Hana Kimi Fan Fiction ❯ Misery Business ❯ Misery Business ( Chapter 1 )

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Once upon twelve years ago he would have said no immediately.

Any time in the past decade his answer would have been a quick negative.

Perhaps yesterday, if asked the same question or anything similar to it, Umeda Hokuto would have declined the offer.

But today... His lips, poised to give their customary response, paused. He had every good reason - and a few less than passable ones, too - to tell the man before him that he was not interested, and never would be. He had done so countless times previously, without a second thought, with no hesitation whatsoever.

What then, his brain asked, had stilled his words in this instance?

A flash of memory - a phone call, arguments made in volatile, hurt tones, and the sharp crack of the cell phone as it splintered in his clenched hand - and he knew. In the back of his mind he had known the reason for second guessing himself from the start.

The hopeful brown eyes searching his face for a reply in his features did not affect him. It was not the sweet, charming smile that one could mistake for innocent if one did not know better that stirred his resolve. His answer, bold and spoken with deliberate sureness, was inspired by one thing only, the tendrils of which he could feel sinking into his hardened heart. He knew that the moment the word left his lips everything would be different, and there would scarcely be any going back to the past.

"Yes," Hokuto purred, a smile coming to life on his face. "I'd love to go out with you, Akiha."

The photographer yelled in delight, encasing him in a rather unecessarily tight embrace. So the doctor had just set in motion a chain of events that might change his life forever. Ryoichi's image flooded his head, and he found with a twisted sense of satisfaction that he didn't care.