Ink Stained

89: breathless*

息を切らして

She forgot to breathe.

She forgot to think.

She forgot to blink.

She forgot that up until this moment in time she'd existed as an actual person, with real memories, tangible ties to other people.

She forgot that she'd been kissed on the cheek before. By her mother, father, Midori, Shiori more times than she could count when her best friend randomly whipped out her phone for half a dozen selfies to post on her Instagram. Of course she had. It would be hard to find anyone who hadn't been kissed on the cheek at least once in their entire lives. Kisses on the cheek were normal. Italians – or was it the French? – greeted each other that way. No one had died by spontaneous combustion from that, as far as she was aware.

But never had she been kissed on the cheek by a man that she knew and could admit to herself that she was in love with. Her father most certainly did not count. Neither did Ryu when she used to carry him around when he was a bumbling little baby too young to consider kisses 'gross'.

The thought to move away from him was the furthest away from her mind as his lips brushed over her cheek. That was probably what Shiori would tell her to do right now – get away before she got too close and entangled and hurt in the end. But she wasn't thinking clearly. Her thoughts screeched to a clunking halt, and her breath froze to icicles of fire in her chest, piercing her straight through.

It was the barest touch, a gentle press his lips, a hint of apples and the sweet scent of saké mingling in the warm breath on her cheek, but it was enough to set her heart racing. All the nerves in her body lit up, blazing as she unconsciously tensed and relaxed all at the same time at the unexpected touch to her skin.

Her eyes were wide on his, unblinking as she stared at him – and he was watching her too. There was a knowing half-smile playing on his lips as he gazed into her eyes, never once looking away when he leaned back to give her some breathing room.

"Was that painful?" he asked in a voice that had a very different, unfamiliar heat pooling low in her abdomen.

She stared stupidly at him. She was still stuck on how soft his lips had felt on her cheek, and trying to understand the disappointment that surged through her when he moved away. Her brain was slow and sluggish as she tried to force it away from what Shin just did, as she tried to think about anything but the feel of Shin's lips on her bare skin.

"S – sorry," she stammered when she realized she was gaping at him, immediately back-pedalling to doing what she usually did when she was lost or confused; apologizing in case she'd done something wrong. Her cheeks flamed as her gaze darted from his to her hands clenched in painfully tight fists in her lap. "I didn't – I wasn't – I..."

Shin smirked at her stuttering, greatly amused. "Why are you apologizing?"

In a desperate bid to defend herself and to make him stop grinning at her like she was the most captivating thing to hold his attention, she retorted with, "Are you drunk? How much saké have you had?"

What she really wanted to say was, Why did you do that when I'm in love with you, idiot! Kissing her on the cheek – even if it was in a friendly manner, which only made it all worse – was not going to help her get over her inane feelings for Shin.

"I can't get drunk."

She stared. "What?"

Shin grinned wickedly. "It's impossible for me to get drunk."