Start Over

Chapter 21

After mom gave him our address, she hung up the phone. Everything was already resolved, for now. Ryu stayed up late with us playing video games and board games. It's been a long time since we've had so much fun. I bet Ryu was so distracted that he forgot about his problems. My parents were very happy, since Ryu was the first friend I brought home. Also mom always thought I didn't like boys. Finally, mom sent us all to sleep. Dai lent Ryu some clothes and went to bed next to Shou. Mom and I made sure Ryu was comfortable before we went to bed too.

"Good night, everyone!" mom exclaimed before closing her bedroom's door.

I yawned and turned to get more comfortable between the sheets. I was tired, but still worried about Ryu. I just wanted things to be resolved soon and everything to be back to normal. I wanted to be by his side at the time, but I couldn't. I soon fell asleep. Tomorrow would be a new day.

Ryu's POV:

I couldn't stop tossing and turning in bed. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened. I was sick of being lied. Also, my mother was very ill and that worried me. Of course I cared about her. Everything I told them was a lie. I still loved them. I sat up in bed and looked around. Kaoru's family was so warm and friendly, just like mine. They had barely seen me once and still they allowed me to spend the night with them. At least her family was honest with her. Everyone always said what they were thinking and told the truth. Kaoru has never shown me otherwise. I decided to get out of bed. I guess it was fine if only I went to the kitchen to have a glass of water.

"Hey" a voice took me by surprise.

"Ah! Mr-Mr Matsubara! I-I'm sorry! I-I just came to have a glass of water!" I told him.

"Chill out!" he laughed, "You can't sleep?"

"No" I sighed.

Mr Mask invited me to sit with him at the table.

"Look, son. Sometimes parents make mistakes, but we do everything for the sake of our children" he told me.

"But why lie to us? If in the end we will find out anyway" I asked him.

"To protect you. Sometimes the truth hurts more than a lie. Besides, it's very easy to hurt someone's feelings, especially when they're your children. We don't want to see them suffer or get mad at us. Sometimes young people don't understand and they think that we just want to scold or ruin their lives. Talk to them and see what their reasons were. I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt, don't you think?" he told me.

I kept thinking about what he said to me. Maybe he was right. I was carried away by my emotions at that moment and didn't want to listen. I said horrible things to them.

"Good talk, son!" he exclaimed before leaving.

"Wait!" I stood up too, "thank you, Mr Matsubara"

"Calm me, Mr Mask, please" he smiled to me.

The chat with Mr Mask had really encouraged me. I even managed to sleep soundly through the night. The next day I felt much better. I was ready to listen and to be heard.

"One, two, three" Shou whispered before jumping over the bed with Dai, "wake up, Ryu!"

They both started laughing. I woke up suddenly. I wasn't used to having little brothers who woke me up so abruptly. But soon Kaoru came to get them off me.

"Dai! Shou! What the hell are you doing?! Get off him right now!" she was blowing smoke out of her ears.

"Oh, oh!" Shou exclaimed.

"Run!" Dai screamed and they both ran away.

Kaoru started growling as she entered the room and approached me.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked me.

"Yeah. Thanks" I yawned.

"Good. Wake up. Mom is about to serve breakfast" she told me.

"Hold on" I grabbed her arm, "what about a good morning kiss?"

"How about you go to hell?" she blushed.

"C'mon! Nobody will see us!" I begged.

Kaoru turned around and peeked down the hall to make sure no one was watching us.

"Ugh! Fine!" she growled.

She leaned toward me and we kissed briefly, but tenderly. Suddenly, a flash caught our attention.

"I got it!" Mrs Matsubara exclaimed, holding a camera in her left hand.

"Mom!" Kaoru yelled, "delete it!"

After Kaoru discussed about the photo with her mother, we all went to eat some breakfast. Kaoru was upset with me because she believed that I had planned the photo with her mother, but it wasn't true. Soon my father came to pick me up, so I said goodbye to Kaoru and her family and thanked them. Dad also thanked them for taking care of me. At first he thought Dai was Kaoru, so he was surprised to learn that Kaoru was actually a girl. He will surely lecture me after this. Anyways, we both got in the car and left on the way home.

***********************************

Well, this chapter was more about Ryu and Kaoru than anyone else! Did you liked it? Who's next? What do you think about Kaoru's family? Aren't Kaoru and Ryu cute together?! ♡ What will happen next? We'll find out on the next chapter!