"Good morning."
I greeted Miho as soon as I woke up. I didn’t bother to check the ti but the shade of the sun shining through the window told it was late morning, close to noon. My lover laid next to but turned away facing the other side. I ran my hand along the curve of her bare back. I knew she was awake but too shy to speak. I smiled and slid off the bed, deciding to let my sweet lady bask in embarrassnt on her own.
I put on my clothes and opened the minibar in this little motel room we stayed. There was a bottle of water and two cans of barley tea left. I took the tea out and walked back to bed, and placed the cold aluminum on the back of Miho’s neck.
"Kyaaaaa!"
She squealed and curled up her body. Adorable.
"Better drink sothing. You will get dehydrated."
We certainly needed it after last night.
"Gees, thanks."
Miho turned to face finally and grabbed the can I was holding out, but then our eyes t. She blushed instantly and pulled the blanket over her face.
I squird my way in and hugged her from behind under the cotton sheet. Our naked bodies pressed against each other and she shuddered again.
I was tempted to attack her one more ti but decided to exercise a little bit of moderation. We would be waking up like this every morning from now on. There was no rush.
We laid like that together for another twenty minutes or so, spooning. This morning after was better than the day before yesterday’s morning after.
When her stomach rumbled though, I knew it was ti for us to get up.
"What would you like to eat?" I asked my tigress.
"I’m so hungry I could eat anything," she replied.
"Hm, let check if there are any good places around here."
I reached out for my phone on the bedside table. The digits on my screen told it was 12:28.
But my mood took a dive as I opened the Green Portal App to search for so restaurants nearby.
"89 Dead In A Police Raid of Gang’s Headquarters"
A jolt of shock ran from my heart to the tip of my fingers. I dropped the phone onto the bed.
"Are you alright?" Miho asked, concerned.
"I... I’m fine."
This shouldn’t matter to anymore, right?
We had already put that night behind us.
But in truth, it was only two nights ago. I did not check the news at all yesterday so it was my first ti encountering it in the dia. I was tempted to pick up the phone again to click on the news and read more details, but that felt like scratching a wound that would only lead to further pain.
"Well, let check for you then."
"No, don’t-"
It was too late.
Miho already had my phone and she saw the headline too.
"89... that’s quite a lot, huh?"
She mused but there wasn’t any usual sense of amusent in her voice. If anything, there was a hint of remorse in the air of the last vowel.
Was I imagining things?
"It’s OK, Miho."
I turned to face her again but now she was frowning.
"Are you alright?" Now was my turn to ask.
"I guess." She answered unconvincingly.
I wasn’t quite sure what to say, or whether she needed any comfort, and if she did, whether it offering it would have made feel any better or worse.
Miho was kinda downbeat now and that made my heart sink.
Without any words, I stroked her hair and then her cheek. She let out a long sigh and then a deep breath in.
"Well, let’s just go out and eat at the first restaurant we find then!"
She jumped up from the bed cheerfully, realized that she was completely naked, and hurriedly wrapped herself in the blanket.
Cute.
I resisted the urge to tease her so more.
There will be plenty of ti to do that in the future, and plenty more mornings to co.
We got dressed in silence, Miho in her jeans and in my skirt.
Once we were out we walked in no particular direction, just hoping that we’d find so - any - place where the hungry tigress can fill up her stomach. It wasn’t exactly a village, but a small seaside town. I imagined our lives together in a place like this, but if we went sowhere more remote and smaller maybe that would be better. There will be fewer places to dine out but that was fine by . I won’t mind cooking for my girl till the end of our days.
Finally, we found a small local restaurant that served simple soup, rice, and a lot of side dishes. I ordered a Spicy Seafood Tofu Soup, and Miho ordered a grilled mackerel.
"Anywhere you want to go today, Sohee?" Miho asked. Sowhat less embarrassed now and back to her aloof self.
"Anywhere’s fine by ." I ant it.
"Mm-hm. Mm-hm."
I smiled because I could see that she had a place in her mind, but was hesitant about saying it out loud. I’ll let her think about it. All in good ti.
The food ca out and predictably, Miho wasn’t particularly good with taking the bone out of the grilled fish. It was funny how she was so skilled with knives and had such good dexterity but was so charmingly clumsy with food like this.
Now fully deboned, the perfect fillet of mackerel was all hers to attack.
"Thank you."
"You are welco."
We ate in silence. In so ways, because we felt no need to talk except to exchange smiles between the bites and spoonfuls of rice - in so ways because Miho was so starving she was frantically shoving the food into her mouth.
"So, tell . Where do you want to go? You have a place in your mind. I can tell." I asked her finally.
"Er... erm... I don’t know if it’d be OK with you, but..."
"It’s fine, Miho. Anywhere is OK for ."
"Could we go see Juho?" She asked nervously.
I kind of expected this.
Now that she was (I think) ’fully’ back, it was just a matter of ti before she would have liked to see his dear brother.
"Sure, why not?"
"The old man took you there before, right?"
"Yeah."
"What did he say?"
"He couldn’t believe you could make a friend."
"Pfft, he knows too well."
"But he believed in the end - that I was your friend."
"That must have taken so convincing."
"So this ti are you going to introduce to him as your girlfriend?" I couldn’t resist.
"Eh... er... ah..."
I said nothing and just looked into her wavering eyes that told she really wanted to, but couldn’t imagine telling her brother about this little new secret yet.
"May... maybe next ti."
"I see." I grinned and took a sip of the cold barley tea.
"Are... you... erm... offended?"
"Nope."
"It’s not like I don’t want to-, it’s just... erm-, yeah, I’m just a little - shy. That’s it."
"Mm-hm."
"No, no. I an it! I will tell him soday. For sure. But just maybe... maybe not today."
"Mm-hm"
"Are you... mad?"
"Nope."
"Now you are making nervous."
"Don’t be."
Then she started to get all fidgety, keep poking the grain of rice that she dropped on the table with the tip of a chopstick.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
"What’s so funny?" Now she was confused.
"You just remind of my Dad."
"Eh?"
"Whenever Mom just gives him a series of short answers he gets all nervous thinking she’s angry at him or sothing."
"I’d think the sa way, to be honest..."
"Well, it’s just that my Mom is not much of a talker."
"Is she really strict?"
"Not really."
Then Miho suddenly lightened up and a little smirk appeared at the corner of her lips.
"Are you going to introduce to them as your girlfriend?"
"Pfft!" I almost spat out my tea.
"Eh? You are ashad of ?"
"No-, it’s not like that!"
Then there was a short pause and we both burst out laughing.
That was right.
Maybe it would be nice if we could let our loved ones know who we were.
Maybe that day would co sooner than we might expect.
But even if that never happens, I don’t think I’d really mind.
Just another secret to keep, just one more thing that only belongs to us.
Looking at her laughing heartily with her mouth open wide and her hair swaying as her shoulders danced, all I could think was that this was more than good enough.
After we left the restaurant, we walked back to the motel to get our bike. She sat on the saddle of the wild horse first and handed a helt over to . I took my place behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist.
She was my sweet lady at night, a child over the dinner table, and a knight during the day.
She was my everything.
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