A night before the meeting at Café Ai, Sakura was eating spaghetti napolitan for dinner in the living room. She was also scrolling through her Twitter feed to check on some fashion updates when a certain tweet appeared.
gucciqueen: hold tf up he's kyoko's new guy? PLS HE'S SO HOT
"Haru?" she said under her breath while examining the picture.
Sakura clicked on the photo, and she was right; it was a photo of Kyoko with Haru and his father taken during their dinner last Monday. She typed Kyoko's name on the search bar to check if there were articles released regarding the status of their relationship, but there were none at all.
diorbabe: i knew something was off between kyoko and yosuke
modelscene: whos the guy with kyoko? a model? cos i need to follow all of his accounts istg
kyokosgf: ms. kyoko really deserved better. i hope her new man treats her well
She felt flustered while reading the tweets, which also made her quite offended and disappointed in Haru. If it were true, she couldn't believe he was bold enough to accompany her home last week when he's actually in love with his childhood friend. Worse, what if he intentionally got drunk so that he could kiss her before he could make it official with her? She would really feel ashamed of herself and Kyoko if he really did that on purpose.
"Gaaaaaah! You're overthinking, Sakura!" she groaned in frustration and slapped her forehead.
She continued reading the tweets despite feeling troubled. Most of them were about how fine Haru was and how happy they were for Kyoko. However, there were also some who talked maliciously about her. 'How could they judge her so quickly?' she thought, and her eyes widened with the sudden realization.
She heaved a deep breath, calmed herself down, and contemplated again about the unexpected rumor. What made her different from these people when she herself judged Haru so quickly? She's only known him for a short time, so it was very mean of her to easily believe things posted by anonymous users online. It was also terrible of her for forgetting what Kiyoshi and Mei had said during their dinner out at the beer garden that Haru and Kyoko only treat each other like siblings.
Sakura laid herself on the couch, feeling bad about the sudden surge of emotions she felt earlier. She was still curious and even thought of texting him to ask about it, but then again, she would just embarrass herself if it were to be false. She also thought that it might ruin the mood for tomorrow's meeting, and she would not like it if things would really get awkward between them just because of a baseless rumor.
Her phone then rang, and she received a call from Haru.
"Hey, I just called to say that Kyoko's really stoked to meet and chat with you tomorrow," Haru mentioned, and Sakura heard a woman's voice in the background saying 'hello' to her.
"Likewise! But now that you mentioned it, I haven't packed my things for the sleepover!" she said panicky and heard the man from the other line chuckle.
"It's still dinner time, so you still have time later to pack your stuff," he told her. "Hope you have eaten your dinner tho."
"I'm actually having dinner right now," she chuckled a little, glancing at the spaghetti napolitan that was left untouched for a while now.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," he said in an apologetic tone.
"It's alright, you're not bothering me at me all," she assured him.
He cleared his throat before speaking again, "What time will you be there, by the way?"
"Mm… 30 to 45 minutes before," she responded softly.
"I'll see you tomorrow then."
Before ending the call, Haru told her to enjoy her meal and waited for her to hang up first. This brought a subtle smile to Sakura's face. Yes, a small part of her still thought of the possibility of Haru being in love with Kyoko, but to be frank, she also had long been excited to see him.
--
Sakura woke up earlier than usual to prepare for Ralmé's meeting regarding their summer plans and activities for the later half of the year. She decided not to think much about what she had read last night and just enjoy the day instead. Besides, she should look forward to having a taste of Café Ai's cherry blossom-themed menu since she suggested it. Most especially, she could not wait to have her first sleepover with her new friends and to finally get to know Kyoko who was also excited to meet her.
She dressed in a powdered pink square neck long sleeve blouse, almond pleated skirt, and nude suede ankle strap heels. She combed her short pink hair and tucked one side behind her ear before clipping two pretty pins on it. To finish her look, she applied brown eyeliner on her lash line, a faint blush on the cheeks, and a rose gradient color on her lips.
Sakura arrived 45 minutes before to oversee the preparations. As soon as she stepped into the café, she immediately smelled the aroma of the freshly brewed coffee beans while '13' by LANY was playing in the background. She looked around the shop and deduced that all the baristas were wearing black outfits for the event that Friday morning.
She couldn't clearly discern Nana's whole fit yet, but she was brewing some more beans. Another barista was organizing the display cabinet, and the third barista was double-checking the arrangement of the tables and chairs. She spotted two more employees of Ralmé who were chatting over the bar counter when she saw Mei waving her hands and beckoning her to come over.
"I think everything's already set?" Sakura asked Mei with a bright smile on her face before greeting Kiyoshi, who was setting up the projector with another employee of Ralmé.
"Of course! Remember, Yoshi doesn't like to cram things," Mei chuckled and patted the back of her boyfriend. She was also dressed in a matching coral blue blazer and pleated skirt, and a nude top underneath.
"Right, I almost forgot about that. I really admire that quality of his, and I actually aspire to be like him," Sakura chuckled and scanned the room again. "Haru…. Ayaka, and Kyoko aren't here yet?"
"Haru and Kyoko dropped by Ayaka's place to get the remaining giveaways," Kiyoshi answered without looking back at the two. He was wearing a black half-sleeve pinstriped button-down top, black belt, black slim-fit jeans, and black Chelsea boots. "Speaking of the three..."
Kiyoshi caught a glimpse of Kyoko's metal black 4x4 Suzuki Jimny passing by the café. After a couple of minutes, Ayaka was the first to enter the front door of the shop, followed by Kyoko, and then Haru with paper bags in each of his hands. Everyone in the cafe turned their heads towards the three, but they were truly drawn to the cat-eyed beauty and the handsome barista walking behind her.
"Whoa… Haru and Kyoko look like a couple," Sakura blurted out and watched the two as they made their way to the counter. "Are you sure they're not dating...?"
Author's Note:
1. Spaghetti napolitan is a Japanese-style tomato ketchup-based pasta.