Falling For My Sensei

Chapter 3

After I was done explaining everything that happened in detail, the waitress grabbed our empty plates, and then we ordered twisted sugar donuts for dessert.

As if talking about him summoned him to this restaurant. He walks in wearing fitted jeans and a Kobra Kai t-shirt. He’s also wearing a pair of black and red Jordan sneakers that match his shirt. He’s light-skinned. He is about average height for a guy, and he looks slim but muscular. His hair is shorter on the sides but is longer towards the top. His hair is lightly parted on the side and is swept to the side without covering his forehead. His hair is long enough that to run my fingers through it.

Leroy turns in his seat and lets out a “mmm” sound once he spots Kyo.

“What are you guys looking at?” Asks Amber as she turns and peeks over the top of the booth as best as she can, since she’s on the shorter end, but I pull her downward before she can make us look obvious.

“He’s hot, but why did you stop me from being able to look as long as you guys did?” She asks in fake annoyance.

“Because that’s the guy I was just telling you about.”

“Damn girl, he’s hot…don’t tell Jonah I said that….you should go talk to him.”

“I agree, you should go speak to him,” states Amber.

“No way, you guys are crazy, I just got out of a relationship, I’m not trying to get into another one, and who knows if he’s even single… I refuse to talk to someone who's in a relationship….I won’t be a home wrecker or a side chick.”

“You’re overthinking this. I just told you to say hi; I’m not telling you to go flirt with him.”

I groan and place my hand over my face.

“Looks like your decision was taken away from you,” states Amber while giggling.

“What do you mean?”

“Hottie incoming,” states Leroy before taking a sip of my soda.

“Hey, I didn’t say you could have that,” I state to Leroy before noticing Kyo standing by the edge of our table.

“Hi… I noticed you over here after I placed my order. I hope you don’t mind me coming over to talk to you…I wanted to see if you were doing better than earlier this afternoon,” Kyo says in a friendly tone.

“Oh, hey, yeah, it’s okay that you came by to say hi…I’m doing better than earlier today, thank you for asking.”

“You’re welcome, I’m glad to hear it,” he states with a smile. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I’ll leave you to your meal.

“Wait!” Both Amber and Leroy state together.

“We’re both leaving so you could hang out with Kora while she finishes her dessert and your order is being made,” Amber states as she follows Leroy out of the booth.

“What?… You guys are leaving now?… I thought you were going to leave later.” I give them a knowing look, and they give me cheesy smiles.

“Yes, Jonah messaged me that he’s home, so I gotta go, and Amber is my ride…. I’ll pay for the meal, and we’ll give the waitress a tip on the way out…byeee.”

“Nice meeting you, Kyo,” they say in a mischievously playful way as they walk to the register to pay.

“Do you mind?” Asks Kyo while gesturing to the booth across from me.

“Not at all,” I reply shyly.

“Is this your first time here?” He asks as he sits down across from me.

“No, my parents and I used to come here for years, it was a birthday tradition to come here for each of our birthdays since I was small….I barely know you, and yet you already know about my parents…I want you to know that I never over-share personal stuff with people I haven’t known long…today has been a crazy day.”

He snickers: “How about I share some personal with you, so it won’t feel as weird…how does that sound?”

I snicker: “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Where to start…hmmm….I know your birthday is today…my birthday was 3 months ago, March 5th…my parents own this restaurant, but they’re both retired, so they hired others to run the restaurant, and I check in to see how everything is going from time to time….I can get free meals here, but I prefer to pay for my meals just like everybody else to help my parents out since they refuse to accept money from me directly.”

“Oh wow, please tell your parents that you met one of their most loyal customers and I love their restaurant….so if you don’t work here, what do you do for a living?”

“I own a Martial arts dojo.”

“Ohh, so when you said you had a class earlier, you meant you had to teach a Martial arts class. I thought you were attending a class,” I state with an uncertain, low laugh.

“Technically, I was, so you weren’t completely wrong,” he replies reassuringly.

The waitress comes to our table with his bagged order and then places it on the table: “Here you go, please tell your parents I said hi.”

“Thank you, I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear it,” he replies with a polite smile, then the woman goes back to her duties.

I gesture to his bag: “I’m done with my dessert, so I’ll leave now, too.”

He looks from my gesture to my face, then shrugs with a slow-forming smile: “If I’m boring you, that’s fine, but if I’m not, then I don’t mind eating my meal here while we keep talking…it’s not as if I have anyone at home that I have to get back to.”

“Oh, okay…you’re far from boring me, and I don’t have anyone to get back to either.” I reply while taking off my purse and sliding back into the booth.”

“Great,” he states while removing his food from the bag.

“So what did you get?”

“I was in a chicken stir fry kind of mood today. A lot of the food here is great, but the chicken stir-fry is my favorite dish here.”

“Really?”

“Why do you sound surprised? I promise you it’s the best dish here…if you didn’t just finish eating, I would offer you some.”

I laugh: “Oh my god, no, I can’t eat anything else… I’m so full right now. Besides, I already know what the chicken stir fry tastes like because it’s my favorite also.”

“It’s good, right!? Have you tried anything else on the menu besides that and the twisted sugar donuts?”

“Yes, I tried almost everything on the menu over the years, but now I stick to that,” I reply, gesturing to his food.

“I don’t blame you…so… since you have no one waiting for you at home, is it safe to assume that you’re single?”

“I am, but it’s very recent, so I’m not currently looking for a relationship right now…how about you?”

“I understand, I’m not looking for a relationship right now either, I have a lot going on with the dojo and checking up on how things are going here for my parents, it’s been taking up a lot of my time…I’ve been single for a while now, but it’s out of choice…I haven’t come across anyone whom I felt the need to make the time for in my busy schedule, and it wouldn’t be right if I made anyone think otherwise.”

“That’s honorable…does that mean today is one of your less busy days since you’re free to spend time talking to me, not once but twice?” I state in a silly, flirtatious way while batting my eyes, which causes him to laugh.

“Cute…Today was a weird day; it’s as if there was some unknown power pulling strings to make us bump into each other twice on the same day… a coincidence? maybe…weird and intriguing? definitely, and I’m not disappointed about it though… I have been enjoying getting to know you.”

“I have also Kyo.”

“There’s something I’ve been curious about,” he states in a curious but playful tone.

“What?”

“How do your friends know my name?” He asks in a knowing, flirtatious tone.

I put my hand over my face in embarrassment: “Ugh, I was hoping you didn’t hear them say it.”

He laughs: “So you told them about me?” He asks while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Yes,” I reply while laughing at his silliness.

“All good things, I hope.”

“I’ll never say,” I reply jokingly.

He puts his hands up in surrender and laughs: “I’ll ask no further.”

“So what made you want to own a dojo?”

“I started taking classes as a kid and loved it, so it became my passion…what about you? What do you do for a living?”

“It’s nothing fancy, I have an office job…as long as I’m able to pay my bills I’m okay until I’m able to make a career out of one of my passions, or maybe I’ll hit the lotto, and win big….if I ever play the lotto that is” I state while laughing at the idea of wanting to win the lottery without actually playing it.

“There’s nothing wrong with an office job if it keeps the lights on and food on the table,” he replies.

“Exactly, so how long have you been single? You said it was for a while, which is vague, and I’m curious.”

“He clears his throat. It’s been about two, maybe 3 years since I had a romantic relationship, but it was a very short-lived one. She cheated on me after a month, so I ended things.”

“Same.”

“What? The same thing happened to you?”

“Yeah, I was cheated on also. We were together for about 3 years, and he decided to cheat. I don’t know how long he has been unfaithful, but I found out early this morning, so I showed up to confront him at the hotel he was spotted at, but he never came outside, so I left his stuff in his car with a note telling him that I knew what he did and to never speak to me again. Then I went to Starbucks.”

“So when you stated your relationship was very recent, you were referring to him?”

“Yup, I can’t believe I wasted all of that time on him,” I state angrily.

Kyo places his hand on mine after moving the tied-up bag that now contains his finished meal container: “I understand how you feel, try to focus on the positive in this situation, you are no longer tied down by someone who doesn’t deserve nor respect you…take this time to invest your energy in yourself and doing things you enjoy.”

“You’re right, Kyo, I plan to do exactly that.”

“Okay, enough sad talk. It’s your birthday, and it’s not too late, so let’s have some fun before we have to split ways again,” he states as he stands up and puts out his hand for me to grab.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Do you dance?”

“Yes, but I’m not up to going to a club.”

“Who needs a club? Let’s dance here.”

“Okay,” I state while placing my hand in his.

He stops me as I’m about to put on my crossbody purse: “I can have the staff hold your bag for you behind the counter, so you can dance freely.”

“Okay,” I hand him my purse, and he has the waitress tuck it away safely behind the register counter on our way to the dance floor.

We have now danced to a few different songs from different genres and even songs in different languages. I love that this place plays different types of music for everyone to enjoy. Kyo is light on his feet, and he dances really well. Part of me feels that he dances better than I, but I won’t admit that to him, well, at least not now. The music changes to a slow song, which happens to be my parents’ favorite song and the only one my dad ever danced well to. I start swaying to the song slowly in nostalgia without realizing it, and he stares at me for a few seconds without moving.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“You looked so happy once the song started. Is it your favorite song?”

“It was my parents’ favorite song; they used to always dance to it whenever they heard it, regardless of where they were, and I was always able to see the love between them when they did.”

“That’s beautiful, one day we’ll both find that kind of love.”

“I agree….so are you just going to stand there watching me dance, or are you going to dance to this song with me?”

“I know this song is sacred to you. Are you sure you want to dance to it with me?” He asks uncertainly.

I don’t respond with words, and instead, I move closer to him and place his hands on my waist, then place my hands on his shoulders, even though I wanted to wrap them around his neck, but we only met today, so I don’t dare to make this a super close dance. He responds by moving along to the music with me. Somewhere towards the middle of the song, he spins me outward, and when I spin back in, he dips me, which causes me to laugh in surprise. Once I’m back up on both feet, he moves my hands around his neck, and I take that as an okay to move in closer to his body. I was right in assuming he’s muscular. Being this close to him, I’m able to feel some of his toned muscles as we dance.

As the song was reaching its end, I realized that we have been looking at each other this entire time in silence. He has a toned, subtle jawline. His features are perfectly proportioned, and his eyes are so mesmerizing. I’m not used to seeing eyes in his light shade of brown.

“Are you wearing contacts?” I ask before I’m able to stop myself.

“No, this is my natural eye color…I get questions about my eyes often, but it’s usually questions asking how or why my eyes are so light, one time I was asked if I was a werewolf or a vampire…. My young students can be silly with the questions they ask after class,” he states in a happy light tone.

“I could tell you love what you do.”

“I really do, I take a lot of pride in helping my students grow, and I love seeing them reach their goals.”

As soon as the song is done, we walk back towards the register to grab my purse, and the waitress smiles: “Are you two a couple? You dance really well together.”

Before I could respond, he did; as I put on my purse: “Thank you, but we aren’t a couple, so don’t go telling my parents that I have a beautiful girlfriend.”

I blush as I hear him call me beautiful, and the waitress does a zipping her lips gesture, then goes back to cleaning up.

We walk towards the door, then he opens it for me in silence.

“Thank you for holding the door and for the compliment.”

“Of course…you don’t have to thank me, though, I was just stating the obvious.”

I blush even more as we walk to my car: “This is me,” I state while gesturing to my car. “Thank you so much for staying and hanging out with me today. I had a lot of fun.”

“It was actually you who stood with me when you agreed to dance with me…I wasn’t sure you were going to, but I’m glad you did….I know we just met and neither of us is looking for a relationship right now, but there's no reason why we can’t be friends, right? Would it be too weird if I asked you for your number, Kora?” He asks a bit shyly.

“Sure,” I state before giving him my number. He then sends me a text saying, “This is my number” with a smiling face emoji.

“Are you heading home now?” I ask curiously.

“I am, I have classes tomorrow, how about you?”

“Yeah, I have work in the morning…I should have taken the rest of the week off, but I only took today off.”

“Do you have to travel far?” He asks.

“No, not really…I live closer to the Starbucks we met at this morning, but I work around here. How about you?”

“I guess you can say it’s the opposite for me, I live walking distance from here, so it makes it easy to keep an eye on the restaurant, and my dojo isn’t far from the Starbucks.”

“That’s weird.”

“How so?”

“Because I’ve been working at my job for 4 years now and I don’t recall ever seeing you…not even here at the restaurant, and I come here a lot at random times.”

“Being that I have a busy schedule and I basically live at the dojo, I could see why we haven’t bumped into each other before today. Plus, if we were in the same place before today, I wouldn’t have approached you if I saw you with your ex…I’m not that kind of person, and I teach my students to avoid trouble instead of inviting it in.”

“I like that, I always try to avoid drama, but if it finds me, I tackle it head-on.”

A few seconds later, we say bye and go our separate ways. Today started off so crappy, but the evening was great, and I’m glad I chose to go out tonight. After sending Amber and Leroy a text thanking them for dinner, I change and then play a video of my parents singing me happy birthday while I sit on the couch with a cupcake. Once the video ends, I say my wish out loud: “My birthday wish is to have a better year than my last.” Then I blow out the candle, eat the cupcake, and go to bed.