Novel Square
Chapter 19 Rescheduling The Talk(1)
Nick and I were leaving Tokyo tomorrow so Chris set up a dinner date so we could meet his new girl, Hikari. She was a dainty looking girl, shy and very respectful. Different from Anna, totally different. Meeting her once told me Chris found the one. He was cautious about it, he told me he wasn’t going to rush. I understood that after the pain Anna put him through.
We were seated in a private room, a hot pot in the middle of the table while we had small plates filled with delicious foods around it. Picking up my chopsticks I let Hikari fill up my bowl with broth and chicken.
“Thanks.”
She smiled at me, “It’s really good.”
“I’ve only been eating this trip,” I confessed.
Chris chuckled, “That’s the best kind of holiday, is it not?”
“It is.” I agreed, “The thing is I need to work out hard after having the baby if I want my figure back.” Beside me, Nick shook his head, “Well if it doesn’t matter to you, I don’t care about being chubby either.”
“I would be a jerk if I would hold it against you. You were carrying my child.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
Leaning in I kissed his cheek, forgetting we weren’t alone in the room. Chris smiled at us while Hikari looked down, avoiding looking at us. Apologizing I went back to my food, trying hard not to let Nick affect me. We chatted over delicious food while they had sake and I toasted with a cup of green tea. After dinner, I said my goodbyes to Chris and Hikari. Hugging Chris tightly because we were leaving tomorrow morning so I wouldn’t see him in a while. He hugged me back and kissed my hair.
“It was good seeing you.” He whispered to me, “I’ll be in the states soon. I don’t want to miss meeting Matthew.” He told me.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Pulling away he walked me to my cab. I was going back to the hotel where Evan was waiting for me while Nick, Chris, and Hikari were going to the club. I didn’t have the energy though, I wanted to settle in bed while watching TV. Evan told me he’d join me so I wasn’t going to be alone the entire night. I asked about Zoey, but he told me she was good. Glad she wasn’t the jealous type because I knew not a lot of people would be okay with their boyfriend spending so much time with another woman. Pregnant or not.
***
Evan and I were propped up against the headboard of the big bed, focused on the TV show while occasionally sipping our tea. It was peaceful, way better than the loud club Nick was visiting. I knew he had to because it was his freaking club. He needed to check on his properties occasionally. Evan sighed when the girl who was supposed to be the love of the main character’s life just walked out of his life. I had no details about the show because I didn’t understand a word they were saying, but it looked like a really sad moment and seeing that girl cry made me cry as well.
“It’s just a show, Em.” Evan sounded amused.
I wiped the tears away, “I can’t help it okay, she is heartbroken.”
Evan brushed my comment off, “They’ll be together eventually.”
“Yes, but I won’t be here to witness it.”
“I’ll let you know if it happens while I’m still here.”
My eyes widened at that, “You think this drama is going to last that long?”
“Don’t know.” He glanced at me, “Zoey is really into this though. She watches a lot of dramas and animes so I’ll ask her. She’ll update you.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Evan eyes flickered to my stomach, “Can’t wait to go back home.” He admitted to me, “Don’t get me wrong, this city is amazing and I love it here. But it’s good to have you and Nick so close by. You know I could just pop up whenever I wanted and talk to you. Or annoy Nick. I miss that.”
The tears were falling again and this time I didn’t even try to hide it, “Honey, I miss that too.” I admitted to him, “But when you get back you’re always welcome. Zoey too.”
He smiled at me, “Thanks, Em.”
I reached for his hand and held it tightly, “Nick told me a bit about your family.” I confessed to him, “I don’t know the details, but I do know it’s messed up what happened. I want you to know that we’re your family now, Evan. We’ll always be there for you.”
He squeezed my hand gently, “I know, Em.” His eyes softened, “It means a lot to me you’d jump on a plane to see me to make sure I’m doing okay.” He raised his hand and gently ran his knuckles over my cheek, “It works both ways though, I’m also here for you if you need me.”
“Any other man would have been furious seeing you two together like that.” We both flickered our eyes to Nick who stepped into the bedroom, “It’s a good thing I know better.”
“Months ago you would have acted out on your jealousy.” Evan pulled away from me and got to his feet, walking to his friend, “Probably smacked me in the face and told me to get lost.” He placed his hand on Nick’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze, “We’ve both grown, haven’t we?”
Nick grinned at his friend, “I guess we did.”
Evan turned to look at me, “It’s getting late. We all should get some rest since we have an early morning tomorrow.”
I sat up on my knees, putting a hand on my swollen stomach as I grinned at Evan, “You going to wave us goodbye?”
“I’ll hug you too.” Evan snickered.
“Good. See you tomorrow.”
Evan stepped to me and pressed a kiss to my temple, “See you tomorrow.” He confirmed.
Nick walked Evan out and minutes later joined me on the bed, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
“What?” I asked him confused, “You gonna ask me if something happened?”
Nick shook his head, “I know nothing happened. I just don’t know when it happened that I could be this settled even when I saw my girl and my best friend is so close.”