Hina lightly traced her finger over the sketch, faint smudges of pencil lead dotting her fingers.
"Oh Kana," she smiled warmly, patting the girl's head. It was a drawing of Hina, carefully colored with different shades of graphite. "This is beautiful, I love it."
Kana nodded. "I know."
Then she ran off, skipping up the stairs until she was out of sight. Hina blinked.
Mayumi was seated in front of her, sipping her tea. She set her teacup down, eying the direction where Kana had run off to with a knowing smile. "That child. She's been waiting to give that to you."
"Has she?" Hina replied, softly chuckling.
"Oh, yes." Mayumi nodded hastily. "You've been so busy over the past couple of weeks—and she's been so grumpy. Honestly, I don't get why she doesn't just draw me."
Hina stifled a laugh. "Oh, no—Mayumi-san—"
"It's fine, she did give me that flower pot she made in school for Mother's Day." She placed a hand over her chest, breathing in slowly. "I've never felt so loved before. To receive a flower pot, made by my daughter's bare hands."
Mayumi pointed to the flower pot, sitting on a windowsill. "I think I told you—it was that one, actually. That one right there."
"I remember." Hina nodded, gazing at the brown flower pot, glistening in the sunlight. A small, green bud was peaking out of the soil, with two leaves stretched out.
"Yeah, the last flower died." Mayumi said, her tone shifting from nostalgic to blunt. Hina held back a laugh. "Kana was miserable—you remember, don't you?"
"Of course I do." Hina replied. "She was so upset that she didn't even want to get out of bed."
Mayumi rolled her eyes. "It was such a hassle, getting her out." She sipped her tea again, sighing. "We had to bribe her by telling her we were going to the zoo. And now she wants a lion. Tell me, Hina. Is owning a cat high maintenance?"
Hina thought for a moment, picturing Kumo in her mind. "Well—for some, maybe. Yes. But for me...Kumo seems well behaved. Though he does act—"
Like the Young Master.
"A bit spoiled sometimes."
"Really?" Mayumi raised her eyebrows. "That fluffy white cat? I'm not surprised—he's so cute."
Hina chuckled, sipping her own tea.
"Anyway," Mayumi started, setting her teacup back down on the glass table in front of them. "We both know why you're here."
Hina tried to act oblivious, blinking down at the green abyss of her tea. "I'm not quite sure what you mean."
"Oh, don't play with me, Hina dear!" Mayumi exclaimed, a lascivious smile on her lips. "I heard from Kaito, you know."
Oh dear. "I still don't—"
"You have a boyfriend." Mayumi pressed, leaning forward. "Hina has a boyfriend."
Hina didn't answer.
"It's true!" Mayumi gasped, her hands flying over her mouth. "Isn't it?"
Hina exhaled harshly, pursing her lips. "Technically yes, but we..." She paused.
They haven't really put a label on it yet.
Mayumi giggled, practically rejoicing. "I never thought I'd see the day. My dearest, little Hina. All grown up, with a boyfriend—and perhaps future husband—"
Hina choked on her tea.
"Okay, that was too far ahead." Mayumi clarified. "But my goodness—I never thought that you'd finally give into the temptation."
"Temptation?" Hina questioned.
"Oh, you know," Mayumi waved her hand dismissively. "Finally acknowledging all the guys over the years who definitely had a thing for you."
"That," Hina's tongue felt numb. "I—what?"
"See?" Mayumi chuckled. "So anyways... is it Kikuchi? You guys finally hit it off?"
"Uh," Hina reluctantly shook her head. "N-No."
"So it is that bandage man that I saw in your apartment!" Mayumi gasped. "How scandalous! Hina, I never knew you had a thing for bandages—"
"I—I don't!" She spluttered, her cheeks warm. "He just—well—it's complicated."
"Uh-huh." Mayumi nodded, her lips pulled into an amused smile. "It's okay, Hina. We all have our preferences. Take Kaito for example—oh, and even though I did friendzone him six times, I always found his face attractive. So pointy and—and stoic."
Hina raised her eyebrows.
"Anyway, I was getting a bit carried away there," she coughed. "Oh, that poor Kikuchi. I never even met him, and yet I feel—so bad."
"Yes, um," Hina swallowed, guilt brewing in her chest. "Yes."
"Does he still like you?"
"I don't—" Hina thought for a second. "Maybe? I'm not sure."
"Did he ask you out recently?"
Hina's eyes lit up. "Oh, no—well he did ask me if I wanted to get sushi with him last week, and I said I couldn't— oh."
"Oh honey," Mayumi said sympathetically, covering her mouth. "He doesn't know?"
Hina paused. "Well—you see, me and Young—Gojo-san," Mayumi blinked at her hiccup, but didn't question it. Hina continued, "we kind of agreed that it would be best if we kept our... fondness of each other under wraps." It feels so strange saying it out loud.
"Huh." Mayumi tilted her head to the side.
"Is that a bad thing?" Hina asked nervously.
"No, no!" Mayumi told her quickly. "Not at all. I'm not going to ask why, because that's you and your boyfriend's business." Mayumi smirked when she spotted Hina blushing, looking off to the side.
"If you're worried, we're doing fine." Hina cleared her throat. "Although I don't see him too often, each time he does come to see me, he always..."
Hina paused for a moment, laughing. Just a few days ago, Hina had been up for a surprise. At two o'clock in the morning, he showed up at her door. It was snowing that night, and there were bits and pieces of snow that had fallen onto his hair, almost unnoticeable. In his hand, he was carrying a large grocery bag, which Hina found out were boxes full of chocolate and tin boxes of biscuits.
"They're from Europe," was the first thing he had said when their eyes met, his nose dusted with a light shade of red from the cold. "Straight from Harrods. Super European."
With a warm smile, she let him in.
And she let him stay.
Hina huffed, regaining her focus. "He always does his best. He's too much, sometimes, it's...it's funny."
Mayumi raised an eyebrow at her.
"What is it?" Hina swallowed.
"When'd you realize you fell for him?" Mayumi inquired, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "Come on, Hina. I want the details, this is a momentous—moment."
Hina scoffed, somewhat laughing. "Well—I think it was a gradual thing. I first found him very, um, well—" Hina took a second to collect her words. "You know, um—"
"Attractive. Handsome." Mayumi finished for her. Hina blinked at the women in front of her.
"Oh, Hina," Mayumi gave her a smile, her eyebrows knitted together. "That is very much normal, and even more normal when you see a guy like him."
Hina frowned at her.
"I'm not blind to attractiveness, Hina." Mayumi told her shortly. "I can tell when a man is hot. And yes, your brother is a million times more attractive to me than him—but I'm not resilient enough to disagree about his attractiveness. Even with that...blindfold thing—I mean, he's tall."
"He is tall." Hina agreed, almost in a daze.
"Is that blindfold thing a normal thing for him or...?" Mayumi questioned. "I won't judge. Mostly. No offense."
"No, it—" Hina cleared her throat. "Hard to explain."
"Yes, of course."
"But I have seen him without it on." Hina clarified, nodding. "And he's...well, he's very..."
A vibrant blue gaze. A pointed nose. Soft lips.
Hina slowly breathed in, trying to clear her thoughts. "Yes. He's handsome. He's very handsome." It's almost unbelievable how handsome he grew to be.
She heard Mayumi stifle a laugh. "What else?"
Hina decided to rush it. "I don't know, I guess after that I fell for his charm—oh, he definitely has a charm—and the way he looks at me is so...I don't know. And in my opinion, we've been through a lot together, so I guess that contributed, and then I had a dream about him where he kissed me and that realty did it, and his willingness to really just figure me out, when no one else could or did—"
"Wait—"
"And his—"
"Hina, darling, wait." Mayumi waved her hands, attempting to grab her attention. Hina blinked, her ramble stopping abruptly.
"Y-Yes?"
Mayumi squinted her eyes at her, her mouth agape. "You—hold on, you had a dream about him?"
Hina nodded reluctantly. "Um, yes."
"And in this dream, you two kissed?"
"Yes, it was very—"
"Oh my god." Mayumi cackled, practically wheezing. "You—I—you had a dream about him!"
Hina frowned, confused by her laughter. "Yes, I did."
"You're telling me that you're in so deep," Mayumi stressed, pointing her finger to the side of her head. "That your brain unknowingly somehow manifested him and you, together, kissing."
Oh. Hina never really thought about it that way.
OH.
Her face turned beet red. "Okay, that's not—that's not fair. I mean yes, that's what happened, but—Mayumi-san why on earth are you laughing?"
"I'm sorry, I just can't—" Mayumi buried her nose into the couch cushion next to her, banging on the cushion in hysteria. "I never thought I'd see the day—"
Hina swallowed, seemingly trying to gulp down her embarrassment. "I—Mayumi-san, really, do you have to do this to me?" She asked, somewhat desperately.
Hina leaned forward, pouring herself some more tea. She sighed, trying to drown out Mayumi's laughter as she watched the green-tinted liquid flow into her cup. Unknowingly, her hand slipped when she set her cup down, and the tea quickly spilled all over the table.
Hina gasped, "Oh dear—!"
Mayumi blinked at the scene, before laughing even more.
Hina frowned at her, fumbling around as she tried to figure out how to clean it up. "I'm so sorry, I didn't—why are you still laughing—?"
Mayumi gave her an incoherent answer, much to Hina's confusion. She shook her head, her lips cracking into a smile.
Oh, what strange joy her life had.
———
The next chapter is fluff 🥰