"Mhmm. But out of curiosity, what does this girl look like? She must have good taste to want to go to prom with you." Chris said, his intrigue piqued.
Ken reached for his phone and was about to pull up the photo before his mother spoke up.
"Honey… Why are you asking such a thing?" Yuki placed her hands on her hips and stared at her husband with a judgmental expression. However, in the next moment she grabbed the phone from Ken and was the first to look at the picture.
Her face froze, sweat suddenly appearing on her face. "S—She's gorgeous." She muttered, attempting to keep a neutral expression.
A smug grin crept onto Chris's face as he heard his wife's words.
'Just like I thought, just like his old man.' He said inwardly, reaching out for the phone in Yuki's hands.
However, as he grabbed it and looked at the photo, Chris almost dropped the phone then and there. He looked at his wife, only now seeing the signs of her lies.
Then, without looking at his son, he tossed the phone back to him. "Ahem… How about you go talk with Ai about it, she deserves to know about this situation." He stated, turning his back to Ken, albeit unnaturally.
Ken let out a sigh, not feeling any better about the situation. "I'll go call her now." He said meekly, before heading towards his room.
His parents who were left in the dining room both looked at each other with a weird expression. Neither of them said a word, but it was clear they were both quite shocked by the situation.
"That Steve sure has balls…" Chris stated plainly.
"Mmm…"
Ken sat down on his bed, letting out another sigh. He knew that this conversation would not be pleasant, but he decided to listen to his parents and talk things over with his girlfriend.
If she said no, then he could tell Steve with a clear conscience that he would need to find another way. The fact that he was entertaining it at all could be considered enough, at least from his point of view.
RING RING
"Hey stranger." A soft voice rang out from the phone, filled with affection.
"Hey, sorry to call you out of the blue." Ken replied, feeling uneasy.
It was then that Ai's voice turned concerned, she could instantly tell that something was up. Call it women's intuition or whatever, but she caught on rather quick.
"Alright, spill the beans."
Despite this, she was comfortable enough to know that it likely wasn't too serious. However, her tone soon changed.
…
"Hold on… You want to take another woman to prom?" She asked, her tone icy.
"W—Wait… I never said I wanted to take her to prom."
Ken felt a cold sweat run down his back as he tried to clarify his position. But now that he thought about it, what kind of response did he expect when calling up his girlfriend about taking someone else to a formal event.
"Well the fact you're calling and asking me about it makes it sound like you do. If you didn't want to go with her, why didn't you just reject your friend?"
Once again, Ken was slapped in the face with cold logic. He massaged the bridge of his nose, and asked himself the same question. This wouldn't have happened if he'd just outright rejected Steve.
"I—I guess I was just trying to be a good friend." He replied meekly.
"Yeah! Such a great friend. So great that you'll cheat on your girlfriend just because he asked." She snapped back, the venom dripping from her words.
"Ai… It's not like that. You see—"
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Before Ken could try and defend himself, the phone cut out. It was clear that Ai had hung up, not wanting to hear any of his excuses on the matter.
Ken looked at his phone screen and let out a deep sigh. It looked like he had really stepped in it this time.
Things were hard enough since they were in a long distance relationship. There was a lot of mutual trust that laid the foundation of their relationship, something which he had just trampled upon by asking something so ridiculous.
Thinking about it now, how would he feel if the shoe was on the other foot? Would he be okay with Ai going to an end of year dance with another man, no matter who it was.
A vision of her and Katsuya standing side by side in formal attire appeared in Ken's head, eliciting a deep frown on his features.
"Damn it… How do I make this right?" He thought, gritting his teeth.
After furiously thinking for a while, Ken came up with something. One might say it was a little manipulative, but he didn't think it was far from the truth.
Opening up his messages, Ken began to type out something and attached the photo of Sarah before letting out another sigh.
"I know I've hurt you Ai, and I'm really sorry. I think the reason why Steph asked Steve to do this was because she was worried that Sarah would not have anyone to go to prom with. While it still doesn't make things right, I hope you can forgive me for prioritizing someone else's feelings above our relationship."
He read the message a few times, making sure that it conveyed his sincere apology. Ken didn't want Ai thinking that he was just trying to get a free pass to pursue other women, nor did he want this to affect their relationship.
After a moment of hesitation, Ken sent the message and laid back down on his bed.
Meanwhile in Japan, Ai was doing her best to calm down. She was hurt, but also angry. She never thought that Ken would be such a person, but it seemed like it was a misjudgment on her part.
BUZZ BUZZ
She looked at her phone, only to see Ken's name pop up. Ai scoffed and was about to throw the phone, but accidentally opened the message.
The first thing that she saw was the photo of Sarah, which confused her. Wanting more context, she read the message before taking a closer look at the picture.
Instantly, she felt her empathetic heart ache as she looked at Sarah. The thought of a fellow woman being forced to either miss out or go solo to such a big event like prom tugged on her heartstrings.
After agonizing for a while, she typed up a response and sent it. Unlike before, she was calm and her lips were turned up in a small smile.
"Idiot…" She muttered, but her heart felt warm.
BUZZ BUZZ
Back in Austin, Ken suddenly sat up, reaching for his phone quickly.
"You can go. Just don't make any moves on Sarah - Love you x"
He blinked a few times before letting out a smile. That was until he realized that he now had to go to prom with Sarah.
"Damn it! You were supposed to say no…" He cried, clutching his chest dramatically.
Part of him wanted to tell everyone that Ai had declined, but if she came over in the future, his lies would only cause drama.
Letting out a sigh, Ken laid back down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.