(fanfic) APH-Lovely Maid Yao-Chapter 20

 Chapter 20

(This chapter is slightly different than the one on Fanfiction.net because it was the one before the last and final edit)

 

It was still raining outside when Yao closed the café. 

In the end, Ivan didn’t come this evening and Yao only wondered if something bad had happened to him. After all, it wasn’t like the Russian to not come when he looked so eager to. For some reason, Yao was worried about that…but he tried to ignore it the best he could. It was possible that Ivan simply changed his mind or that he couldn’t come. There were no reasons to be troubled about it.

Once he made sure that the café’s door was perfectly locked, Yao quickly took his umbrella before he could get wet. He was glad that he didn’t forget his umbrella this time. He remembered that the last time it rained; Ivan offered to share his umbrella with him.

“Yao!!”

Recognizing the familiar voice, Yao turned around. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but he rapidly realised that it was, in fact, truly Ivan who was running toward his direction.

“Aiyaa!”The Chinese expressed. He never expected to see Ivan at this hour.

“Yao!”

“Ivan?! What are you doing here at this hour aru?”Yao asked with a worried tone. Ivan looked so tired and –because of the rain—the blond was completely wet. Yao could imagine how the blond must be frozen at the moment.

After arriving close to Yao, the Russian decided to rest for a while to catch his breath back. He was quite happy to see that the Asian waited for him and that he was still there. 

 

“Where were you?”The other inquired, waiting patiently for Ivan to answer.

“I was in detention.”

“What?! Why? What have you done?”

“Nothing! The teachers and headmaster are all against me; they don’t stop to put me in trouble.”The blond complained. He was still feeling a little bitter about his day. He thought that the last events were really unpleasant; it completely ruined this day. It was a shame, since he had a great day before all this happened. 

“What? Why?”Yao asked again.

“They always suspect me of doing something bad. Plus, my father and my older sister don’t want to help me and, even my friends didn’t do anything to defend me da? I feel like nobody cares about me…”The Russian said with a miserable tone.

The Asian was quite confused with what Ivan was explaining; he was sure that there must be a reasonable explanation for all this. However, at the same time, he couldn’t help but to feel bad for poor Ivan.

“Aiyaa! Don’t say that! I bet this is just a misunderstanding aru.” The Chinese told him, hoping it would lighten up his mood, but unfortunately it didn’t change his expression. The blond was standing in front of him, under the rain, still being quite sad about his day.

“Don’t stay there in the rain, you will catch a cold. Come here.”Yao added gently, moving the umbrella so that it would protect both of them from the heavy rain.

By being closer to Ivan, Yao realised how exhausted the Russian appeared to be.

“You look so tired...”He remarked with a quiet and caring voice.

“I was in detention since the end of school. I didn’t have a chance to take a break, because the teacher forced me to clean the class…I also didn’t ate yet…I’m kind of hungry…”Ivan explained.

This only made Yao wonder what in the world had happened for Ivan to be in such a long detention. The teachers did that when there was a big problem… 

“…Can I go inside?” The Russian asked kindly, pointing at the café. He knew that he came late and it was already closed, but he didn’t want to return home. He wanted to spend the rest of his day in a tranquil place with Yao.

“Aiyaa! Sorry Ivan, but you can’t.”Yao replied. Even if he felt really terrible with saying this, he couldn’t let someone enter the café after the closure time. It was against the rules and he seriously didn’t want to get into problems that could risk him to lose his job.

“Aww.”

“Look at you! You are all wet, you are starving and you look so tired aru! You should have headed back to your home. Why did you even came here?”Yao questioned, scolding the other for being unreasonable. After a day like that, Ivan should have just gone home and rest. It was a thing everyone would do.

“I wanted to see you…”Ivan answered. In the end, he wouldn’t have the nice and quiet rest he hoped to have with his crush. 

On the other hand, the Chinese was taken aback from this answer. He didn’t understand why Ivan was doing so many efforts to see him…but, somehow, he didn’t dislike hearing this revelation…

“I can’t open the café…but if you want, you can come with me aru.”

*** 

Ivan was wondering where Yao was going…and he was really curious to know!

When Yao told that he could come with him, Ivan simply nodded and followed him. He was sure that no matter where Yao would go, he would feel better as long as he was spending time with his crush. Though, he really wanted to know where they were going.

After walking for a few minutes, Ivan was starting to have some ideas of where Yao might bring them. The streets looked familiar, but the Russian didn’t want to have false assumptions that would raise his hopes for nothing.

However, when he had the clear confirmation of where they were going; Ivan definitely couldn’t believe his eyes. Yao was bringing him to his apartment!

From the first steps he made into the building, the Russian didn’t stop looking around and glancing at everything.

Each time he walked Yao home, he always remarked how Yao’s apartment seemed to be so nice. Now he could confirm it; Yao’s apartment was not simply nice, it was also very fancy and classy. And that was only the opinion he had with just seeing the entrance. He absolutely couldn’t wait to see Yao’s home.

Still in silence, the blond quietly followed the Chinese while looking around the place.

“It’s here.” Yao said, once they arrived in front of a specific door.

Ivan glanced at the number of the door while Yao was opening it.  Apartment number 319; he will definitely always remember this number!

After some seconds, Ivan entered Yao’s home and saw the fabulous apartment.

Well to be honest, there was nothing exceptional about the apartment, but given that it was Yao’s home, it seemed like it was such a warm and comforting place; it sure felt welcoming!

Yao took off his shoes and went to depose his school bag and umbrella at their respective place. Of course, Ivan wanted to do the same without being rude, but since he was all wet from the rain, he didn’t want to cause problems or wet the floor. Fortunately for him, it seemed like Yao read his mind.

“Don’t worry, make yourself at home. I will bring you some clothes for you to wear while you will be here. I think you will feel more comfortable with other clothes aru.”The Chinese mentioned, noticing a somehow shy behaviour from his new guest.

Before Ivan could even say a word, the Asian went to a room leaving the guest alone in the living room.

Now that Yao thought about it, he seriously didn’t know what kind of clothes he could offer to Ivan. The Russian had such a different height and weight from him; everything he would give the tall blond that belonged to him would be too small and uncomfortable. After searching for a couple a minutes, Yao decided that he didn’t had the choice but to offer him his large hello-kitty shirt…it was the only thing that would fit Ivan…

“Here Ivan, I found you some clothes. You can change yourself in the bathroom aru.”Yao stated once he came back from the room. He offered the specified clothes to Ivan and the other took it with no comment or objection. Yao was somehow relieved that the blond didn’t express a strange reaction because of the shirt.

“Thank you so much Yao.”Ivan simply said. He was grateful that his crush had been so kind to him. Yao was taking care of him and it made him feel better. 

“You are welcomed. The bathroom is the first room on the left.”

Ivan gave a warm smile before going. Yao could just reply with giving him a small smile back. It was the first time of the evening that he saw Ivan smile like that and he was relieved. He must admit that not seeing Ivan smiling like usual had been quite strange for him; he was actually glad that the other appeared to be better. The poor Ivan seemed to have had an awful day.

Yao’s thoughts were harshly interrupted by the sudden loud ring of the phone, which surprised him.

“Hello.” Yao answered the phone.

“Hi.”

“Kiku?”

Yao rapidly recognized his cousin’s voice. Though, he was pondering why the other was calling him at this hour. The Japanese went to spend the evening at a friends’ house, usually he would come home a little later than this hour; it was unusual of him to call home when he was out.

“I only wanted to tell you that I won’t be coming home tonight. My friends and I decided to change our plans at the last minute.”The Japanese explained. 

“What happened?”Yao inquired. If Kiku took the time to call him, it means that something serious happened, right?

“Nothing wrong happened. Since the weather is pretty bad outside, Feliciano invited us to stay for the night. And I think it’s a good idea…”

Yao looked outside to see that the rain was even fiercer at the moment. He had to agree that it was probably a good decision for Kiku to stay there.

“I called just to let you know. The weather will be like this all night, so I will come home tomorrow.”The cousin added.

“All night?”Yao murmured. He didn’t thought it would be raining like this for the entire night…what would happen to Ivan?

“Yes…Is there something wrong?”The cousin asked. By the tone of how Yao was speaking, it seemed like something was perplexing the older one. 

“N-no, it’s really fine.”

“Yong called me earlier. He said that he would also stay at a friend’s house after the concert. He also said he would call you eventually, but knowing him, he will probably be having too much fun to think about it.”

With the recent events, Yao almost forgot that Yong went to a music concert of his favourite singer…so that means he would be alone for the entire night?

“T-thank you for telling me about Yong aru.”

“Yao-Yao, where can I put my clothes?”Another voice suddenly asked. 

With a shocked expression on his face, the Chinese turned around to see his guest. Ivan came back from changing his clothes, however the Russian didn’t realise that Yao was on the phone before he spoke.

“…I-Is… someone there with you?”Kiku inquired. Now Kiku was the one who was perplexed with what he just heard. It was so unusual of his older cousin to invite a guest home, especially at this hour. In fact, he honestly started to wonder if his cousin wasn’t profiting of their absence to be alone...

 Plus, there was something about that voice that seemed familiar. The Japanese felt like he heard it before, but not quite enough for him to recognize it.

“N-no! I’m sorry Kiku, but I-I have to go now. Take care! See you tomorrow.” Yao quickly replied, hanging up the phone before his cousin could even say a word.

This action was followed by a very long and awkward silence. Yao truly didn’t understand why he hung up the phone so brutally. He even less knew why he wanted to keep Ivan’s visit a secret. The recent action he made was like a reflex… instead of lying he could have told the truth. After all, it wasn’t like he was actually doing something private with Ivan…why was he even thinking about that?!

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were on the phone. I hope I didn’t bother you too much da?”Ivan finally broke the silence.

“N-no, it’s fine! Don’t worry about it. You can give me your clothes I will dry them aru."The Chinese replied, taking the wet clothes that Ivan was holding.

“So..are the clothes …fine?”Yao questioned, taking a quick glance at the other. For some strange reason, he thought that his cute hello-kitty shirt fitted Ivan perfectly. It didn’t look to small on him, plus, Ivan looked rather cute in it…

“Yeah…somehow. It’s very kind of you to let me borrow them.”Ivan said. 

He did felt pretty weird wearing a hello-kitty shirt; to be honest, he never thought that he would one day wear something like this. But on the other hand, he knew that hello-kitty was one of Yao’s favourite characters, therefore his shirt was probably meaning a lot to him. Plus, the shirt was really warm; it was way better than wearing his wet and cold clothes.

The thing he disliked, though, were the jogging pants Yao gave him. It was a too tight for him and he felt a little uncomfortable, however he was sure he could bear with it.

“So you were talking to your cousin da?” Ivan asked.

“Yes… my cousin kiku won’t be coming home tonight because of the weather.”Yao clarified. Although, He didn’t even knew why he was explaining this to Ivan…

“Really?”

“Yes, he decided to stay at a friends’ house aru.”

“So where is your other cousin?”

“…Yong…he went to a music concert. He will also spend the night at his friend’s house …because of the weather…”

Ivan’s brain completely paused when he heard this information. So that means that they were all alone…in Yao’s apartment...for the rest of the night?!

“Do you want something to drink?”Yao suddenly asked, noticing that he didn’t offer anything to Ivan yet. 

This question rapidly snapped Ivan out of his thoughts. Now, was probably not the best time to think about such things, but he couldn’t help to acknowledge this situation.

“A glass of water would be great, please.”He answered.

“Don’t you want anything else? I can make tea or I have sodas if you prefer?”

“No, it’s okay. A glass of water is fine.”

“Is there something in particular you want to eat?”

“Eat?” Ivan repeated.

“Of course! You must be starving aru. I can prepare you something you like. Or if you don’t want to wait, I still have some leftovers from yesterday’s supper…but there are only a few dumplings left…”

“Did you make the dumplings yourself?”

 “Yes….”The Asian answered, not understanding why was Ivan asking this random question. 

“I want them! I want them!”The Russian exclaimed happily.

“Aiya! But there are just a few! It’s not going to fill your stomach aru.”

“Da it will! I would appreciate it if I could eat some, please.”Ivan commented politely, having the usual sweet smile he always had. Finally he would be able to taste Yao’s cooking! 

With a small sigh, the Chinese offered the dumplings to Ivan. He couldn’t say no to that, especially when the other seemed so enthusiastic. Ivan acted so cute sometimes; it made him softly blush.

 “Thank you!” Ivan hastily took a bite to savour the delicious food. He could confirm that his assumptions were right; Yao’s food tasted so good. He always was certain that Yao was a good cook.

“I can make you another food if you are still hungry after that aru.”The Chinese remarked, he doubted that a few dumplings could fill the empty stomach.  

“It’s really fine Yao. It will be enough.”Ivan said, still giving him a smile. It looked like Ivan was in a good mood again and it was great!

Yao served himself some noodles that he rapidly cooked and both of them ate the supper in silence.

“So do you want to talk about the misunderstanding you had at school earlier aru?”Yao suddenly suggested. Actually, he was curious to know what happened to Ivan. He seemed so sad earlier; even to the point of saying that his family didn’t wanted to help him.

“No, I don’t want to…”Ivan replied, he didn’t have the energy to explain everything to Yao…not now, at least. He was enjoying the tranquil and pleasant moment that he was having with his crush and he didn’t want to change it.

“Okay…it’s fine aru...” The Chinese said kindly, seeing that Ivan felt uncomfortable talking about the subject. However, he couldn’t deny that he secretly wanted to know the situation.

Without realising, the time past quite fast while they were eating and when Yao looked at the clock, he was surprised to see that it was already past 10 p.m. 

“It’s almost 10h30 p.m. aru…I know it’s none of my business, but won’t your family be worried with the fact that you didn’t come home all day and that you are still not there at this hour?”Yao inquired.

In reality, Ivan completely forgot about the fact that he had to return home eventually… if only there was a miracle that could make him stay here…

“N-no, I’m sure they aren’t worried. My father is out of the city for a job conference. He won’t be coming back until Monday.”

“What about the rest of your family?”

“I’m sure that my older sister assumed that I was at a friend’s house since I’m not home da? If she would be worried, she would have called me on my cell phone. So everything is alright.” 

Unknown to him, Ivan already had over 12 missed calls from his older sister, the reason he didn’t realised it was because his cell phone was on silent mode.

The Chinese gave a small bewildered look to Ivan. He didn’t understand how Ivan’s family could not be concerned about his absence. The Russian hasn’t come home all day and, apparently, it didn’t seem like he called them either to tell about his absence. Plus, there was an incredibly bad weather outside. How can his family not be, at least, a little worried?!

“So, you see, I can stay here as long as you want me to stay da~”Ivan chimed with a small laugh. He didn’t want to sound suspicious, but he hoped that Yao would get the small hint. After all, they were all alone…

“Is your home very far from here aru?”The Chinese questioned, he seemed still very troubled about Ivan’s situation.

“No, not much… it’s only about 45 minutes from here.”

“45 minutes?!”Yao repeated surprised to hear that.

“B-but only by walk; by car or bus it’s about 15 minutes or so.” Ivan reassured, although he thought that Yao’s expression was pretty funny.

“But it’s still a lot.”Yao added, still in shock. So that meant that every time Ivan would walk with him to his apartment after work, the Russian would arrive to his home 45 minutes later? 

Yao quickly glanced at his clock; if what Ivan said was true, the blond would arrive home pass 11 p.m. and that was only if he parted at this instant… It definitely wasn’t a time to walk on the streets, especially not with the extreme rain. In fact, it seemed that the weather was starting to get stronger and it was windier outside.

But why did he cared, it was Ivan’s problem after all…

“The weather seems to be extreme aru.I-If you don’t want to go home in this rain, you can stay here for the night…”The Chinese proposed, before really thinking of what he just said.

What did Yao proposed?! Ivan couldn’t believe it! Did he hear correctly? Yao was inviting him to stay at night in his home…when he knew that they would be all alone.

Why am I proposing this?!! Yao suddenly realised, panicking mentally. He couldn’t believe what he suggested. He proposed to his stalker—someone he yet didn’t knew how to feel about—to stay for a complete night at his home while they were all alone. Obviously, Ivan would have weird ideas about this! Ivan might act sweet and cute, but he also happened to show a really perverted mind some other times. All of the sudden, the Chinese felt somehow anxious…

“…I can really stay for the night?”The Russian questioned, making sure that he didn’t dream of this suggestion.

“Yes, i-if you want…and if you are sure it’s okay with your family. It’s too late to walk on the streets alone at this hour and it’s raining too much.”

Ivan didn’t thought it was too late to walk at this hour, however he would never say no to this proposition. How could he even say no? They would be alone…for the rest of the night…so many thoughts came to Ivan’s head all of the sudden. 

“Thanks Yao-Yao, it’s very kind of you to help me da?”He said with a sweet smile.

So Yao was indeed looking forward to spend this night alone with him? This sounded nice… Ivan wasn’t capable of hiding a very small grin. Who knows? Maybe shy little Yao was only waiting for him to flirt and make the first move? Not taking any chance, Ivan took this proposition as a hint to start seducing Yao.

Trying to look natural, the Russian moved his chair a little closer to his crush and slowly approached the other. 

“Do you want to eat something else?”The Asian asked, noticing that Ivan was looking at him like if he was about to demand something.

“No, I am really fine. Don’t worry.”The blond rapidly replied, he didn’t wanted Yao to move out of his chair. Luckily, Yao didn’t move, though he was looking at him confusedly. In the end, it still seemed like the blond wanted something. 

“Do you want some tea?” The Asian asked again.

“No. It’s very fine. Don’t be bothered with me Yao.” Ivan answered slowly getting closer and closer to the Chinese. 

 Ivan was thinking of how he should make the first move to seduce Yao. It was certain that if he would boldly embrace Yao and kiss him, the other would panic and probably be frustrated to the point of throwing him out of the apartment…sadly. And this was something he absolutely didn’t want to risk. Therefore, he must thought of a good strategy. The Chinese had one hand on the table, so maybe Ivan should naturally put his hand on Yao’s? It would be a good start...

However, at the exact moment he was about to begin his “perfect” plan, Yao moved his hand.

Ivan ended up not only disappointed, but also surprised to see that the Chinese moved to get a school notebook. It was late, why was Yao planning to do that at this hour? And more importantly, why it had at to be at the same moment that he was about to start to seduce him?!

“Yao, you have the willpower to do your homework at this hour?”The Russian pointed suddenly. It was a question that took the Asian by surprise. 

“Well a little... I couldn’t study today because I had to work and I also work tomorrow aru. I do my homework as soon as I can, so that I won’t procrastinate.” The Chinese explained. 

However, before the explanation, Ivan noticed that Yao quickly closed his math notebook once the Asian realised that he was looking at it. It was so strange…

“I am also trying to not procrastinate much this year. But you have all my admiration if you have the motivation to do your schoolwork at this hour.” The Russian commented glancing at the notebook.

“I don’t really have the choice sometimes.”The Chinese gave a big and tired sigh. He was exhausted and he truly didn’t felt like doing his homework, but he still had to find the energy to do some of them. Soon there will be exams and projects to finish; if he didn’t begin, he would be in trouble later.

“But you can leave it for Sunday da? You said you didn’t work Sunday. So maybe you could take a break and rest for now?”The Russian suggested, noticing the slight gloomy expression on Yao. He didn’t want to discourage Yao…but at the same time, maybe he could use this opportunity to make the Asian feel better and win his affection?

“Maybe, but I am late concerning mathematic class aru. There is something I didn’t understand in class and I still don’t have an idea of what it means. Soon we will have the exam and I don’t feel ready for that.”

“What?!” Ivan asked in shock when he heard the word “exam”.

“The exam will be in a few weeks aru. You didn’t know about it?” 

“No, I never heard about this. Kolkolkolkolkolkol~” He didn’t remember hearing about an upcoming exam. Perhaps next time, he should listen in class instead of daydreaming and admiring Yao.  

“Aiya! I’m sure you will be fine if you have taken the notes that the teacher gave to us in class aru.”

However, Yao’s comforting words did not help the blond. In fact, Ivan didn’t have taken many notes in class…most of his math notebooks consisted of doodles of Yao…and some were more inappropriate than others… 

“I am not sure that I will pass this exam…”The blond said, wondering of what he should do about this exam.

 “You are not the only one…”Yao murmured. He hated to admit it, but he also had doubts about this. However, he was a little relieved that he wasn’t the only one thinking that. “…But if you want, I can help you if you have problems…”He added.

 “Maybe tomorrow, after going out, we could come back here and study together…” The Chinese explained, noticing the puzzled look the blond was giving him.”...Or forget about it. I know it’s lame working on homework during the weekend aru.”The Chinese said rapidly changing his mind.

“No. Yao it’s a very good idea! I would gladly take your proposition. I’m sure I’ll understand better if Yao-Yao will explain to me da?”The blond stated beaming a smile. The mention of the upcoming mathematic exam shocked him so much that it distracted him from his recent plans of seducing Yao.

According to this new plan, after their date, Yao would bring him back to his apartment. Of course it was to “study”, but he couldn’t forget that there were probabilities that they would do something else too… 

“Aiyaa…I am not really a good teacher.”Yao mentioned trying to hide his blushing cheeks with his sleeves.

The Asian must admit that there was some part of him that felt relieved and content to see Ivan happy again. Maybe the reason why he kept proposing things to Ivan was to see him have a smile again? After all, Yao did felt bad to hear that Ivan had a bad day. He thought that Ivan deserved to be happy. 

“I’m sure I will understand better with your explanations than with the teacher’s da?”

Ivan and Yao looked at each other in the eyes for a moment without saying a word. Finally, Ivan took this opportunity to put his hand on Yao’s. He was delighted to see that it was going well and that his crush wanted to help him. In the end, his day was very strange and he didn’t know what to think about it. It was hell when he was at school, but once he met Yao, he felt like everything was perfect. It was almost like Yao was his lucky charm; always making him cheerful in some way or another.

“I-I have to wash the dishes…”The Asian embarrassedly said once he noticed the small moment Ivan and he were having. 

“Yao, don’t do that! You look exhausted.”The other replied, not releasing Yao’s hand.

“I’m fine.”

“Don’t do it. I will clean them for you tomorrow da?”

“Aiya! You are my guest. It will be rude of me to let you do that aru!”

“It will be my way to thank you. I will clean it for you tomorrow, after we’ll wake up.”The other promised. At the moment, the Russian just wanted to have Yao’s complete attention.

“T-thanks.”

“Now you should rest maybe da? You look so tired.”The Russian proposed trying to sound natural. He mischievously was still curious to know how this night will turn to be. 

“I can say the same thing for you aru! You also look tired.”The Chinese remarked.

“Then we should go to sleep maybe?” Ivan inquired with a smile. He hoped he didn’t sound too suspicious.

As a reply, Yao gave the blond one of the most precious smiles Ivan has ever seen.

“There, you can go take a shower or a bath.” He said, offering him some bath towels. “Make yourself at home aru. Meanwhile, I will be preparing our stuff for tonight.”Yao added, still having a gorgeous smile, before heading toward his room.

Preparing our stuff for tonight? These words…Ivan repeated them over and over again in his head. Maybe it was only him; but the way Yao said this seemed so…suggestive. Already starting to interpret what Yao said and what the Chinese might be doing to “prepare” for this night, Ivan went to the bathroom eager to see what was going to happen. 

(TBC)