Number One Fan
By Zilver Wings
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Summary: He is a popular actor who is on the verge of losing his career. Feeling depressed, he goes back to Tomoeda, the town he spent his teenage years in, to trace back his memories with a certain auburn-haired girl. Will fate thrust upon him and let him meet her once again? Two-shot
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He could see that it was a pleasant day even with his view restricted by his cape and large sunglasses to avoid him from being recognized by the public.
As he crossed the road to the mall, he saw the road sparkling with the sun's glaze. Although it was a summer afternoon, the bright sunlight did not cause a scorching heat on his back, but rather, a comforting warmth, as if someone was supporting him from behind with a warm hand. He scoffed at his own simile. How ironic to think that when he was on the verge of losing his career.
His red-checkered shirt made a ripple as a gentle breeze blew by. Unfortunately, the nice weather failed to sooth his boiling insides.
He quickened his footpace and entered the mall.
He savored the feeling of the sudden coolness brought by the air conditioner as he pushed open the doors of the mall. It was a rare thing to experience this since he was always out under direct contact with the sun for filming his newest movie for the past few months, which was before he decided to take a break from his nerve-breaking career.
It was the mall he hadn't gone to ever since he graduated from high school. Ever since the last time he went to have tea with Sakura to discuss about their future. Even though she was talented in sports, she had decided to take after her oyajii's footsteps and study History in a local university. He went to the same university with her for a short while, deciding to major in Mathematics. However, just after the first semester, he had to drop out due to the heavy workload.
He would never forget the fall of her face when she heard about this. She probably knew then and there that he was going to leave her. And he did. Tomoeda was too small of a place for him. Shortly after the drop out, his manager arranged for him to move to Tokyo so that he would be nearer to his agency.
She was his one and only crush in his twenty-four years of life. With his fame and looks, the statement seemed almost too absurd to be true. But it was. All those rumors about him going out with supermodels or famous actresses in the following years were all stories the paparazzi made up to boost their sales.
Actually, he really didn't mind those rumors that much. In fact, it helped him a lot during his rise to fame. It was just that, he felt uncomfortable to think that she might've seen them.
He felt his body temperature cool down as he surveyed the mall, distracting him from the telephone call he received earlier this morning, which caused him to slap the receiver down in frozen rage.
Just then, he heard his stomach rumble, and he grimaced. He still hadn't eaten anything today.
After knowing about the news over the call, emotions clouded over his rational thinking, leading him to forget to take his wallet before snatching his car keys and leaving home, and somehow, find himself in Tomoeda three hours later for some strange reason. So now, on top of being anger and frustrated, he was famished and tired.
Oh well, there was nothing he could do about it, so he decided to ignore his protesting stomach and continue to look around the mall.
The mall really had changed a lot since the last time he visited. Not only had it expanded and had an addition of two floors to the original three, the décor was much more sophisticated, and the shops had changed from selling mostly stationery and food items to clothing and luxury goods.
In many ways, the mall was like him. Who would have thought that a sixteen-year old Chinese boy who lived in some small unknown town in Japan would make his name around the world eight years later as a popular Japanese actor?
Although he was quite popular in high school because of his handsome face and intelligence, he was not a social butterfly, and rarely participated in extra curricular activities. His big break came only because he was spotted by his current agency when he went with his friend to audition for some minor role in a Japanese live-action drama.
His family was disappointed when they heard about his decision to drop out of school to purge after his career, and tried to talk him out of it, saying that it was an unrealistic dream. However, being young and ambitious, he ignored his family's disapproval and embraced this possibility of becoming rich and famous. Gradually, he distant himself from them and rarely went to Hong Kong, unless promotions were held there.
But well, his family was probably right. Eight years was his time limit. He had successfully ruined his future at the young age of twenty-four.
He turned his face to the left, and his eyes darkened at the sight.
A few workers on the first floor had begun to loosen the strings tied around the metal poles that held a banner featuring him and his supposedly newest detective movie. It reminded him of the darned phone call from his manager once again.
"Li Syaoran, we have dismissed your terrible attitude in the reporter's meeting last month as a one-time thing, but then, you go on disappearing for two freaking weeks, and successfully undid your role in your newest movie. The company said that they don't need an irresponsible and arrogant actor, and to say the truth, I can't possibly agree more.
Just because you are popular now doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. We can bring another boy to fame matching yours in a matter of months. The company doubts your dedication to your career and hesitates to continue the contract with you, since your current one is going to end in three month's time. Come to the company tomorrow morning, otherwise, we'll know your decision. Goodbye."
Syaoran felt his emotions rise again. Seriously, what did they think of him as, superman? For eight years, he had continued to star in popular dramas and many movies nonstop, which became box- office hits. Between filming, he also had to model and join activities to raise his popularity. It was not a thing he enjoyed doing as he was never really good at socializing, and having to fake a smile all the time was irritating for him.
He rarely got a night of decent sleep because of the hectic schedule, and some times even had to take pills because he had insomnia due to the pressure. Unlike other normal people, he rarely got a break that could last for three whole days.
He knew it was the road he had chosen himself, and should not complain. But after receiving his physical report from the doctor a few weeks ago and found out that his heart was starting to fail him because of the excessive amount of work, he decided to take an unannounced break himself. He had only meant to be absent for one to two days, and yet, the more free time he got, the more time he had to review the work he had done in the last few years, and the days slowly turned into weeks.
He felt nothing but a puppet to his company, doing whatever they had set for him without even given the chance to protest or refuse. He didn't even get as much money as he thought he would as they had ripped off most of them from him.
His converse sneakers gave an angry squelch as he dug his foot into the white-tiled floor to as a form of release.
Suddenly, he felt someone bump into him and he broke out of his trance and looked down at the person, using both of his arms to support the person at the same time.
It was a petite girl with long auburn hair, holding two large bags of shopping. Her face was facing the floor, but he could still see that she was wearing a white, oversized T-shirt and shorts. Wearing oversized clothing used to be Sakura's favorite too.
Petite, auburn hair, wearing oversized shirts…
He felt his heart begin to race as he noted the similarities between the girl and his once crush.
Could it possibly be…
The girl looked up.
To be continued…
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Yes, my exams are almost over, except the orals, but I can just ignore them. My summer vacation starts from now, whoppee! I'll update my other stories one by one soon, so I hope you can all wait.
This story has been on my mind for quite some time. Wrote it immediately the day after my last exam, so feel honored! D
In this story, I just tried to imagine myself as a popular actor and what my response to my life will be blah blah since it's a dream that's never going to come true for me, lol.
Got the title from the Taiwan version of Hana Kimi. This time, I tried to use another writing style, it's mostly composed of flashbacks in a non-linear structure, hope that it hasn't been too confusing. I guess writing short stories are better for me cause I can just finish it once-and-for-all and not drag it for a few years. (Okay, I hope not)
If any of you have read my other stories, please review and tell me if my writing has improved or worsened. That way, I'll know if my two years of studying Eng Lit. has either helped me improve my writing, or caused my 'downfall'.
To those who are worried that this story is not going to be a completed for a long time, don't, because it's probably only going to consist of two chapters, and I already have a clear idea what I want to write for the next chapter. Now REVIEW! Thank you velly muchu.