Weekend.
I'm now making my way towards Van's house. My mother asked me to deliver a box of sweets to Van's family.
After a few minutes, I am finally standing infront of Van's family house.
Since there was no doorbell, I decided to call Van out.
"Van?" I called out, in a loud voice.
I was about to call him again when the door finally opened.
"Oh, hello there, Nao!" Van's younger brother, Ren, greeted her.
"Hi, Ren. My mother asked me to give you all these sweets. And is brother home?I need to return these notes to him." I asked him, while carrying two paperbags. One is for the box of sweets, and the other paperbag is full of notebooks.
"He's in his room. Please come in!" he chirped, as he opened the door for me.
I timidly walked inside the house.
I saw a typical Okinawa-styled house. It was so different from the huge, concrete and stylish houses back in Tokyo, but there was a homey feeling in this house.
"Please take a seat while I get you a drink." Ren offered me to sit in their couch.
"Thanks." I responded.
Before Ren could make his way towards the kitchen, he first called out for his brother.
"Van, you have a visitor!" he yelled.
"Okay! I'll be right there!" I heard Van yelled back.
Ren was grinning from ear to ear when he turned his attention back to me.
"Excuse me for a second. Please, make yourself comfortable." he said, and afterwards, he went to the kitchen.
Few minutes have passed.I heard some hurrying steps coming from the stairs.
"Who is it,Ren--! What are you doing here, Nao?" Van asked me, while looking suprised.
"Well, my mother asked me to bring these box of sweets to your father. And thank you for letting me borrow your notes." I said, while giving him the paperbags.
"So, how are you feeling? You're not sick anymore?" Van asked with so much concern in his eyes.
"I'm now fully recovered, thanks." I smiled at him.
"That's good. I guess you're going back to school tomorrow?" Van happily stated.
"Yes, I'm going back to school." I reassured him.
Van was about to say something when his father suddenly made an entrance.
"Oh,hello! I didn't know we have a visitor!" Van's father suddenly entered the house.
"Yes,Dad. By the way, I want you to meet Nao. And this is my father. I believe Mika already introduced him to you?" Van casually introduced his father to me.
I nodded in return.
"Yes, we already met. Good evening, Uncle. It's nice to see you again." I politely greeted him.
"I'm happy to see you as well, Nao... Hey, where's your brother?" the old man suddenly asked Van.
"He's in the kitchen making dinner." replied Van.
"Oh, I have an idea!Nao, please join us for dinner!" Uncle Taka excitedly suggested.
"Uh, I only came here because my mother asked me to give me this to you. I'm not planning to stay longer..." I tried to reason out.
"Actually, Doctor Nishikawa gave us a box of sweets." Van informed his father.
"Then this is just perfect! We'll eat this delicious sweets as our dessert after dinner! Come and join us for a meal, Nao!" the old man insisted.
"But-!" I tried to protest again, but Van stopped me.
"My old man is really stubborn, and he won't give up that easily. Just go with the flow, okay?" he whispered at me.
I didn't have any choice but to say yes.
"--Van! Can you help me prepare the table?" Ren suddenly called out from the kitchen.
"Coming!" Van yelled back.
"Can I help?" I inquired.
Van stared at me, while looking doubtful.
"Are you sure?" he probed.
"I've never been so sure in my life. Come.on, now!" I chirped,while tugging his arm.
We both walked inside the kitchen to help out with the preparations.
====================
This soup is really good!" I commented. I can't help but to feel impressed by Ren's amazing cooking skills.
"Did you hear that, Ren? A cute girl praised your cooking!" Uncle Taka happily said, as he slapped Ren's back.
Ren started to cough uncontrollably,until his face became red.
"Cut it out, Dad! Here, drink some water, Ren." Van said,while giving Ren a glass of water.
I smiled as I watch them laugh. It's really nice to see them having fun while eating dinner together.
"Hello, is anyone home?" they heard someone calling from outside.
The three men looked at each other.
"Hey, isn't it Reiko?" Uncle Taka guessed.
"Yes, I think it's her. I'll invite her in. Ren, prepare another plate for Reiko." Van asked his younger brother.
He stood up and opened the front door.
I timidly chewed on my food. What I only know about Reiko Noritomo is she's the most popular girl in our school. She's also a model student at Naha Highschool.
I heard from Mika that Reiko is the only child of their family.
Their family well-known is for having a successful chain of cooking schools and printing press around Japan.
And everyone knows that Van and Reiko have been friends since their childhood days.
My train of thoughts stopped in a halt when I heard Reiko's voice.
"Good evening! Sorry for intruding you at the middle of your dinner." Reiko smilingly greeted. She was holding a plastic container.
You're just in time,Reiko. Did you already eat dinner?" asked Uncle Taka.
"I had cake for dinner. My parents are not home,anyway." answered Reiko.
"Hey, that's not good enough! Come, just pull a seat beside Van and join us for dinner." suggested Uncle Taka.
"Thank you, Uncle! And oh, I bought cake for everyone." announced Reiko.She took a seat at Van's left side.
And I was on his right side. Van ended up sitting between me and Reiko.
Reiko glanced at my direction. I saw the look of surprise on her face when she saw me. But her facial expression changed instantly. She gave me a warm smile.
"Hello, Nao. I haven't seen you at school for the passed few days, and Van told me you were sick. Are you feeling okay now?" she asked me, in a sincere manner.
"Yes, I'm doing a lot better now. I'm ready to go back to school." I politely answered her.
Our conversation was interrupted when Van laid down a plate of food for Reiko on the table.
"Ren prepared a delicious meal for us, so you have to eat a lot, okay?" Van said.
I felt a pang of jealousy while I was watching them.