4 - Cigarette

Ichinose is talking glances again here and there on Asami with full admiration while his hands suddenly stop moving as he shakes his head to keep his mind busy with work by pruning a shrub and removing the twigs thoroughly.

"I have a lot of work to do, I must finish this before the day ends." He keeps reciting this sentence to keep his mind focused and avoid thinking of Asami.

After some time, it became dusk and Ichinose is already done doing his work for today. The phrase that he's reciting seems to be effective because the look of the leaves and flowers are now beautiful so now, he just has to go home.

He met Asami on the hallway as he was about to leave the garden, suddenly, Asami said, "It's too dark outside and the buses are hardly passing by now, would you like to stay here for the night instead?" he didn't even wait for Ichinose's answer when he suddenly called the housekeeper.

"Aisha, please fix one of the guest rooms on the second floor and get the dinner ready after that." The housekeeper bows to let him know that she understood what he's ordering her to do and walks away from them.

"N-No--" Ichinose was about to refuse but he held himself back from saying anything when he saw Asami's bright face.

He also thinks about his situation right now and this opportunity is favorable to him as what Asami said earlier, buses hardly pass at times like this. Smith's family's villa isn't that near downtown so the buses only pass at a certain time.

Asami looks at him, "Can you join me for a smoke while we wait for dinner?" he asked Ichinose.

Ichinose followed him to the balcony and sat on the chair. Right after that, Asami offered him a cigarette and said, "It's okay, have some if you want to smoke too,"

He was a little hesitant but he took one and was about to light it up when Asami suddenly grabbed his nape and uses the opportunity of Ichinose who is still flabbergasted of what he did, he lit up the cigarette up that's between Ichinose's lips using the cigarette that's on his lips too.

'Why did he do that?!' asking Ichinose to himself, he gets nervous about what Asami did but he tries to hide it from him. Scared that if he shows a sign of awkwardness, it might affect his job and for it to become a misunderstanding between them. However, that is not the real reason why he doesn't want his master to know about his feelings for him as he's just a lowly servant!

Ichinose just let it pass and ignored what Asami did as he blew the smoke away from his face. He started to open a conversation between them about work, he can only try to open a small topic and it's about landscaping just to get out of the awkwardness.

Ichinose then says... "Master Asami, how would you like the idea to add more pink, yellow, magenta or red roses near the entrance? To make it more attractive and aromatic when the wind blows it might be refreshing on the afternoon naps, can you think about it?"

Asami saw Ichinose's glistening and pleading face, he almost said yes to what Ichinose suggest but then restrain himself, 'How can he be this handsome yet cute?!' is what in his mind and answer Ichinose,

"That will be gorgeous but as you can see, this isn't my house yet. I called you because I need your expertise to help me take care of these gardens for my late mother who forgets those flowers while we're living in the United States." Asami replied to him.

Right away Ichinose thinks about something that can cover the silence between them and the ending of their topic just to lighten the mood up and to eradicate the awkwardness.

"What about the night light lamps on the pathway, how is that?" another question he asks Asami.

Asami chuckled lightly on Ichinose's eagerness, "Yes, I would love that. Still, let me think about those ideas that you suggested," answered Asami who is still now looking at Ichinose's eagerness.

Ichinose didn't notice that he was staring at the person who was in front of him right now, admiring this person's laugh, face, body and attitude, 'He isn't that hostile after all...' the words that were in Ichinose's mind right now.

Asami would like to tap his shoulder and ask him if he was okay when he suddenly remembers about the night when he saw Ichinose hugging someone.

Asami then felt the urge to ask him about that as he thought it's the right time to bring up that topic, "Ichinose...?" he whispered when he put his face in the level of Ichinose so that he could see his face clearly.

After Asami did that, he lightly pokes Ichinose's shoulder which makes him flinch in surprise.

"O-Oh! W-What is it, Master?" Ichinose quickly asked after Asami pokes his shoulder lightly. Ichinose hadn't really processed everything when he felt so allured while looking at Asami's face.

"Did I do or say something wrong, M-Master?" Ichinose kept stuttering whenever he looked at Asami and remembered what he thought about him, 'W-Why did I do that here?!' he exclaimed and blamed himself internally as he can't really speak in front of Asami now because of feeling ashamed.

"You didn't actually do anything wrong, but you seem a little bit in trance, are you okay?" Asami was concerned about Ichinose to the point that he doesn't want to bring up that topic anymore and just cherish their time together.

'Can the time stop?' asked Asami rhetorically, despite knowing the answer, he still wishes for the time to stop and let the both of them be together forever. 'Why am I thinking about that now?' He was weirded about his thoughts and just brushed it off when he saw Ichinose's face.

"A-Ah yes, the flowers..." Ichinose mutters.

Right, then Asami thinks about his late mother who loved this garden when they were still in this villa when he remembered those withered flowers in the garden earlier.

'Mother....'

Asami's attention just drifted on Ichinose, he's thinking of a way on how he's going to apologize to him but when he saw Ichinose's face like he doesn't want to talk about it nor remember any of it, he held himself back from saying anything. Since Asami grew up in America, he also learned his sexuality, which is bisexuality and there are no people who said 'no' when he wants to go with them. Imagine having a body that the both genders would love.

Asami opened a topic to get his attention, "Can you do other work besides taking care of the garden? Like, can you do some patching on the wall and fixing the drapes?

Ichinose smiled while he blew his cigarette, "Yeah, I can. If it's only fixing and clamping back the rack. I also know how to do the curtain wall installation," he sneaks a peek at Asami who's staring at him intently.

He suddenly feels awkward and tense, now that he doesn't know why Asami is looking at him. He tried to hide the embarrassment like nothing happened and continued to blow the smoke away.

To Ichinose, Asami is totally his ideal man, now that Asami is already an adult. Ichinose now thinks about Asami's body... his muscular chest and biceps, his broad shoulders, those attractive lips, jaw line, nose, and his blue eyes which only added more appeal when you look at him. He got an electric shock flowing in his back when he saw that Asami was still looking at him.

A short silence has covered them and was only cut off when Aisha speaks to their master, "Excuse me, Master Asami. The dinner has been prepared in the dining hall as per requested. Would you like to add some dessert after the main course?" Aisha waited for Asami's answer before she went back to the kitchen.

Asami replied, "That's perfect, please do."

"Yes, Sir." Aisha said then left the balcony and started to walk back to the kitchen.

"I think it's about time we should go in," Asami spoke to him like nothing happened and started to lead the way into the dining hall.

"Ah, yes... I'm already hungry anyway." he chuckles while following Asami, feeling ashamed of thinking those weird thoughts and not to mention while being in front of him. Nonetheless, he can't do anything about it since he likes Asami a lot, just thinking of confessing his feelings to him is impossible.

To be continued....