Chapter 15 Second-Chance Romance
Second-Chance Romance
I wash the powdery rice flour off my hands before changing into my jammies and brushing my teeth. I lay out my futon and flop down on it without reaching for my phone. I’d rather end my day on a high note than check my messages only to see I have no new notifications from Yua.
With Boba under my arm, I’m about to drift off to sleep when my phone vibrates. I scoop it up, thinking it’s a message from Whitney or Archi. But when I see that Yua’s calling me, I’m one thousand percent awake.
I swipe to answer, then press the phone to my ear. “Yua?”
“Hey, Lilyn.” There’s a weak smile in her voice like she’s happy I answered. Even then, I can practically see the tightness around her lips. When I give her a moment to fill in the silence, Yua says nothing.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“I’m at Mag’s Park. It’s this cool balcony that overlooks Shibuya Scramble Crossing,” Yua answers. “It’s pretty touristy, so it made me think of you.”
There’s so much I want to say, but my tongue is broken.
Why would she rather think of me than be with me?
Why did she wait all day and finally call me now?
How could she let my messages sit in her phone and treat them like she hasn’t read them?
And yet, I manage to say something else. “What are you doing there?”
“I just finished assisting my mentor with his last client.” Yua’s voice is heavy. “After Mum and I…you know…um, I came out to Studio Pink. But now the shop is closed, and I’m not ready to go home yet.”
Something swims around in my stomach, but I know it’s not the mochi.
I want to help her, but I don’t have a home to offer.
I want to hold her, but I also want to push her away.
I want to hang up and go to sleep, but my thumb isn’t moving.
I don’t know what this feeling is, which is probably why I say nothing.
Yua clears her throat when I have no response. “Here. Let me show you what I’m looking at.”
I can’t find my voice to object. Nor do I want to, because even though I’m supposed to be mad at Yua, I can’t deny my curiosity. What does Shibuya look like at night? And what would it have been like to be there in person?
Moments later, Yua has changed the call from voice to video.
I half expect to see her face, but instead she’s angling her phone over the bustling intersection.
Thick white stripes paint the black asphalt, marking the walkways between streets.
Taxis and buses cruise over them, operating like perfectly timed machines.
Across the street and high up on a building, a billboard flashes a perfume commercial.
But my focus is on the sidewalks. Hordes of people gather at the intersection, waiting for their signal to cross.
Then, all at once, the cars stop driving.
The last buses turn through the intersection.
And then the pedestrians take over. They spread across the intersection like the way wet ink blooms across paper.
Pedal bikes weave between people. Tourists snap pictures as they go, phone lights flashing at the intersection.
I even spot someone dressed up as Frieren—white hair, giant staff, and those could be pointed ears, but Yua’s too far away.
Before I can take a closer look, Yua flips the camera around.
“Pretty cool, huh?” she says, meeting my gaze. The knots in my stomach loosen. This is the moment I’ve been aching for, and yet I’m still angry. “Remind me to take you here sometime. It’ll be our second date.”
I prop myself up on a pillow and hug Boba, nibbling on his ear to keep from smiling. She doesn’t get to just move on like this.
“I don’t understand you.” The words blurt out of me. “We were supposed to tell your mom that we’re dating, but we never did. Now you want to take me out on a second date, as if nothing ever happened? But something did happen, Yua.”
This is the type of red flag behavior I warned Archi about when she first started dating Shiv.
Now it’s happening to me, and I have no one to blame but myself for hoping Yua was different—even now, as I give her a chance to respond.
But the silence only grows, and the signs multiply.
Yua glances away like she’s staring at something across the street.
I can’t keep waiting for her to say something, so I press on.
“I’ve been worried about you all day,” I say. “You haven’t even said anything about the fight with your mom. All I wanted to know was if you’re okay. If your relationship with your mom is okay. But you shut me out. Why?”
Finally, Yua looks into the camera again. “You wouldn’t understand, Lilyn.”
I comb my fingers through my hair to calm myself down. “But I want to. And you’re not even giving me a chance to show you how badly I want to.”
Doesn’t she see that something changed between us when we were on that boat in the middle of the water? When it was just me and her and nothing else in the world mattered? The fact that she could just throw me off to the side like that doesn’t make sense.
A divot forms on the side of Yua’s face, like she’s chewing on the inside of her cheek. She lets out a long sigh before finally saying, “You’re right. I’m sorry I brushed you off. You deserve a proper explanation.”
Her apology is like rain in my desert. It’s the one thing I’ve been waiting for. But now that it’s here, it’s like all Yua’s rain is sliding off the surface without sinking into the dirt.
“What did you and your mother fight about?” I ask.
Yua brings the phone closer to her face so she can lower her voice and still be heard.
“Everything. Before the fight, she made me promise I wouldn’t get any more tattoos.
But when she saw this…” The things I already know fall into place as Yua’s voice fades.
“On top of that, Mum has been suspicious of the people I hang out with. She thought I’d joined a gang, so I had to tell her the truth.
About my internship, and about the fact that I’m dating someone. ”
My breath hitches. “Did you say it was me?”
Yua shakes her head. “No. Don’t worry. She didn’t ask for details, and I didn’t supply them. But I’ve been thinking…Maybe we shouldn’t tell her about us? At least not right now. We might need all this tension to cool off first.”
I don’t want to agree, but it seems like the only option for us now. She needs to retreat from this battle with her mom, and I don’t want to get caught in the cross fire.
“Okay.” I sigh, shifting on my elbows. The conversation lulls, but I’m not ready to hang up yet. “What else did you talk about?”
Yua holds the phone out again. I can see the balcony she’s on more clearly. If there are people around her, I can’t see them in the darkness. Maybe she’s tucked herself in a corner.
Yua’s frown deepens before she speaks. “Mum’s disappointed in me, not only because I don’t plan on inheriting the shop, but because…I don’t plan on staying in Japan, either.”
I can’t stop my jaw from dropping. “What?”
“It’s always been something that I’ve dreamed about doing. I never really thought I’d have a life outside of Matsumoto Alturations,” Yua adds. “But I think an opportunity just fell in my lap.”
My elbows are stiff from holding myself up, but I can’t move. “What is it?”
Yua beams, teeth flashing. “My mentor has a brother who works in Los Angeles. If I can save up enough money by late summer, I’ll move to California and begin a new tattoo apprenticeship there.”
I don’t know what to think. This is good news, right?
She’ll be coming to America. I’m experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime moment by being here in Japan.
Of course Yua deserves to have hers, too.
But California is still on the opposite side of the country.
She’ll be closer, but hearing this reminds me of how, inevitably, we’ll be separated by the end of this summer.
“Wow,” I finally say, blinking fast because my eyes are itching. “Um. So…California.”
“California,” Yua echoes, nodding along to the syllables. “That’s why I’ve been working so hard this summer. That’s the real reason I’ve been taking on extra jobs. Mum sure isn’t paying me to run our family business.”
My heart does that thing again. It doesn’t skip a beat, but it’s almost like it’s remembering that sensation.
Because as I stare at this girl on my screen, I’m reminded of how remarkable she is.
How dedicated, artistic, talented, and hardworking she is.
On top of it all, she likes me. And I like her, too.
A lot. So I’ll do what it takes to help her reach her goal, even if it means saying goodbye to her sooner than I’d like to.
“I make decent money at my apprenticeship, though. And all the cash I’ve made at Cuppa Coffee is for…” Yua’s voice fades until she finds the right word. Her lips curl, telling me she’s finally settled on something she likes: “Pleasure.”
I’m biting the inside of my cheeks. There’s something about the way she says that word that makes me want to kick my feet up into the air. Ugh. I hate Yua for making my toes scrunch.
“Hey.” Her voice is low. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
I hide my smile behind Boba’s round head so Yua can’t see how toothy she’s making me. She needs to knock this foul behavior off before I call the cops on her.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Yua says. Either she’s unfazed by my reaction, or she’s well aware of what she’s doing and has no intention of stopping.
I clear my throat to keep from squeaking when I respond. “Probably redesigning my outlines so your mom—”
“Wrong answer,” Yua says, shaking her head. “I’ll give you a second chance. What are you doing tomorrow night?”
My brows pinch, even though she’s stolen a chuckle from me. “What do you mean? I don’t have any plans. Probably losing another round of mahjong to the Nakamuras.”
Yua’s still shaking her head. “Come on, Lilyn. You’re still getting this answer wrong and you’re admitting you suck at mahjong? Remind me to teach you my strategies another time. Right now, you need to tell me what you’re doing tomorrow night or else I guess I’m going to have to show you.”
I’m squeezing Boba in the crook of my arm. He’s seeing this too, right? Yua’s really cranking up the charm. So, I give her what she wants. “I suppose I’ll be giving you the honor of taking me out to Shibuya.”
Yua’s lashes lower before flicking back up to my face. “About time. I’ll see you tomorrow at seven, okay? And make sure you eat dinner but leave room for dessert.”
I want to ask her why she’s doing this—why she still wants to date me, even though our paths will eventually diverge. But when the balcony lighting illuminates Yua’s face, I can’t help but want to hold on to her for as long as I can.
I force a smile and push my worries aside. “I like where this is going.”
“And I like you.” Yua grins, white teeth surrounded by red lips. And then her smile wavers. “I really am sorry for not giving you a proper explanation sooner.”
I give her a reassuring smile. My desert is drenched, and cactus blossoms are blooming. “Thanks. You can show me how sorry you are on our next date.”
“I will.” Yua returns my expression. There’s even an ember burning behind her eyes like I’ve given her a challenge. “Good night, gorgeous. I’ll see you tomorrow.”