Kaoru's POV:

I was at my house having dinner with my family. Suddenly, someone knocked on our door. My mother went to see who it was.

"Ryu!" my mother exclaimed and I choked on my rice, "it's good to see you again! Come in!"

I drank some juice and watched as Ryu and mom entered the dining room.

"Ryu! Boy! What a joy to see you back! Come sit with us! There is enough food for you too!" my dad exclaimed.

"I'm sorry that I arrived without notifying again, Mr and Mrs Matsubara" he apologized.

"Don't worry! It's okay! Sit next to Kaoru! I'll serve you a plate!" my mom exclaimed.

Ryu sat next to me. I noticed something strange. He didn't seem to be the same as always even though he tried to hide it. When we finished dinner everyone in my family wanted to talk to him, but I was worried and he looked a little overwhelmed.

"Okay! That's enough!" I yelled at my family, "I will speak to Ryu alone for a moment if I may!"

I tugged on his arm until we reached the backyard.

"What's up? You seem a little-" I asked him, but he interrupted me with a hug, "whoa! Ryu, did you missed me already?! We saw each other this afternoon at school!"

I could feel Ryu hugging me tighter and squeezing my shirt. I listened to his abnormal and labored breathing. That really scared me.

"Ryu. What's wrong?" I asked him, trying to calm him down.

"Ju-just... h-hold me... please" he stuttered.

I was very surprised to hear him say that, but I still did as he asked. I hugged him as tightly as I could and stroked his hair until he calmed down. He pulled away from me slowly. He was crestfallen. It was a very sad image.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see me like this" he told me, "but I didn't think of doing anything else. I just needed you."

I could see a tear slide down his cheek.

"Ryu, I-" I tried to speak, but he interrupted me.

"Please, I don't want you to see me like this" he pleaded me.

I ignored his request and slowly brought my hand up to his face. I finally got him to look at me. His eyes were covered with tears, they were puffy and red.

"Ryu, it's okay for you to cry. I also do it from time to time" I tried to make him feel better.

At least he chuckled. He took my hand and made me caress his face. Then he kissed my hand tenderly. I hope my family isn't looking out the window at us.

"Will you tell me what happens?" I asked him.

"We finally face our parents" he answered me.

"Oh, oh!" I said.

"It didn't go too well. Now it turns out that mom has cancer. We couldn't even talk about adoption" he explained.

"Wait, what?! Your mother has cancer?! That's terrible, Ryu! I'm so sorry!" I was shocked.

"Yoshito knew this and said nothing to us. He's a damn traitor. I'm sick of everyone hiding things from me" he clenched his fists.

"And what do you plan to do?" I asked him.

"I don't know" he sighed, "to be honest, I don't want to go back to my house."

"You know you can't be mad at them forever, right?" I asked him, crossing my arms.

"I know. But I got into a fight with Yoshito. I said horrible things to my parents. I don't know what to do" he said in frustration and pulled his hair back.

I couldn't leave Ryu alone right now. Although he pretended to be very angry, I knew he was also very sad about the news from his mother. Many times he seems grumpy and insensitive, but in reality he cares a lot about his family, he just felt excluded and betrayed.

"Okay, then. I suppose I can't let you sleep on the street. I'm going to talk to my parents so you can spend the night here" I said and I threatened him, "but I warn you, it will only be for today! Tomorrow I want you to go back home and talk to your family in a civilized way! Is that understood?!"

"Yes, babe" he gulped, "but wait, I wanna go with you."

We both went to talk to my parents in private. We explained to them that Ryu had a very strong discussion with his parents and that he didn't feel comfortable enough to return home. My mother understood the situation while my father took it with some humor. To be honest that surprised me a lot, I wasn't sure if they would let him spend the night with us.

"Then it's decided! Ryu will spend the night here with us!" dad exclaimed, "Dai! Prepare your bed for our guest! You'll sleep with Shou tonight!"

"Oh, man!" Dai protested; he hates to sleep with Shou.

"Yay! Ryu's gonna stay with us! Play with me, Ryu!" Shou exclaimed, grabbing a soccer ball.

"Not so fast! It will only be for tonight, Shou" mom scolded him, "Also, first we have to call Ryu's parents and tell them that he'll be with us. We don't want to have problems, right, honey?"

"Oh-oh, ri-right! Of course!" dad replied.

"Okay, Mr and Mrs Matsubara. I don't want to get you in trouble with my parents" Ryu said.

Mom picked up the phone and dialed the Kurosawa's phone number. When they answered, mom passed the phone to dad.

"Hello?" Ryu's father answered the phone.

Mom had to elbow dad to get him to talk.

"Uh-uh, hey- hello! Is this Mr Kurosawa?!" he asked.

"Yes. Who's speaking?" Ryu's father asked.

"Hello, sir! This is Mr Mask!" my dad exclaimed.

"Dad!" I facepalmed.

"I-I mean- Mr Matsubara! I'm Kaoru's father!" dad explained.

"Who is Kaoru?" Ryu's father asked.

I glared at Ryu, who was really nervous.

"A friend of Ryu! Anyways, we were just calling to indicate that your child is with us!" my dad explained.

"Are you a friend of Ryu? I want to speak to him right away!" Ryu's father demanded.

"Um, he wants to speak with you" my dad told Ryu.

Ryu started shaking his head and hands. I don't blame him, his father sounded very upset.

"For the love of god! Give me the phone!" mom snatched the phone out of dad's hands, "hello, Mr Kurosawa. This is Mrs Matsubara speaking. Ryu is safe with us, but he's not feeling well right now and asked us for permission to spend the night in our house. Of course I decided to call you earlier to let you know. Is that okay?"

"Oh, I understand. Yes, of course. As long as he's okay" Ryu's father sounded gloomy.

"If you wish, I can provide you with our address so that you can come by him tomorrow" my mom told him.

After mom gave him our address, she hung up the phone. Everything was already resolved, for now. Ryu stayed up late with us playing video games and board games. It's been a long time since we've had so much fun. I bet Ryu was so distracted that he forgot about his problems. My parents were very happy, since Ryu was the first friend I brought home. Also mom always thought I didn't like boys. Finally, mom sent us all to sleep. Dai lent Ryu some clothes and went to bed next to Shou. Mom and I made sure Ryu was comfortable before we went to bed too.

"Good night, everyone!" mom exclaimed before closing her bedroom's door.

I yawned and turned to get more comfortable between the sheets. I was tired, but still worried about Ryu. I just wanted things to be resolved soon and everything to be back to normal. I wanted to be by his side at the time, but I couldn't. I soon fell asleep. Tomorrow would be a new day.

Ryu's POV:

I couldn't stop tossing and turning in bed. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened. I was sick of being lied. Also, my mother was very ill and that worried me. Of course I cared about her. Everything I told them was a lie. I still loved them. I sat up in bed and looked around. Kaoru's family was so warm and friendly, just like mine. They had barely seen me once and still they allowed me to spend the night with them. At least her family was honest with her. Everyone always said what they were thinking and told the truth. Kaoru has never shown me otherwise. I decided to get out of bed. I guess it was fine if only I went to the kitchen to have a glass of water.

"Hey" a voice took me by surprise.

"Ah! Mr-Mr Matsubara! I-I'm sorry! I-I just came to have a glass of water!" I told him.

"Chill out!" he laughed, "You can't sleep?"

"No" I sighed.

Mr Mask invited me to sit with him at the table.

"Look, son. Sometimes parents make mistakes, but we do everything for the sake of our children" he told me.

"But why lie to us? If in the end we will find out anyway" I asked him.

"To protect you. Sometimes the truth hurts more than a lie. Besides, it's very easy to hurt someone's feelings, especially when they're your children. We don't want to see them suffer or get mad at us. Sometimes young people don't understand and they think that we just want to scold or ruin their lives. Talk to them and see what their reasons were. I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt, don't you think?" he told me.

I kept thinking about what he said to me. Maybe he was right. I was carried away by my emotions at that moment and didn't want to listen. I said horrible things to them.

"Good talk, son!" he exclaimed before leaving.

"Wait!" I stood up too, "thank you, Mr Matsubara"

"Calm me, Mr Mask, please" he smiled to me.

The chat with Mr Mask had really encouraged me. I even managed to sleep soundly through the night. The next day I felt much better. I was ready to listen and to be heard.

"One, two, three" Shou whispered before jumping over the bed with Dai, "wake up, Ryu!"

They both started laughing. I woke up suddenly. I wasn't used to having little brothers who woke me up so abruptly. But soon Kaoru came to get them off me.

"Dai! Shou! What the hell are you doing?! Get off him right now!" she was blowing smoke out of her ears.

"Oh, oh!" Shou exclaimed.

"Run!" Dai screamed and they both ran away.

Kaoru started growling as she entered the room and approached me.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked me.

"Yeah. Thanks" I yawned.

"Good. Wake up. Mom is about to serve breakfast" she told me.

"Hold on" I grabbed her arm, "what about a good morning kiss?"

"How about you go to hell?" she blushed.

"C'mon! Nobody will see us!" I begged.

Kaoru turned around and peeked down the hall to make sure no one was watching us.

"Ugh! Fine!" she growled.

She leaned toward me and we kissed briefly, but tenderly. Suddenly, a flash caught our attention.

"I got it!" Mrs Matsubara exclaimed, holding a camera in her left hand.

"Mom!" Kaoru yelled, "delete it!"

After Kaoru discussed about the photo with her mother, we all went to eat some breakfast. Kaoru was upset with me because she believed that I had planned the photo with her mother, but it wasn't true. Soon my father came to pick me up, so I said goodbye to Kaoru and her family and thanked them. Dad also thanked them for taking care of me. At first he thought Dai was Kaoru, so he was surprised to learn that Kaoru was actually a girl. He will surely lecture me after this. Anyways, we both got in the car and left on the way home.

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Well, this chapter was more about Ryu and Kaoru than anyone else! Did you liked it? Who's next? What do you think about Kaoru's family? Aren't Kaoru and Ryu cute together?! ♡ What will happen next? We'll find out on the next chapter!