As The Wind Blows Your Scent To Me

Himari kept looking into the length mirror, at her own reflection. Her brows furrowed slightly, showing how troubled she was right now.

Tonight, Himari would follow Kazuya and the siblings to meet his friends. 

Finally, the dinner was rescheduled today.

"Both of them have been nagging at me nonstop, wanting to see my girlfriend. Would it be okay to meet them this Friday night?"

Kazuya asked her last Tuesday when they met briefly during the time he came to pick the children up from school.

Of course, Himari just agreed. She had yet to forget that Kazuya had postponed the dinner several times already.

They had been dating for more than three months already yet, she hadn't met his best friends formally.

"Chobi, do I look good? What do you think?"

Himari twirled in front of the mirror, the skirt of her dress fluttered in the air, following the sway of her hip.

"Meow~"

Chobi mewled lazily from the bed. Sitting in his favorite posture that resembled a loaf of bread, he stared unblinking at his mama.

"Tsk, you're not helping at all," complained Himari.

For tonight's occasion, Himari chose a boat-neck lilac-colored dress. The material was light, the skirt fell softly below her waist. The butterfly sleeves split into two, revealing her upper arms. 

Himari let her long hair loose as usual, draping behind her shoulder like a shawl. She just put on a pearl hair clip on the right side of her head. A delicate necklace with a pink tear-drop stone adorned her neck. 

"En, which lipstick should I use?"

Ding dong~

While Himari was choosing among the lipsticks she owned, the doorbell rang. A smile instantly curled up on her lips as she perfectly knew who was ringing it.

As expected, it was Kazuya.

"You're early ah," remarked Himari as she opened the door wider, letting him in.

Kazuya and the siblings were supposed to pick her up at seven but, there were still thirty minutes before the appointed time.

"It's not too early. I just wanna see my girlfriend's nervous face first," answered Kazuya with a smirk.

Himari threw him a glare. It was replied by laughter from Kazuya.

Kazuya wore a round-neck T-shirt in lilac color, the same as Himari. He paired it with a black jacket and a pair of black slim-fit pants, hanging just above his ankles. Both of them had coordinated the color for their outfit beforehand. 

"I'm almost done. Need to put on some lipstick first. You can wait in the living room."

Turning around, Himari headed to her bedroom again. She didn't notice the shadow of the man fell on her back as he came even closer before her waist was gently grabbed by him.

"What are you...!"

Her words were swallowed down by his lips as Kazuya sealed them together. His large palm supported the back of her waist while the other was holding to one of her arms. Feeling her legs weakened, she grabbed the lapel of his jacket.

"You... why suddenly..."

Gasping for a breath, Himari looked at the magnified view of the man's face through her watery eyes. Kazuya was still holding her close, allowing just a short distance between them.

The man's lips tugged into a smirk. His eyes glinted with mischief, "I just wanna kiss you. If I did that after you put on some lipstick, won't you be mad at me?"

Speechless, Himari didn't know how to refute him.

In the end, she lowered her head and patted his chest, trying to tone down her shyness. His chest vibrated under her forehead as he laughed at her silly antics.

"You, you're not like this before," said Himari weakly, her voice was muffled by his shirt.

"What do you mean?" Kazuya's voice sounded from on top of her head, carrying a hint of playfulness as he teased her.

Feeling wronged by a certain someone, Himari tilted up her head, staring at Kazuya with both of her cheeks pinkened.

"Before, you're so respectful ah. Now, you just kiss me whenever you want."

What answered her was another bout of laughter from him. 

Amused, Kazuya replied, "It's because you didn't know how much I wanna kiss you before. I'm a normal guy. Of course, I want to kiss my adorable girlfriend but, I didn't want you to think of me as a rogue."

His intonation was firm as if he was talking about something righteous. 

"Then, what are you now? Aren't you a rogue too in the end?" Puffing up her cheeks, Himari narrowed her eyes.

The man put a thumb over her lower lip, his action giving off a seductive vibe.

"Well," Kazuya leaned down. His minty scent swirled at the top of Himari's nose. His lips hovered above hers, "I'm your exclusive rogue of a boyfriend."

Once again, Himari was defeated. She could just accept the man's kiss.

By the time she applied lipstick, the image of her swollen lips was marked into her mind, further reddening her entire face.

Himari didn't know if it was Kazuya's way to comfort her after the revelation but, because of him, her tensed nerves loosened as if she had never disclosed the matter to him.

His touch was both tender and passionate, treating her as someone so precious to him.

The fear that lingered in her heart mellowed in the face of his gentleness.

Kazuya booked a private room at the garden restaurant where they had gone before. The room can cater to up to eight adults, the spacious room was suitable to be Chiharu's playground later. 

"It's so vast," murmured Himari right after they entered the private room.

At a quarter past seven, the four of them arrived at the restaurant, earlier than scheduled. 

"Chiharu can play there~" Excited, Chiharu pointed at one corner of the room.

A mini slide was placed there together with a table to build blocks, sitting over a large play mat.

"You have to finish eating first before going to play," Raising up one eyebrow, Kazuya looked down at the dumpling.

"Humph! Chiharu knows ah!" Annoyed, the dumpling puffed up her chest, crossing her arms together.

Himari swept her gaze across the room, her lips curled up.

The room was overlooking the beautiful garden.

Soft lights were spouted from the artificial luminescence stones that scattered all over the garden, adding colors to the night view. Fairy lights were dangling from the trees, giving off an ethereal sensation.

From the windows of the room, Himari could see the figures of other patrons who dined in the garden area. 

"Are you nervous?" Kazuya deliberately poking fun on Himari as he saw how rigid her face was.

"A little bit," Himari admitted honestly, "After all, I'm meeting your best friends."

From what Himari had heard, Shuichi and his twin brother were the closest ones to Kazuya when he had to take on the heavy burden three years ago. Without them and Aunt Mayu's help, Himari vaguely felt that her man would face another degree of hardship.

Kazuya's smile was soft. He raised up a hand and gently rearranged the pearl hairpin on Himari's hair.

Without him knowing why she looked so beautiful and loveable in his eyes tonight.

Himari drifted her gaze from his arm to his smiling face.

Their eyes were locked together.

"Yes, they are more than just best friends to me," said Kazuya gently, "They might have flaws here and there but, I won't deny they are like family to me."

The twin brothers were more like family than his own, aside from his only brother.

Although...

Kazuya bitterly recalled when Shuichi confessed that he had foolishly revealed about Himari to Sayuri the other day.

If not for him, Sayuri wouldn't know about it.

Kazuya smiled faintly, thinking that he had yet to tell Himari about the reappearance of his previous lover. 

While the couple was looking at each other, a certain boy was playing with the phone, focusing its lens on the couple.

Kacha~

Attracted by the sound, both Kazuya and Himari looked in the direction of it.

"...Izumi?" Kazuya watched his nephew in confusion.

Right now, Izumi and Chiharu were staring at them. There was a phone in the former's hands.

Izumi's lips broke into a mischievous grin. He shook the phone and replied wittily, "Uncle and Teacher only see each other ah. Us two are just lightbulbs."

Even though the distance between them was quite large, Kazuya and Himari saw what was displayed on the screen.

It was a photo of them.

"Chiharu wanna have a photo with Teacher Kato too," The dumpling wailed from one side. She shot such a dissatisfied look at her uncle.

Himari raised up her brows at Kazuya, the man stifled a peal of laughter.

"Heh, what are you guys suddenly being busybodies like this? Have too much free time? Izumi, show me the photo."

The boy grinned, he handed the phone to his uncle.

Himari leaned closer, also wanting to look at the candid photo taken by Izumi.

The boy had timely capture a shot when Kazuya was touching her hairpin. The edges of his lips turned up, smiling softly at her. 

Himari secretly thought this was a good photo. 

Knock, knock.

In a few minutes, two knocks sounded from the outside. All three of them looked in the direction of the door.

Creak...

Bam!

"Yo! We're here to meet our future sister-in-law!"

At the door, two Shuichis, or rather Shuichi and his twin brother made their grand entrance.