Rosa Nera: Saving Grace (BWWM) | ✓

Obvious.

"Relax Ken. You still have a shot." She winked at him, causing him to turn away to hide his blush.

How did she manage to do that, to throw him off and make him flush like a love-struck high school girl?

He didn't need a shot, she was his already! Whatever she thought concerning Shawn didn't matter, she already belonged to him- to Kentai Heishi Rai.

"Whatever." He grumbled, making her giggle and lightly punch his arm.

"There's no reason to be jealous Ken, you're still my bestfriend." She smiled at him, her dark eyes sparkling with sincerity.

That's what they were, huh, best friends?

"Yeah." His smile faltered, but Grace hadn't noticed- as she usually wouldn't.

When he said it, it was alright, but hearing her call him that just didn't sit right with him.

He felt so much unexplained tingles for her yet he was still just her best friend, probably seconded to that Shawn boy.

He felt so demeaned, but he put such belittling feelings behind- stored them at the back of his mind knowing full well that they would resurface again later.

Ken parked the car, the both of them jumping out with a shared giddy excitement.

Only they could share such an excitement for simple things such as Ice cream.

He knew well that his fellow cousins would see that as him being uncharacteristic, but he didn't care, this side of him was only reserved for her- his Hime¹.

He locked the car and the two of them skipped into the ice cream shop, holding hands and swinging them back and forth.

Any passer by would have identified them as a couple, totally infatuated by each other. When in fact, such infatuation was very much one sided.

She ordered a vanilla ice cream with butterscotch as a topping, as she always did when she came to this shop. Ken would always get the same thing, he had come to love whatever she loved.

After recieving their ice cream, the two sat beside each other in a booth- slouched like the true weirdos they were.

"Why didn't you tell me you were half Japanese?" Grace asked suddenly, shattering the comfortable silence they held between each other.

He arched his eyebrow at her, slightly shifting in his seat so he could get a better look at the beauty beside him.

"Isn't it obvious? I mean- I didn't try to hide it, I just thought it was obvious. Look at this-" He gestured at his whole self, watching as she examined him. "How does this not scream 'Hey! I'm half Japanese!'? Really Gigi?"

She flushed slightly, turning her focus back to her ice cream.

She was definitely ashamed that she hadn't picked that up herself, that much he could tell from the way her eyebrows knitted together.

"Even Kim knows this. Wait- Do you know Riley and I are related?" He laughed loudly as he witnessed her eyes widen to the widest they could ever be.

How did she not know? It was written on stone! The whole school knew, yet his best friend didn't.

"She's half Japanese too?" She forgot about her ice cream for a second, Ken having her undivided attention.

"No! She's fully Japanese, Gigi!" He balled over to the side, clutching tightly onto his stomach and laughing his guts out.