Kiss me to Springtime - 10. Chapter 10

“Tell me something,” Ryo said, holding Soubi on the couch in the living room.

He trailed fingers through Soubi’s hair, rubbed the silky dark strands against his fingers. Soubi shifted lazily over him, his eyes closed. The television was on playing an old English movie. Soubi was half dozing through it.

“What?” Soubi asked.

“Why did you grow your hair?” Ryo pulled the throw blanket higher over Soubi’s shoulders. “Wouldn’t it have been hard for you?”

Soubi shook his head, tangling Ryo’s fingers in his hair in the process.

“My mother liked it that way. It wasn’t as long when she was alive. She used to trim it to my shoulders those days. When she died, I wouldn’t let Grandma touch my head so it grew longer.”

“Stubborn little thing.”

Kaito came in from the kitchen and held out a bowl of popcorn to Ryo.

“It’s freezing out there.” Kaito wrapped his own throw blanket around his shoulders and stretched out on the adjacent couch. “I should get myself a girlfriend to keep me warm.”

“As long as she’s not one of the girls you met last night at the club.” Ryo winked at him as he ate a handful of popcorn. “I thought you were going to make them both your girlfriends.”

“I loved them. Did you see their bodies?” Kaito shivered under his blanket. “Too bad they wanted all my money for just one night. Don’t take me out to any more clubs, Ryo. I’m swearing off women.”

Ryo laughed. “I really doubt that.”

They were talking about their schedule the next day when a knock on the door interrupted. Soubi sat up first.

“I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll get it.”

Ryo watched him head for the door with a frown. He pushed the throw blanket off swinging his socked feet to the wood floor. Soubi pulled open the door, and stumbled back with a small cry.

“Who is it, Soubi?”

Ryo hurried to Soubi.

“I should have known this is who you were with.”

His mother’s voice froze him where he stood.

Soubi pushed his hair back, his slender frame trembling in the cold air since he was in a thin t-shirt and sweat pants. Ryo’s mother sneered at Soubi and yelled.

“I asked you to leave my son alone!”

Ryo pulled Soubi back.

“Go to the bathroom.”

Soubi stared at him blankly, shaking. Ryo didn’t like the fear he read in those eyes. He shook Soubi by his shoulders.

“You said you needed to go to the bathroom, go!”

Kaito took Soubi and led him away. Ryo turned to his mother.

“What the hell are you doing here? This is my house.”

“I’m your mother. Respect your elders,” Sei Asada ordered.

Ryo hated her authoritative tone. It made him want to slap her. Instead, he clenched his fingers into a fist. She was his mother, and he loved her, but times like this made him hate her worse than death.

Ingrained manners had Ryo bowing his head, giving her the respect she demanded. He stepped aside and waved her into the living room. She walked in with a regal air, looking down on the cozy couches with the blankets still on the floor. The popcorn bowls on the messy coffee table. One would never find such a sight in the cold house Sei Asada kept at the family estate.

She didn’t sit on their couches. She moved around them, judging.

Ryo closed his eyes forcing the rage brewing inside him back.

“Close the door, Ryosuke. It’s cold.”

He did as she asked before he turned to glare at her.

“What do you want? Why are you here?”

“Your brother and I had a fight. Your father wants me to leave him alone, and respect his second wife. I can’t take it anymore. You bring balance to that estate. Why do you want to waste your life here, playing house with that little bastard?”

“His name is Soubi. Don’t insult him again.” Ryo glared at her. “I don’t have to live in that estate. You shouldn’t be there either. Choose to leave and be happy.”

“If you weren’t with that little idiot, you’d know why you have to come back. Your brother might inherit your father’s position, but he’s not smart. Not like you, Ryo. Tohaku will run us all into debt and ruin the Asada name with the black market.”

“I don’t have to listen to you.” Ryo shook his head. “I don’t want to inherit anything. I don’t want to run the Asada clan because it’s not my place. I thought you wanted me to be happy. Can’t you see I’m happy living here?”

“Happy?”

Sei laughed, her tone mocking as she looked around the living room. Her elegant grey dress stopped right above her knees. Her heavy dark coat swung with every step. Her heels clicking on the wooden floor that Soubi insisted on keeping polished. It pissed him off that she was scratching it with her heels.

“I was happy once. Do you know where that idea got me, Ryosuke?”

She turned to look at him, her dark eyes sad. For a moment, his anger turned to pity, hating the woman she’d become. It was difficult to reconcile her with the woman she’d once been.

“Happiness got me two ungrateful sons, a husband who hates me, and a painful reality living as the shunned wife. If you think the happiness you’re clinging to will last, think again. Do what I’m telling you.”

“Leave,” Ryo ordered quietly. “You won’t accept me for who I am. I can’t change that. But, I won’t have you insulting the man I love.”

“What happens if I tell your father?” Sei threatened, closing the distance between them. Her heels giving her the height to tower over him. “What do you think he’ll do to that little model and his dear Grandma?”

“If he dares touch Soubi, I’ll kill him first, fuck the consequences.” Ryo warned. “Stay out of my way, and don’t play games with my life, Mother.”

She looked at him for a moment then buttoned her coat.

“You are your father’s son. Fine, do what you wish. Good night, Ryo.”

She slammed out of his house as fast as she’d walked in leaving behind a cloud of flowery perfume. It choked him, making him want to vomit. Damn woman, it was hard to believe she was his mother. She wanted power. Controlling the Asada fortune would allow her to get her revenge on her husband. The only way to get that power was through Ryo since Tohaku was hard to control.

Tohaku was hard, and angry but with Ryo—

Soubi appeared in the corridor.

His weakness was Soubi. If his mother threatened Soubi, he’d do anything to help her.

“Ryo,” Soubi said.

Ryo tried for a smile but for the life of him, he couldn’t find the strength.

Soubi rushed to him.

Ryo wrapped his arms around Soubi holding him tight and breathed in the sweet scent of mint. He looked up over Soubi’s shoulder to find Kaito watching them with a grim expression.

Obviously, he wasn’t the only one wary of his mother’s threats.

****

Soubi scrubbed the frying pan hard the next morning. He scraped at the stubborn bits of egg stuck to the bottom with a vengeance. When they wouldn’t come off, he dropped the pan in the sink.

“Damn thing won’t get clean.”

He turned on water and washed his hands.

“Why the fuck do they call it non-stick and then food sticks anyway?”

“Stop taking out your temper on the dishes. Soak the pan.” Kaito ordered irritated by all the noise. “It’s too early for the drama.”

“Oh yeah, why don’t you try washing dishes once in a while?” Soubi snapped.

He wiped his hands with a dishtowel and threw it on the counter. Rubbing his eyes, Soubi stalked to the refrigerator looking for eggs. When he opened the fridge, he found one egg in a carton of twelve. There was a half-empty bottle of milk, a package with leftover rice balls, and nothing else. He cursed.

“Doesn’t anyone else go shopping?” he demanded, glaring at Kaito sitting at the kitchen table a mug of coffee pressed to his forehead. “How can you just sit there staring at me?”

“Didn’t Ryo give you some last night?” Kaito asked. “Your voice is grating on my nerves.”

“We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

Soubi grabbed the notepad stuck on the fridge and started writing out a list.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Kaito asked.

“If someone did the fucking grocery shopping I wouldn’t be yelling.”

Kaito got up from his seat and came to stand by the table where Soubi was writing furiously. The pen was grabbed out of his hand and he gaped, looking at Kaito.

“What are you doing?”

“Why are you acting like this? Are you having some sort of PMS? ‘Coz meds can fix that,” Kaito teased.

“I’m not in the mood for your games. Give me back my pen.”

“What the hell is irritating you? Is it Ryo? Did something happen with him this morning before he left?”

Soubi glared at Kaito.

“Nothing happened. Quit messing around, I need that pen.”

“I’ll take you shopping if you tell me what the hell is bothering you.”

Soubi swiped wisps of hair out of his face and sat in the closest chair. Pulling at the sleeves of his heavy sweater, he tried to work through the irritation inside him.

“I don’t know. I feel unsettled. Ryo and I, we’re so great right now, and then last night with his mother—

“Don’t worry about her.” Kaito soothed. “Ryo won’t let her hurt you.”

“We both know that’s not true. She’ll find something to use to hurt us. I’m so scared I won’t be strong enough to fight her for Ryo.”

“Hey!” Kaito slapped his palm on the table. “Quit that right now. Go get dressed, I’ll write the fucking shopping list. And talk to Ryo about these things.”

Kaito’s advice while sound was hard to follow. Ryo had left him asleep this morning. Apart from a few reassurances the night before, he and Ryo hadn’t discussed Sei Asada’s visit. Soubi couldn’t believe he had turned into a wimp before that woman. He always did, she looked down on him and made him feel like an idiot. Grabbing up a pair of jeans and shirt from his closet, he wondered if Ryo had gone to the estate.

He was brushing his hair into a low ponytail when Ryo walked into his room.

“We need to move your things into my room. I went in there looking for you,” Ryo complained.

Soubi tied his hair with a black rubber band and turned to Ryo.

“I haven’t gotten around to it. Too much work moving all these things into yours.”

“We’ll turn it into a party.” Ryo stepped up beside him. “What’s wrong?”

Soubi threw the brush on the bed.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Kaito says you’re losing it.” Ryo rubbed Soubi’s arms. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Look,” Soubi bit his lip unsure, and then remembered their ground rules. “Are you going back home? Coz, I’d understand if you had to, I mean your mother is—

“I’m not going anywhere.” Ryo soothed. “I don’t care what my mother said last night. Don’t worry about me leaving.”

Soubi nodded, glad to hear it although Sei Asada still frightened the fuck out of him.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“Then don’t think about losing me, think about keeping me.”

Ryo pulled him into his arms, hugging him.

“I missed you this morning. I woke up and you were gone.” Soubi felt like an idiot for saying it aloud, but he’d been so worried. He sighed. “I just missed you.”

Ryo pulled off the rubber band Soubi had used to tie his hair

“You’re turning that into a habit,” Soubi said with a laugh as his hair tumbled down his back. “What is it like a fetish?”

“Maybe,” Ryo put the rubber band on his wrist. “Are we going to be fine today? Kaito thinks you’re having PMS.”

“I’m going to beat his ass for that comment.”

Soubi leaned up on his tiptoes and kissed Ryo’s clean-shaven jaw. He smiled when Ryo took his lips in a sweet kiss.

“Come on, there’s nothing to eat in the kitchen. We need to do grocery shopping. You’re helping,” Soubi said, when they broke apart.

“I hate the grocery store,” Ryo complained.

Soubi took his hand and led him out of his bedroom.

“It will be fun. We can go to the coffee shop on the main street. They have an awesome barista.”

“Are you crushing on him? Coz if you are, we won’t go there.”

Soubi laughed, jumping down the last stair, Ryo right behind him.

“Why would I want the barista when I have you, you big lug?”

“Hey guys,” Kaito said when they reached the kitchen. “Welcome to more drama.”

Soubi paused at the kitchen entrance, confused. Ryo almost bumped into Soubi from behind. Kaito stood leaning on the counter, his coffee cup still pressed to his temple.

“What’s up?” Ryo asked, wrapping an arm around Soubi’s shoulders pushing him into the kitchen.

“Rin’s here.” Kaito pointed to the guitar player seated at the kitchen table. “He wants to talk to Soubi.”

****