10 Chapter 10

*Nanako's P.O.V*

It's been such a long restless night. My mind wouldn't stop wandering around. The sound in my head splits into a crowd of voices which disturbingly invade the silence of the room. Each voice narrates a different scenario as to how tomorrow's evening would go.

I close my eyes in an attempt to relax but my shallow breaths aren't helping. My skull is being crushed with anxiousness. No matter how hard I try, I can't sleep and can't calm down either.

After many sleepless hours, I realized that this is hopeless. I need some distraction. Any background sound would do!

I reached my phone and played a sleep hypnosis on a low volume. At first I could hear every word, then the sound started fading away. I finally started getting sleepy.

I woke up around noon. I didn't have much of an appetite so I just made myself some coffee. I watched tv for a while as a distraction then went to Aki's room to rant.

"So how are you today?" Aki asked softly when she saw me.

"Terrible." I couldn't even pretend otherwise.

"Aww.. I'm sorry for that!" She hugged me like she always does. This time it was more soothing than ever.

"I don't understand why he wants to talk after all this time.." I murmured.

She reassured, "Don't worry, it will pass! And everything will be okay!"

I was still hesitant. "Maybe I shouldn't go after all."

"No!" Her tone got louder for a second then back to normal. "We've talked about this last night. If you keep avoiding confrontation, it would be more difficult to get over this!"

"You're right.. then I guess I'll get changing! Thanks Aki." I went back to my room and grabbed the first outfit I laid my eyes on.

I wore a simple butterfly-sleeve white blouse with black polka dots along with black jeans.

I usually prefer fancy sparkly clothes but it's different this time. He should know that he's no longer special to me and I'm not going to get all dressed up for him.

It's ironic how he kept making excuses back when I wanted to see him. But now, that I don't want to, he's the one asking to meet up.

I fixed my hair then put on some light makeup to avoid giving him the impression that I've been miserable and devastated.

And now I guess I'm good to go.

I got in my car and drove to the planned restaurant. I entered and looked around to realize that he's not there yet. It's expected because I was fifteen minutes early after all.

He showed up on time at eight.

"Hey, you're early!" He stated so casually as if nothing has happened.

"I want to get this over with as soon as I can."

It was silent for a moment then he asked, "What shall I get you?"

"I didn't come here to eat! Will you get straight to the point already?!"

The waiter was standing there awkwardly while waiting to take our order. "Just some water for now. I'll call you when we're ready to order" Takaya sent him away.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked flatly.

"Look," he took a deep breathe and continued "It all started as a silly prank, but then it escalated quickly and went so wrong! I didn't have a chance to explain!"

"And you're telling me that now?! After three whole weeks?!" My irritation was clear through my tone.

He rubbed his head. "I thought you needed some time to process all that and calm down! Until then, you wouldn't agree to talk to me!"

The waiter came back with a bottle of water and poured some in each of our glasses then excused himself.

Takaya took a sip then continued with a softened tone, "Look, I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry about all of that. I didn't mean it to end that way."

I raged and slammed my fist on the table. "Sorry?! You think sorry is going to magically solve everything?! You think that's going to make up for all the pain you caused me?!"

He lowered his voice. "Hey, people are watching! How about you drink some water and calm down?"

"Don't tell me to calm down!!" I yelled and threw the glass off the table. The water spilled and the glass shattered everywhere.

I looked back at him. "I'm leaving! And I never want to see you or hear from you ever again!"

I walked out and left him with the embarrassment of explaining and apologizing about the broken glass.

Aki was right. I do indeed feel better already after letting everything out!

Speaking about Aki, she called while I was driving back home.

I picked up and greeted her, "Hey."

"Hey sis! I hope I'm not interrupting anything!"

"No, not at all! I'm actually heading back."

"Oh! So how did it go?" She sounded concerned.

"Good. I feel like a huge burden just got off my chest! I'll give you the details when I arrive."

"Gosh! I can't wait to hear all about it!" She added, "Drive safe! See you at home!"

"Will do. Bye!"

I arrived after a while and entered. I went to Aki and got surprised at what I found. She has prepared two cups of chocolate milkshake along with popcorn, cookies, some candies, and a bag of Maltesers. It was such an eye-pleasing surprise!

"Whoa! What's with all of that?" I asked with confusion drawn all over my face.

She grinned. "You like my surprise? It's just a little something to celebrate that you finally got rid of that burden!"

I couldn't help smiling back. It was very sweet of her! "Aww that's.. very thoughtful! Thanks Aki!"

"Smiling at last!!" Her grin got wider.

After that, I sat with her and started telling her about what happened.

"And then I got so angry that I broke the glass! So he had to deal with people's stares and I guess he had to apologize to the staff!" I explained.

She laughed, "Serves him right!"

"Yeah! I'm glad you convinced me to go!"

"It's what sisters are for!!" She added, "Now can we start the movie?"

"What's playing?" I asked.

"That one movie you never get tired of watching!"

"Mulan?!"

"You got it!"

"Awesome!!" Isn't she the best younger sister for getting me all this food and playing my favorite movie!

It started as we kept watching and eating.

"Mysterious as the dark side of the mooooon!" We sang along so loudly and laughed at how terrible it sounded.

Moments later, mom barged in looking clearly unhappy. "Girls, girls! Keep it down! Your father and I had a long day and we're trying to get some sleep here!" She complained about the disturbance.

We apologized then continued watching and made sure we lower our voices while singing along the rest of the songs.

When it was over I thanked Aki again for the great time I had then went to my room.

I changed then lay on bed. As I was checking my phone, I recieved a text from Arata.

"Hey Nanako, I just wanted to invite you for my birthday party next Saturday. Can you make it? I've invited all my friends and I really hope you'd be there as well!"

I texted back, "No promises, but I'll see if I can come. Thanks for the invitation!"