news about him earlier that night. He managed to steal the Sacred Maiden statue and escaped.

No matter how fascinating he was, she didn't care. She just panicked and started screaming for help. Upon hearing her scream, he panicked as well, leaving the statue at the corner and running towards her. He grabbed one of her wrist and covered her mouth with his other hand, trying to shush her.

"Shhhh... Be quiet! Don't be afraid, I'm not gonna hurt you!"

He whispered softly to her ear, trying to calm her down. But it only made the whole situation worse. Instead of calming down, she shoved his hand away from her face with her free once and resumed her screaming. Her screaming was a lot louder and panicky than the previous one.

He panicked more and more. She became more difficult to handle, harder to stop. If she persist, he will be found out. Having no other choice, he did what was left for him to do. If that's the only way he could shut her up, he'll do it. Without another word, he crashed his lips on hers.

That was merely a success for him. She shut up with eyes wide in shock. Riku froze on the spot and made no resistance against him, but didn't kiss back. That moment lasted for a while. When he felt her behave, he parted the kiss and stared at her with a welcoming smile.

- END OF FLASHBACK –

Since that day, Riku always had a bit of crush on him even if she had fallen for Daisuke. She wasn't like any other girl that would dream more about him after a kiss. She despised him for stealing her first kiss and was always pessimistic towards him.

Her sister, Risa, had a big crush on him. That didn't matter to Riku because she always viewed love as a 'someday' to her. She was down-to-earth, unlike her sister who was a dreamer. But even if she kept that belief, she had a boyfriend earlier than her sister.

Right after washing the dishes, she went to the rest room and took a bath. She bathed for almost an hour because her mind was still full of thoughts. Every thought of him that crossed her mind made her heart thump, especially when she found it hard to breathe, hard to think around him. And whenever she remembered the times they kissed, her heart thumped even louder.

Between Dark and Daisuke, she and Dark kissed more. That means Dark was drawn closer to her than Daisuke. Could it be possible that she's falling in love with him? Or maybe she already had, but she never admitted it?

Riku turned the shower head off, clearing her thoughts. She then lifted one of her hand and touched her lips, while her other hand clutched her chest. She could feel it... her heart... the thumping hadn't subsided yet.

She loved the sensation of feeling his lips on hers and her heart was beating so hard, as if it would rip out of her forehead. She couldn't distinguish the feeling that he stirred within her as she viewed it as something else but she couldn't find the perfect term for it. She crossed her arms in her chest and anxiously rubbed them with her hands, her head hung to one side and gaze dropped on the floor.

She then took the bath towel from the hanger and dried herself. But when she was going to dress up already, she realized that she left her sleep clothes upstairs and she currently have nothing to wear.

"Stupid!" she hit her head.

Riku wrapped her body with bath towel and hesitantly climbed upstairs. She knocked carefully on the door before turning the knob. When she opened it, she found Dark sitting on the bed. He was clad on loose shirt and pants and was staring at her.

Although he tried to look as dead serious as possible, a faint blush crossed his cheeks. Of course, that was expected. Riku just opened the door while clad only on a bath towel. She was lucky though, he didn't come up with anything perverted, and she was not flat enough that the towel would just slip off her.

She was also blushing and placed one of her hands on the knot, making sure that it wouldn't untie. But before she could speak, he stood up and headed to the closet. He opened it to pull a set of comfortable sleeping clothes and approached her to hand it over.

"I'm pretty sure this is what you need," he smiled warmly at her. "Here."

"Thanks." She smiled back.

He closed the door and Riku climbed downstairs. She went to the rest room and hung the towel back to the hanger and put on her sleep clothes. After that, she closed all the lights outside her room and entered her room.

She didn't bother to knock anymore as she knew he was up to nothing. When she opened the door, he was already lying flat on the bed, staring at her direction. Riku walked towards the bed, slipped her legs in and laid down next to him.

She then turned the light switch off and turned her back towards him. He also turned his back towards her, and before falling asleep, he heard her say,

"I'm still undecided about the favour you asked of me. The soonest I come up with an answer, I'll inform you right away."

"I'll wait for it," he replied wearily.

She heard him and both of them fell asleep.

(A/n: My story is weird. Yeah... I know. When I started this story, I never thought that it would reach this point. I never expected that the plot and the conflict would be complicated enough to bring this issue up here. Like how can I relate the girl to this? This is the only connection I came up to, might as well... use it. It would be elaborated, but don't worry, it will only happen once in this story. If I can, I'll make another DarkxRiku story with a lighter plot. XD)

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