"This is a nice Onsen! It was a good idea we decided to come here..." James looked over at Jackson completely baffled by his announcement.

"How can you--" Jackson smothered his voice with his hand and Charlie stepped further inside my room.

"Sorry, Hazel... we'll go to our rooms. Jacks just wanted to--" Jackson then leaned over and covered Charlie's mouth with his other free hand and grinned.

"What are you three doing here?" I looked over and saw that Kai was already in his Yukata...

My whole heart seemed to stop for a moment to admire him... he looked even better than I imagined...

I tried preventing a smile from escaping onto my lips. Jackson turned around excitedly.

"Wow, so sexy. You know you could have been a model, bro..."

"Why are you here?" Kai asked, angered.

"Well it has been a while since we came back to the motherland..." Kai pushed Jackson away with his hand and looked over at me.

"You probably need help with the Yukata?" I blushed a little. It sounded a bit... from him...

"Kai..." James said and Kai realized how it must have sounded. He cleared his throat. Jackson then playfully turned around.

"Don't worry, I'll help. I'm an expert in these things..." he stepped towards me but James held onto the collar of his shirt instead.

"We'll meet you in your room, Kai. They'll be sending dinner there, I'm assuming?" James asked and Kai nodded.

I remembered Nathan telling me that he was staying in the Kumoi suite like Kai... I think there was a larger space for dining and they had a private outdoor hot spring bath...

"Wait! Wait!" Jackson said and everyone went silent: "why are you deciding for everyone suddenly?"

"Oh, do you want me to tell you the reason why?" James said and Jackson shook his head in defeat. Charlie nodded towards me before they all left.

"Jackson..." Kai murmured and it suddenly dawned on me.

"That's why he wanted to know where we were staying..." Kai turned to me and I tried to smile... Jackson asked me a while ago and I was too naive in thinking he wouldn't pull something like this. When he got here he probably saw that we weren't at the hotel and just 'casually' asked me what we were up to and I told him about the Ryokan Onsen we were staying at...

"I'll have one of the women here help you..." I raised my hand briefly before he left and sighed... moments later someone did come in and help me.

Afterwards, I went to Kai's room where everyone was already gathered, I couldn't believe how luxurious this room was and it wasn't the most 'special' room you could have here at Yunoshimakan... the veranda was larger than mine and it had a tea room... there were wooden figurines in the room, one of which I noticed was a squirrel...

When I approached the dining table, which had an incredible spread of plated food, I wondered what kind of filial and selfless person I was in another lifetime to see a group of handsome men in Yukata's. All in one room... I felt like a swan in comparison to the blindingly bright beauties in front of me.

"Come, sit over here!" Jackson called out. It's not like I had any reason not too, but before I did Kai had come over and sat next to him. I was curious about why he moved... so was everyone else who was staring at him. But he kept his composure after sitting down properly. He then reached over to grab some chopsticks and began eating.

"Hazel..." I walked over to Charlie when he called out to me. We all began eating together... I swore I could see the sparks in each of Kai and Jackson's eyes as they ate...

"So, how did business go today?" James asked, finally breaking the tension.

"As well as it possibly could. You know how many people favour Kai as soon as they meet him."

James nodded while reaching for some pickled vegetables.

The night continued on and when people came to bring us sake the tension seemed to be drowned out even further. Jackson had his arm around Kai wobbling back and forth singing a popular Japanese pop song.

After some time I thought about going to one of the outdoor Onsen's. When I excused myself I moved a little awkwardly and hit a small tea cup. It spilt over the front of my Yukata. I saw Kai stand immediately. Jackson's head flopped onto the ground when he did.

"Did you burn yourself?" I shook my head as he asked. He seemed a little embarrassed by immediately standing up. He sat down as Jackson sat up. He saw the stain on my shirt and then started crawling towards me.

"Lemme help..." Jackson mumbled but Kai held the back of his Yukata and pulled him back.

"I will..."

I was a little shocked by this turn of events and the pace of this conversation...

"No I... I can just..." but before I knew it Kai was already there helping me up. He excused himself with me and we exited his room.

Outside of the hall Kai took held onto one of my sleeves and brought me forward.

"They need to specially wash these... you'll have to get a new one..."

I suddenly felt embarrassed...I was a little flustered by his immediate actions so my heart was racing again...

"Over here..." he said... he brought us to the front desk to ask for another Yukata.

He then took me back to my room so I could change. He told me he'd wait for me outside. Shortly after I undressed a young woman came in with a new Yukata. I apologized several times but she was incredibly understanding about the situation.

When I exited my room I couldn't look Kai in the eye...

"You should be careful next time..." I nodded and I was finally able to look up at his expression... this was one of the first times in a while we had locked our gazes into one another's... it almost seemed like there was something he wanted to say to me... but I couldn't quite figure it out...

When he turned away from me I thought about how things like this would really be bad for my heart... he started walking forward and I followed.

Moments later, though, I tripped on something on the ground so I fell forward. But Kai had already turned around and caught me in his arms...

I looked up at him as he slowly helped me back up to my feet. I felt my cheeks flush and my heart race. It was an intoxicating feeling being this close to him again...

I wondered what he was thinking about, but I didn't dare say anything...

While we were lost in each other's gaze again... I heard a loud shrill in the background. We both turned and I squinted a little into the distance. I couldn't believe who was charging in our direction...

Natalie.

And not too far behind her was Luca, who was smiling at me...

I sighed deeply to myself...

If Rae showed up here, I would think the entire universe was conspiring against me...