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“What would the young couple like to order?” Kumon heard the waitress behind him, speaking to the table next to them. He rubbed his palms on his jeans in an attempt to keep them dry and calm himself down.
Looking at Ami still made his stomach dance. They had been dating for a bit over a month, and he still wondered if he would ever get used to her. Despite what people around them had said – jumping into a relationship in the awkward time between Christmas and Valentine’s Day apparently was a sure recipe for disaster – he knew his excitement and nerves were all for good reasons.
Ami shuffled her feet under the table, cozy in her military-style boots. She looked around to try and have an idea of what she could order when the staff came to their table, but all she could see were the chic and elegant shirts, sweaters, skirts and dresses that all the girls were wearing. She felt anger bubbling inside of her.
“Um… Ami-san?” Kumon nervously bit his dried lips. When she looked at him, he smiled timidly. “I didn’t have the opportunity to say it earlier but… you look really cool today.”
She arched a thick eyebrow. Uh, wrong compliment? Thought Kumon.
“I mean, you look really pretty. And not just today!” He looked straight down at the table.
“Thanks.” Ami looked at his flushed cheeks. Well, I look more cool than pretty, don’t I? I always go for that look. She suddenly felt the long black hoodie she was wearing was too big on her, too much. “You also look very cool, by the way. Manly.” She frowned a little. It had been a bit of a shock seeing him with casual clothes instead of his usual sporty gear. And Ami could only steal a few glances at Kumon’s forehead. The way his hair was pulled back… and he was even wearing different earrings?! She focused on the posters on the walls.
“Hehe,” Kumon felt some of the tension go away with that laugh. They were dating after all. She liked him enough to date him.
“What would the young cou-” Both of them looked at the waitress who had just approached them. Ami saw her do a double-take. “What would you like to order?”
There it was. Ami felt her breath drop with her gaze.
“Um, we don’t have any menus, could you please bring us some?” Kumon smiled cheerfully at the staff. Ami turned her body to face him when she heard the waitress leave.
He saw her gesture, more indifferent than usual, and felt panic rising.
“Ami-san?” Kumon wanted to reach for Ami’s hands, but she had them under the table. Not that they were at a stage in their relationship where they held hands at all, but Kumon felt he had to reassure her for some reason.
“Are you hungry?” She looked up at him through thick lashes, and for the first time, he realized she wasn’t wearing the same make-up she sometimes did. She did that… for me? He wiggled a bit in his seat. Those black wings really suited her intense gaze.
“I… like what you did. Your eyes. They look really cool.” His cheeks were flushed again, and for the first time that day, her lips moved to form a small smile.
“Thank you,” she hesitated a little, but the anger still inside her pushed her to finish the sentence. “Kumon-san.”
She felt his smile before she could see it. The whole energy around them seemed to shift, and the shit-eating grin he was beaming at her made her laugh a little. God, he was silly, and she loved that about him.
When the waitress brought their menus – for a solid minute there Ami was convinced she had conveniently forgotten about them – Kumon suggested they order a Valentine’s special.
When Ami looked over the items, all she could see was “for couples only” and a myriad of hearts.
“Is it…not good? We can order something else.” Kumon observed her carefully.
Ami looked at him. He was making such an effort. She needed to grow up a little. She was older than him after all.
“No, it’s okay. I’m actually… a bit excited to try one of the Valentine’s special.” Ami swung her legs under the table while looking at the pictures. “And to share it with you.”
Kumon felt his heart throbbing. Ami-san is so cute, but her levels today are over the roof, he thought to himself while he bit on his lips, trying to hide another grin.
“Are you two ready to order?” The waitress approached them again. Ami noticed she seemed to stand closer to Kumon, but tried concentrating on the menu instead.
“Yes. Ami-san, please order the one you like.”
“This one, please.” She pointed to the most embarrassing picture she had ever seen of a dessert, a parfait of cream, strawberries, biscuit, chocolate chips and what was more, a pompous two-people straw that twisted into a heart.
“Oh, that is an item for couples. It’s for sharing.”
“Yes, we’re going to share it. Could you please bring two spoons, too?” Kumon interceded before Ami had time to feel the bubbling anger burst again.
“Oh. Yes, I’m on it.” The waitress took their menus and Ami looked at her lap again. So she hadn’t been mistaken after all.
“I can’t believe… this is our first Valentine’s Day together.” Kumon casually said.
“Well, yeah… I guess it came pretty fast because we started dating last month.”
“January 3rd. You know what comes next?” Kumon leaned on the table and Ami saw his earrings twinkling. “100 days together.”
Ami felt a rush of excitement flow through her body. He was thinking that ahead?
“Some people celebrate months together.” She quickly averted her eyes, trying to sound nonchalant in that slight veer of the conversation.
“Months?”
“Yes, like the first month of dating, and so on.”
Kumon felt a pang in his chest. The… first month? Why had he never thought of that? Why had he never heard of that before?
“But we… we… now it’s…” Kumon wanted to leave right then and there. He had already failed. He suddenly felt like the temperature of the room had changed drastically.
“We did exchange texts,” Ami reminded him. He remembered the loving stickers they sent each other, and the short messages full of emojis.
“But that doesn’t count as celebration…”
“It doesn’t? I thought it did. What are celebrations anyway?”
The waiter arrived with their parfait at that moment. Kumon couldn’t even find the energy to look at it. His hands felt tingly.
“Oh, it looks good!” Ami took one of the spoons and moved it to her side. When she looked at Kumon, she almost jumped in her seat. He looked so down, not ready to dig in a delicious dessert at all.
Oh. I’ve done that. Before she had time to think about what to do next, Kumon spoke.
“Ami-san, please, can we celebrate our two months together next?” He looked up at her, and she saw a conviction in his eyes he had barely shown her. The intensity made her a bit dizzy.
“Yes?”
“I’d like to properly convey to you how much I value and treasure every day together in our relationship.” It felt like his golden eyes were on fire, and it was making her skin burn.
Ami grabbed a lock of her long dark purple hair and lightly tugged it to distract herself.
“I also… really enjoy being together.” The words barely left her mouth, but Kumon heard them loud and clear. He felt his determination soften, and when he noticed her face had changed slightly, he almost gasped. Is she… is that the face Ami-san makes when… she’s feeling shy?
“Let’s dig in, Ami-san!” Kumon took the remaining spoon from the centre of the table. For some reason, the thought that she could feel shy around him… was making him even shyer.
Time quickly flew by as they were casually talking about their lives, sharing anecdotes and enjoying the sweet taste of young love, accompanied by their dessert.
“So the straw was just for decoration after all.” She said toying with it when they had finished.
“Maybe we can keep it.” Kumon watched how her hair was beginning to spill onto the table and he felt the urge to touch it, to pull it back for her, but he didn’t dare to do anything.
“As a keepsake?”
“I meant to use it some other time since we didn’t get to try it here.” Kumon reached for the straw too, in during a few seconds both of them were holding an extreme each. “You could come to the dorms, and we could prepare juice or something and try drinking using this!” His words made Ami oddly embarrassed, and she let go of the plastic tube. Kumon was quick to notice her change and tried to change the topic. “Um, do you… need to use the toilet, Ami-san?” Kumon tried his best not to be awkward about it, not when he had a plan and he needed her to go.
She looked at him surprised at first, and then almost felt like laughing. He was so considerate of her, she wasn’t used to that at all. People always thought she didn’t need that, and she had begun believing it too. Kumon was showing her sides of herself she didn’t know she had.
“Yes, I’ll go check on my make-up. You can also go if you need to.”
“Your make-up looks perfect!” He rushed to say, and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from bursting into a smile. God, what was Kumon turning her into? “But yeah, see you in a bit.”
Ami took her leather jacket from the chair and went to the toilet. Once there, she carefully inspected her eyes on the mirror. Taking a bit of toilet paper, she managed to mend the areas that were a bit smudged. She also combed through her hair and readjusted the little ponytails at the top of her head. She was touching her bangs when two girls who looked like high school students entered the toilets. They were wearing pastel colours and their whole outfit screamed soft and cute. She couldn’t help but think that even if they were the same age, their similarities ended there.
“Did you see him or not? The guy with the earrings.”
“The guy who was paying at the entrance? Of course I did! He was so cute!!”
“And he was all alone, do you think he came by himself?”
“No way,” one of them claimed and quickly looked around the toilets, where Ami was the only person. “I thought his girlfriend maybe was in the toilet but maybe she was standing outside and we didn’t notice her?”
“Right! He looked so stylish, I’m sure his girlfriend is totally adorable.”
Ami clenched her jaw and tried to keep a poker face, but her eyebrows betrayed her. She quickly went to exit the toilet, but before the door closed she could hear them whispering:
“You don’t think that was his girlfriend, right?”
“What? No way!”
Ami was pretty sure they were talking about Kumon. When she went to the entrance of the café, he greeted her with a warm smile.
“I already missed you, hehe.”
Ami felt her stomach churning, like that wasn’t supposed to be happening, like she was doing something wrong, like keeping Kumon from being with a girl who fitted him more appropriately. She hated herself for being so weak and thinking that, but she also didn’t want to hurt Kumon. She knew there shouldn’t be anything wrong with two very different looking people dating, but she also knew the prejudice of others was far from nonexistent.
“Ami-san?”
“We’re splitting the bill, right?” She wasn’t looking at him. She couldn’t.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, I already paid.”
“You what?” That came out way harsher than she was intending, and the confused and anxious expression on his face slapped her. What are you doing, she told herself.
“…I wanted to treat you.” Kumon looked around and scrunched the receipt in his pocket. “Should I have not done that?”
There was no sound coming from her, and Kumon looked into her eyes. Those almond eyes that she was now casting upward, but not in irritation. He couldn’t believe there were tears pooling in her eyes.
“We’re leaving.” He said and took her hand without hesitation, leading her outside the café. He didn’t stop until they were at a nearby park, which luckily was barely crowded.
“Ami-san?” Kumon turned to her and let go of her hand, barely leaving any distance between them.
“Why do you like me?” She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to protect herself from a pain that was already inside of her.
The question caught him off-guard. They weren’t the type of couple to describe their feelings often.
“I, uh, I think you’re amazing.”
“It’s not true.” Her voice was strangled, and she fought against the urge to cry with everything she had.
“Yes, it is. You’re amazing. Everything about you is amazing.”
“You’re lying.”
Kumon closed his eyes for a second, trying to focus on remaining calm. She needed him to remain calm. She needed him right now.
“Ami, I’m being honest. You’re amazing, your personality, the way you can be bold but in a really cool and caring way. How you’re so you, the way you don’t follow trends, you don’t become influenced by what others say-
“That’s not true. I pretend others don’t influence me but-
“What happened?”
“I…” She sighed, giving in. Her bottom lip trembled, but she managed to breathe and calm herself enough to continue talking. “Today has just been a reminder that people believe we don’t belong together.”
Kumon took her hand in his again, and gently rubbed it between his palms. Her fingers were cold. Kumon could be many things, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew the way he saw the world and the people in it was not the way other people saw things. And he had felt the tension at the café, even if he had told himself it wasn’t that important. He regretted thinking that now.
“You once told me quite literally ‘screw what anyone thinks, they are not you’, and now I’m here to remind you.” He heard her sniffling when he stopped talking, and he realized she had her leather jacket unzipped. He let go of her hand momentarily to zip her up, and when he reached her collar, he gently placed one of his hands on her cheek. “I’ll always be here to remind you of all the great parts of you, and of how much I love you, Ami. No matter what anyone says, you’re perfect for me.”
Ami felt the knot on her throat dissolve. The soothing sensation of Kumon’s thumb running across her cheek reassured her enough to try to relax her brow.
“Kumon… I… don’t know what I did to deserve you.” Sometimes it still feels like a dream that we’re dating.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you either, but the point is, we both deserve each other and belong together, no matter what, okay?” He moved his head slightly, making a point of looking directly into her eyes.
Ami smiled, the need to cry finally leaving her.
“Kumon…” Ami closed the space between them and gently hugged him. Their first hug. She felt him tense up but soon enough he was hugging her back super tight. She took the chance to whisper in his ear, now that he couldn’t see her face. “Kiss me?”
Kumon jumped a step away from her.
“Eh? But I’m not ready and Ami-san has more experience and-”
“I thought we just dropped the honorifics.”
Kumon turned bright red remembering how he used her name earlier. She found it funny that was what he was finding embarrassing.
“And we belong together no matter what, remember?” Ami repeated his words and Kumon felt his strength wavering. He breathed deeply and looked at her, but what he found wasn’t a smirking girl or someone he needed to impress. He found Ami, softly looking at him with a blush he had never seen on her face.
We do belong together, he thought, and gently touched his lips to hers.