「いつもキミとの時間は、私の心はドキドキして止まらない。」
Whenever I'm with you, my heart can't help beating out of my chest.

BONUS: One of the OPENING QUOTES will be in the chapter. It is in bold and italic.

Chapter is dedicated to QuotalicousPrincess
Enjoy!~

Thanks for 4K guys :)))

***

"What do you mean that I'm on the week off!? Do you realize that those idiots are temporary and they rarely even visit once a year!?!? They should just go drown in the Pacific Ocean!"

"N-Now, now, Ms. Shiomi, I-"

"Mr. Yoshioka!"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Shiomi! You can have my night shifts! I work with Mr. Asahina during the night!"

"Alright, alright! Mr. Yoshioka, you better make sure that nobody messes with my patients!" I yelled then hung up.

Apparently, some foreign doctors who work part-time at our hospital came back after a year again. They rarely visit, but everybody in the hospital pays attention to them. Most people get the week off since those foreign doctors said that they don't need any assistance from us. Tch.

Masaomi then came back from the supermarket.

"Hey, Masaomi. When's your shift this week?" I asked.

"From 6-12 midnight. Why?"

"Those international doctors have stolen my shifts. Doctor Yoshioka gave me his night shifts." I said.

"Ah, we can have dinner together after we work then. Don't worry. My job's pretty easy. All you have to do for me is hand out candy for the kids. Haha. Doctor Yoshioka enjoys it a lot." He said.

"Oh.. I don't think they'll like me like how the like Doctor Yoshioka. Kids don't really like me." I said.

"Really? Then what about that Aki kid?" He asked.

"She's an exception since we understand each other." I said.

I shivered from the cold outside.

"Here." Masaomi said as he draped his jacket around me.

"You must've been here since early this morning. Answering a billion calls as if you were a call center agent." He said.

"Uh, yeah. Hehe. Thanks." I said.

His jacket smells like strawberries. It smelled so sweet I could drown in it.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" He asked.

"Well, no." I admitted.

"Then let's eat together. I bought some pastries at a nearby cafe. Come on." He said as he walked to the entrance and held out the door for me.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll pay you back later when I get my regular physician pay." I said.

"No need. If it's for you, it's alright. I'm not that kind of cheap person." He said as he followed me inside.

"Okay. I'll do my best later at work then." I said with a smile.

***

After having breakfast, which was probably brunch since we ate at 9:30, we just talked and bonded about work and life.

"You know, Haruna, ever since you started living here, you changed." Masaomi said.

"I've changed? How exactly?" I asked.

"Well, we don't really have the time to talk like this anymore. Our schedules don't really match now so we don't see each other at work either. I feel like there's a gap between us now." He said.

"What? A gap? Masaomi, you were the only person I knew when I entered this residence. You're closest to me than anyone in this house. Our relationship hasn't faded. Time just doesn't permit us to meet that much nowadays. You worry too much." I said with a laugh.

"Hehe, sorry.. I'm really glad that I can listen to your technical way of speaking again, but I feel like I'm hearing Japanese mixed with another language since you use such a wide and formal way of speaking." He said.

"I guess I do sound a little too technical hehe." I said as I scratched the back of my neck.

".. but that's one of the things I love about you." He said which suddenly made me blush.

"E-Excuse me?" I asked, shocked from what he said.

"A-Ah. It's nothing." He said with a flushed face.

"I-I'll go get us some water." He said as he stood up from the couch and headed to the kitchen.

If I were any more nosy, I'd assume that he has feelings for me, but it's impossible. I'm just like a little sister to him, plus he's ten years older than me. It would be impossible for him to like me.

After he came back and got us some water, we chatted a bit more before having lunch with Yuusuke, Ema, and Subaru. Subaru's last period teacher was absent while Ema's and Yuusuke's last period was a free one, so the three of them went home afterwards.

Masaomi said that he had an errand to run and he'd be back by 4 to pick me up. I decided to help Subaru with his physics homework.

"You just have to remember the simple formula, V=IR. That will help you soove the missing values for each bulb." I explained.

"But why don't I use this value for the fifth bulb? It's already a given value, right?" He asked.

"Well, no. You have to solve for it since the- oh!" I accidentally pushed the eraser off his table as I was explaining.

I crouched down to grab it, but then his hand touched mine in attempt to grab it too. We both jolted and removed our hands. After a few seconds, I grabbed it then placed it on his table.

"Sorry.." he said.

"I-It's alright, so where were we?"

***

After helping Subaru with his homework, I guided Yuusuke and Ema in making dinner, then left with Masaomi.

"Here's a snack. You'll need the energy to work." I said as I handed him a fruit bar as I got into the passenger seat of his car.

"Thanks. Did you get bored while I was out?" He asked as he started driving then opened the fruit bar.

"Nope. It was pretty fun helping those hardworking students." I said.

"That's good." He remarked.

In a few minutes, we arrived at the hospital and I started following him around as he visited each of his patients. Thankfully, the children liked me better than I imagined.

"Alright. All I have to do is pack up and we can leave." Masaomi said as we entered his office.

"Okay. There's no rush, take your time." I said as I grabbed my bag and fixed it.

***

We then went to an okonomiyaki bar after packing up. There wasn't much people there so it was easy to talk normally without whispering.

We ordered a few plates of okonomiyaki and a few cans of beer.

"Ah, it sure hits the spot." Masaomi said as he drank some beer.

"Hey, since I don't trust you after we eat dinner, I'm driving home." I said.

"Alright. I can't argue with that." He said as he drank another shot of beer.

"But if you fall asleep, you better sober up or you're staying here for the night." I said then we both laughed.

"I don't recall us having a proper drink and meal like this since a couple of months ago." He said.

"Well, all we did do before was drink and chat. We never got the chance to talk about serious matters or personal life, but I feel like we connected somehow as we told each other about how our day was." I said.

"Yeah, those were good times.." he said.

We stayed silent for a while as a few more customers entered and a few exited as well.

"Haruna?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what I said this morning?" He asked.

"You talked about a lot of things this morning." I said with a laugh.

".. I said that your technical way of speaking was one of the things I loved about you.." he said which made me fall silent.

"I wasn't lying when I said that. I love the way you talk, the way you help others, the way you comfort them, the way you always want to be of help to everyone. I'm amazed that you have such patience, skill, and effort to do your job even though most people would've given up in your case... even though when there were times that you were extremely stressed and low on funds, you still continued to persevere." He said.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to feel, hearing his feelings. I always though of him as a close friend and co-worker. Nothing more, nothing less.

"You know, even though you were going through all your hardships, you still made time to help me and comfort me whenever I'd started to give up and give in to stress. You're the reason why I'm still smiling everyday.." he said.

Oh gosh. I sure hope this isn't real. He's probably drunk,.. right?

".. I guess I couldn't hold these feelings in.. I love you, Haruna. I can't deny that. I fell in love with you, not because if what you've done for me, but because I want to do everything I can for you.. I never want to see you sad, I never want to see you stressed, I never want to see you cry." He said.

I was entirely speechless from that point on, but kept listening.

"I'd do anything for you to be happy, Haruna.." he said as he held my hand that I placed on the table.

"For you, I'll give up everything... even family."

From that night on, I knew that there would be something different between me and the Asahina Family.

SCORES:
HIKARU - 2
UKYO - 1
YUUSUKE - 1
SUBARU - 2
IORI - 2
LOUIS - 2
MASAOMI - 2

Published: June 16, 2017; 1:01 pm