Cheeky.Volume 8.

We are now walking together.

Just that.

Nothing wild or crazy and it is enough to keep me in a happy state of silence.
I could just walk a step behind her and not think about anything else all while she is easily becoming friend sort of comfortable.

Soon as we left the gym I gestured towards the hot pot restaurant that Grandpa used to take me to when I was little thinking it would be as affordable option that would still be friend zone acceptable which Kokoro seemed more than happy with.

No longer nervous she is like watching a fairy with a slight skip to her step talking about her interview today with Joseph Hwan.

"Could you believe that?If my interview with him does well enough on the socials we will become a bigger hotspot that could bring back the baking industry even more and remain affordable like it should be,There are enough family troubles without families having to lose some of the small pleasures you know?"

I nod.

"I was surprised to by Hwan-San,I expected from what all the internet said of him that he would be this kind of flirty,touchy and rude sort but he was as soft spoken and intellectually easy going as most if not better than the other studios had sent."

I nod.

We reach the restaurant later than it normally would have because I intentionally took the longer route for this exact reason.
I wanted to just listen to her talk for a little while calmly,without her being afraid or uncomfortable which she isn't to my deepest pleasure.

Even when we reach the table,I order us the tofu and salmon hotpot which she asked to have added in so many veggies that I cannot even remember she counted them off so fast but the cook there,an old friend of my Grandpa did not even charge for anything extra just for the base hotpot and smirked as he just watched Kokoro happily talk on and on.
Me likewise.

"Why haven't you said anything else other than 'Hmm.'?I am a talk hog I know but I want to hear more,we are friends now for the time being so...."
"So..?"
"Chat."
"I don't 'Chat'much,never have."

Those large pretty eyes of hers almost droop a little at that,I am honest to my own fault so many girls have told me when they would confess back in high school just at the height of my gym obsession.
No one deserves to have a liar in there life I believe so that is what I convey early.

Salmon is cooking nicely,I give her the largest piece which she artfully twists by grabbing my bowl of rice before I get a chance to and gets that piece of fish in my bowl to my confusion.

"You don't eat fish?"
"No!Why would I ?They swim and live and love and all everything like we do so no I can not."
"Why didn't you say so?I would have ordered you whatever you wished."
"Because it would not have had you talking if I didn't now would it?Of course I eat fish,how else do I stay strong enough to knead bread and cook all day?Baka."

The way she laughs.
That goofy little ploy that a few girls have tried on me that usually fails miserably worked like a charm.

If I could hear this all night this will be worth the wait of actually dating her if she chooses me at all anyway.

I don't even fight the laugh anymore and gently toss some of the bean sprouts I despise onto her rice which she equates to war and somehow more food is in the wrong bowls or not in our collective mouths but it is so,so worth it.

That smile is more than enough to justify all of the mess that a clean obsessed sort like me would normally abhor.
Yet.

It is Kokoro Oodani.

My brain doesn't know how to work with her.

"Can I ask a private question?"
"Sure."

Kokoros eyes don't match her bubbly tone but I have to ask anyway before any kind of stronger bond begins too quickly.

"Why did you tackle me?Why did you bind us?Really."

Her eyes gentle and her tone softens.

"If we date,if we make it to five dates then I will tell you.Okay?"
"That means I need to be more charming right?"
"A bit more wordy hot and maybe a bit more fragrance."

I frown and sniff my shirt making her laugh loud enough that the others(Few as they are in the restaurant)laugh along with her at me.

Good enough,can't hear much but her words anyway until she almost flies at me for taking a bite out of the torte I got for her.

Serves her right until I get some in my nose Kokoro barely presses it to my face,pretending to smash it in.

We both laugh like we are thirteen rather than twenty four and twenty one.


ERIIKA

"WHO.ARE.YOU?STOP.CALLING.ME.NOW!"

I shout over the phone,my phone has been buzzing constantly for the last hour and I have had enough I am busy like a worker bee trying to help Mom clean up the ring and the gym for Dad and his opponent to have there anniversary match after Dad won a decade ago.

My phone is ringing again.

"You should not be so quick to hang up or talk too gruffly my grizzly girl,it may be your future calling."
"What future right now?I am finishing up my novel and saving is almost done for my trip to the states so what are you talking about?"

Mom nods then uses her chin to point behind me to see where she is looking.

A young and tall man,Korean.
He is calling over and over and my phone is ringing over and over again.

I am tempted so tempted to use this broom in my hand for extra damage but I am stopped by the fact that my Dad is laughing with him,Hwan-San.

He is even taking off his shirt to be in just jeans and a tank top and hops into the ring with my Dad and they spar as though just pals being playful.

"Not a potential future huh?"
"I am only observing Dad practice.He doesn't know Hot-san...HWAN-s-san..."

My Mom giggles like she did when she caught me trying to hide my first idol poster in my closet at home.

All i know is that an hour goes by and my Dad is sparring like he were a young man again and for a brief moment I lock eyes on  Hwan-San.
A smile to kill that man has and it is hard to not look long enough at it and not get spotted by Dad or Mom.

Here I am a grown woman of twenty three and scared of getting caught.

"Like the view or the form Riika-Chan?"

His one lines are going to be my death.

"The uppercut actually."

Hwan-San did not turn fast enough and got a right hook instead.

I smirk until I realize he hasn't gotten up quick enough,my parents go quickly to the bathroom to get a first aid kit while I climb into the ring to check on him to get a surprise.

The moment I kneel down to check his head for any bleeding I am pulled in.

Lips to lips.

Tastes like peppermint.

He planned this.

That smile could kill as fast as his flirtations.
So I serve it right back to him.

A head butt to that pretty face.
While enjoying that peppermint taste too much.

"I.Am.Not.Easy.Understand."
"Never.Wanted.Easy.Hit.Me.WIth.All you have got,I'm not a running man."

That cheeky man pulls me back towards him and although he hissed slightly from my head butt towards his lips he had no problem kissing me again.

Never had so much lip to lip in my life.

Cheeky one liner man.