THE STRANGER

All of a sudden, Nanami stopped walking. She sensed that someone was behind her. When she tried to turn around she bumped into something hard.

“Ah!” she let out a shriek. Feeling something stiff and tall, she instinctively realized it was a man. Her heart dropped. As her mind recollected a past experience, she promptly turned around.

Her gaze met a pair of olive green eyes. The man had tan skin that matched the color of chocolate ice cream, her favorite.

The man was tall and had a few short, wet, wavy hair strands hanging over his right eye. He was very handsome.

However, something more eye-catching was his solid chest. His six pack sparkled due to several drops of water reflecting in the sunlight. Down past his abdomen, half of the V shape was covered by a white wrapped towel.

Truly a sight to behold.

After screaming once, Nanami was at a loss for words. She had a crush on many idols but this man in front of her was way more attractive than those.

She couldn’t stand to keep her eyes off of him.

While the pair stared at each other, Sakura dashed to the corridor.

Without further notice, she threw a kick at the handsome stranger.

“Hyaa!”

Her high kick went past Nanami’s shoulder as she was aiming for the intruder’s face.

However, before they could blink, an arm moved quicker than lightning and caught her foot.

Nanami: “!!!”

Sakura: “???”

“Do you always barge into someone else’s home and kick them?” the stranger asked. His voice was mature with a hint of sarcasm.

“Not really, unless that person is an intruder,” Sakura replied with a frown. “Who are you? What did you do to my friend?”

As Nanami moved away, the man stepped back and let go of Sakura’s leg.

He raised an eyebrow and then stated with an uninterested tone, “I live here and did nothing wrong. You came unannounced. You should leave.”

Sakura shouted, “Huh? You live here?! Since when? My friend and I come here often. The owner of this house is our friend. Sometimes we come here to clean this house. So, don’t lie to us!

“You go to school and work here as a servant?” The man furrowed his eyebrows. “I was not told anything like that.”

Sakura’s eyes twitched in anger. “You think we are lying? Well, I think you are a thief and I’m going to call the police!”

She took out her mobile from her skirt pocket and dialed the emergency number.

“Wait, stop!” Nanami stopped her. “Let me call Hiro-kun. I want to clarify if what this man says is true or not.”

Nanami dialed Yoshida Hiro’s number. It rang several times before someone answered the call.

“Nanami, do you know what time it is?” a sleepy tone asked.

For a moment, Nanami thought that he was whispering into her ear while standing close to her. Her body tensed and blood rushed on her face.

“Hiro-kun, there is a man in your house. He said you guys let him stay here. He looks like a foreigner.”

There was a pause on the other side of the phone for a while.

After some time passed, Yoshida Hiro replied, “Oh yeah, my relative went to Takayama and had no place to stay. He will be staying there for a couple of weeks. Can you take care of him for me?”

“Your relative came here and you didn’t think to tell me? Come and take care of your relative by yourself!” Nanami yelled at him and ended the call.

“Ahh! My ear!” From London, Yoshida Hiro flinched and rubbed his poor ear. “What is wrong with her? She didn’t even let me apologize for not telling her. I’m busy here…”

While in Japan, Nanami was fuming. “That freak! After going to London, he totally changed. He doesn’t even think about notifying me of important things anymore. Honestly!”

“Couple’s quarrel before Christmas?” Sakura didn’t miss the chance to tease her best friend.

“Shh!” Nanami blushed. She stole a glance at the man who was standing in front of them.

She couldn’t imagine what would happen if this relative were to tell Yoshida Hiro about this ‘couple’ thing.

Hiro and she were simply childhood friends who got along extremely well.

She didn’t want Hiro to tease her for the rest of her life. If that happened, she would never win in a quarrel against him.

“We are very sorry for being rude to you. We didn’t know you were Hiro-kun’s relative. I’m Ishikawa Nanami and this is my best friend Miyazaki Sakura. We grew up with Hori-kun. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

After apologizing, Nanami bowed. Sakura did the same.

“I’m Kogami Ren. The pleasure is mine,” Kogami greeted them back.

Nanami’s face beamed as she got a polite reply from him. She wondered if he was mad at them for being rude.

Sakura even threw a kick at him.

She said, “Please make yourself at home. We come here often to keep the house clean. I hope you don’t mind that we occasionally visit.”

Kogami Ren responded, “It’s fine. You are welcome to do the work for me.”

Nanami asked, "Are you able to cook or would you like me to cook for you?”

“Nanami’s cooking skill is top-notch,” Sakura finally said.

Ren’s eyes shifted from Sakura to Nanami. “It would be great to have a professional cook. I’ll pay.”

Nanami hurriedly stated, “No, no, that’s not necessary. She is exaggerating. I’m not that good. You are Hiro-kun’s relative. He is my friend. It’s normal to treat you to meals. Now that I have the Christmas holidays, I can come by often to cook for you.”

“Sounds good,” Ren didn’t hate the idea.

Nanami’s attention kept shifting to his solid, bare chest. She couldn’t take this anymore.

“Anyway, we are sorry to bother you. Please put on your clothes. You must be cold. We will clean the house and then leave.”

Kogami Ren nodded and turned around. He headed to the bathroom.

As he vanished behind the closed door, Sakura almost screeched, “What a hottie!”