"Thank you sooo much, Ash!"

"Thanks again, bro! You're a lifesaver!"

"Yeah, yeah, now get the hell out of my face." It was Ash's way to tell them to enjoy their date, okay?

Kaden and Leila chuckled as they closed the main door after them. Ash thought there was no harm in babysitting their daughter. He had nothing better to do anyway now that he no longer talked to Misty, and Kaden's daughter wasn't as noisy as Mark's sons (he hoped). This was the very first time he'd babysit his niece. Leila didn't have a job so they only needed Ash's help in special occasions.

Ash turned around, and found Vivian facing him and carrying a handful of pens, a notebook and a doll.

"Can I play after I finish homework, uncle Ash?" She tilted her head.

"Euh, yeah?" Ash blinked, not sure he's heard right.

"Yay!"

Ash smiled and followed after her to the living room. She sat down on the couch and grabbed her book, and Ash sat on the ground, rested his back against the bottom of the couch and grabbed his book from the coffee table.

Reading was a little hobby he's developed in college. Ash filled his spare time with reading back then instead of hitting the bars and getting wasted. It was Gary who introduced him to literature after they found themselves in the same dorm room. It was a 'secret' other people didn't know about Gary Oak or Ash Ketchum.

Unfortunately, he's also passed on the smoking habit, but for Ash, it stayed as a habit during his reading sessions (thankfully).

If Gary read all kind of books, Ash read adventure, romance and erotica (as girly and perverted as it may sound). Misty did know Ash read books (she had no idea what kind of books, though). He's tried getting her interested but vain.

Today's book was romance. It turned out to be a little bit too cliché for Ash's taste, but not finishing a book he's started wasn't an option.

Ash turned around to check on Vivian, who was pretty busy drawing on her book. He turned to his book, and after flipping over the page, he realized he was reading a kissing scene:

Haruki's hand made its way to Sakura's back. In a brusque and quick way, he stopped walking and had her gracious body pressed against his. Her slender body moved following the moves in a harmony. Haruki's free hand pushed the brunette's short bangs out of her face and pressed his lips against hers, tasting of her cherry flavored lip gloss. Their legs touched, their torsos touched, and their bodies united, one appreciating the heat and the ease emitting from the other's body and forgetting about the chill of the night.

Ash smiled. Oh, romance, always stuffing a forbidden relationship into the story.

They parted away from each other slowly. Sakura buried her head into her lover's chest; Haruki placed a hand over her head and stroked her hair in a gentle manner, his gaze fixed somewhere else.

Sakura closed her eyes and went in deep thought.

Her whole little affair with Haruki added drama to her life. Sakura loved the attention, the action, the care. Hiroshi was boring. He was always busy with something other than her. Maybe she was smitten with him, but he doesn't know how to treat a girl right; he doesn't do these little gestures that make your heart flutter or your cheeks blush; he could compliment you, but it's just not the same as taking you to for a cup of coffee, surprise you by your door, hide behind you and give you a rose or send you a sweet goodnight text.

Sakura could go on like this for hours, because Haruki always had a sweet gesture in mind. She was always on his mind. She meant something for him. He never took her for granted. He is always trying to win her over.

It's what a girl wants; treating her like you're always trying to win her over.

"This book is getting boring..." Ash didn't really expect this. He thought maybe he could make an exception and switch to another book, but he soon shrugged it off.

"You know about Hiroshi. Why did you kiss me?" She asked, finally making eye contact with him.

Haruki cleared his throat. "I love you, Sakura."

"You shouldn't have kissed me." She wanted to put him into test. She wanted to know if he really loved her.

"I'm sorry, but I love you. I don't care about anyone else. I can't take it anymore."

He grabbed her face again, a little too violently this time. His lips locked into hers-

"Okay, we get it, you love her." Ash whispered. He chuckled as he closed the book and got up. Vivian looked up when he did.

"Are you done with homework, Vivi?" Ash checked her book.

"Not yet!"

"Okay, finish it. I'll be back in a second, okay?"

"Okay!"

Ash grabbed the book (he didn't want Vivian around his book), checked he had the cigarettes pack inside his pocket and headed out to the porch. He lighted up a cigarette as he made sure he kept an eye on Vivian through the glass. Oh, beautiful, this girl was so calm. She saved Ash so much pain.

He smiled and turned to look in front of him, his gaze blank.

"You know about Hiroshi. Why did you kiss me?"

Ash inhaled, lifted his head up and exhaled slowly. He thought about how Misty reacted when he kissed her...

"Why would you do that? I have a boyfriend!"

Ash smile faded.

"You shouldn't have kissed me." She wanted to put him into test. She wanted to know if he really loved her.

He took another pull in a manner that showed his hesitance.

"Ash, this is not the subject! You're changing the subject! Why would you kiss me like that?"

"Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you, okay? I shouldn't have. Now, bye."

"WRONG ANSWER!" Ash shouted to himself. "That was the wrong answer! I should have told her I loved her!"

A few people who were on the street turned to stare at him, and Ash didn't give two sh*ts about them. He had other stuff worth worrying about now. "Now she thinks I kissed her because I'm a deprived sick pervert!"

Ash paced back and forth around the porch, smoking the cigarette quickly. "No! No! That's not it! It wasn't supposed to look like that!"

Ash knew he had to do something about this. He was NOT a pervert. He may read a little bit of erotica but he was not a pervert and he never thought about making a move on Misty without her consent. Misty was too precious for him.

God, now she probably thinks he's dangerous to have around.

"Damn it! Damn me! I should go see her and now!" Ash smashed the half smoked cigarette on the ashtray on the porch table and stormed inside the house. He grabbed his keys, his coat and phone and made his way to the main door again, when he remembered he was babysitting the little Vivian who sat peacefully on the couch and colored her drawings...

"Uncle? Where are we going? What's going on?" Vivian spoke from the back seat of Ash's car. Leila and Kaden were probably going to kill him for taking their four years old daughter to Cerulean so late at night, but Ash knew leaving Vivian home alone wouldn't be wiser either.

And he needed to see Misty, and now.

"Just watch and learn, Vivi."

"Whaat?"

This was going to be one good interesting and decisive night.

To be continued.