Chapter 47 – The Butthead Boyfriend

     His phone kept ringing like crazy, and it was still just five in the morning. Daniel silently groaned and blindly searched for his phone under his pillow. He was mumbling to himself about how late it was— without realizing the actual time. When he finally found his phone, he took it from under his pillow and pressed answer without even opening his eyes or bothering to see who it was. As he placed it on his ear, he yawned, not caring about the person on the other line.

       "Daniel-san, ohayo gozaimasu," a familiar voice snapped his eyes open. "How are you today?"

     He resisted the urge to scoff. There was absolutely no doubt that it was that bald-head Richard Yao speaking on the other line. That guy was calling to ask him how he was? He has got to be joking. Daniel reluctantly sat up on his bed in annoyance and held his head. "What do you want?"

       "Patience, Daniel-san," Mr. Yao deeply chortled. "I only wish to remind you of meeting after New Year. You remember, yes?"

     'Patience your butt,' was what he wanted to say, but rolled his eyes instead. He just didn't like this guy. He laid his back on his bed again; he was still tired and was planning to take another nap after this useless phone call. "Yeah. I'll be there after the New Year's."

     He heard a soft mumbling on the other line but chose to ignore it. He wanted to hang up as soon as possible. Before he could attempt to close his phone, Mr. Yao spoke again.

       "Ah. I met your otou-san two day ago."

     Daniel sighed again. His otou-san? His dad? He had a feeling this conversation wasn't going to be over as soon as he had hoped. "So?"

       "I have been informed about your engagement." Mr. Yao replied. "I shocked to hear about it. How admirable Daniel-san, you a lady-killer no?"

     Daniel almost laughed. What a surprising choice of words. He chose not to reply, so the man behind the other line continued to speak.

       "This Poopy of yours," he said. Daniel's eyes widened from the mention of that nickname. "She pretty I see. I have lot of picture of her. My son a big fan of her after seeing her picture."

     He abruptly sat up his bed again, his sleepiness gone in an instant. He felt irritated all of a sudden.

       "Where did you get the pictures?" he stiffly asked as he tightened his grip around his phone.

     Mr. Yao seemed to be satisfied with his tone of voice.  He was actually anticipating it. "From internet. My son has this account on network called facebook."

     This has got to be one sick joke. Putting that aside, he paused and thought for a while. Did Kristina have a facebook account? That seemed very unlikely. He thought Mr. Yao was lying. "She doesn't have an account."

       "No," he laughed again. "My son saw it on other person's profile. Some girl called Ella Maxwell. She a good friend of Anne-chan I see."

     Daniel groaned internally. Ella. That crazy girl... He should have known. He scratched his head vigorously as he furrowed his brows. How did it turn out like this? He suddenly felt that something big was coming. Above all things, he didn't want Kristina to get involved with this type of matter.

     Noticing how bothered he was because of his silence, Mr. Yao added. "You love her?"

     Irritated, he replied. "What do you care? Get your old nose out of my personal life."

     The man made an amused laugh. "Daniel-san embarrassed. Kawaii-ne!"

     Daniel thought he was going to throw up. Now that man was calling him cute? Is he freakin' serious?! His blood was boiling just from the tone of his voice, but now he was actually teasing him? He hated to admit it but why was he affected?

       "Is that the reason why you disturbed me from my sleep? To tell me that?"

     Mr. Yao replied after his good laugh. It took another five seconds of silence before he replied, Daniel was getting impatient. "I hear Anne-chan come for you and that boy. How is she?"  

     He sighed under his breath. So it was Anne he wanted to ask about after all. He was sort of expecting this therefore he wasn't that surprised. This man always had a soft spot for his niece. He always disliked Kristopher though. Daniel wondered how he would react if he knew about his favourite niece going out with the boy he despised the most. He grinned.

       "Tops is taking care of her. She's pretty much happy I suppose," he said, hoping to get that old man's nerves popping. And sure enough, Mr. Yao didn't sound pleased with his reply.

       "Ittai nani?"     (What the hell?)

       "Yup, both of 'em are getting too close that one might wonder about their relationship. What do you think? Could there be a potential romance between those two?" Daniel smugly replied. He already knew that his two best friends were going out, but he only wanted to return the favour to Mr. Yao by giving him unwanted information as well.

     He was responded by a satisfying silence, so Daniel spoke instead. He wanted to torment him until he hangs up. "Anne gets easily flustered nowadays. I wonder what Tops did."

       "How is it possible that they get together? That boy left Anne-chan, Anne-chan was hurt. He should not be forgiven."

     Daniel bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. That old man still remembers that? Around that time when Kristopher left home to become a celebrity, Mr. Yao always found his favourite niece in a daze. He knew she was heartbroken. That was the time he started to think badly of him. Starting from that day, he regarded Kristopher as nothing but a pest.

     "Well, Anne forgave him," Daniel replied with a cool tone. "It's time you should too."

       "Sonna," he quickly replied. "Anata no itoko wa gushadearu. Watashi wa anata ga onajide wa arimasen negatte imasu."      (Never. Your cousin is a fool. I hope you are not the same.)

     He spoke so quickly that he didn't care if Daniel didn't understand. What he didn't know was that Daniel did, so he was surprised when Daniel gave him a reply with that same language.

       "Sō kantande ano baka o handan shite wa ikenai. Kare wa orokade wa arimasen."     (Don't judge that idiot so easy. He's not that stupid.)

     He intended to somehow defend his cousin, but the way he replied came out kind of wrong, but it was close anyway, so whatever. He didn't really care. He was slowly losing interest in their topic. He easily got bored and whenever he did, it was Kristina he would always bother. Speaking of, what is she doing today? He wanted to come over and tease her again; after all, today would be the first official day of their relationship— arranged by themselves this time. But before that, he needed to finish this stupid phone call first.

      He heard Mr. Yao laugh. "You know Japanese! Amazing Daniel-san! As expected from child-prodigy."

      That title again. He just wished people would drop it already. He hated to be called that. When he was still in Europe, it was like that damn title was stamped on his forehead because everywhere he went, people would either stare at him as if he was a god, whisper to each other, flirt with him or even ask for his autograph. It was annoying.

     The story of how he attained that title was never forgotten, yet he tried his best to erase it from his memory. He regretted entering that competition and taking that stupid test. That was where he was discovered.

     He covered his eyes with the back of his arm. "Don't call me that. Mr. Yao, is that all? I have matters to attend to."

       "Of course," he replied, sounding like he remembered something he should've been doing. "You need to meet your wife yes?"

     "She's not my wife... yet," Daniel mumbled. Before Mr. Yao could reply again, he hung up the phone. This conversation could go on forever. He threw his phone on his pillow and went to his bathroom to take a shower.

*

       "One week," Kristina mumbled upon mopping the floor. She woke up bright and early today so she could finish up the cleaning they didn't get to complete yesterday—a believable excuse but the real reason was because she wanted to straighten out her thoughts about him. "One week," she said again as if she was chanting.

     She paused for a short while and then groaned, rubbing her temple like a troubled old lady. "One week, seven days, too short. Ugh." She checked their wall clock; it was still a quarter to eight. She realized that she didn't really get much sleep last night after what happened. Last night...

     After a tiny memory fleeted within her mind, she narrowed her eyes and blushed, still keeping a straight face. She hated feeling flustered like this. She dropped the mop off their cabinet and decided to relax in the place she felt most comfortable at—their backyard garden.

     She passed through the door behind the kitchen and immediately breathed in the freshness of morning. Kristina studied the small field and noticed how the Bermuda grass has been left untrimmed all these time. Sitting on the wooden platform, she began to reminisce about her childhood days with that idiot.

       "Ew," she suddenly scrunched her nose in disgust. "I'm turning into those cheesy girls I see in TV. Bleech. This is all that butthead's fault."

       "Why my fault?" Daniel appeared behind her. She yelped in surprise and ended up punching his arm as he sat down beside her.

       "Are you that determined to give me a heart-attack?! How long were you standing there anyway?!"

     Daniel just grinned and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to his side. Kristina just got more irritated. "Just now. I saw the lights turned on so I knocked a few times but no one answered, so I just came in."

     Kristina gave up struggling from his grasp, knowing that it'll be pointless anyway, and hit his chest instead. "Stupid."

     Daniel released her and linked his fingers on hers. Kristina felt her cheeks threatening to rise in color again. When she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, her head automatically snapped to face him. She just noticed him wearing the muffler she gave him the night before. "T-That..!"

       "Oh this?" he gave her a smug smile upon patting the soft material around his neck. "I got this from my girlfriend slash fiancée yesterday. You like?"

     The way he said it wasn't helping the situation. Kristina literally had to slap her own chest to stop it from exploding. She buried her face under her knees and mumbled irritatingly to Daniel. "Take that off! What if somebody sees it?!"

     He couldn't help but laugh. "That's why I wore it. I want to boast this to everybody that my girlfriend made it just for me."

     Kristina's blush deepened. "S-Shut up..."

       "Why are you so shy anyway?" Daniel continued to tease. He was still a bit irritated with that call he got earlier, and his way of pouring out steam was by teasing his lovely Poopy. "After doing this and that with me in here and there you're still embarrassed with something as trivial as this?"

     Her face reddened, this time it was because of anger and annoyance. She glared at him with all her might and yelled. "What do you mean doing this and that in here and there?! Stupid butthead! You're making it sound like—" she stopped in her words. Actually, she didn't know what else to say.

       "Like?" he pressed with a smirk on his face.

       "Forget it." She cut the conversation and turned her face away from him. Somehow she wanted to smack herself. Why was she always picking a fight with him? She was already used to his constant teasing wasn't she? She didn't want to spend the last week with him like this.

     Daniel smiled and just stayed silent.

       "By the way," she started. "Why are you here anyway? It's way too early."

       "Ah," he replied. He suddenly gave Kristina a tight side-hug. "That's right. I woke up because some weird hobo called me and told me a lot of disturbing things."

     She pushed his arm away but it had no specific effect. She groaned in frustration. "What's that got to do with everything?"

       "He knows you and Ella. It seems that his son has a big crush on you too." Daniel simply said.

     Alarmed by this sudden revelation, Kristina looked at him in shock and confusion. Nervously, she pointed a finger to herself. "A... A h-hobo knows me and Ella..?"

       "Pfft..." Daniel snorted as he turned around to avoid her gaze. She actually believed it!

     Irritated and embarrassed by her own naivety, she blushed and frowned at him. "That wasn't funny butthead!"

     He faced her again with a cheerful smile. He was still hugging her sideways so he had the privilege of seeing her wonderful expression in full-view, high-definition. "He's not exactly a hobo, but I prefer to call him that. There's not much of a difference anyway... except for the lack of hair that is."

     Kristina noticed how calm his face was upon saying this, but his eyes seemed a bit tense. She didn't understand it too, but she just knew there was something going on. "So you know this guy?"

       "More or less," he mumbled. "He's kinda the reason why I moved to Europe back when I was a boy, and why I'm going back again next week."

     Her eyes shot open like wide saucers. What was with that sudden information? Was it true? She wanted to know more. Why was she only being told about this now? "Who is he?"

     Daniel shrugged his shoulders and tightened his hug on purpose. "No one you should pay any attention to. Say, where do you wanna want us to go before I leave?"

     He nonchalantly changed the subject again. Kristina just hated it every time he did that. He was finally giving her an important piece of information, yet he still manages to evade the topic. She grumbled internally and just decided to let it slide. If he doesn't want to tell her then fine. She didn't want to press further. He'll tell her when he needs to. She'll just have to wait until then, even though she didn't know if she could. Besides, she might not like what she'll find if she insists on knowing information she isn't ready to hear yet.

       "Wherever your butt of a head wants," she bitterly replied to his question.

       "Okay," Daniel countered. "Then let's go to a love hotel and get a head-start with those grandchildren auntie Lizzy keeps—"

     She didn't even let him finish. She grabbed a hold of his jaw and made a lame attempt to crush it with her palm. "Keep talking butthead! Keep talking!"

       "Oh, speaking of," Daniel said as if he wasn't being hit. "Remember the hundred kisses deal?"

     Her grip softened and she immediately glared at him to conceal her flustered expression. "What about it?!"

       "I was wondering when and how I'll kiss you," he started rambling, in hopes of making her forget about her current problems. He knew she was troubled with her thoughts again, and he knew that he was the reason. "Maybe at the airport before I leave. Just like in those movies you always make fun of, I'll kiss you there."

       "HAAA?!" Kristina roared. Good. At least her mind is focused on one thing now.

     She remembered about the night when they completed that deal, but not exactly completed. It wasn't finished because Daniel purposely left it at only ninety-nine kisses and one kiss short. Until now, she didn't understand his reasons.

       "Before our new deal takes action, we have to finish the old one right?"

       "What are you yapping about?! You sound like a kid!!!"

       "Like you don't? Do you even hear yourself everyday?"

       "Wha?!!" she screamed angrily, then stopped and narrowed her eyes. What was she doing again? Why was she getting mad again? It was true what Daniel said after all. She always did sound and act like a kid. She pouted and groaned in defeat.

     Daniel smiled at her quick change of expressions and made her look at him so they could face each other properly. She still had that sour face on but he kept his sweet smile on. He felt like he was starting to act like a girl with that foolish grin of his, but whatever. Kristina stared at him curiously and waited for what he was about to say.

       "We're going on a short vacation along with Anne, Tops, Ella and Sean tomorrow until Saturday. Three days and two nights in Tops' villa."

     Kristina didn't reply. She just blinked at him, waiting for further explanation. Since when did he plan this?

       "Actually, Tops invited us yesterday at the party, but I guess you didn't hear him because you were too occupied with thinking about me." Daniel continued, still grinning like he won the lottery.

     His last sentence popped a vein in her head. Instead of transforming into her inner demon again, she sucked in a breath and sighed very heavily. She glared at him again. "Where is that octopus-head's villa located?"

     Daniel never changed his goofy expression. He just felt so happy with seeing her face. "Dunno."

       "You don't know?" Kristina repeated. Daniel nodded his head nonchalantly. Again, she sighed a deep breath, releasing her anger... until Daniel opened his mouth again.

       "You know you're really getting good at controlling your anger. I guess, I'd humbly take credit for it Poopy."

     A tiny vein throbbed in her head as she continued to take deep breaths. Daniel was actually expecting her to hit him, but instead, she roughly released herself from his embrace and walked away. Kristina went to the living room, took her phone and went back to their original spot. Daniel just stared at her actions curiously.

     She leaned her head against his shoulder and took his other arm and put it around her shoulder herself. Confused, Daniel stayed silent but continued watching her. She tapped her phone and placed it on her ear. She was trying to make a call, obviously.

       "Hello?" Kristina began. "Anne? Yeah this is Tina. Uh-huh. He's with me now. I know. Sure. So can you text me all the details later? Alright. Nine am? Got it. Thanks, bye."

     She placed the phone down and took a short breath before sighing again. Daniel was really confused with her change of behaviour right now. Did he do something? He felt his body stiffen when Kristina quietly snuggled her face on his arm like a lovable kitten.

     Mechanically, he turned his head to look at her. When she noticed this, she raised her head to meet his eyes, then gave him the most adorable smile she didn't know she had. Heat rose in his cheeks as Kristina laughed and gently flicked his forehead.

       "You're always bluffing when in truth you're so weak, butthead."

     Daniel forced a laugh, still recovering. "Only to you. Why are you torturing me?"

       "Taste your own medicine," she said. She leaned closer to him, and a little while later, her head was comfortably resting on his shoulder. Daniel did the same thing—he laid his head on hers and sighed. Kristina held the hand that was around her shoulder. She slightly turned away as she prepared to say something she felt embarrassed about.

       "You're my boyfriend slash fiancé right? Then why did you look so tense and embarrassed just a while ago?"

     Daniel laughed for real this time. This time, Kristina blushed with her own words that she even winced when those words of hers echoed in her head. Daniel moved his head a bit and buried his nose on her hair. Taking in a decent breath as well as inhaling her sweet, lavender-shampoo scent, Kristina felt him smile.

       "You're too sly, Poopy."

      She laughed in reply and playfully hit his chest. "Right back at you, Sir Peanut Butthead."

............................................................................................................

A/N: Sorry this one's a bit of a filler. The next chap will be their winter vacation to Kristopher's villa. Prepare for another wacky chapter :PP And after that chap, Daniel will leave. D:

Oh, and about that whole "child-prodigy" thing about Daniel, it'll be explained a few chapters later. Another set of characters are waiting to be introduced at EUROPE. Haha. Next update will be next week. :)

Stay tuned as always guys!