Chereads / LIFE : HOW’S JOURNEY? / Chapter 3 - PROMISE, RESTAURANT

Chapter 3 - PROMISE, RESTAURANT

 Minato, Tokyo - In the late night at Yuuma's House, without turning the light on in the kitchen area, Hisao tries to look for something in the kitchen.

 

​ "Where is it? Where had he put it? Is that too expensive until he doesn't want to share it with me? That's so mean." He babbled to himself while searching for the thing he was looking for.

 

​ "What are you doing in my kitchen like a mouse? Are you trying to steal something?" In the dark, some voice asked him angrily. He was startled and slaked, he thought it might be a ghost trying to scare and eat him. He tried to turn his body back to see where the voice came from. He closed his eyes and shook heavily because he was too scared to see what was behind him. When he turned his back, he tried to open his eyes slowly and he saw a dark figure with red eyes looking at him angrily standing behind him.

 

​ "AAARRGGGHHHHH!!!" He screamed out loud when he saw the figure. He became like someone who got a hysteria when possessed by the ghost. While he was shouting like a lunatic madman, someone suddenly turned on the light that illuminated the kitchen area. 

 

​ "Sshhh, Hisao. You are so loud. What's wrong with you? What are you doing in the dark like that?" The same voice that greeted and scared him before told him to stop screaming and asking him what he had been doing in the dark late at night. The dark figure with the red eyes he saw before suddenly disappears after the light is on and he sees Yuuma standing in front of him with irritated looks while covering his ears with his hands.

 

​ "Yuumaa!! You... You scaring me!! I thought you were the ghost!!" Hisao shouted to Yuuma and felt relieved when he saw it was Yuuma, not the ghost who tried to eat him.

 

​ "Can you please keep quiet, Hisao? Why are you shouting? I'm right in front of you now. It is in the middle of the night. People are already asleep and what do you do in the kitchen late at night? Are you hungry or what?" Yuuma told Hisao to be quiet, stop shouting like a madman, and be curious about what Hisao was doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night.

 "Eerrgghh… I'm looking for your wine. Where did you put it? I didn't find it." He answered Yuuma's question and asked Yuuma where he put his wine.

 

​ "I don't have it. I promise to myself and the name of her that I'll never touch that sh*t again." Yuuma answered his question with a disappointed face while his mind had been thinking of someone he missed and the longing made him so desperate to look for her.

 ​"Please promise me…" While Yuuma talked about his promise to himself and someone in his life. Suddenly several visions appeared in Hisao's mind, a woman who asked him to promise something with her sweet smile. The vision is too vague in his mind for him to recognize her face but it's too clear in his mind was her sweet smile and voice. He tried so hard to remember the woman but he couldn't. Thus, he did not know why every second he wanted to remember her, his heart felt so ached and heartfelt pain and suddenly he shed tears and hardly breath. It's like he's missing someone he has not seen for a long time. The situation suddenly became tense when he didn't respond to Yuuma. He just stood in front of him and sobbed out of the blue.

 

​ "Hey, Hisao! What's wrong with you? What happened? Why are you crying? Look, don't be so dramatic. If you want to drink that thing so badly, go out and buy it. I don't bother at all." Yuuma wondered why his best friend was suddenly so quiet and didn't respond to him. When he turned to him he saw his best friend sobbing and froze. He was so shocked and grabbed Hisao's shoulder when he saw Hisao suddenly cry out of the blue after he said he does not keep alcohol in his house anymore. He felt offended and thought his best friend was being sarcastic at him and had been so dramatic because of the alcohol.

 

​ "No. It's okay. I'm going to sleep now." Hisao suddenly jerked from his dream and replied to Yuuma while he walked past him and then went to his room with an empty face.

 

​ "Did he sulk with me? This guy has always been weirdo." Yuuma was curious why Hisao had been so dramatic when he didn't have wine at home.

 

​ "The next day at the supermarket in Minato, Tokyo. Hisao stands in front of the alcohol department and keeps thinking if he wants to buy a wine or not. He has been thinkin' so hard and focused on it until he didn't realize the people are looking at him. Yuuma is at another department looking for some groceries for his house. After finishing looking for his groceries, he searched for Hisao and saw he was in front of the alcohol department staring at all the drinks with a serious expression.

 

​ "What are you doing with the face like that? Are you gonna buy it or not? Just pick one whichever you like." Yuuma approached Hisao and felt curious about Hisao's thoughts while they both were standing in front of the alcohol department.

 

​ "Oh, nothing. Are you finished? Let's go. I'm starving. Can you make my favorite sushi like in university?" Hisao replied to Yuuma and walked away from the alcohol department without taking a single drink.

 

​ "You don't want to buy it? Are you sure?" Yuuma wondered why Hisao didn't take the wine when he had been standing before it for an hour.

 

​ "No, I think I want to quit" Hisao replied shortly. Yuuma glanced and smiled at him because he felt proud of his best friend.

​ "Hey, Yuuma. Why did you stop drinking suddenly? And where all the girls that have always surrounded you since high school and university. Where are they? You were such a playboy at that time. You were such an a**hole that time, you know." Hisao suddenly became curious why Yuuma changed 360 as both walked away from the alcohol department.

 

​ "Shut up. I already told you, I want to quit all that thing. I almost lost everything because of it." Yuuma feels annoyed with Hisao's questions.

 

​ "Are you gay now??" Hisao mocks Yuuma and he stays away from Yuuma, hugging himself in defense.

 

​ "SHUT UP!! No, I'm not a gay. You are an idiot. People are staring at us." Yuuma becomes triggered by all those questions. He also feels embarrassed and his face turns red when people stare at them.

 "Knock"

 "Knock"

 "Knock"

 "Watanabe Hisao, how long do you want to sleep? You need to get up now! I need to go to work now!" Yuuma knocked on Hisao's room several times to wake him up.

 "Okay then, Bye. See you soon after work, honey." Hisao opened his door room and teased Yuuma while he was still sleepy then turned his back to go back to his bed to continue sleep.

 "What? No! No! You have to come with me. I'll never let you stay in my house while I'm not around. You will make my house like an earthquake side." Yuuma tries to be patient with Hisao while he tries to pull Hisao's clothes to get him out of his room.

 "What? No! I want to stay home, please honey." Hisao holds the door and tries to persuade Yuuma to let him stay at home.

 "No! Go to get ready now!" Yuuma started to be annoyed with Hisao and pushed him to the bathroom.

 After all the arguments, he didn't have a choice but to follow Yuuma to his workplace.

 "Hey, Yuuma. Are you sure I can come with you? Your boss might be angry if you bring someone to your workplace." While both of them are walking to Yuuma's workplace, Hisao becomes curious about Yuuma's boss don't feel bothered if he brings someone to his work.

 "Don't worry. I already told him about you and he is okay with it." Yuuma replied confidently.

 "Really? Wow, you have a nice boss. My boss will become a lunatic if he knows about it." Hisao feels glad about it and Yuuma smirks when he hears it.

 "Boss!! Mr. Shimizu!! You are late today!! I miss you!" Suddenly, a guy calls out Yuuma with his surname and waves from far away at Yuuma. Hisao was shocked and curious why that guy approached Yuuma and called him a boss. Did that guy be sarcastic to Yuuma because he came to work late today?

 "Ya... I must take care of the big mouse to get out of my house." Yuuma replied casually like he knew that guy and had been sarcastic towards Hisao silently.

 "You are calling me a mouse." Hisao felt annoyed and talked to himself about

Yuuma's sarcasm, calling him a mouse.

 "Eh! Who is this, boss?" That guy suddenly realized Hisao was standing beside Yuuma.

 "This? This is the big mouse that I told you just now. Hahaha...I'm sorry. I'm just joking. This is my best friend. We have been friends since we were kids.

Watanabe Hisao, the greatest lawyer I ever know." Yuuma makes fun of Hisao and quips about Hisao's job while Hisao does not realize the sarcasm and feels proud of it.

 "My name is Akiyama Daichi. I'm the boss's assistant chef. Nice to meet you, Mr. Watanabe." Suddenly the man in front of them introduced himself to Hisao energetically and bowed his head as a respected to Hisao. Hisao felt embarrassed and awkward when Daichi greeted him. He tried to get along with him. Yuuma left the two of them to get along together and walked towards the door. However, when Yuuma opened the door, he saw a woman standing in front of the door looking at him angrily. She puts her hands at her waist and stares at Yuuma with a very sharp look. He was so startled and felt not great when that woman looked at him. He tried to turn his back slowly and try to avoid that woman's anger but the woman suddenly grabbed his shirt collar to make sure he couldn't escape from her.

 "Where do you think you want to go, Mr. Shimizu?" The woman asked him with fire in her eyes while she held Yuuma's collar without intending to let it go.

 "No... Nowhere. I just forgot to buy some groceries. I need to tell Daichi to buy it for me" Yuuma tried to give an excuse to that lady for her to let him go with fear in his heart to that woman but she did not eat the bait.

"Don't you know how hard we tried to manage this restaurant ourselves? Where do you go? I've been trying to look for you everywhere I could but you can't be traced. Where have you been?" The woman grabbed Yuuma's shoulder and shook him heavily. Yuuma did not respond to any of the questions. He keeps silent and hears all the nagging from that woman. Hisao saw that situation and wondered what was going on.

 "Sorry about that Mr. Watanabe. Ayumi has been looking for the boss for a week, but he has disappeared out of nowhere. We can't find him at all. This restaurant is a mess without him. I can only cook a simple dish. My cooking is still not as good as the boss's cooking. That's why we still need a boss, even though the boss trusts me that I can do it, I still failed to make him proud of me." Daichi saw Hisao look so curious about the situation between Yuuma and Ayumi, and he tried to explain to Hisao the situation both faced while Yuuma was gone. They were so desperate to look for Yuuma. Daichi looks gloomy and feels disappointed when he tells Hisao about it.

 "It's okay. Now he's back. So, no need to worry about it. You can learn from him until you can be the greatest chef like him. He has been the best cook since we were still in middle school. His cooking is one of my favorite foods." Hisao tries to motivate Daichi and cheer him on. Daichi smiled and nodded his head to Hisao, he felt relief and motivated when he heard it.

"Plus, he did not go anywhere. He has been with me all the weeks. We have been hanging out together. Maybe he didn't want to get interrupted while we had spent our time together because it's been a while since we didn't hang out together after our university graduation. I'm sorry if I'm the one who made him not come to work." Hisao put his head behind his head when he felt so bad that he made Yuuma mess up with his work.

"Oh, no. Don't say that. We should be the ones who do not interrupt our boss when he takes his vacation. I'm sorry on behalf of me and Ayumi that we've disturbed you both." Daichi feels guilty for making Hisao feel bad. Once again, he bows down his head to Hisao to say he feels bad about it.

 "Oh, don't be. Please stop doing that. You make things so awkward right now. Daichi, I have questions. I've been wondering who the owner of this restaurant is and who is the monster lady who has been shaking Yuuma nonstop until now?" Hisao tried to stop Daichi from making things more complicated when he saw people who passed by staring and curious about what was happening at that restaurant. However, he had been curious about the restaurant, who Ayumi was, and why she had been acting like that and a crazy woman. Ayumi suddenly hears what Hisao asks Daichi about her while she still focuses on lecturing Yuuma.

 "What do you call me?? Are you not looking in the mirror?? Your face looks like a mouse!!" She becomes so triggered and gets mad when she hears that Hisao calls her a monster lady. She feels so angry at the sarcasm, that she becomes a real monster and mocks Hisao's appearance. She grabbed his shirt collar and yelled straight on his face.

 "What??? At least I'm not the monster lady who has been shouting and nagging like a crazy woman!!! Let go of me, woman!" Hisao was startled when his shirt collar was grabbed out suddenly and became very irritated by it. He felt annoyed and mocked Ayumi back. Yuuma feels relieved that he can escape Ayumi's lectures and thanks to Hisao's bad mouth. Yuuma calls Daichi secretly by waving his hand at him and asking him to help him buy some groceries for the restaurant kitchen and silently get into the restaurant.