Squaring the Circle (2/6)
Aug. 5th, 2014 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendyjolyTitle: Squaring the Circle
Author: WendyJoly/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chibipinkpetals
Pairing : Nino X yuriko Yoshitaka, sho X ohno + sakumiya (one sided)
Rating: R
Lenght : Chaptered
Beta : Cookies and muffins tochibipinkpetals
Genre: Love, misunderstandings and friendship
Disclaimer: I owe nothing but Arashi owns surely my soul
Summary : Sakurai Sho, Yuriko Yoshitaka and Ninomiya Kazunari shared a dormitory at the university. Soon after their graduation Nino and Yuri get married but years after, as they’re spending a week-end with their old friend, a secret of their past reappears.
Note : This story takes place in the present and in the past which is in italic. My dearchibipinkpetals wrote OS concerning the Yama pair, you can find them on her LiveJournal!
CHAPTER II
“Sorry, I should have warned you.”
Sho and Nino were cooking dinner while Yuriko shows the house to their new guest. Nino perfectly pictures the scene. They surely go from room to room without saying a word.
“You should have warned Yuriko, it’s a shock for her…figure out that you’re gay that way, it’s not easy for her.”
“I rather though about you. Yu-chan knows my true colors since a long time.”
“Yeah? She never told me. There, hand me the cabbage please. I feel like a moron.”
“Why?”
“I’ve always been jealous of you. She always looks at you as if you were her Prince charming, since the very first time you went out of your dorm bedroom.”
“ Yet, she married you.”
“And I’m still wondering why.”
“Nino…”
“And how it works with him? This Ohno-kun.”
“It works pretty well. Really. We met at the University, he teaches Art.”
“Funny…I always thought you would meet a teacher. A woman. I was not totally wrong.”
“Are you shocked?”
“Not shocked. I’m simply surprised, since you never told me. You’re my best friend since so many years; I thought we had nothing to hide.”
“It’s not that easy to tell. Especially to a het.”
“It would have changed nothing between us.”
“I’m perfectly aware of it.”
Nino doesn’t miss the bitterness of his tone and the sad gaze to Yuriko and Ohno.
“How is she?”
“She doesn’t change. She’s spacing out, she works so much that she forgets to eat. She will have an exhibition next month. Will you come?”
‘Of course, I can’t wait.”
“She will be glad. Tell me…”
“Yeah?”
“What did you tell Ohno about us?”
“Nothing special. That we were friends since the University. That you were my best friends. He’s not very curious.”
“There’s nothing to tell, I guess.”
“You’re certainly right.”
=+=
“How did you meet, the three of you?”
They are sitting near the fireplace, the nth bottle of wine half empty at their feet, several others waiting to be drank on the table. They laugh as if they were the same teenagers not so long ago, evocating the memories of university.
Sho is sitting, his back against an armchair, Yuriko between his legs with Ohno’s unfathomable gaze on them. Feeling suddenly embarrassed, Nino pours him a glass of wine and answers.
“The University messed up and gave my bedroom to Yuriko. We should have been roommates but Sho saved her by giving his.”
“The white knight?”
“Don’t you dare!” Laughs Sho while the woman curls herself against him like a little cat could do.
“Then we began to go out together.”
“What did you do at the University?”
“I played baseball, Yuriko was in Art section and Sho…the same thing he’s doing now I guess, I never got it.”
“Applied Literature.” Answers Sho, chuckling tenderly.
“Right, that thing. It was love at first sight for me.”
“Liar!” Cuts Yuriko. ”You slept with every girl in campus.”
“Because you rejected me! No kidding, I really thought she was in love with Sho…”
“And you’re married since…?”
“Since our graduation. I had a contract with a club and she accepted to follow me. I was the first to be surprised.”
“Do you love baseball?” Asked Ohno to Yuriko.
“She never attends to a match.”
“So wrong! I come from time to time.”
“But when we were at the University, both of them yelled louder than all the supporters together.”
“You…you like baseball?!” says Ohno, surprised, his gaze meeting Sho's.
“My best friend played; I had to support him as a matter of fact.”
“At that time we were apart only during the courses,” whispers Yuriko, “the rest of the time we were always together. So much that I finished my studies at the men’s dormitory. I didn’t want to leave them.”
Nino’s mobile rings and he grabs it to ignore the call.
“Who wants a drink?” Says Nino joyfully.
“You can answer if you want.”
“It’s not important…”
The mobile rings once again and Yuriko hands it to him.
“Answer Nino.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
They look at him as he goes out and Yuriko pours another glass of wine then sits in the armchair that Nino just left.
“Is there a problem with the club, Yu-chan?”
“No, don’t worry, it should be his new girlfriend. She has a pink flashy lipstick.”
“Yu?”
She avoids on purpose the astonished look of Ohno and the furious one of Sho.
“Did he do it again?”
“Stop it Sho-kun, it’s not a big deal, I don’t care.”
“You can’t say you don’t care! You’re married, fuck!”
“I’m not an easy woman to live with and his job is stressful. He needs something to appease him. Someone.”
“I’m gonna kill him.”
“Something’s came up?”
Nino just entered the room, his cell phone in the hand, an interrogative gaze on the face.
“It was my coach.”
“It’s always your coach.”
“Explain, Nino!” Cut Sho as he stands up.
“I…what? What should I have to explain?”
“Do you have an affair? Again?”
“It’s none of your business, Sho, stay out of this.”
“Yu is my friend and your wife, it seems to me that if you fuck the entire town, it is my business.”
“I don’t fuck the entire town.”
“No, you don’t, just the women between 20 and 40.”
Yuriko stands up and pats Sho’s arm to calm him down.
“Leave him alone Sho. I don’t care. Really, I mean it.”
“You see? She doesn’t care. My wife doesn’t give a shit if I fuck all the women I meet to forget that she’s the only one I never fucked. My own wife.”
Sho is about to answer when he understand what Nino just said.
“Yu?”
“It’s none of your business, to you and to your boyfriend.” Answers in an undertone the woman.
“You opened the fire, baby, so go on. Tell them the entire story. How many times since our wedding? 3 years? During 3 years I never was allowed to touch her.”
“I…I think it’s time for me to leave. I’m going to search for a hotel.” Murmurs Ohno, standing up.
“I'll come with you, wait.”
“No, stay. I’m sure you have to talk, the three of you.”
“It’s not…”
“Don’t. I saw a pretty little ryokan when we arrived in town. I’ll take a room and you will join me when you want to.”
Sho nods and Ohno almost tiptoes to leave the house.
When he turns back to Nino and Yuriko they are sitting face to face, the low table between them. She’s sipping quietly her glass of wine, while his jaws are clenched and his look closed.
“So. Can someone tell me what's happening?”
“You know very well what happens.” Hushes Yuriko with her usual calm tone.
“No, I don’t and I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one. I was the first surprised when you announced your marriage, so you can understand that I’m much more puzzled now…”
“Sit down Sho-kun.” Yuriko reaches out and grabs his hand to make him sit.
“Don’t touch him!!” Shouts Nino loudly.
They look Nino as if they have been struck by lightning. Sho sits on the big couch far from Yuriko and focuses his gaze on the baseball player.
“You’ve always been between us. You’re still between us.” Spits Nino with a sulky voice.
“It’s wrong and you know it.” answers his wife tiredly.
“Don’t you dare to lie! You’re in love with him.”
“You always knew that it was complicated, Nino. Since the very beginning.”
“So…So why did you marry me? Why did you condemn me to live with a woman in love with another man?”
Yuriko hangs her head then exchanges a look with Sho.
“ANSWER, BOTH OF YOU!”
“You already slept together…” murmurs Sho softly, “I’m in a good position to know it.”
=+=
“What are we doing tonight?”
“What’s happening tonight?”
“It’s our last night at the dormitory, heartless man!”
“It’s not as if we won’t ever see each other after tomorrow.”
“Are you kidding me? You begin with your team next week and Sho starts his first job and me…I’m integrating the labor market!”
“You can marry me.” Said Nino for the nth time since they met. “I’ll buy you a beautiful house with a big workshop.”
“Where were you last night?”
“Here!” answered Nino astonished.
“And Sho slept in my bed because you laid a girl. Frankly, I’m convinced that he slept more with me than with you these past years.”
“It’s your fault if he shares my room!”
“Oh, please, what would that have changed?!”
“If you had been my roommate, I would have never brought back anyone.”
Sho looked at them with a smirk, a slight nostalgia into the heart when he figured out it was the last hours they spent together.
They were always playing the same game both of them, like an improbable couple. A game of cat and mouse but Sho was convinced that despite her protestations, Yuriko would have missed it if Nino decided to give up to her.
Yet the last night has been difficult.
Sho had returned back late at the dormitory, around 10 PM, and once again when he had entered his bedroom, Nino was laying a girl that he didn’t know –Nino certainly didn’t know her either- and he had turned back to him naturally.
“Sorry Sho-kun, I should have let a scarf on the doorknob to warn you…”
“I…I’m gonna sleep with Yu, forget it. Go on…”
He had grabbed his pajamas before going out and knocking at his neighbour’s door. Like always she had served him a tea and they had sat on the bed, their back against the wall.
“Are we that pitiful?” She whispered as she stroked his cheek.
“Somehow…”
“Why don’t you tell him?”
“Why should I tell him?”
“To be relieved. It’s not a shame to be in love.”
“Okay. I confess to Nino I’m in love since the very first time I met him. I tell him how much it’s painful to be in love with a man so different from me, so straight. In the best case, he pats my shoulder with a look of compassion, in the worst, he freaks out and turns his back on me. I’m not ready to not see him at all.”
“I get it.”
“I’m sorry to impose you, especially because I know how much it hurts.”
“Don’t worry about me. You love him, I love you. It’s a deadlock. You’ll never have him like I will never have you, I deal with it. Look at Nino, he’s happy!”
“I don’t think so, Yu.”
“I’m pretty sure that if we enter his bedroom now, we could barely say he’s not.”
“I think he’s sincerely in love with you.”
“So he laid every girl he meets to forget the fact I rejected him?” She had said as she laughed.
“Exactly.”
“It’s not funny Sho.”
“And if it was the case?”
“What’s your question?”
“If you had the proof that he’s sincere with you, that you’ll make him happy if you accept to be his girlfriend, would you do it?”
“I don’t want to understand.”
“Do you prefer for him to fall for the first sneaky girl he will meet, once in a famous baseball team and see him turning his back on us?”
“Do you intend to tell me that I should keep him? For your sake?”
“…forget it, I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m lost because we are going to leave the university. I feel blue.”
They didn’t sleep at night and Sho didn’t come back in his bedroom even when Nino told him the girl was gone. He simply told him to open the windows to ventilate the room before the end of the day.
=+=
“So? What are we doing tonight?”
“We drink until we’re high as a kite?”
“No, I…I want to stay here. For our last night, why won’t we eat in the bedroom?”
“Okay, but Sho cooks.” Concluded Nino and Yuriko nodded appreciatively.
They bought some ingredients at the combini and they drank some beer, waiting for Sho to finish the nabe, talking, chatting and arguing once more. Nino and his unlimited self-confidence convinced to live a brilliant future in the sports industry, Sho and his calm fatalism which pushed him to work like his father at the university. And finally Yuriko and her quiet belief, her appeasing aura.
“The club offers me a place. It’s not a big one for the moment, but Saitama is a pretty town and I’ll be able to buy a house by the end of the year.”
“Money is the only important thing for you?!”
“Of course not, but it’s important. Ask Sho and see that his is full of money family.”
“But he doesn’t care!”
“You don’t have to care when you’re rich.”
“Sho! Say something! Sho?”
“I’m gonna miss this. All this. The three of us.”
The silence fell and a veil of sadness brushed away the warm atmosphere.
“We’ll see each other.”
“Nino is leaving for Saitama, he will be busy, I’ll have my courses and you, between your part time jobs and your sculptures…”
“We will keep some week-end for us.”
“It will be different. Everything will be different.”
“Sho…”
Yuriko put her head on his shoulder and took Nino’s hand to attract him.
She put her lips on Nino first, surprising him for a few seconds before he reacts and topples her gently on the floor. It was not really planned; simply desired since so many times that they didn’t struggle against it.
Sho gazed at them as they kissed, his eyes burning with desire, frozen, until the moment Yuriko straightened up to take off her dress, definitely crossing the Rubicon.
Nino kneeled, and while he kissed her sweet belly, slid her cotton underwear on the floor.
Naturally she leaned to kiss Sho while Nino was undressing, keeping his eyes on her and naturally too, she encouraged Sho to kiss Nino.
Yuriko felt her stomach painfully tighten when she saw Sho’s desperate gaze as he finally was allowed to kiss the man he craved for so much. Nino left Sho to place her on his own thighs and she couldn’t keep for her a cry of pleasure and pain as he found his way inside her. He looked at her, marveled as he was realizing he was her first man, then he stood still, his face deadly serious. Yet she smiled to him tenderly, took his mouth and swayed slowly, taking Sho’s hand for him to find the courage to claim his share of love.
She made love to them without false reserve, losing herself into Sho’s animal look when he finally forgot himself in her because he was kissing Nino. They slept intertwined, exhausted and appeased without thinking about what could happen after this crazy night.
At dawn Sho was nowhere to be seen and Yuriko woke up, Nino’s adoring gaze on her.
“Good morning”
“Good morning. Sho?”
“He left before I woke up. This night was great…”
“Isn’t it strange?”
“Strange, not really. I feel like I’m dreaming.”
“Nino…”
She was about to say what she had in mind. Say that she made love to him this night thanks to Sho and that if Sho kissed him it was not a momentary madness. That it was Nino’s body that he craved for.
“Yuriko Yoshitaka, marry me, please. I’ve never been that serious. I don’t want to leave you, I’m not a perfect man but I swear to be the best husband for you. You will be all my life.”
“Okay.”
“W…What?”
“I said I agree. Find the sheets, I’ll sign them. W…Where are you going?!”
He stood up and got dressed in a few seconds.
“Look for the paper to fill, I don’t want to wait for you to change your mind.”
“You’re crazy!”
He pecked her lips and left the room quickly. Yuriko smiled when she heard him yell “I’m getting married!” in the corridor.
Then she cried.
=+=
“We never talk about it again.”
“The next day you said you were married. How could I talk to you?”
“I’ve always thought it was like a silent rule between us. Not that I was the moron in this story.”
“You…how dare you? Are you saying you’re the only one to suffer?!” Sho burst in anger. “You’re the only one to live with the person you love! What do you think I felt when the man I loved married my best friend?”
“Do I have to be happy to learn that my old buddy is in love with me, while my wife married me only to be sure to stay by his side?”
“You’re wrong, Nino. I love you.” Cut Yuriko.
“But not the way you love Sho.”
“We draw a line on our unrequited love Kazunari. I found Satoshi and it works between us and Yu…”
“You were right. Both of you. I’ll do the same. It’s high time for me to draw a line on my unrequited love.”
He climbs the stairs, and Sho as Yuriko are wondering how long he will stay in his bedroom, but after a few minutes he comes back, a bag in the hand and grabs the keys of the car.
“Ja.”
Yuriko stands up quickly, unable to admit what’s about to happen.
“You’re leaving this way? You give up?”
“You can keep the house, I’ll send you the sheets for the divorce there.”
“Don’t…please don’t.”
But he leaves without a look back.
Yuriko stands still a few seconds, her arms stretched in front of her, then she slumps down on the floor, her tears falling silently on her cheeks.
Author: WendyJoly/
chibipinkpetalsPairing : Nino X yuriko Yoshitaka, sho X ohno + sakumiya (one sided)
Rating: R
Lenght : Chaptered
Beta : Cookies and muffins to
chibipinkpetalsGenre: Love, misunderstandings and friendship
Disclaimer: I owe nothing but Arashi owns surely my soul
Summary : Sakurai Sho, Yuriko Yoshitaka and Ninomiya Kazunari shared a dormitory at the university. Soon after their graduation Nino and Yuri get married but years after, as they’re spending a week-end with their old friend, a secret of their past reappears.
Note : This story takes place in the present and in the past which is in italic. My dear
chibipinkpetals wrote OS concerning the Yama pair, you can find them on her LiveJournal!CHAPTER II
“Sorry, I should have warned you.”
Sho and Nino were cooking dinner while Yuriko shows the house to their new guest. Nino perfectly pictures the scene. They surely go from room to room without saying a word.
“You should have warned Yuriko, it’s a shock for her…figure out that you’re gay that way, it’s not easy for her.”
“I rather though about you. Yu-chan knows my true colors since a long time.”
“Yeah? She never told me. There, hand me the cabbage please. I feel like a moron.”
“Why?”
“I’ve always been jealous of you. She always looks at you as if you were her Prince charming, since the very first time you went out of your dorm bedroom.”
“ Yet, she married you.”
“And I’m still wondering why.”
“Nino…”
“And how it works with him? This Ohno-kun.”
“It works pretty well. Really. We met at the University, he teaches Art.”
“Funny…I always thought you would meet a teacher. A woman. I was not totally wrong.”
“Are you shocked?”
“Not shocked. I’m simply surprised, since you never told me. You’re my best friend since so many years; I thought we had nothing to hide.”
“It’s not that easy to tell. Especially to a het.”
“It would have changed nothing between us.”
“I’m perfectly aware of it.”
Nino doesn’t miss the bitterness of his tone and the sad gaze to Yuriko and Ohno.
“How is she?”
“She doesn’t change. She’s spacing out, she works so much that she forgets to eat. She will have an exhibition next month. Will you come?”
‘Of course, I can’t wait.”
“She will be glad. Tell me…”
“Yeah?”
“What did you tell Ohno about us?”
“Nothing special. That we were friends since the University. That you were my best friends. He’s not very curious.”
“There’s nothing to tell, I guess.”
“You’re certainly right.”
“How did you meet, the three of you?”
They are sitting near the fireplace, the nth bottle of wine half empty at their feet, several others waiting to be drank on the table. They laugh as if they were the same teenagers not so long ago, evocating the memories of university.
Sho is sitting, his back against an armchair, Yuriko between his legs with Ohno’s unfathomable gaze on them. Feeling suddenly embarrassed, Nino pours him a glass of wine and answers.
“The University messed up and gave my bedroom to Yuriko. We should have been roommates but Sho saved her by giving his.”
“The white knight?”
“Don’t you dare!” Laughs Sho while the woman curls herself against him like a little cat could do.
“Then we began to go out together.”
“What did you do at the University?”
“I played baseball, Yuriko was in Art section and Sho…the same thing he’s doing now I guess, I never got it.”
“Applied Literature.” Answers Sho, chuckling tenderly.
“Right, that thing. It was love at first sight for me.”
“Liar!” Cuts Yuriko. ”You slept with every girl in campus.”
“Because you rejected me! No kidding, I really thought she was in love with Sho…”
“And you’re married since…?”
“Since our graduation. I had a contract with a club and she accepted to follow me. I was the first to be surprised.”
“Do you love baseball?” Asked Ohno to Yuriko.
“She never attends to a match.”
“So wrong! I come from time to time.”
“But when we were at the University, both of them yelled louder than all the supporters together.”
“You…you like baseball?!” says Ohno, surprised, his gaze meeting Sho's.
“My best friend played; I had to support him as a matter of fact.”
“At that time we were apart only during the courses,” whispers Yuriko, “the rest of the time we were always together. So much that I finished my studies at the men’s dormitory. I didn’t want to leave them.”
Nino’s mobile rings and he grabs it to ignore the call.
“Who wants a drink?” Says Nino joyfully.
“You can answer if you want.”
“It’s not important…”
The mobile rings once again and Yuriko hands it to him.
“Answer Nino.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
They look at him as he goes out and Yuriko pours another glass of wine then sits in the armchair that Nino just left.
“Is there a problem with the club, Yu-chan?”
“No, don’t worry, it should be his new girlfriend. She has a pink flashy lipstick.”
“Yu?”
She avoids on purpose the astonished look of Ohno and the furious one of Sho.
“Did he do it again?”
“Stop it Sho-kun, it’s not a big deal, I don’t care.”
“You can’t say you don’t care! You’re married, fuck!”
“I’m not an easy woman to live with and his job is stressful. He needs something to appease him. Someone.”
“I’m gonna kill him.”
“Something’s came up?”
Nino just entered the room, his cell phone in the hand, an interrogative gaze on the face.
“It was my coach.”
“It’s always your coach.”
“Explain, Nino!” Cut Sho as he stands up.
“I…what? What should I have to explain?”
“Do you have an affair? Again?”
“It’s none of your business, Sho, stay out of this.”
“Yu is my friend and your wife, it seems to me that if you fuck the entire town, it is my business.”
“I don’t fuck the entire town.”
“No, you don’t, just the women between 20 and 40.”
Yuriko stands up and pats Sho’s arm to calm him down.
“Leave him alone Sho. I don’t care. Really, I mean it.”
“You see? She doesn’t care. My wife doesn’t give a shit if I fuck all the women I meet to forget that she’s the only one I never fucked. My own wife.”
Sho is about to answer when he understand what Nino just said.
“Yu?”
“It’s none of your business, to you and to your boyfriend.” Answers in an undertone the woman.
“You opened the fire, baby, so go on. Tell them the entire story. How many times since our wedding? 3 years? During 3 years I never was allowed to touch her.”
“I…I think it’s time for me to leave. I’m going to search for a hotel.” Murmurs Ohno, standing up.
“I'll come with you, wait.”
“No, stay. I’m sure you have to talk, the three of you.”
“It’s not…”
“Don’t. I saw a pretty little ryokan when we arrived in town. I’ll take a room and you will join me when you want to.”
Sho nods and Ohno almost tiptoes to leave the house.
When he turns back to Nino and Yuriko they are sitting face to face, the low table between them. She’s sipping quietly her glass of wine, while his jaws are clenched and his look closed.
“So. Can someone tell me what's happening?”
“You know very well what happens.” Hushes Yuriko with her usual calm tone.
“No, I don’t and I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one. I was the first surprised when you announced your marriage, so you can understand that I’m much more puzzled now…”
“Sit down Sho-kun.” Yuriko reaches out and grabs his hand to make him sit.
“Don’t touch him!!” Shouts Nino loudly.
They look Nino as if they have been struck by lightning. Sho sits on the big couch far from Yuriko and focuses his gaze on the baseball player.
“You’ve always been between us. You’re still between us.” Spits Nino with a sulky voice.
“It’s wrong and you know it.” answers his wife tiredly.
“Don’t you dare to lie! You’re in love with him.”
“You always knew that it was complicated, Nino. Since the very beginning.”
“So…So why did you marry me? Why did you condemn me to live with a woman in love with another man?”
Yuriko hangs her head then exchanges a look with Sho.
“ANSWER, BOTH OF YOU!”
“You already slept together…” murmurs Sho softly, “I’m in a good position to know it.”
“What are we doing tonight?”
“What’s happening tonight?”
“It’s our last night at the dormitory, heartless man!”
“It’s not as if we won’t ever see each other after tomorrow.”
“Are you kidding me? You begin with your team next week and Sho starts his first job and me…I’m integrating the labor market!”
“You can marry me.” Said Nino for the nth time since they met. “I’ll buy you a beautiful house with a big workshop.”
“Where were you last night?”
“Here!” answered Nino astonished.
“And Sho slept in my bed because you laid a girl. Frankly, I’m convinced that he slept more with me than with you these past years.”
“It’s your fault if he shares my room!”
“Oh, please, what would that have changed?!”
“If you had been my roommate, I would have never brought back anyone.”
Sho looked at them with a smirk, a slight nostalgia into the heart when he figured out it was the last hours they spent together.
They were always playing the same game both of them, like an improbable couple. A game of cat and mouse but Sho was convinced that despite her protestations, Yuriko would have missed it if Nino decided to give up to her.
Yet the last night has been difficult.
Sho had returned back late at the dormitory, around 10 PM, and once again when he had entered his bedroom, Nino was laying a girl that he didn’t know –Nino certainly didn’t know her either- and he had turned back to him naturally.
“Sorry Sho-kun, I should have let a scarf on the doorknob to warn you…”
“I…I’m gonna sleep with Yu, forget it. Go on…”
He had grabbed his pajamas before going out and knocking at his neighbour’s door. Like always she had served him a tea and they had sat on the bed, their back against the wall.
“Are we that pitiful?” She whispered as she stroked his cheek.
“Somehow…”
“Why don’t you tell him?”
“Why should I tell him?”
“To be relieved. It’s not a shame to be in love.”
“Okay. I confess to Nino I’m in love since the very first time I met him. I tell him how much it’s painful to be in love with a man so different from me, so straight. In the best case, he pats my shoulder with a look of compassion, in the worst, he freaks out and turns his back on me. I’m not ready to not see him at all.”
“I get it.”
“I’m sorry to impose you, especially because I know how much it hurts.”
“Don’t worry about me. You love him, I love you. It’s a deadlock. You’ll never have him like I will never have you, I deal with it. Look at Nino, he’s happy!”
“I don’t think so, Yu.”
“I’m pretty sure that if we enter his bedroom now, we could barely say he’s not.”
“I think he’s sincerely in love with you.”
“So he laid every girl he meets to forget the fact I rejected him?” She had said as she laughed.
“Exactly.”
“It’s not funny Sho.”
“And if it was the case?”
“What’s your question?”
“If you had the proof that he’s sincere with you, that you’ll make him happy if you accept to be his girlfriend, would you do it?”
“I don’t want to understand.”
“Do you prefer for him to fall for the first sneaky girl he will meet, once in a famous baseball team and see him turning his back on us?”
“Do you intend to tell me that I should keep him? For your sake?”
“…forget it, I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m lost because we are going to leave the university. I feel blue.”
They didn’t sleep at night and Sho didn’t come back in his bedroom even when Nino told him the girl was gone. He simply told him to open the windows to ventilate the room before the end of the day.
“So? What are we doing tonight?”
“We drink until we’re high as a kite?”
“No, I…I want to stay here. For our last night, why won’t we eat in the bedroom?”
“Okay, but Sho cooks.” Concluded Nino and Yuriko nodded appreciatively.
They bought some ingredients at the combini and they drank some beer, waiting for Sho to finish the nabe, talking, chatting and arguing once more. Nino and his unlimited self-confidence convinced to live a brilliant future in the sports industry, Sho and his calm fatalism which pushed him to work like his father at the university. And finally Yuriko and her quiet belief, her appeasing aura.
“The club offers me a place. It’s not a big one for the moment, but Saitama is a pretty town and I’ll be able to buy a house by the end of the year.”
“Money is the only important thing for you?!”
“Of course not, but it’s important. Ask Sho and see that his is full of money family.”
“But he doesn’t care!”
“You don’t have to care when you’re rich.”
“Sho! Say something! Sho?”
“I’m gonna miss this. All this. The three of us.”
The silence fell and a veil of sadness brushed away the warm atmosphere.
“We’ll see each other.”
“Nino is leaving for Saitama, he will be busy, I’ll have my courses and you, between your part time jobs and your sculptures…”
“We will keep some week-end for us.”
“It will be different. Everything will be different.”
“Sho…”
Yuriko put her head on his shoulder and took Nino’s hand to attract him.
She put her lips on Nino first, surprising him for a few seconds before he reacts and topples her gently on the floor. It was not really planned; simply desired since so many times that they didn’t struggle against it.
Sho gazed at them as they kissed, his eyes burning with desire, frozen, until the moment Yuriko straightened up to take off her dress, definitely crossing the Rubicon.
Nino kneeled, and while he kissed her sweet belly, slid her cotton underwear on the floor.
Naturally she leaned to kiss Sho while Nino was undressing, keeping his eyes on her and naturally too, she encouraged Sho to kiss Nino.
Yuriko felt her stomach painfully tighten when she saw Sho’s desperate gaze as he finally was allowed to kiss the man he craved for so much. Nino left Sho to place her on his own thighs and she couldn’t keep for her a cry of pleasure and pain as he found his way inside her. He looked at her, marveled as he was realizing he was her first man, then he stood still, his face deadly serious. Yet she smiled to him tenderly, took his mouth and swayed slowly, taking Sho’s hand for him to find the courage to claim his share of love.
She made love to them without false reserve, losing herself into Sho’s animal look when he finally forgot himself in her because he was kissing Nino. They slept intertwined, exhausted and appeased without thinking about what could happen after this crazy night.
At dawn Sho was nowhere to be seen and Yuriko woke up, Nino’s adoring gaze on her.
“Good morning”
“Good morning. Sho?”
“He left before I woke up. This night was great…”
“Isn’t it strange?”
“Strange, not really. I feel like I’m dreaming.”
“Nino…”
She was about to say what she had in mind. Say that she made love to him this night thanks to Sho and that if Sho kissed him it was not a momentary madness. That it was Nino’s body that he craved for.
“Yuriko Yoshitaka, marry me, please. I’ve never been that serious. I don’t want to leave you, I’m not a perfect man but I swear to be the best husband for you. You will be all my life.”
“Okay.”
“W…What?”
“I said I agree. Find the sheets, I’ll sign them. W…Where are you going?!”
He stood up and got dressed in a few seconds.
“Look for the paper to fill, I don’t want to wait for you to change your mind.”
“You’re crazy!”
He pecked her lips and left the room quickly. Yuriko smiled when she heard him yell “I’m getting married!” in the corridor.
Then she cried.
“We never talk about it again.”
“The next day you said you were married. How could I talk to you?”
“I’ve always thought it was like a silent rule between us. Not that I was the moron in this story.”
“You…how dare you? Are you saying you’re the only one to suffer?!” Sho burst in anger. “You’re the only one to live with the person you love! What do you think I felt when the man I loved married my best friend?”
“Do I have to be happy to learn that my old buddy is in love with me, while my wife married me only to be sure to stay by his side?”
“You’re wrong, Nino. I love you.” Cut Yuriko.
“But not the way you love Sho.”
“We draw a line on our unrequited love Kazunari. I found Satoshi and it works between us and Yu…”
“You were right. Both of you. I’ll do the same. It’s high time for me to draw a line on my unrequited love.”
He climbs the stairs, and Sho as Yuriko are wondering how long he will stay in his bedroom, but after a few minutes he comes back, a bag in the hand and grabs the keys of the car.
“Ja.”
Yuriko stands up quickly, unable to admit what’s about to happen.
“You’re leaving this way? You give up?”
“You can keep the house, I’ll send you the sheets for the divorce there.”
“Don’t…please don’t.”
But he leaves without a look back.
Yuriko stands still a few seconds, her arms stretched in front of her, then she slumps down on the floor, her tears falling silently on her cheeks.
