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"Yes."
"No."
With that adorably confused and innocent look on his face, in total contrast to his massive build, Andre Camel looked alternately at his two colleagues.
"Ehh?" he muttered, scratching his cheek. "Akai-san? Jodie-san?"
The two agents glanced at each other, big blue eyes rolling and deep green ones narrowing.
After a few heartbeats of silence, Jodie, as always, was the one who spoke first. "I'm sorry?"
"I said no. And I mean no," Shuichi answered.
Jodie crossed her arms. "And I said yes."
"Hmm," he huffed. "I heard."
"Shu."
"Jodie."
The blonde woman turned forty-five degrees to the right. "What are you trying to say?"
The black-haired man eyed her sideways. "Why are you assuming I'm trying to say something?"
Camel scratched his head exasperatedly, as if thick flakes of dandruff were inhabiting his scalp.
"Stoppp! You two." His voice echoed loudly through the vast Kudo mansion library.
Both pairs of eyes turned to Camel, who looked embarrassed with his reddened cheeks.
"Oh. Wait. No." He shook his head, raising both hands in a placating gesture. "I wasn't shouting. My voice just tends to come out high-pitched sometimes. So... let me ask again." He cleared his throat and straightened his broad shoulders. "Should I go out on a date?"
"Yes. You absolutely, unquestionably should," Jodie answered half a millisecond after Camel finished speaking.
"No. You should definitely, thoroughly think about it first," Shuichi followed faster than the speed of light.
A pair of sky-blue eyes pinned him again like twin lasers.
"You're contradicting me, aren't you?"
"I'm allowed to, aren't I?"
Jodie pressed her palms on the table. Camel's untouched coffee rippled.
"Our friend here is asking us for help. And we can't give him that if we don't agree. He said he's really deeply hurt when his girlfriend dumped him. And now there is this girl..." She turned to the problematic agent to confirm something. "Hana, right?"
Camel nodded, his eyes lighting up with an unmistakable twinkle of hope. "You remember her name, Jodie-san?"
"Of course. Simple and sweet. Gives a warm spring vibes. So..." Jodie continued. "Hana. An angel sent from above who helped bring back his smile. What else should he do other than go on a date with her and take a shot at a potentially happy relationship?"
Shuichi mimicked her actions, pressing his palms on the table with more force. Camel's still untouched coffee sloshed over the rim and spilled.
"He said the break-up still has an impact on him. He admits he still has feelings for..." He turned to Camel with one eyebrow raised. "Maria Rosalinda Cataleya Peony, right?"
Camel nodded with teary eyes, as if hearing his ex-girlfriend's name reopened an old wound.
Jodie tilted her head. "I didn't know you have a talent for remembering names that take four business days to pronounce."
Shuichi smirked. "Camel used to speak about her far too often, referring to her full name every single time. And besides, the name gives off poetry vibes, like someone capable of leaving permanent patterns on the heart. So... as I was saying..."
He cleared his throat. "If he goes out on a date while still emotionally attached to the past, he'll just be using the poor girl and turning her into a rebound. I know Camel. I don't think he would want that. If he wants to enter a new relationship, he must make sure he can give himself fully."
He turned to Camel, whose eyes turned into dots.
"Get a new girlfriend because you love her, not because you want to forget."
"No, no, no," Jodie said, clicking her tongue and gesturing with her pointer finger like she used to when lecturing. "He shouldn't let himself be trapped in loneliness forever. No matter how devastated he has been, even if the wounds haven't healed completely yet, love after pain is still worth pursuing."
Camel nodded, looking hopeful and noticeably less bewildered now.
"Everyone deserves to be happy, right? And what if Hana is the one?"
"What if she's not?" Shuichi asked quickly, making their colleague halt midway through shaking hands with Jodie. "Someone who gives you butterflies in your stomach doesn't automatically embody your destiny. Have you ever thought about the possibility that what you feel might be just an infatuation? If that is the case, unclear feelings can mislead you."
Camel thought for a moment too long, blinking.
"What if my past, Maria Rosalinda Cataleya Peony, is really my future?"
"What if she's not?" Jodie asked just as quickly, making Camel's lips freeze from smiling agreeingly with Shuichi. "Camel, I hate to say this, but she left you. She. Left. You. Don't reduce yourself to a pathetic ex-boyfriend desperately hoping for a second chance that might never come. You've been in the dark too long, and someone came in, carrying a lamp and offering to guide you out."
"He said he still loves the girl from the past," Shuichi insisted. "If he enters a new relationship, he'll just be hurting everyone involved. Including the ex who could still be harboring feelings for him too. Camel said she hasn't been with someone for years after they separated. Who knows? She might be spending every single day of her life regretting what she did. She could also be waiting for Camel to ask her out again."
Jodie's jaw tensed, a light chill running down her spine.
"If she still loves Camel, then why wait for him to come back? Why can't she just reach out to him first? To say what she truly feels?"
His gaze didn't waver. "She might be waiting for the right time."
Jodie scoffed. "Right time my... your ass."
Shuichi's muscles stiffened just slightly, his eyelids closing for a second involuntarily.
"I believe, Your Honor, that she has her reasons. Maybe until now, she hasn't forgiven herself for hurting Camel. She knew how much Camel loved her. And what did she do? She left him. She may have had her own reasons, but still, she left him. That's not something you can forgive yourself for that easily, especially if the person you hurt meant a lot to you."
"If she left Camel once, she can do that again," Jodie answered, her voice turning suspiciously quieter, as if she feared her own words. But then she squared her shoulders and tilted her chin up.
"So why risk another heartbreak? He may still have feelings for his ex, but he has managed to survive. He has picked up the pieces and rebuilt himself again. So why come back to the one who once destroyed you? The one who once gave you a reason to live and, at the same time, gave you a reason not to? He should let himself find happiness."
Shuichi fixed his gaze on her. "How can you give advice you can't follow yourself?"
Jodie raised her eyebrows so high they almost met her hairline. "Excuse me?"
"You're pushing Camel to go out on a date and give a new love life a shot, but you never did that yourself. You think I didn't know how many men tried their luck?"
Shuichi took a deep breath, as if he were preparing himself to present a long list of evidence all at once.
Maybe he was.
"Adam, Roberto, and Lee from the violent crimes department; Jackson, Johnson, and Jayson, the triplet sons of your apartment building owner in Manhattan; Abdul, the Arab gas station owner who gifted you a new car that you refused; Chen, the Asian restaurant owner who offered you a diamond ring and a lifetime discount on all menu items; Spencer, the bodybuilder who wore sleeveless shirts during winter so he could parade his biceps; even your widowed neighbor, fifty years your senior, Mr. Sparks, who boasted about his retirement benefits."
Jodie stared at him. "You missed the dentist with a gold dental implant."
Shuichi nodded. "Ah. Doctor Quack, who once extracted a patient's tooth while drunk."
"He pulled the right tooth."
"After pulling the wrong one."
"It was a wisdom tooth."
"The patient was traumatized."
"He compensated the patient with a trip to Disneyland. He was a nice guy, Shu."
"And still, Jodie, you didn't date him."
Camel looked utterly confused, more than he had ever been in his entire life.
"Wait. Wait," he called out, his whole face wrinkling. "What is going on here? Why do I feel like you two rehearsed this conversation some years ago?"
"No. This wasn't rehearsed. I speak from the heart," came her reply, firm and clear.
"Let me remind you again that you don't follow your dating advice yourself. That doesn't sound like it's coming from the heart," was his answer, confident and smug.
Jodie pressed her lips tightly and exhaled through her nose, locking eyes with him. "Camel said the new girl brought back color to his life. That is enough reason to leave his past behind and move forward."
"Which..." Shuichi gripped the edge of the table. "Is probably not the best thing to do."
Jodie leaned over the table, inching her face closer to his. "And which is? Go back to the person who shattered him into pieces?"
He inhaled deeply and remained silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Jodie. You're not answering me."
"You're not asking anything."
"I am now," he said, holding her gaze steadily. "Why did you never go out with anyone?"
Jodie's lips parted, but she remained silent as his question caught her off guard.
"You're interrogating me." It wasn't a question.
"You're not answering me." Not a question either.
She turned to Camel who seemed to have become interested in his spilled coffee.
"Camel," she called.
Camel looked up. "Yes?"
She leaned toward him. "I still stand firm with my advice to you. Forget that Maria... something. Date Hana. Move on. Be happy."
With that, Jodie grabbed her purse and jacket and walked out, leaving her two colleagues who both didn't dare stop her from leaving.
Shuichi sat down, his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest.
"Akai-san..." Camel called softly, almost as if he were afraid to break the silence that hovered after Jodie's footsteps faded. "You and Jodie-san... you two are...?"
Green eyes snapped open. "Exes."
"Whoa. Wait. Is this... for real?"
"Seriously, Camel, didn't you know?"
Camel shook his head. "James-san once told me you were not just a mere colleague to her. I thought... you were best friends."
"Best friends?" Shuichi asked incredulously despite himself. "Did we look like it?"
"Well... yes." He nodded. "No one else can scold you for not getting enough sleep and for smoking too many cigarettes the way she does. You trust no one in the team the way you trust her, except for driving. And... only you can call her Jodie and only she can call you Shu."
Camel cleared his throat and swallowed. "So you're Jodie-san's ex-boyfriend half the bureau was gossiping about."
Shuichi narrowed his eyes. "And what do they say?"
"That you left her. And she never moved on from you."
Shuichi remained expressionless, despite his jaw tightening almost imperceptively. His eyes lingered on the empty chair Jodie had occupied a few minutes ago and on the cup of coffee with a faint residue of her lipstick on the rim.
Camel sighed. "So... you are exes. But you two seemed comfortable with each other. As I've said, I thought you were best friends. But then... I witnessed how you argued just now. I guess people are right when they say exes can't be friends."
"Maybe. If you haven't emotionally let go of what happened." Shuichi stood up and headed for the door. "And I'm not sure we have."