Hopes Despair

Chapter 4

I sat in silence as Tsengs drove out of the Shinra tower carpark. Tseng never let anyone sit in his car, let alone drive them anywhere. So I was surprised when he had told me he was ‘driving my insubordinate arse home’. So here we were alone in his flashy car, me on the verge of breaking down with grief and Tseng just staring ahead at the road. “When did it happen?” I asked merely to break the silence. “Does it matter?” he replied stoically
‘Shit. What is wrong with him’ all I could do was stare at him in shock. “Yes” I replied angrily “I think I deserve to know when my friend died” Tseng just continued to stare at the road in front of him.
“Reno…we did…he died protecting you” with those word I saw something that I had never seen before. Regret. “Reno. I will give you the answers in which you search. Just be patient with me till then”
I began to demand an answer but decided against it when Tseng shot me a deathly glance. “Reno. Patience” the authority in his voice making realise how much he didn’t want to talk about the situation again. I turned back to the window and sat in silence for the rest of the journey to my apartment.
As we pulled up to the my apartment block Tseng slowed the car down “Do you trust me Reno?”
“What?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes”
He acknowledged my reply with a satisfied nod. He stopped the car completely in the shadows of the buildings and just sat staring out the window. Then he turned to me with a concerned look on his face “You don’t remember do you?” he mumbled. I was beginning to become concerned when Tseng continued to stare. “What is going on Tseng? Why are we just sitting here?”
Then I saw something odd. I could see lights coming from my apartment. “Hey someone’s robbing me!” I went to jump out of the car, when Tseng grabbed my arm. “Don’t Reno. Just wait” I shook free from Tseng’s grip and got out of the car. “Hey I might live in a dump. But it’s my fucking dump, and I ain’t gonna let no stinking body rob me” I slammed the door closed and ran towards my apartment. I could hear Tseng calling my name, but I didn’t care. Well that was until I heard what Tseng called out “They will kill you Reno” his voice completely stoic.
I slid to a halt only being, stopped by my feet giving way under me. I landed hard on back, winding myself for what seemed like an eternity. Tseng walked over to me, keeping in the shadows of the building. “Reno. Are you ok?” his voice soft with annoyance. “Err…I think so.” I managed to reply between gasps of air.
Tseng extended his hand to help me back to my feet. “What’s going on here Tseng?”
I took hold of his hand and pulled myself up, accidentally falling into him from the momentum. Tseng caught me hard against his chest as he lost his balance and fell backwards, with me following him down. He let a brief sound as he landed hard on his back, still holding onto me. We lay on the ground briefly mostly in shock. I looked down at Tseng whom had a rather un-amused look on his face. “I know. I know” I got up slowly as Tseng grabbed hold of my collar and pulled me inches from his face, he warm scent drifting in my senses. “Reno. Why did you do that?” His voice filled with anger. ‘Err cause I’m an idiot’ I did the only thing I could of think of in the situation, well it had always work before on my lady friends. I closed my eyes, leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. His body tensed up faster then super glue sticks your tongue to a table (again don’t ask). His grip tightened on my collar as continued with the embrace, I brought my hand up caress the side of his face. The next thing I knew I was seeing stars as I felt a sharp pain in my groin. Tseng rolled me off him as he climbed back to his feet. “Reno. What the fuck are you doing?” stoically as ever. He glared at me for a moment until, his attention was diverted by the screeching of car tires. I looked over to see my beloved car swinging around the corner out of sight “My car” I cried out in shock. Tseng just ‘hmmed’ to himself and walked back to they car “You coming?” I slowly climbed to an upright position sitting on the side of the road, staring at where my car had disappeared. A low murmuring broke me out of my thoughts of murdering whomever stole my car, I looked up to see Tseng’s car purring in front of me. The door opened slightly, I sat for few minutes until Tseng started to cough ‘guess that’s a sign to get in’ I got up slowly and slid into the car. Tseng just sat staring ahead “Why’d you find it necessary to kiss me?” I could see his jaw tensing up “Did I give you any sign?” His eyes looked completely void of emotion. Then he turned towards me and raised his hand, I flinched, closing my eyes waiting for the inevitable blow but it never came. I opened up my eyes slowly to see Tseng watching me, his hand smoothing back my hair “I’m sorry about kneeing you” The slightest bit of emotion showing. “You just caught me off guard I wasn’t expecting you to…” his voice trailing off. “Well I just…let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again” He regained his composure focusing back to the road ahead “I think it’s safe now.” He drove the car slowly up to my building, parking the car in the alley beside the apartment building.
As we walked up to my front door, Tseng placed a hand on my shoulder softly squeezing. I was beginning to wonder what had happened to make him so concerned about going into my apartment. “Don’t be shocked if the place is a mess” I smirked as I opened the door. My jaw dropped as I saw the absolute mess that greeted me when my door swung open “What the fuck happened…My place is fucking clean” I walked through the door suspiciously. “Rude thought it would be a nice surprise…”He squeezed my shoulder again. “He…Let’s just get you some clothes and we can get going” He walked past and headed down the hallway towards my bedroom leaving me slacked jawed. “Where are we going?” remembering the order. I could hear Tseng going through my cupboards mumbling to himself over the mess ‘Rude cleaned up’ a tear began to form as I remembered that my partner was no-longer…he was ‘dead’. “Reno! Don’t you own any underwear?” Tseng emerged from the bedroom hold a pathetic pile of clothing “This is all you own?” baffled by my lack of wardrobe. I smirked in reply. He shook his head in disapproval and walked over to the lounge where he dumped my entire cupboard. He hesitated looking down at the lounge for a moment, as if remembering something important. “Reno. How many…” not quite sure what to say “We should be going” he turned back to me “Do you have a bag to put your clothes into?” I nodded. Tseng continued to look at me obviously a nod was not enough of an answer. “Err. Yeah” I walked back down the hallway, returning a moment later with a small duffle bag. “Here you go” I handed the bag over to Tseng who took it and packed the clothes away is his usual neatly folded way. I couldn’t help but stare at him, Tseng has this way of giving off either a cold hard exterior or on brief occasions like now a less threatening disposition. After watching him for a while, I had the urge to go up to him and stroke his hair. I thought back to just before I accidentally fell into him how his hair had felt against my face so soft and silky. I was pulled back to reality, from my hair fantasy by Tseng giving me a cold stare. “What?” then I realised what he was looking at. Somehow during my fantasy I had managed to become hard. I could feel my face begin become hot as I reddened from embarrassment. “Just thinking of the last time I was on the…so should we be going” I stammered. Tseng cocked his eyebrow and walked past me towards the door, turned and whispered in my ear “I don’t believe you even remember the last time. They’re all one conquest to you” then he left. I was left semi hard, blushing and confused. Reminds me of the time Tseng had caught me in my office with one of my conquests. I spun around once I was sure everything was back where they should be and followed Tseng out the door, I quickly looked back at my lounge room ‘thank you Rude’ then closed the door.