"I think…I think I love you."

I froze.

The door suddenly slammed open.

"Hyuga Natsume! What the hell did you just say?!"

Best Served Cold

Chapter Nine - of Golden-Sprinkled Choc Souffles& Ferrero Rocher

08.06.14

by: Mich

"Anna!"

The girl stood in front of the room, hands still on the knob.

I immediately ran to the door and pulled Anna in, closing the door as quietly as I could. I could hear Harada's voice asking if there was a problem.

"Mikan!"

I turned, and it was no longer horror which was plastered on Anna's face. It was anger.

"You have some explaining to do! Both of you!" she pointed heatedly at us.

Hyuga remained at the edge of the bed, burying his head while his hands clasped with worry.

"Anna, please listen."

"Oh I'm listening now alright." Anna retorted, as she tapped her feet not-so-gently.

"This is not as what you think it is."

"Tell me what it is then." she clicked her tongue impatiently.

"All this—" I waved my arm in a circle, "— it's a misunderstanding."

She snapped her head across to Hyuga, her arms closed across her chest, "I'm pretty sure I heard correctly what he just said to you. He said– "

"I know what I said." a masculine voice erupted. "I'm sorry. I know this is an inappropriate thing to do, and of course an inappropriate time to say these out. But just because I said what I said, that doesn't change anything. I am not going to change whatever that was planned. I am still going to marry Misaki."

Anna gasped.

"How could you!?" She exclaimed. I hushed her immediately.

With a lower pitch she continued, "How could you do this to Harada? You're betraying her feelings!"

Hyuga scratched his head in annoyance and gave an exasperated sigh. "We are already this far into the preparation. And we're getting married in a month. I don't want this stupid thing to ruin everything for Misaki."

I scoffed at him. "Weren't you the one who jumped on me first? Are you blaming all these on me?"

"No I am not blaming you. It's just that, meeting you after four years that day in Kyoto, I became a little… confused." Hyuga whispered.

"Wait. What?" Anna turned to look at me in shock. "He's the guy from Kyoto? Who tried to rape you?"

I nodded, reluctantly.

"Wait wait wait. What rape? I did not rape her. I definitely did not try to rape her. Where on earth did you get the idea!?"

Anna pushed Hyuga away and faced me. "I'm not going to allow this guy to bully you around. No matter how handsome or charming he is. We are not going to do the catering for his wedding. Okay?"

KNOCK.

A feminine voice came behind the door. "Can I come in?"

The door slowly creaked upon, revealing the beautiful pink-haired lady.

"Hi… I heard there was some serious and intense discussion going on here. Mind if I join?" She quickly sat beside Hyuga on the bed. "Oh the bed's so comfy!"

Anna was first to speak after a brief few minutes of silence. "Hey Harada-san … I'm sorry to tell you that we won't be able to accept your catering request."

Harada stood up abruptly. "Why?" she exclaimed.

"It's okay Misaki. We'll find someone else. If worse comes to worst, I'll do the pastries myself." Hyuga tried to comfort the lady.

Instead, Harada shoved his hand away from her.

Boy, what drama.

"It's you, isn't it? You're doing it again. You don't like the caterer so you did something to make them hate us, right! You never cared about anything about the wedding!" Harada accused.

Hyuga sighed in exasperation, "Look, Misaki. It's not that I don't want to help you, but I feel that it is much better for me to not intervene because, well… you tend to want everything your way. I'm sorry if this is harsh Misaki, but that's how I feel."

I find it was time to step in. "I'm sorry Harada-san, but I think there was some misunderstanding. I think Anna was just afraid that we will not be able to finish off the pastries in time, especially on such short notice. But fret not, I will make sure that we will help you with the catering. So don't worry and leave it to us."

"Really?" Misaki whimpered. I could see that she was almost going to fight with Hyuga, in front of us.

"Yup." I reassured her, and Anna nudged me with her elbow.

"What were you thinking?" she mouthed.

"I got this, okay?" I mouthed back.

"Anna," she turned to me, "why not you bring Misaki out and discuss about the catering options since we are really out of options, while Hyuga and I will stay here to discuss about the pastries. Alright?"

Anna narrowed her eyes at me, her expression akin to telling me 'what the hell are you thinking?'

"Let's go!" Harada beamed and pulled Anna out from the room, the latter kept glaring at me and obviously very reluctant to leave the room. Before they left, Harada warned her fiancé, "Don't you dare screw this up."

She was smiling when she said that, but damn, the warning is as real as it is alright.

Anna shot a dirty look at Hyuga before she was dragged out from the room by Harada.

"Thanks."

I looked at the man. "I'm not doing it for you."

"Regardless. Anyway. About our conversation earlier. Four years ago, I was not trying to rape you. Oh my God, I can't believe you both thought that I was going to rape you." He rubbed his temple in frustration.

"Right." I scoffed at him, quite unwilling to listen further to his explanation.

"Back when you were a little kid, you used to hang around at the bakery near the temple right? I used to live near the temple too. I always – kind-of – looked at you when you were playing with your friend there. I was ten then, I think."

Ugh, a stalker?

"I moved away when I was sixteen and got kind-of mixed up with the wrong people. I smoked, gambled and slept with girls who practically just jump on me wherever I go. I met Ruka at Tokyo. He was, and still is, the nicest guys around. Sometimes I'd drag him out to clubs, but at most he'd drink a sip or two and be the designated driver for me and the girls."

A stalker and a player.

"I met Misaki when I was eighteen. She saw me on the subway and proposed for me to a model. She fixed me up and gave me many many opportunities, but my passion was to bake. So she sent me off to learn what I do now, and I really feel indebted to her."

"So you decided that marrying her was the right and only way to compensate to her?" I remarked.

He stared at me. "I know it's not the best way out. But Misaki really cares about me, and I know that she does love me. So…"

"You're unbelievable." I scoffed at him.

"Let me finish before you start judging me. So when I finished learning to be a patisserie, I came back to Kyoto for a vacation. You know, reminiscing through the old streets and the place I used to stay at. Then I saw you. That night."

I swallowed my breath, as quietly as I could.

"I remembered how you made me feel. I know stalking you for six years is pretty creepy –" I nodded, "but hey I was a kid. Though that night when I saw you walking down the dark alley, and it was raining so heavily, I just – couldn't resist. I'm sorry that I offended you."

I sighed. "Look. It's already been four years. I've moved on. And we're both adults. Let's just pretend all these never happened, okay? Just get married off to that model of yours."

What happened next was a blur.

I was leaning casually against the wall and Hyuga was sitting on the edge of the bed. Suddenly I was pinned against the wall, his arm pressing against my torso, and my hands locked in his tight grip.

His eyes stared into mine, and his breath heavy and slow. "You did not move on. If you had, you wouldn't have had the meltdown that day in the shop." he warned dangerously.

"Let me go."

The position was oddly similar to the one from four years ago. The only difference being the lighting, and I can see him clearly now. He is still hot as fuck.

"Remember this?" he hissed seductively.

"Dude. Your fiancée is just outside. Cut it out."

He released his arm and stood in front of me, looking at me intently.

Damn it.

I dragged him across the room and towards the door.

I slammed him against the door and locked it. His scowl immediately turned into a mischievous smile.

"Well well." He started.

"Shut up." I cut him off and leaned my face against his. He instinctively bent down and crashed his lips against mine.

"What was that?"

I could hear faint girly voices from outside the room.

"Where's the goody-goody girl now?" he said between kisses.

"I said shut up right?" I half-yelled at him.

He grabbed my shoulders and pinned me down on the bed. When he was off-guard, I quickly turned and sat on top of him. He was already topless and his belt half opened.

He still had that naughty smile plastered on his face.

"Oh stop giving me that smug face." I drawled at him as he snickered at my comment. "Not funny either."

Within minutes our outer clothes were already on the floor, leaving us in our undergarments.

"We better be fast before we get caught." he nodded in agreement. "and we have to be quiet."

He suddenly laughed.

"What!?" I asked incredulously. Major turn-off.

"Sorry. I just find that comment so funny. I think I'm not the one who should be worried about making noise."

I pondered about his vague answer, until it finally hit me and my face began to flush with embarrassment. I slapped his torso playfully. "Do you still want this or not?"

"I'm sorry!" he half-laughed as he tried to stop me from getting up. "I was just teasing you. Don't be mad okay?"

DING.

"Son of a b—"

It started to ring in my head again.

Damn it. Not now!

"Hey, you alright? I was just joking."

"Get Anna and Harada out from the house. Make any excuse you can. I'll call Hotaru, now go!"

As I reached for the phone, I quickly flipped it and dialed the most recent number – Hotaru's. She gave it to me before I left the hospital. And then, I blacked out.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The moment I was up, I could hear the usual beep of the pulse machine running in rhythm.

In the hospital again. Damn.

"Mikan."

The all-so-familiar monotone voice. Hotaru.

"Hey…" I whispered as I tried to sit on the bed. She immediately helped me up. "Thanks."

"Did anyone know?"

She shook her head. "When I reached your place, there wasn't anyone and I just went straight to your room. The door was unlocked though. You ought to be more careful with security. When I got to your room, you were lying on your bed and you weren't exactly, well, fully-clothed."

I let out an awkward cough as I refrained from spilling anything.

"I heard you didn't want to go on with the surgery."

I nodded.

"Why?" she continued.

I smiled a little. "There's not much point right. The chances I'm going to die in the surgery is one half of the rate I'm going to live on, for like what, another 6 months?"

Hotaru sighed. "At least the risk is half, there were worse."

I looked at her. She didn't change much since the past decade. Since she left home. It was still the same shoulder-length dark purple cut, that monotonous voice, albeit with a much more mature tinge in it. Her eyes, especially, never changed. But the way she looked at me, there was an expression in them. An expression I never liked seeing. An expression that made me remember the times when we lost Subaru nii-san.

"I missed you." I whispered.

Her lips formed a small smile. "Me too." And she sat next to me on the bed.

"How have you been?"

She recited on what happened to her since she left home, that she managed to enroll in a boarding school, and earned herself a scholarship to study abroad for medicine. She said the reason why she was and still is so passionate about neurology is because of Subaru nii-san's passing. But she had never expected that I would have contracted the same illness.

"I'll be fine." I quipped, trying to lessen the tension in the room.

Hotaru shook her head. "You know I know. Don't you dare to lie to me. Does Anna know about this?"

"No…" I whispered softly. "I didn't tell anyone."

Hotaru's eyebrows perked a little, but her eyes and lips stayed motionless. "Why?"

"I don't want to worry anyone. Especially Anna. You know she'd freak out easily."

She nodded in amusement.

"But you know she'll get suspicious right? You'll be in and out the hospital all the time."

I shook my head this time. "I don't plan to come back here anymore. I'll get my meds and try to live my life as fulfilling as I can."

"You leaving this place?"

I paused. It seems like a good idea.

"Maybe."

She sighed again. "Just don't overstrain yourself. Stay in Japan if you can. Don't travel too much. It would be too stressful to your body."

"Okay. Can I leave though?"

She paused. "You can. But it's better to stay for the night for us to observe your condition. But you can leave if you really need to."

I flipped the blanket and slipped into the sandals. "I think I'll go. If Anna doesn't see me at home she'll get worried again." I took my belongings from the closet and quickly changed from the hospital attire.

"Mikan."

"Hmmm?"

"I heard from Nogi."

I stopped.

"You should stop hanging out with him, you know?"

I continued gathering my things. "Don't worry. I know how to deal with this."

Hotaru sighed, "Mikan. I hope you know what you're doing. I know you do. I have to go and do my rounds. I'll see you soon okay. Stay healthy."

And she left.

Before I knew it, my face started warming up and my head start to ache. Hot tears began to flow.

Fuck my life.

Oh my gosh, it has been two years since I updated here.

It really warms my heart when I still get reviews for this story even though it has been such a long, long time since I updated.

I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Love you readers! xoxo