The Affair

A/N: Yay, I updated in record timing:-D Here’s a tad bit of tragedy, angst, and romance…just for you! ;-)

CH 5: The Calm of the Storm

“Mimi! Oh, God, Meems, answer me!”

Choking due to the sudden splash of sea water in his face, Matt hurriedly wiped at his eyes, only to re-cup his hands over his mouth and try yet again, “MIMI! For the love of God, say something!”

The turbulent waves slapped against him in response, their murky-gray depths revealing nothing to his ever-searching gaze but the vast nothingness that was the sea.

Gritting his teeth, Matt dove underwater in one last desperate attempt at finding his beloved, his vision hazed and bleary as he squinted through the briny leagues of the ocean like a lost soul seeking solace.

Feeling as if his lungs were about to burst, Matt cut through the water and emerged to the surface gasping for breath, cold salty droplets of the sea clinging to his flesh as a sinking emotion formed within the very pit of his stomach. She was gone…

“Mimi…”

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“Oh, God…oh, no! You’re lying!”

Sora jumped, glancing over at Tai with frightened eyes as he continued to shout expletives into his cell phone, his flesh growing deathly pale before prickling with perspiration.

“Oh, God, please, Matt” he continued, “stop lying to me! Mimi is not dead!”

At this sudden slip of the tongue Sora couldn’t help but gasp, a hand immediately flying over her mouth as she tried her damndest to stave off her tears. The very notion that she had wished Mimi dead mere moments ago made her stomach lurch, her world spinning haphazardly about her as she overheard Tai feverishly chucking his cell phone against the wall of their hotel room.

“Tai” Sora ventured, her mouth now drier than the Sahara, “please tell me it’s not true…please.”

“I can’t tell you a goddamn thing and you know it” he hissed, shaking uncontrollably as he desperately sought to be in control of his faculties. “The only woman I’ve ever loved is dead now, so I wish I were, too!”

Something within his confession felt like a full-blown slap to the face to Sora, tears now spilling freely past her kohl lashes as she reached out a trembling hand and touched the softness of his cheek. “Don’t you ever say that again, Tai Kamiya” she scolded, her voice hard, yet filled with a genuine warmth. “Don’t you ever give up on me, okay? I need you!”

Tai flinched, moving slightly away from her. “Get the fuck off me, Sora – you have Matt.”

Shocked, Sora watched on with wide eyes as her best friend got up and exited the room and onto the balcony, the soft orange glow of the sun silhouetting his dejected form so that he almost appeared to be an angel. Almost.

Ignoring the warning signals flashing garishly within her mind’s eye, Sora found herself following Tai so that she was now at his side, a look of pure, unadulterated hurt flashing across her eyes the moment that she reached out to touch him and he immediately pulled away.

“Tai” she entreated, her bottom lip quivering, “please talk to me…we always tell each other everything.”

Tai made a noise that appeared to be somewhere in between a laugh and a snort. “Times have changed, Sora” he admonished softly. “We haven’t talked in years and you damn well know it. I always wanted to call, but I figured you didn’t want me to since you had Matt to confide in.”

Sora visibly winced. “So just because I’m married I don’t need other people? Tai, I would’ve loved to have heard from you!”

“Yeah, well it’s too late to change the past” he muttered, jamming his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks before casting her a surprisingly gentle look. “I was lying to you earlier, you know, so I guess I should confess that I didn’t only love Mimi. There was a time when I loved you, too, Sora.”

Inwardly the redhead felt that she had always known this, yet now that the words had actually been voiced she found that she was completely speechless. “Tai” she began, her eyes glistening, “I loved you, too, and I still do, but not in the way that you’d like.”

“Well who ever said I was still in love with you?” Tai snapped, his words laced with a blatant amount of hurt. “I was going to marry Mimi, remember? Or perhaps you subconsciously overlooked that minor detail since you didn’t want it to be true.”

“Tai, please, I-“

“No, Sora! I went years upon years without love since I was always waiting on you, but you never even looked in my direction!” Tai spat, tears now slipping down his cheeks as he angrily struck the balcony railing. “Just when I thought that you actually cared about me I came to you, but instead you told me that you were in love with Matt-fucking Ishida – my best friend! How could you do that to me, Sora? For years I went through life ignoring other women with the hopes of you miraculously confessing that you loved me, too, but you never did. And now that I’ve finally found happiness with another woman, she’s stolen from my clutches just like that! Do you have any idea how hard it is to be 28 and still a virgin? I don’t even really know what a goddamn kiss feels like since Mimi hardly ever touched me, and I…I…” Tai faltered, immediately bowing his head in shame. “I’m sorry…I guess all my years of pent-up frustration caused me to blow a fuse.”

Sora, however, found that she could say absolutely nothing, her heart wrenching upon finding all the sadness in the world within Tai’s large, dark eyes. Resting a hand upon his shoulder, the redhead leaned in and placed a chaste kiss upon his cheek, her world spinning madly about her once her best friend suddenly seized her by the middle and crushed his lips hungrily against her own in one full swoop of untamed desire.

Whimpering into Tai’s open mouth, Sora felt as if her knees were rapidly dissolving into absolute nothingness, her soft form falling weakly against his own as their kiss only deepened in its passion.

“You were right…I do still love you, Sora, and I never stopped” Tai breathed against the warm satin of her lips, hurriedly reclaiming her mouth with his own before pivoting the redhead about so that her back slammed forcefully against the glass door of the balcony.

“Tai” Sora gasped, groping desperately at his shoulders as she sought for a source of stability, her doe brown eyes rolling back in her head as his lips dropped down to the crook of her neck and fanned several butterfly kisses out along its wake. “Tai…oh, God…”

Running his tongue feverishly along Sora’s lips with the hopes of her granting him entrance to the incredible haven within, Tai felt all of his passion for the woman in his arms pooling down into his nether regions, a low grown escaping his throat as he made the foolish mistake of pressing his desire longingly against Sora’s thigh.

“Tai” she squeaked, the seriousness of the situation finally dawning on her, “I…you…oh, God!”

Sobbing, Sora smacked him clear across the face, holding her head in her hands as she took off for the door as fast as her long, slender legs could possibly carry her. She needed to get out of there, and fast!

“Sora!” Tai called, his heart wrenching as he watched her flee from his arms, “Where are you going?”

“Someplace where I’ll be away from you!” the redhead spat, her eyes full of tears as she haughtily slammed the door behind her and left her near-lover to his own devices.

Dropping down and to his knees, Tai couldn’t help but sob as well, his fingers curling against his cheeks as he realized that he had lost her – again.

A/N: Hmm, so why’s Sora behaving this way? Could it be that she…:gasp: has some MORALS? LoL What will become of Matt since his paramour is now gone? Will he come crawling back to Sora? And will this be a problem now that Tai’s added to the equation? You’ll find out if you review! ;-) tee-hee