Rei and Mon Chapter 1

It was Autumn and here I am alone in my rented house cleaning the dishes. I should try making white stew tomorrow for dinner, it's getting cold anyway. I dried my hands and headed to my laptop to check if there's any replies to the emails I sent out this morning.

*Buzz buzz* it's the doorbell.

It's 9pm, who would it be at my front door. It's definitely not some bad guy who probably just announce his appearance. Maybe it's just the lady from next door asking for miso paste again. Man lady, the supermarket is just 5 minutes walk away. How hard is it to just go and get some miso paste on your own. Hmm maybe I should get one for her as well when I ran out of them, and ask her to pay me back.

Gah the door handle is cold. "Who is it?" I asked as I opened the metal door. The cold air made me squint my eyes. To my surprise, Rei stood outside my door dressed in her hoodie and jeggings only. Before I could even open my mouth and say a word, tears started falling from her eyes. Oh my. It's rare to see Rei cry, it's even rare to see her at my door at this hour. I grabed her arm and pulled her into my house and close the door behind her.

I hugged her tight on reflex. I won't want to question a thing now as I felt her body shivering while sobbing in my arms. Her skin was cold to touch. I loosen my arms and help her took off her shoes and walked to my coach. I settle her down and walked to my closet to grab an extra blanket for her. I hope that it wasn't as dusty as I thought. I covered her with the sakura prints blanket.

I feel bad for thinking that she looks like puppy curled up in a ball as she hugged her knees and her tears had no sign of stopping. I handed her my poodle tissue box. I took a few sheets and wiped her tears away. I hugged her again with the blanket between us. We stayed in this position for 10 minutes, and I noticed her sobbing slowed down a bit.

"Would you like some water?"

"I want some hot cocoa..." her voice is muffled by the blanket.

"The ones you ma...made are delicious..." she started hiccuping from all the crying.

"Sure. Anything for you." I gently pressed my lips on her forehead. "Stay here"

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a mug with a pug wearing a Christmas hat at the side. It's a gift for Rei but she said to leave it with me so she can use it every time she comes by. I took the mason jar with cocoa powder in it. It was homemade and I thought having a tag written in cursive will make it fancier. [Instant Hot Cocoa Mix ✧ 2 tablespoons per cup of hot milk]

I heated up the milk on the stove and gently poured it over the instant cocoa mix. Oh I ran out of marshmallow...it should be okay. I took the mug and slowly walked to Rei. Probably because of her tears reflections, I thought I saw her eyes shining when she saw the mug in my hand.

"Careful. It's hot. Don't burn your lips. I ran out of marshmallow, please don't cry again." she giggled and pulled the blanket down onto her lap so she could sit up straight.

"Finally you're smiling again" she took a sip and showed a gentle smile.

"It's warm..." she said

She was adorable when she said that, but I would have done something to her if she wasn't holding that scalding liquid. I sat down on the coach and cover my lap with the blanket too. I tried to move my body as close to hers and watched her slurp down the hot cocoa.

"Do you wanna talk about it...?"

She paused from sipping her cocoa the moment I asked her. She stared down to her cocoa for a moment before answering
"I saw a golden heart pendent at one of the shop's display today..."

Golden heart pendent...I glanced up to the calendar on the wall, so it's almost November 5 huh...

On November 5, 2014, Rei's favourite dog was put into a permanent deep sleep to end it's pain from terminal cancer. It was a golden retriever named karaage. Karaage was a term for a Japanese cooking technique where small pieces of food which are marinated, coated and fried. Rei liked karaage and decided to name her dog that, why not?

"I felt empty when I got home...so I decided to come over..."

"At this hour? It's dangerous for you to walk here on your own you know."

"It's alright. I'm not pretty anyway and I am quite tomboy-ish" she said as she finishes the last drop of hot cocoa.

"Don't say that...you might meet up with robbers or something!" I wipe off the stain on her lips.

Karaage had a small golden pendent on its collar and was buried together with it during its funeral. I guess Rei was reminded of Karaage when she saw the display...

Rei moved forward to place the pug mug onto the coffee table and slumped back to the coach. She let out a sigh while pulling the blanket up to her shoulder. I grabbed her waist and gently pulled her closer into my lap so that I can held her in my arms. She's all warm now and nice to cuddle with. She cup her palms over my linked hands on her stomach and started playing with them.

"Rei, it's getting late...spend the night here...will you?"

"I was being emotional just now but that doesn't mean I will hurt myself when I'm home alone. I'm old enough to take care of myself...but I'll stay here...for tonight..." she looked at me over her shoulders. I gave her a peck on the lips and peeled myself off the coach.

"Alright, onee-san is futon okay with you?" I walked into my bedroom and took the futon out of the closet. I lay it in the middle of the room and placed the pillows onto it.

"Don't call me that. It's weird. I'm fine with futon" she pouts.

"Well you are the elder one among us. Do you want a new toothbrush?"

"Don't remind me that. Yes, and I'm gonna leave it here so I can come here anytime."

"The door is always opened for you." I said that while walking to the toilet cabinet to find a new toothbrush and a fresh clean towel for Rei,

"Mon...thank you for everything." she hugged me from behind while I'm still reaching for the fresh towels.

"I'm just fulfilling my duty" I turned around and smiled at her when she lets go of me.

To be continued~
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I had fun writing. I hope you enjoyed. Sorry for any grammar mistakes. Half way through I had abdominal pain...and I should think of a name for this...
Rei is a Japanese name and Mon is a Chinese name.