Twilight Express, Chap. 14: Friday Afternoon

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As Friday morning's showers cleared, Shinichi sat in his cluttered little office and realized he was getting nowhere on the new proposal. During the weeks after he first saw and lost Melina at the drinks party, his concentration had suffered as he fantasized about their reunion. Now that he had found his hotaru, his concentration hadn't improved - it had become even worse. All he wanted was to be with her.

He abruptly gave up on the proposal and found Melina sitting on the leather sofa, still in her robe, painting her toenails cherry-blossom pink. "Would you like me to do your toes when I'm done?" she offered. "Would you like a spanking?" he countered. She kept him at bay with a wet nail polish brush.

Eventually they decided to go for a drive for what Melina described as "wherever the day takes us". She asked him if she could stop by the rail station and see if she could rebook her ticket to Sapporo before next Monday, something Shinichi was already dreading.

Shopping was also on their list. Shinichi had noticed that almost all of Melina's outfits were too big for her, and was hoping she would allow him to buy her some new clothes. He was already daydreaming of sitting in a boutique, watching her model one outfit after another for him.

She had explained to him that her initial nervousness, especially during the first few weeks in Tokyo, had tied her stomach in knots and she had lost quite a bit of weight.

"I would think that being homesick would have made things even worse," Shinichi said.

He was surprised when she shook her head. "No, I wasn't really that homesick. I miss my friends at the Boston office, sure, but we're always emailing or on IM." She went on to confess that she had told her girlfriends about meeting him, and now they were the talk of the Boston office.

Shinichi wondered why Melina said nothing about her parents. Certainly she missed them just a little, otherwise she would not have been carrying their photo in her overnight bag.

They set out in Shinichi's black Lincoln after lunch. Since the weather was still too damp for sightseeing, they headed for a local shopping precinct. Being a weekday, the area was quiet and the sales staff bored - in short, it was an ideal time for shopping.

They eventually found a women's boutique with a selection of Italian designers. Shinichi was a bit surprised when Melina asked the sales staff to help her pick out a few things, admitting that she wasn't very good at it. What he'd seen of her wardrobe seemed to suit her, but perhaps someone else had helped her choose.

Together with several items chosen by Shinichi, she disappeared into the dressing room. After almost two hours of modeling outfits for him, Melina chose a brown tweed Plaza Sempione skirt suit, a cream colored silk blouse, a pair of snug black jeans, and a Marni dress with short sleeves and a retro-style portrait neckline. Shinichi had picked out the Marni dress and she had fallen in love with it before trying it on.

As she carefully laid the clothes in the back seat of the Lincoln, Melina asked if they could make the train station their next stop. Shinichi hesitated. Not only did he want to offer to drive her to Sapporo, he was convinced that it was time to talk about their relationship, no matter how much he feared the possibility that she might not share his feelings.

"Could we stop and have some coffee before the train station?" he asked, remembering her addiction to coffee.

After half an hour of searching for a coffee shop, they finally settled for take-out lattes. Shinichi took the Lincoln up a winding road to a small park overlooking the ocean, a place he often visited on his own. Although it was sunny, the sea wind made Melina shiver as they sat on a small bench. Shinichi found a raincoat in the trunk of the car for her.

Although he had rehearsed his words several times, Shinichi realized that he did not know where to begin. Finally he began slowly and formally in English, thanking her again for accepting his offer to visit him. But it was all coming out wrong; Melina was beginning to look a little frightened.

He stopped, took her hand between both of his own.

"Melina, I have to tell you something. I'm falling in love with you."

Her reaction was the only one he had not considered. She began to cry.

Not knowing what else to do, he held her close. She hid her face against his shirt front, embarrassed but unable to stop crying. She kept trying to speak, only to manage a word or two before tears overtook her again.

Shinichi rocked her gently, trying to console her. He tried not to draw any conclusions from her reaction, but feared she was weeping because she could not return his feelings.

Finally, she managed to calm down. She searched her handbag for tissues, but Shinichi quickly handed her a clean handkerchief from the raincoat's pocket. After attempting to remove her ruined makeup with limited success, Melina tried to dry his shirt with the now-soggy handkerchief. The result was that his shirt was not only wet, it was smeared with black streaks.

She stared down at her hands. "I'm sorry I've gone and upset you. It's not what it looks like."

He assured her that he wasn't upset, although his heart was beating like a bird's.

"When you brought me here, I thought you were going to tell me that you'd enjoyed my visit and would call me after I got settled in Sapporo. You know, the usual things men say when the affair's over. So I was bracing myself to hear that. And when you said what you said, I just ..." She paused for a second. "I just fell apart."

Shinichi saw that she was finished crying.

"I don't know why I thought you were going to dump me. I think it's because you looked so serious when you suggested we drive up here. The look on your face made me think you were going to give me some bad news."

Shinichi shook his head, tried to smile but failed. He waited for her to continue, knowing her next few words could either crush or elate him.

Finally she looked up at him, her nose pink, her lashes wet and matted.

"Shinichi, this crybaby's falling in love with you, too."