The Crazy Art Called Love

3 | The Day of A Third Wheel

~~Lloyd's POV~~

The second I got home yesterday, I was greeted with lots of questions about how the 'date' went. Not one about how I was feeling. Which was exhaustion from the drive back home and certainly not about spending the day with Harumi.

"Where did you guys go?" Kai was the first to ask when I entered the courtyard.

"What did you do?" Jay jogged to my right as I tried to walk faster.

"Come on, you have to tell us something!" Cole demanded and I came to a stop.

I opened my phone and showed them one of the pictures Harumi and I took while waiting in line.

"Aw! You two are so cute." Nya cooed as they all tried to get a look of the photo on my phone.

"I can't see!" Kai was practically jumping up and down from behind the small crowd that was gathered in front of me.

I turned off my phone and placed it back in my pocket.

"If you guys don't mind, I would like to take a shower and get some rest." I stated before walking back into the monastery.

During dinner, news seemed to travel fast because now my mother was asking questions.

"Who is she, son?" She asked before munching on her food.

"Yeah, we never really got her name." Cole pointed out and took a bite into his chicken.

I sigh and contemplated for a bit. I wonder how they would react if I kept it a mystery.

"I'm not telling." I teased which made everyone in the room groan.

"Why not?" Kai pleaded.

"She did look rather familiar. I wonder if we have met her before." Zane pondered for a bit which was weird because the only time I have ever seen her was during our time at the beach.

"Can we at least get some details about your date?" Jay pushed and I decided not to speak about it anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few days since my cliff jumping trip with Harumi. We kept in touch and I never missed any of her messages. Today, I was helping Zane and Pixal work on some inventions they needed help with.

I'm pretty sure it was just their tactic to get me to talk about what happened but surprisingly, neither of them bothered to ask.

"Why exactly am I here?" I asked breaking the silence for none of them had spoken for a few minutes. Pixal lifted her welding mask and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Don't get me wrong, I like helping you guys but you look like you have everything under control."

"We know the other ninja would continue to push you for answers about your date." Zane started to explain.

"So we took the liberty and saved you from hours of questions." Pixal finished and they smiled at each other.

Their chemistry never went unnoticed. If you shared a heart with someone, it's not that hard to easily get along with your other half. I sighed and nodded in understanding. I wonder when I will have someone to complete sentences with.

After helping Zane and Pixal, it was Kai and Skylor's turn to drag me around Ninjago city. Despite my protests that I did not want to interrupt their date, they insisted on bringing me which is how I ended up in Kai's car speeding through the city.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We're going to do some food tasting at Skylor's restaurant." Kai explained and kept one hand on the wheel with the other holding his girlfriend's.

"I insisted you come because I have some new recipes I wanted to try and I knew Kai would say they're all good." She rolled her eyes teasingly at him which made him smirk.

"But they are!"

"Yeah right. Darreth said the soup was too salty and you said it was perfect." Skylor crossed her arms.

"That was one time!" Kai defended and I knew they would start flirting so I took out my phone and texted the one person I knew would brighten my day.

Me: Rumi!!

Me: Are you there?

Me: Hello??

Rumi: Hii Lloyd.

Rumi: What's up?

Me: Kai flirting with Skylor again.

Rumi: HAHAHHAAHA that is unfortunate. Poor, Greeniee

Me: You doing anything?

Rumi: Nothing much. My parents are on my back again.

Me: I'm sorry

Rumi: It's no problem, really.

Rumi: Have you planned our second trip already?

I noticed the change of topic but I decided to go along with it if she wasn't comfortable talking about them yet. It then occurred to me that I haven't planned our next trip. I quickly went to chirper to find some recommendations from the people of Ninjago. An event caught my eye and I immediately went back to the messaging app.

Me: How do you feel about going paragliding?

Rumi: What's exciting about that?

Me: You get to do it from the top of a mountain.

Rumi: I'm in!

Of course she was. I was too busying texting her to confirm the date and time she wanted to go that I didn't notice Kai had been calling my name for a few times already.

"Ninjago to Green Ninja!" He said and waved a hand in front of me. "We're here."

"Oh." I looked out the window and I saw that we were parked outside Skylor's restaurant.

"What were you doing?" Kai asked before shutting off the engine.

"Nothing." I did not want to deal with his questions again.

"Right." He raised an eyebrow and got out of the car.

One of the best things about having an honorary brother with a girlfriend that owns the best noodle place in all of Ninjago, is being the first to try the new menu. Skylor immediately got to work in the kitchen to try out her new recipes so Kai and I decided to make ourselves useful and serve some customers.

It wasn't long until the word got out that ninja were serving food at the noodle house that a long line started from outside.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to help." Kai rubbed the back of his neck as we both eyed the long line of customers waiting to get their food or maybe just to see us.

"Boys! I got the--." Skylor walked out of the kitchen with two bowls in her hand before stopping her tracks when she saw the commotion. "Okay, guess we're holding off taste testing until later."

"But--." Kai started but Skylor approached him.

"Is it alright if you two help out for a bit? I mean, this is your doing." She laughed and pointed towards the people.

"We got this." I exclaimed and immediately began to work.

I was wrong. It felt like it was a never ending process of noodles, dumplings, and serving. By the time Skylor closed the shop, Kai and I laid on one of the tables, completely exhausted.

"I would choose saving Ninjago rather than doing that again." I stated as I caught my breath.

"Agreed."

"Thank you for the help today. I earned triple from what I usually do, maybe you guys should always come by." She suggested and Kai and I immediately shook our heads.

"I think we should leave the business stuff up to you." He reasoned and plastered a fake smile on his face.

"Calm down, I'm only kidding! Well, anyways. Here you go." Skylor held out a tray of food.

After a long day of work experience at a restaurant, food was always a reward. As I popped a puffy pot sticker in my mouth my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and unlocked it to find a text from Rumi. She allowed me to call her that after insisting nicknames would help us grow more comfortable with each other. I was creatively named, Greenie.

Rumi: I saw you on the news. I can't believe you got the entire city into one restaurant!

Me: We just wanted to help out but we ended up gaining more customers for Skylor.

Rumi: Well save some for me next time!

Me: Why don't you stop by?

Rumi: I can't. My parents have visitors over so I'm on lockdown for today.

Me: Good luck with that. I'm here if you can't handle them.

Rumi: Thanks, greenie.

Rumi: I'll text you later.

"Room for one more?" I heard a call from the door which made me look up from my phone.

The rest of the team had decided to join us for dinner. Probably from the news report Harumi mentioned.

"You mean 4, right?" Skylor teased before walking to the kitchen.

"You guys pretty much summoned the whole city to eat here." Jay informed us before sitting beside Kai who was too busy eating noodles.

"It's not as fun as it sounds." I admitted.

"Can we get dinner too? I'm starving." Nya groaned before clutching her stomach.

"Do you think Skylor has any cake?" Cole grinned and fidgeted with his hands.

"There are dozens of shops near us that sell cake, Cole." Zane informed him.

"But we're already here." Cole protested, clearly wanting to get free food.

I rolled my eyes and continued eating. I wonder how Rumi's holding up with her family.

~~Harumi's POV~~

The day I dreaded the most has arrived and I have never felt so uncomfortable in my entire life. I was supposed to be meeting another royal family today but I doubt that there would be any other besides ours and Vania's.

"Stand up straight, Harumi. We wouldn't want to give the wrong impression." The Empress commanded me from my left and I immediately fixed myself.

Just like how any other meeting with a suitor would go, I had to act wife material and the perfect princess. The doors opened and I braced myself for one of the worst nights of my life. From dinner until a walk in the garden, all he could talk about was himself. He told me he had the power to give me everything I ever wanted if I chose to marry him.

That of course meant material objects because there is no way he could bring my parents back. He had a weird accent that I have never heard before, which made him sound like an old man. I was uncomfortable the entire time he was there and the only time I could breathe again was when I was sent back to my room. I immediately pulled out my phone and called Vania while I removed my makeup.

"So? How'd it go? I wanna know everything!" She exclaimed after picking up.

"They said his name was Nada of Khan which was pretty suspicious since there is no place in Ninjago named Khan." I began to explain. The cloth in my hands began to remove half of the paint on my face. "He had this weird accent and offered me everything I wanted if I married him."

"He sounds creepy." Vania commented and shuddered. "Are you the same age?"

"I doubt it. He sounded and dresses like an old man."

"What did you parents think?"

"They were happy someone could provide for me but I simply refused the offer."

"That's good. You should follow your heart, Rumi. Go for who you want not what other people choose for you."

Vania has always been there for me ever since I met her when I was 10. We're inseparable and I knew I could count on her with anything.

"Thanks, Vany." I had finally finished removing my makeup and decided to ask about her day. "What about you? Anything interesting going on at Shintaro?"

"Not much. It's the same boring routines everyday but my Father did give me a chance to try out some wings!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Like the ones he uses?" I asked to try and get more information from her.

"Yeah! It was pretty cool except for the part where I couldn't control it and I flew right into the ceiling." She rubbed her head. "It still hurts."

I laughed at that. We talked all night and it felt like I was living the life I would have had if my parents were here. If I grew up like a normal teenager. It felt, nice.