𝗄𝖾𝗍𝗌𝗎 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖽𝗎𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌©
𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦
♫ ๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑ ♫
YOU WERE AWOKEN by the sound of the front door opening. you stirred, patting around the bed to find your headphones, which had fallen off when you feel asleep, and your phone with a missed call from your mom.
as if on cue, you heard a knock at your door and you stumbled out of bed, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.
you opened the door to reveal your mom standing there, looking up at you with disbelief. "i leave you alone for an hour and you fall asleep," she scolded, a smile to her lips nonetheless.
"sleep calls and i answer, ma," you sniggered. "you know me."
"yeah, yeah," she waved a hand. "come and greet our esteemed guest."
"oh..." you were unable to believe that sleep clouded your mind to the extent that you forgot the reason you fell asleep in the first place: you rushed to clean your room because semi eita was going to be living in it in little under an hour and ended up being absolutely burnt out by the end of it. "lovely..." you said through gritted teeth.
walking out into the living room, you could make out his silhouette as he was seated on the couch, his back to you. his hair was longer and shaggier than you remember. the light coming in from the drawn drapes shone brightly on his ash colored tresses, making them look snow white with feathery black tips.
"eita, hun," your mom called out to him and you cringed, watching her walk around to couch. he stood up and your eyes trailed his form, your head rising and rising and rising and... rising some more. "this is my daughter, yn," she gestured towards you and all you could think of was how crazy you probably looked at the moment. not that you cared or anything, because why would you want to look "presentable" for him?
nevertheless, your curly hair was a frizzy halo around your head; your over-the-ear headphones slinked down your neck every time you moved your head; your septum piercing was crooked; and your eyes were puffy from sleep. the only things that might've made you seem less disheveled were the tiny braided pieces of your hair that were weighed down by colorful beads and the matching set of waist beads circling your abdomen.
you could feel semi's eyes on you and you responded with a unrestrained glare, which you could've sworn he pretended not to notice. instead, he gave you a... smile? it wasn't quite a smile, but the corner of his lips definitely tilted up. to some degree. a smirk?
he nodded a greeting, already looking like he owned the place. "i remember her." semi's raspy voice caught you completely off-guard. five years couldn't really make that much of a difference, could it? sure he was 14 when you left japan, but still...
you honestly expected him to pretend like you were a complete stranger, or like he didn't remember you at all. "cool hair," he pointed out.
you had to fight the urge to roll your eyes. "thanks," you said perfunctorily. you could've said you liked his hair too, or you could've complimented his earrings or his hoodie, but you didn't.
he was about to say something when your mom let out a big yawn. "i don't know about you two, but i'm spent. i believe it's my turn to take a nap," she gave you a cheeky smile. "will you show him to his room, yn?"
you mean my room. "yeah, sure. make sure to set your alarm so you're not late for work," you reminded.
the two of you watched her retreat to her bedroom on the far side of the apartment, completely opposite from your room.
"so," semi smiled, pivoting on his heels.
this time you did roll your eyes. "follow me," you sighed, turning back towards your room. this was it. as soon as he stepped into your room, it was no longer yours.
"you're not gonna help me with my bags?" maybe it was your imagination, but was he being smug right now? you turned around to glare at him, only to find another smirk on his face.
you squinted at him, frowning at his broad shoulders and his lean, muscular form. "you seem more than capable of doing it yourself to me," you said in response, continuing your walk.
"are you flirting with me?" you heard him snigger once you arrived in your room, watching as he set down his bags. you scowled at him, but the slant of his bright brown eyes and the shit-eating grin on his face made him look extra delicious—devious. you meant devious.
you don't remember him being such a happy person, but then again, he did just land a once in a lifetime opportunity. who wouldn't be happy? you wish you could say the same for yourself, but you couldn't.
"why would i ever do something like that?" you asked in disgust, causing semi to reel back, feigning offense.
"i like to think i'm quite charming," he defended. "that's what the girls back home tell me, at least."
"nobody cares what the 'girls back home' tell you," you retorted flatly. "besides, you're not in japan anymore."
"what, girls in london don't like handsome guys?"
"is the handsome guy in the room with us right now?" you raised an eyebrow.
you could tell he was trying to ease the tension between you two, but it would take a lot more than a couple of self-regarding jokes to do that. besides, you'd rather sleep in a barn than admit that semi eita was attractive.
semi touched a hand to his chest as if your words hurt him. "ouch." your lips twitched. "bet if i show you my swagger walk, you'll think otherwise." you snorted when he strutted further into the room, his stride strong but the sway of his hips awkward. it was like a model walk gone all wrong. "don't laugh! it's a work in progress."
"yeah, sorry, but you look ridiculous," you shook your head. when your hands folded themselves neatly on your lap, it was clear that you were uncomfortable. for someone who used to get yelled at by older women for being "unladylike" in way that she was sitting, it wasn't hard to read your body language.
his lips puffed out into a sulky pout, whether at your disapproval of his "swagger walk" or the fact that you didn't immediately feel comfortable around him, you didn't know. if anything, the latter is most unlikely because you doubted he even noticed, let alone cared.
"how long are you gonna be staying?" you couldn't help but ask. it was the one question that'd been floating around your brain—the only piece of information pertaining to semi eita that would be useful to you right now; and probably for the rest of his stay in your city, your home, your room, and in your life...
semi took a while to answer, preoccupied with ogling all the posters and knick knacks that decorated your room. shit, you'd probably have to take wall hangings on the right side of the room down because that was his side, now.
"i'm not sure, yet," semi shrugged. "the program hasn't yet specified."
you huffed. "well, can you find out? i need to mark your expiration date on my calendar."
"you want me gone already? i haven't even been here for 20 minutes," he chuckled and it offended you that he found your misery amusing.
"whatever," you fell back on your bed, giving up on trying to find something that will make this experience even a little more bearable.
after a few more moments of silence, you felt the bed sink under added weight. for someone who hadn't so much as sent you a text message in over five years, he sure got comfortable quickly. "aren't you gonna ask me about the program?"
"don't care."
he shifted to laying down on his stomach. his gaze set on you as you uncomfortably moved to go sit against the wall, a leg up to your chest.
"you're not even the least bit curious?"
you sighed, "look, all i need you to do is shut up, listen, and obey. maybe if you follow these three, very simple and feasible rules, these few months won't be so bad."
he frowned a bit, but it was more like a look of concentration—like he was thinking. and that was never, ever a good thing when it came to semi.
"shut up, listen, and obey?" he raised a brow, "kinky. at least take me out on a date first." then he snorted at his own joke, right before pausing abruptly and asking himself quietly: "wait... am i into that...?"
"oh my god," you jumped off the bed, fingers already tugging at your hair, "i can't do this." you shoved your headphones over your ears and scrambled to find a playlist that can fix this. because music can fix anything. right?
semi's lips twitched and he moved his arms behind his head, leaning on them as he watched you have a mini meltdown. he had this supremely irritating look on his face and you wanted nothing more than to smack it off.
"cmon, it won't be that bad," he rasped low. "you can do it; i believe in you."
this was your life now.
♫ ๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑ ♫
ketsu <3