A Second Chance

Chapter 60

"Ehhh... But..."

My hand found its way to her head and I gave her a light pat. "There is a time for something and a time for everything. It all depends on whether it is the correct time."

Elise pouted but she nodded her head. I picked her up by her arms and set her feet gently on the floor. "I guess this conversation is well over." I closed it without another word. I faced Kei. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Kei sat up straight from the couch. "Oh, you're done?" He stood up from his seat and pushed down the seams of his clothes.

"There's nothing to talk about now." I stood up from the seat as well.

"Let's head to the lounge instead. The atmosphere is too tense to talk about it. I was thinking of grabbing a few drinks as well." Kei bowed his head towards Mori.

I faced Mori and gave him a straight smile. I then excused the both of us and we headed towards the closed double doors.

"Heyyyy," Mori drawled out, "so what do you think about the proposition?"

"This, per se, isn't something that can be decided on the go, nor can I actually consider it." I blandly answered. "But let me tell you something." I turned my head and looked over my shoulder. My dark eyes set themselves on Mori; sharp and hard. "Do not make us, the Agency, angry. Anger the Detective Agency and I swear you will never get out from our wraths without any losses. Even a thousand lives of your men won't be enough." I turned on my heels and rapped my knuckles on the doors with a rhythm. It opened and was held by the Mafiosi standing guard outside.

"Oh oh... What a threat. Scary." Were the last mocking words I heard from him before the doors closed behind me.

I clicked my tongue and turned around, glaring hard at the closed double doors in front of me, poking out my tongue towards the office.

"That's so childish of you." Kei's voice uttered out from behind me.

"Tch."

"Now that's mean."

I let out a huff and pressed the button for the elevator.

Getting off on the level of the lounge, we—mainly Kei—were greeted by the number of mafioso in the large room. People who were playing games and gambling their money had stopped and greeted us—mainly Kei again—when we walked past them to get to the bar.

"Two glasses of the special of the day," Kei ordered from the bartender when we sat on the stools. I raised my hand before the bartender could start on the drinks. "One glass of that for him. I would take a cup of coffee for me. Black."

"Understood."

Kei turned to me. "You're not getting any today?"

"No." With my elbow resting on the countertop, I held my head with my palm. "Just thought that I should veer off alcohol while I'm here."

"It's not like we would do anything. Most of the people here know who you are and how you owned that mafioso earlier in the month in the cafeteria." Kei sighed.

"And?"

"And what?" Kei sweat-dropped. "They don't want their asses to get kicked and owned by you."

I laughed. "I don't even want to own all of them in the first place. Who has time for that? That guy was an exception. He pissed me off, so I had to take things into my own hands." I raised my free hand and lifted my pointer finger. "Plus, his ability was interesting and useful, so I copied it."

The bartender came and gave us our drinks. Each taking a sip of them, I brought up about the reason why he wanted to see me in the first place on top of Mori's sudden proposal.

Kei's eyes turned glazed for a moment and he cast his eyes upon his drink. His hand fiddled with the bottom end neck of the glass before he stopped and drew in a breath. When he turned back to me, his eyes changed from its hazy hue to one that held vivid determination.

"I have a few things to tell you, Taichou, no, Tsukiyomi."

I quirked a brow upon his statement. I picked up my cup of coffee and took a sip. "What is it for you to sound so serious."

"First, I want to apologise."

"Apologise?"

"Yes." He drew his hand away from his glass cup and interlocked both of his hands in front of him with eyes flitting upon them. "I have been... an asshole all these years. When you were first captured after your escape, I returned you back to them because I wanted to come back at you if you were to appear in front of me again. Twice as hard for payback.

"And when you did come back and join us, even if it was for a few days, I treated you as if you weren't who you are." His face turned brooding and deeply grave. "The death of two of us... You were the one who took the hit the hardest. You fought the hardest to plead Boss to let you help them, but no matter how much you ask, he wouldn't let you go, or any of us to go."

"That was so long ago... Their lives weren't the only ones that stained my hands." I looked away from him and stared at the steaming cup of coffee; watching the steam floating off from the hot surface of the drink.

"I really, really," I could hear his voice crack slightly—from anger or sadness, I couldn't know. "really look up to you before. But when you left, I just... lost my confidence, or in other words, my respect for you. I thought you ran away with your tail between your legs because you feared everything and didn't want to lose your life. From then on, I hated you with a deep distaste. To the guts."

I winced internally. I did run. I ran and got away from everything. But it was for a reason.

"But then I realised."

He stopped speaking.

I didn't turn to look at him. "Realised what," were the only words I said to probe him to continue.

"I realised something during the few days you returned to the Port Mafia. The reason you left the Port Mafia years ago was that you kept thinking that it was your fault for their deaths, and Boss' unjust decisions after the incidents weren't bearable anymore. It wasn't that you ran away because you were scared for your life."

My jaws clenched against each other in response.

"It wasn't your fault."

"It was," I stated firmly. "If I didn't agree with his plans without looking into the mission further, both of their lives wouldn't have been lost. You were right when you say that I ran away, feeling ashamed and afraid."

"But you still did your best. All of us saw you begging Boss to let you, or at least one of us to help. So much that you swallowed your pride and bowed down to the floor. And I truly respect that. I respect that..."

He trailed off. This perked my curiosity and I lifted my gaze from my drink onto him. His hands were clenched tightly above each other.

"Other than apologising, there was something else I wasn't able to tell you due to the circumstances."

"Circumstances?"

Kei released his hands away from each other, took in a breath and he turned on his stool to face me fully. "Yes. Let me confess... I... I... I like you, Tsukiyomi."

My jaws loosened and my lips parted in shock. I stared at him with wide, blank eyes. I was truly speechless. His words kept rolling around in my mind; swimming in the baffled state I was in. At this point, I was thinking if I had misheard him or I was dreaming about this. But when I pinched myself on the arm, pain spiked up from the contact, telling me that I wasn't dreaming.

When I looked back at him, his face was painted with a blush.

The only words that left my lips after what felt like an eternity was: "Eh?"