A few moments later, Sakura emerged from the bathroom. She saw Hobi instantly. His face was stretched in a wide smile as he said something to his friend. Sakura felt her heart lurch. The sun was radiating from his face again. There was that odd thought. She’d never encountered it before.
She’d never seen anyone that seemed to shine with hope the way this man did. She found herself praying that he would turn that smile on her again. Dangerous. The man was dangerous. What if the heat of his sun began to melt the icy wall encasing her heart? And then tomorrow he left? And she was alone again. How long would it take to construct that wall again? How many arrows would make their way into her heart in the meantime?
Yet, she stared at him. She couldn’t take her eyes off his gorgeous face. It was a perfect oval. He’d dyed his hair a golden brown. But, somehow, it matched his tan skin tone. His eyes were two beautiful almonds resting beneath two dark eyebrows that mostly hid under the long fringe of his butterscotch bangs. He had a beautiful, straight nose. When his head was turned and all she could see was his profile, her eyes could slide down the straight slope of that nose. He had a stunningly lovely profile.
His mouth was still curved in that beautiful smile. His lips were truly gorgeous, the top as full as the bottom. Their color complemented his skin tone too. They were smooth and handsome, clearly well taken care of. What was she thinking? Handsome lips? She shook her head. She didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about his lips. They made her uncomfortable.
Suddenly, he turned towards her, and that smile faded. It was his eyes that captured her. Arrested, they stared into her own. Chocolate eyes. She was surrounded by dark eyes, so what was it about Hobi’s eyes that reached out and grabbed her now?
She felt like weeping again. What odd power did his eyes have over her? She seldom cried. There was no point. No one ever came to comfort her, anyway.
She cleared her throat. Blinked back her tears. Took a step forward.
“Thank you for breakfast, Hobi. I should be going now.” Breaking their perilous eye contact, she looked away from him.
“Going?” Hobi responded faintly. “You’re not coming to my practice with me? I wanted to spend the whole day with you.” He sighed. “Honestly, that’s not true. I mean, I do want to spend the whole day with you, but I won’t be able to. Most of the day, I’ll be busy coming and going on the stage. Then there’s hair and makeup and changing my outfit a zillion times in between performances. But I – I was going to invite you to stay for the concert…”
Her eyes found his again. It was the note of wistfulness in his tone that did it. “You were?” she murmured.
He nodded. “But you probably have a very busy day planned…”
She shook her head. Without intending to. Then words floated up out of her mouth without her permission. “I have the whole day free.”
Hobi’s face lit up with the light of that sun again. “Is that a yes? Will you come with me then?”
Once again, her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Her traitorous head began to nod.
Stop that! Stop that!
She tried to communicate to her neck muscles, but they just ignored her. It seemed they adored Hobi. Or maybe it was just his smile. It was magnetized, and it drew her in. Whether she wished to be caught or not.
