Chapter 2: Book or Him?
Watanabe Kai didn't care much for driving. He had only done it so he could go to places as fast as possible. More travel time meant more books that can be read, and he could always just put on an audiobook if he was desperate for some stress relief as he drove.
Driving in time where overtime workers go home and also the time where people go out for dinner, Kai expected it to be slow. He was in the state where it was frustrating driving turtle speed due to traffic or be grateful that he got a long time to spend with Honey.
Unfortunately, the passenger was busy reading her newly acquired book from him. Kai sighed. He shouldn't have given the book so fast. He should have waited after they finished eating. Kai just knew that she would have problems with eating while reading again, just like in university.
"Are you really planning to ignore me?" Kai asked, his eyes gazed at Honey for a bit before returning to the front and concentrating on the road.
Closing her book with a mournful sigh, Honey replied, "I only wanted to read the first few pages. I wouldn't have ignored you all the way to the restaurant. You did give me one of your books."
Kai snorted. Of course, for Honey, giving books was much important than the food. He refrained from shaking his head. She really hasn't changed at all. He wondered if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"How are you after all these years?" Kai asked first, knowing that the same question was probably already in her mind. She had always been one of the people that liked to ask others about their wellbeing and be sincere about truly wanting to know.
"Well, you?" Honey's eyes also focused in front of the car, looking at standstill cars.
"Just as well as you, it seems..." Kai joked, displaying the same vagueness as she did.
Honey snorted. She covered her mouth and nose, eyes wide. How undeniably unattractive.
Kai grinned, chuckled a while, and with the same weirdness he snorted, the same unattractiveness she had unconsciously displayed.
Honey's horrified face morphed into laughter. Her chest shook with every breathed out happiness at his considerate actions. No men had ever been this easy to get along with like Kai had and still do.
Why had they grown distant from each other again?
"I see that your humor is still intact. I had thought that you'd changed after that messy breakup, you and Tenya had."
Honey's laughter slowly came to an end. Now she knew why she distanced herself. Her previous boyfriend had been one of his closes friends. They had dated only for a couple of months in University, but because they were young and foolish, tempers ran wild.
"Tenya and I were foolish. We both forgot that we were friends first before we grew closer. Unfortunately, we cannot change what has happened." Honey commented calmly. That had happened almost a decade ago. There were no pain that lingered in her heart now.
"Doesn't he have two children already?" Kai asked, reminiscing about the last time he had coffee with his friend.
"Really?" Honey was a bit shocked, "I expected Saya to be the first one of your friends to have children."
Kai smirked, "She does. She has four now. Both twins."
Honey's shock became bigger. She had distanced and caged herself so long that this news was worthy of the front page. As a response, Kai only snickered at her. Honey pushed her lower lip out and acted pitiful to her University senior, crossing her arms to show that she didn't appreciate her mocking amusement.
Although the other had not changed much, they both felt as if things between them weren't the same as it had been at University. For Honey, their relationship had been like a spring day, easy and sunny. Now, it felt a bit humid as if a rain will come.
The numbers of time flew as they were stuck in traffic. The cloudy skies became darker, and soft water droplets began to wet the front glass. Slowly the odd atmosphere and forced conversations morphed into a comfortable silence. Long fingers pushed the play button on the music player, and Honey smiled as soft instruments played, lulling the two people to relax.
"You still hate pop music?" Honey asked.
His fingered going back to the stirring wheel, but his eyes gazed at hers, almost locking her to place with its intensity. Kai hummed softly a tune before he nodded.
"Do you think the rain will grow stronger?"
Taking out of her phone on her bag, she opened her weather app, and replied, "Yep. Do you have an umbrella?"
Kai sighed, "No."
Smiling, Honey took out her large green foldable umbrella. This was one of the things that she was grateful of investing in. It was a bit on a pricey side, but it had stayed strong against the winds of Tokyo's stormy season and heavy rain.
With a wide smile, Kai drove them into the parking lot of the restaurant. He took the umbrella despite Honey's protests, and like a gentleman, fetched her on the other side of the car. Careful enough that Honey almost did not feel a single drop of water when she got off.
He pulled her closer to him, her shoulders meet with the heat of his chest. Only thin fabrics were separating their flesh. Honey was completely covered by her umbrella while Kai's other shoulder on the opposite side was almost drenched.
The rain continued to give Kai more reason to pull her closer. He smiled to himself. The foldable black umbrella on his hidden dashboard compartment was completely forgotten.
Reaching the restaurant, he opened the door to let Honey in first. If she was still just as oblivious as before, Kai had to change his tactics. He decided that he'll be just a little bit bolder and blunt. They ate without tenseness or distance as if they have seen each other yesterday as if twelve years was only a couple hours.
Sometimes, there are just people that just fit together incredibly well.
When they went out of the restaurant, the Springtime drizzle had become a full-blown shower with winds that shook windows.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lady_Liah
Lady_Liah The goal of this novel is to spread love as much as possible. Honey was a believer in love and working for it to last longer than a lifetime. In her own words, love is a feeling, but staying in love is the greatest choice to choose.
And I agree... so I started writing this for her because of her, and her ideas about small events that add up to make something more significant.
This novel is slow because you don't rush love. Do you?
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