Chapter XVIII

Missing the Popular Prince

Ehm.. Pumpkim*

The winter this year was colder than usual at Heiomachi and it just meant that I have to work extra hard in keeping the mansion warm for my 'caring' stepmother and my 'adorable' stepsisters.

Unbelievable?

Being sarcastic is the only thing that is left of me in this damn cold weather. Let me be!

Don't worry… Am just in a crappy mood because it's been two weeks since I last saw or heard from him and I miss him like hell. It was hard to believe that just a couple of weeks ago we had been two worlds apart. But now we are…

Well I want to say a lot of things but the only thing we are right now are "friends".

Sometimes I dearly wish that I was more clear and strong in what I thought and voiced everything out to him and just cry my heart out to all the unfair things that had ever happened to me in my 17-year life span.

Ever since he started to China, all the texts and messages stopped. He had warned me about it saying that his dad doesn't like it when Kanata doesn't appreciate whichever country they go to and keeps using his gadgets.

"Bonding with your loved ones is what a family vacation is all about," Kanata had recited his dad's golden rule almost spitefully the morning he caught his flight.

Meanwhile, at the mansion, I feel like Karen and Mai keep giving me weird glances and sometimes I catch one of them inside my room, trying to work the computer. When asked they talked about wanting to try out an old computer seeing as how theirs is all modern and reaaally fast.

Well, it didn't take me long to figure out that they were "investigating" me. Nozomu-kun had contacted me the other day and gave me a heads-up that Kijoyu and the twins were trying to find out how and why Kanata and I have become suddenly close. According to his sources, Nozomu believes that the girls have a little doubt on me being Cindy.

I hadn't wasted any time after that to create a backup of all my chats with PP on the cloud and delete the ones in my mailbox and mobile. I know am safe like that seeing as the twins believe that saving things on the cloud means that data gets printed, packed and sent out to space to hold onto until we need it again.

I just finished all my chores and it was a little past midnight when I got back to my room to close out this long and tiring day. Kanata is probably on his way back tonight and I couldn't wait for him to get here. As I lay on my bed, a smile creeping along my lips, I stared into my mobile, looking at some of the last messages I got from him before he had left.

Just as I was about to doze off, my mobile vibrated and a message popped.

I sat bolt upright and blushed at once at his text.

"Nǐ hǎo piàoliang!"

Mandarin eh? Bet he doesn't know that I learnt to write and speak Mandarin when I was a kid. Might be fun to tease him a bit though…

Eh? O_o

I chuckled as I typed the text and used the most shocked smiley I could find.

"Learnt a little bit of Mandarin… this is how all the people here greeted me"

Well Miyu, you should not have gotten cocky that quick. The poor guy had been hit on and has no idea about it and is innocently using that on me.

I hadn't finished typing back a response when another text hit my screen.

Miss you

I froze.

He missed me?

I knew this was true, especially with the fact that the guy had openly confessed his feelings for me to the entire school. But a little part of me, a tiny little part in a teeny tiny (not to mention the most depressing) corner in my brain was like, "yea right!"

I tried my best to tone down my happiness when I responded back, "Really?"

The response was instantaneous.

"'Course"

There were a million things I could have asked him. Yet, like any other teenage girl, I asked, "What is it that you miss?"

As I lay there on my bed, my small mobile shining its bright light on my anticipating face, he was "typing…" his response… for what felt like an hour.

But it was only a little less than a minute.

Talk about being overdramatic.

If Aya had been here, she would have surely said that I was being a romantic.

Well, I sure as hell am not.

But he sure seems like it.

"What's not to miss?"

I giggled.

"Oh really?"

"Well, I would never miss your towel ;)"

I blushed at once and did not fail to remember the time we had spent inside this very room (in the bathroom in this room to be exact) in my towel.

"Ha ha very funny Saionji : Grrr! "

We continued for another hour during which I completely failed to ask him if he was back home.

"Hey, where are you? Are you back home?"

He took a moment to respond.

"Your window"

I blinked.

"Huh?" I read the message twice and blinked for the third time when there was a knock that almost made my heart jump out.

I got to my feet and approached the small window in my room that overlooked the front lawn.

"Boo!"

"Ahhh!" I began to scream and was only half aware of the shocked brunet opening the window in a swift motion and climbing into my room. He closed my mouth with his hand the second he entered my room.

I looked up at him, my green eyes wide with shock as he looked seriously at the door, apparently listening for any sounds from upstairs from Sun or the twins' rooms.

It took me another entire minute to realize how close he had pulled me to him, his one arm on my back and the other on my mouth. I guess I need to thank myself for turning off the lights earlier cause my face would have been beet red by now.

I pushed him away in mock-anger as I whispered, "What the hell are you doing here?"

He looked at little taken aback which turned to cocky in a matter of seconds.

"Can't I drop by to see a friend?"

"At 2 PM!?" I retorted.

"So it's ok to text at 2AM?" he glared.

I gave him the best glare to match his but ended up sighing within seconds, cause I was just too tired to argue with him right now. Not to mention, how happy I was at seeing him after nearly two weeks.

Also helped convince my heart that I was not hallucinating the last conversation I had with him in this house.

Kanata Saionji

What are you doing here?

How I wish you were my Kanata.

I tried to hide away all my happiness by giving him a calculating look and asked, "So… why are you here, really?"

He smirked and crossing his arms across his torso and leaning forward said, "Say it, Towel-girl…"

I leaned back and with a frown asked, completely confused, "say what?"

In my 17 years, I had no idea that one person could have such an impact on your thoughts but at that moment, I knew that such a thing did exist as I stared into his auburn orbs, practically losing my mind, itching to touch him to make sure he is indeed real and not a figment of my imagination and also desperately wanting to hug him… well, that is just cause he is so cute!

"I know you missed me," he said, taking a step towards me with his cocky smile in place, "now just say it…"

This guy is just too cute.

He came all the way here just to hear me say that I missed him, which I did not voice out in any of my texts to him that night.

"What if I didn't?" I asked, trying to be cocky too.

He smirked and took another step towards me, literally pinning me against the wall.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

I breathed in, trying to gain my thoughts.

Ok, this does not look good. Very high chances of his adorable fellow giving me a … er… a kiss… at least the position seems to go for it. He was really near and I didn't need lights to see him move even closer.

The scariest part of this situation was that I really… I mean really… want him to kiss me.

But…

I placed my hands on his chest and ever so lightly pushing him away asked in barely a whisper, "Is this how friends are these days?"

The second I said it, I wish I had chosen different words to push him away.

He practically jumped away from me and the two of us were silent for a very long time. All my tiredness gone, my heart was beating hard against my chest and I just wished he would leave before I changed my mind.

"Hey, you changed the doorknob…" he sniggered suddenly, "God… that was one helluva night eh?"

I smiled.

Why do I even try?

"Shoot… look at the time!" he said and reaching for the window added with a smirk, his face brightly visible even in the darkness that was engulfing the room, "See you at School, towel-girl…"

He had climbed half-way through the window when my heart finally gave in and I practically yelled, "I missed you!"

Kanata turned to face me in slow motion, his face blank for a few seconds before breaking into another smirk as he said, "Knew it!"

I glared at him and my drama-queen mind kicking in, was about to ask him if everything was like a game to him.

But I hadn't opened my mouth before he leaned in and landed a soft peck on my cheeks and said, "This is how my friendship is with you… and only you…"

After he had left, I took me an entire hour to finally convince my brain to go to bed.

And I'm pretty damn sure that I had spent the entire night dreaming about the horrible and terrible brunet friend of mine, who had every means possible to make me go mad.

Mad…

Mad enough to call this "friendship"

Crazy would be a better word.

Because that was how I was at that moment.

Crazy about my friend.

Crazy about Kanata Saionji.

Forgive me this one time, as this could very well not happen.

Crazy about my Kanata.

To be continued

A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry that the chapter seems quite a bit short- I just wanted to get something out before I forget the entire story. It's been almost 2 years and yet it feels like it's been just yesterday since I last updated.

Hope you guys will keep supporting the story till the end