Chapter Six: : Synchronicities Express Themselves Through Chance Meetings

One year and six months later (April)

"RenRen!"

"Hideaki!" Ren exclaimed, a bright smile on his face.

"How was class?" Hideaki asked him, jogging the final few steps towards the now nineteen-year-old. Hideaki was practically his best friend; someone he had met when he started college. He was now studying English literature, something he had always found fascinating. The first day of class, Hideaki had sat beside him and just opened up a dialogue about modern romance novels. They had been inseparable ever since.

"It was fine. I'm not really enjoying this module, but I will put up with it" Ren explained with a deep sigh. Hideaki patted his back gently and reassuringly. They walked towards the café on campus in silence, enjoying one another's company. When they arrived and ordered some food for lunch, Hideaki asked Ren the question he had been dreading.

"How did your date go last night? Was he good enough to come out to your mom and dad?"

Ren sighed.

"Nope."

"Aw shit, what happened?"

"He asked when my birthday was while he was driving me back to my neighborhood. I said in three days, and he pulled over, took his penis out of his pants and said, and I quote, "want a birthday surprise?" I've never run out of a car before, but I did then."

Hideaki couldn't hold back an amused chuckle. Ren scowled.

"I understand it was traumatizing for my little virgin RenRen, but it IS kind of funny too."

"I know, isn't it?" Ren laughed.

He sighed seconds later, leaning back in his chair. He felt like the whole dating thing really wasn't working out for him. He had been on six dates since…

He shook his head. There was no room for him in his mind anymore. Usami Haruto was a thing of the past, and he would have to stay there forever more. Not even Hideaki knew about Haruto, and it was going to stay that way.

"Say, my older brother and I were talking about you the other day and this whole – dating dilemma."

"Oh? Really?" Ren quirked a brow. Hideaki nodded briskly, his mouth full of food. He swallowed.

"Mhm! And he said he went to college with a guy who just came out of the closet. He's older, around my brother's age, but apparently, he's really handsome. That's coming from my straight as hell brother."

"What does that have to do with me?" Ren chuckled, popping some sushi into his mouth. Hideaki rolled his eyes playfully.

"I'm saying we could set you two up and see how things go."

"Oh? Well, sure. I guess I could always give one more damaged lunatic a go."

Hideaki laughed, throwing some sushi at Ren's head. Ren gasped and threw some back.

"Sorry, RenRen. I'm hungry so no food fight today."

"Aw, shame."

"So you agree then? My brother and I will set you up with this guy? A blind date."

"Okay. I'm in."

Two hours and fifteen minutes later, Ren trudged through the front door of his home and was greeted by Reiko.

"Oh" he smiled, fixing his bag neatly on his back, "you're here to visit."

"Yes" she smiled, "go say hello to Sam and your nephew, he's in the kitchen sleeping."

"Will do!" Ren grinned, giving her a small hug before he passed her and entered the kitchen. There sat his brother-in-law, an American Lawyer named Sam (his sister must have had a thing for lawyers), and sleeping in his pushchair was little baby Theo. Turns out that time she snuck out of the house? Yep, that was to meet him. They had fallen madly in love, married within the year and on their wedding day, announced they were four months pregnant. Nobody had suspected a thing weirdly enough.

Of course, Ren was delighted. Not only was his sister unconditionally happy, but he had a new nephew to play with as well. He went over and pressed a soft kiss to his nephew's tanned cheek, and then whispered a fond "hey!" to Sam, who grinned back at him and gave him a thumbs up before returning his gaze to the newspaper in his hands. He was reading an article about a murder in Tokyo, where a man had murdered his wife and was only now found guilty after eight months.

Ren went to his room after saying hello to his parents who were in the tv room and dropped his bag on his bed. He sat up on the bed and rooted through his bag for his laptop. He started to write up an assignment, but he found himself wondering about this date.

It's not like he could help it. Ren was a hopeless romantic at heart. He just wanted someone to be in love with him. He wanted someone worth coming out for – because he was afraid to do it alone. He needed somewhere to go in case his parents turned on him. He wasn't sure how they were going to react.

He started to type up his work. There was nothing he could do about it. If the time wasn't right, it wasn't right. When the right person would come along, he would know. Then again, he had thought Haruto was the one. He shook his head. No, thinking of him wouldn't do him any good. He finished up his assignment within two hours and printed it out. He hopped into bed and was just about to get an early night when his phone started buzzing like crazy. Picking it up, he noticed it was Hideaki.

"Hey, friend!" the text read, "your date is tomorrow night. Meet him inside that burger joint, the one you brought me to before."

"Okay" he texted back, "thank you for setting this up."

"Anytime."

He placed his phone back up on his bedside locker charging, and then turned onto his stomach. He sighed. That burger joint, hm? That was the place where he and Haruto had kissed. How depressing. He had vowed never to enter that place again but, he went there one last time with Hideaki to conquer his feelings. It was a lot harder than he had initially expected…he wasn't sure he was even over Haruto. Maybe it wasn't working out with everyone else for that very reason.

He closed his eyes and ended up drifting off thinking of Usami Haruto, something he promised himself he would never do again.

Once morning came, he cursed himself but vowed to turn it all around once again. There was no way he was letting Haruto back into his heart and mind. It took too long to get him out of there to begin with. He was going to go on this date and have a good time, and hopefully get his first relationship out of it.

He ended up texting Hideaki asking him what time to meet him there, since Hideaki had forgot to mention it. 5pm, he would be meeting him right after work. A 9 – 5 job. Interesting. At least they'd have some time to spend together in the evening's if this worked out. He went for a jog and then came home and did some studying. He read a book for his literature class and then got showered and dressed. He put on his best aftershave. He gelled his hair back. He did everything right, like he was supposed to. Although, truth be told he was growing tired of doing all of this. He said a little prayer that it would go well and then snuck out of the house before his parents could see him all dressed up.

He walked to the restaurant. As soon as he arrived, butterflies started to beat against his stomach, and he had to stop himself from going in for a few minutes because he felt like he was going to throw up.

"Why am I feeling like this?" he whispered to himself. He looked to the side of the building – right where he and Haruto had kissed, and he realized it was because of the ties he had with the place. It was all Haruto's fault.

He grumbled a few swear words to himself, before he entered the restaurant. This was his chance to make things right. To get over Haruto and move on. To meet the man of his dreams, or maybe he would just be his first boyfriend. Whatever the outcome, he had to move on. No matter what happened tonight – he would date this man. He was growing that desperate. He glanced around the restaurant. This was the issue with blind dates, but he had to look for the man who was sitting alone.

His eyes met with someone's. At first, it didn't register with him. The man stared at him with wide eyes, his mouth gaping open. Ren took a few steps forwards to see him better, and as soon as he seen who it was – his heart started to thump wildly. The sickening feeling returned. His eyes widened just as much as the other males.

"Oh no. Should I run?" he thought to himself, but his feet were stuck to the floor like they were glued.

It was Usami Haruto.