Yuri searched her bag for the key to the backdoor. "I can't find the keys in my bag, I'll search the break room and my locker," Yuri replied, running back inside. Her phone showed the time, but Yuri hadn't been out yet, so Lucinda waited for her.
She was about to shout for Yuri to come out. " Got it," Yuri shouted out before Lucinda could say anything. Yuri came out and locked the door.
"Where did you find the key?" Lucinda asked.
They walked down as Yuri explained, "I found it in my bag, it was hidden, it got hooked to the material of the bag.".
"Yuri, can you go home without me today? I need to meet someone at the corner cafe," Lucinda explained, eager to meet up with Kei and not keep him waiting.
"Just say you have a meeting with your hikaru yoroinokishi (night in shining armour)," teased Yuri, trying to get a reaction from Lucinda.
Lucinda was a bit embarrassed, due to the way Yuri had said it. It's not like she didn't like Kei, she did. However, they had just met and she just couldn't start calling him names when they're not even in a relationship, let alone a friendship. "He's not anything to me yet, we're not even friends.....," Lucinda was still talking when Yuri butted in....
"Stop lying to yourself boo, I can see the signs of friendship or no friendship. Don't worry, I'll be the responsible one this time around, I'll see you off before returning home on one condition, if not, I'll be with you throughout and make it uncomfortable," she stated.
"And what's the condition?" Lucinda asked, almost too eager, wanting to shake Yuri off her back.
Yuri tapped her fingers on her lips, waiting patiently for Lucinda to plead before she revealed her demand. After looking at Yuri for a while, she took a deep breath and let it out. Knowing that Yuri liked it when someone begged for her, Lucinda added, "I will buy coffee for you whenever you need it."
Yuri smiled and said, "Tempting offer, but fine, because you look so cute, I'll accept it and I'll see you off and leave you with your hikaru yoroinokishi (knight in shining armor)."
"Is that all, and you made me promise you free coffee?" Lucinda grumbled, feeling taken advantage of...
***
Upon getting to the coffee shop, they saw Kei sitting outside enjoying his coffee with an extra cup beside him. They approached him, asking, "Hey stranger, is the chair free?" Yuri teased, and Lucinda helped pull out an additional chair for Yuri in case she wanted to stay around for a bit.
"I'm sorry it's been taken by a pretty damsel," he joked.
Dramatically placing her hand on her chest, Yuri dragged Lucinda with her. Acting as if she was angry, she exclaimed, "Come on, he's not right for you!" Lucinda couldn't help but laugh.
"The agreement is over Yuri, you can leave now," she uttered, taking away her hands and kissing her goodbye, knowing this would get Yuri riled up, but at least she'd get some fun from poking at her. Yuri was shocked that Lucinda had abandoned her for a man, so she nodded her head in agreement and left them alone.
Lucinda laughed in apology. "I'm so sorry, she can be such a handful," she said. She took a seat next to Kei. He handed her the second cup of coffee. She had drank some, savouring the taste, feeling so good from drinking the coffee.
"Iced coffee, right?" Lucinda asks, sipping some more, while loving the feel of the cream on her tongue.
"Yes, how was your childhood like?" Kei blurted out, after replying to her question about the type of coffee he'd gotten. Lucinda was surprised by the question thrown at her. She smiled and wondered what her childhood really was like. This was a random question no one had ever asked her before.
"Even though I didn't go out much as a child, my okasaan (mother) told me that my health was too bad to play outside with the other kids, but she always made sure I was happy and had what I needed," she replied, smiling back to the time they baked cookies together, with her laughter and her mother's laughter echoing throughout the whole house. When she tasted the cookie barter, she thought it was the sweetest thing she had ever tasted. She got so lost in her thoughts that she had the most genuine, sweetest smile on her face. Kei quietly took out his phone and took a picture of her.
She felt a light flash before her eyes when she realised that he'd taken her picture. "Hey delete that," she hurriedly said, stretching over the table to snatch his phone.
Kei reacted so fast that she almost tripped from her chair, but he caught her on time before he whispered, "you should smile more than you frown, you're prettier that way," he teased, his lips so close to her ears, it made Lucinda's heart beat so fast that she felt Kei could hear it. She got off him, she was flushed from the incident.
" Th.. an.. k you," she stammered, trying to get a hold of herself. She straightened her polka dot blouse, and when Kei offered her his hand, she got up from the chair. They both walked in the direction of the park.
Unknown to them Yuri was following right behind them, taking pictures and gushing to herself how cute they looked, Kei had stopped to get candy floss for him and Lucinda, Yuri hid behind a car to take another picture, when Henmi noticed someone behind the car, from the side-view mirror, he'd also been following up on Kei, but he took a short-cut to the park to wait for Kei to get there, he noticed the girl was taking a picture of Kei.
He got out of the car and walked up behind Yuri. "Yes, smear that candy on his lips, gosh he's so handsome he could be mistaken for a model," Yuri whispered to herself, not aware of who was behind her. Henmi had to hold in his laughter after hearing her comment.
He cleared his throat when Yuri heard someone behind her; she panicked a bit, turning to look at the person. At first, all she could see was a clothed chest in front of her before she looked up and saw Henmi staring at her. "Why are you taking pictures of, um, my senio..., brother?" Henmi lied, trying to cover up his mistake, not wanting to blow Kei's cover.
"What brother, what picture?" Yuri asked, trying to play dumb. She'd hidden her phone behind her. Henmi looked at her for a few minutes before dragging her right hand out.
"This picture, on this phone, in your hand."
Henmi was taller than Yuri, and her head reached his chin. "That's your brother?" she asked, still shocked that Kei had a sibling and that the handsome looks didn't just end with him, thanking her stars that she stayed back to stalk Kei and Lucinda.
"Sorry, what I meant was I'm stalking my sister, not your brother," she said, laughing sheepishly, knowing she'd been caught and if Lucinda found out, she'd be dead before she even said Jack Robinson.
Henmi couldn't believe how childish she had acted. He took her phone and started deleting the pictures, when he saw the picture of when Kei had caught Lucinda mid-way when she was about to fall out of her chair. " cute," he muttered to himself and left that picture, remembering he was playing the role of junior brother following his senior brother around.
He handed her phone back to her. "Don't thank me, I thought it looked cute to show to our mum, since this is the first time I'm also seeing him with a woman," Henmi said, looking in another direction, scratching his head thinking of what to say next.
Yuri was relieved to find out that she had a like-minded ally who would not rat her out. "I won't take another one. Your secret is safe with me," Yuri hurriedly replied, leaving the scene without wanting to cause any further drama.
***
Kei and Lucinda sat on one of the benches in the park, while Kei was narrating his childhood to her and they'd taken lots of pictures. Lucinda looked so cute under the night sky, especially when she had a childlike twinkle in her eyes. He'd looked at his wristwatch and realized that it was almost 10pm and he didn't want to keep her out later than they'd already been. He'd also remembered that Henmi was waiting for him.
"It's getting late, this is the part where I get to say goodnight. I really had fun today," Kei said, as he watched Lucinda's smile dim a bit.
"So did I," they both got up from the bench and stared at each other, the other not willing to end the night with a goodbye.
"I should get moving," Kei said, breaking the trance. He'd walked quite a distance when he turned around and shouted after Lucinda.
"Call me when you get home." Lucinda turned round and nodded her head, silently smiling to herself. She'd never felt so happy.....