Chapter Two

Pretending to be taking a sip of the coffee in her hands, Jun secretly took a peek at the two brothers sitting also on the same dining table. The world is so unfair, Jun thought to herself. It was already a luxury to have a person with such a handsome outstanding appearance like Ryo, and now there are two of them!!

Well, at least Jun didn't have to go to the concert anymore to see Len Tsukimori from behind a few thousand people. He is now sitting right there reading a book like any other human being!

Unexpectedly, Len looked up and when his eyes met up with Jun's a frown appeared on his beautiful face. As a reflex Jun quickly looked away but it was too late as Ryo had noticed and teased. "Len, don't act so cold, you are scaring poor Jun."

Giving his brother a scary look Len returned to his reading not bothered with them anymore. "Don't worry about him Jun, he is always like that. Playing cool all the time. But don't be scared off by his outward appearance, he is actually a very nice person inside." Ryo joked.

"I… I know!" Jun replied immediately. However surprised with her own words she picked up her mug and said quickly. "I will get some more coffee!"

Before she walked away, Len picked up his own mug and passed it to her. "Refill please." Seeing this Ryo laughed and teased again. "Len, don't be so lazy, do it yourself!"

"It's alright, I can do it!" Jun said quickly and ran into the kitchen. Secretly taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, Jun found it hard to believe although the two brothers have the exact same perfect and handsome countenance, but their personality were the total opposite. Unlike Ryo's bright warm friendly personality, Len obviously was the wordless cold type. So far Jun had not seen him smile at all! Not only so, less than three words would come out of his lips each time. With a sigh, Jun must admit, her image of Len Tsukimori, the sensitive wonderful violinist that changed her life was totally different from the Len Tsukimori that now sits behind her in the dining room.

Opening the top cupboard, Jun tiptoed to try to reach the creamer on the top shelf. When suddenly another hand reached for it and grabbed it for her. "Here you go." Still with a bright smile Ryo passed the creamer to her.

"Thank…thank you." Jun felt her face blushing again with shyness and her heartbeat unsettled as if it was going to jump out of her mouth when she realised how tall and protective Ryo's figure was when he stood behind her.

"Are you alright?" Ryo asked when he noticed the weird reaction from Jun.

"Yes…I am fine!" She said quickly and returned to the dining room with Len's coffee in fear Ryo was going to find out how she actually felt for him.

"Here you go." Jun said and placed Len's mug before him.

"Thanks." Without looking up, Len said.

"How about your coffee Jun?" Ryo returned too with her mug in his hand. Didn't she say she wanted another cup herself?

"I…I am fine. I better get ready before I am late for school!" Jun squeezed out a smile and fled quickly up the stairs to her room. Not understanding Jun's abnormal reaction, Ryo shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the kitchen.

"Don't be so nice if you don't mean it."

Ryo turned around in surprise when he heard the comment from his brother. Walking back to the dining table he asked with a grin. "What's your plan for today?"

Len looked up at his brother and replied calmly. "I have to meet one of my sponsors today, my old school."

"Great!" Ryo pat Len's shoulder. "Maybe it's time you quit acting so cool and do something nice for someone. Since you are going to Jun's school today anyway, maybe you can drop her off."

"What?" Len frowned again.

Without giving his brother a chance to say no, Ryo picked up his briefcase and called to Jun as she walked down the stairs, "Jun, Len will take you to school today. I have to go now, see ya!"

"Huh?" June obviously did not expect that as she watched Ryo ran quickly out the door. Turning to Len she saw an unpleasant frown on his beautiful face. Taking the last sip of his coffee, Len stood up from where he was and headed to the kitchen. He should have known, his brother always does this to him! Hurriedly collecting all the dirty plates Jun also headed into the kitchen and said quickly to Len. "It's alright, I can walk to school by myself."

Taking a look at poor Jun, Len sighed secretly inside himself. It's not her fault, this is between him and Ryo. "I have to go there today anyway to visit the dean. Let me know when you are ready." Len left Jun the sentence and walked out of the kitchen.

Jun could hear her own heartbeat when she sat in the passenger seat next to Len. Unlike being with Ryo, Len said not a word to her as the whole ride to her school was in silence.

"Thank you very much!" Jun said quickly after Len parked the car. Len nodded in acknowledgment and did not say anything. However as Jun headed off, she could not help but notice Len had followed her and walked right next to her.

"Len…?"

"The dean's office is still at the same place right?" Len asked.

"Yes it is!" Jun said quickly remembering that Len was here to see the dean. When at this time a person waved at them and ran up quickly. "Morning Jun!" It was no other but Melissa. When she saw Len, she greeted with a teasing smile. "Good morning Ryo, so attentive and brought Jun to school?"

Frown appeared once again on Len's face, but not bothering to explain, Len said to Jun, "I will go this way."

"What is his problem? Is he in a bad mood?" Melissa complained as she watched Len walked off totally ignoring her presence

"Nothing! Let's go!" Jun squeezed out a smile and grabbed Melissa's arm. She could never tell Melissa that person was not Ryo but his twin brother, the famous Len Tsukimori!

Just when Jun thought she could live through her day in peace, a classmate rushed into the classroom and called out in Joy. "You guys are not going to believe it! I heard the rumour that Len Tsukimori actually came to our school today!!"

"Really?" Another asked in surprise. "How do you know?"

Seeing people starting to gather around her, she smiled mysteriously. "Well, I just walked pass the dean's office, and I heard the dean's voice, and you know what he said?! He said, 'It has been a while since you last visited your old school, Len. Or should I call you by the name of the world class violinist Len Tsukimori…"

"No way! Did you see his face?!"

She shook her head in disappointment and sighed. "I tried to but the door was closed."

"Let's go wait outside the dean's office, He has to come out some time!" One girl suggested. With the suggestion the rest cheered as some already walked out the door fighting to be the first person to see the mysterious Len Tsukimori.

"Oh wow, Jun, I guess we get to see him even without going to the concert!" Melissa whispered to Jun in excitement.

"Yeah…" Jun replied ambiguously. Surprised at how unexcited Jun was, Melissa asked in concern. "What's the matter? You and Ryo both are acting weird today. Did you guys have a fight?"

"No, no we didn't fight." Jun justified quickly and squeezed out a smile. "Don't you think it is better that we don't actually know what Len Tsukimori looks like?"

"Huh? Did you get a brain disease? Of course it's better to find out!" Melissa joked as she grabbed Jun off her seat. "Let's go!" Before Jun could find another excuse, the classmates that left earlier all returned with disappointment all over their faces. Seeing their facial expressions Melissa asked cautiously. "What's the matter with you guys? Was he that bad looking?"

"No, by the time we got there he had left already. We missed out just like that!"

Hearing that Jun was relieved immediately, she wondered what everyone's reaction would be if they found out the world-class musician was the guy that dropped her off at school today!

"What's going on here? Everyone return to their seats please." The professor said as she walked in.

Putting aside all their disappointments, the students all quickly returned to their seats waiting for the class to start. Placing down her teaching materials, the professor looked up at the students and announced.

"As you know you are all at your last year now, so for the rest of the school year I would like you to concentrate on your thesis that I am about to assign to you." Taking out her notebook, she looked through the list as she explained, "I have given each of you the name of either a classical or a contemporary musician here. The musician that I assign to you will be the person you write your thesis on. Not to worry, I have assigned it according to what I best felt suited your current performance."

The students walked up one by one as their names were called out and have the name of the musician handed to them on a piece of paper. "I got an easy one, pretty sure that I can find lots of materials on him." Melissa winked as she passed her piece of paper to Jun.

Jun agreed when she saw the name "Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart" on Melissa's paper. Mozart, the musical genius who was able to play the piano at the age of 4 and was already composing his own works from the age of 5.

"Jun, it's your turn." The professor called out to Jun.

Jun walked up quickly to the professor and received her paper. However her body became stone stiff when she saw the name, "Len Tsukimori" written on it. Looking up at her professor in plead she asked, "Sakura Sensei, is this a mistake...?"

"Of course not. Len Tsukimori is also a world class musician and you of all should know it." Sakura Sensei smiled and obviously was not changing her mind about assigning this name to Jun. Seeing the white pale look on Jun's face, she comforted. "Jun, I know this is a hard person to write about because we know so little of him. However I have noticed from your previous works how you have been strongly influenced by Len Tsukimori's works, I believe you will love to write a thesis about him."

"But Sakura Sensei," Jun looked up at her teacher again hoping she would say it was only a joke.

"Don't worry Jun. To be fair I will give you a clue on writing this thesis." Misunderstanding the reason Jun was troubled with the topic, Sakura Sensei smiled warmly. "As you know Len Tsukimori had arrived our city in preparation for his upcoming concert. You should be able to arrange for an interview with him at the City Concert Hall where he will be rehearsing for the next months. Just let him know that you needed to write your graduation thesis, I am sure he will be willing to help."

"Oh, she is so lucky…"

"Yeah, we don't even get to see Len Tsukimori's face, but she gets to do an interview with him…"

Jun could hear the other students sighing with envy behind her. However no one here knows her pain. She already knows what Len Tsukimori looks like, she didn't even need to set a time of personal interview to meet him. But the point is, the real Len Tsukimori is not the kind of person that would be willing to sit down with you and let you do a thesis on him!

"Isn't it great?! You finally get to meet him and even do a thesis about him! I am sure no other musician would interest you more than Len Tsukimori!" Totally not understanding, Melissa also encouraged.

Looking to the piece of paper in her hand, slowly Jun let out a sigh…

"You are such a wonderful cook Jun, I am so embarrassed." The attractive lady that has the same pair of beautiful stunning eyes as her sons smiled when Jun once again prepared a wonderful dinner for the family.

"I am not that great, aunty Fuyumi…" Jun blushed and said quickly.

"I told you Jun is a great cook. See, even Len had eaten more than he would usually eat!" Ryo teased. Len gave his evil brother another warning look but continued to eat.

Seeing her younger son's reaction, Fuyumi smiled and turned to Jun. "It's true. Len is usually very picky with what he eats. It's amazing to see him eating without complaint."

Noticing that frown once again popping up on Len's face, Jun turned the focus away quickly. "Aunty Fuyumi, Len's concert is in three months time, so when do you have to start rehearsing with him?"

With a sigh, Fuyumi replied, "They gave us no break, we have to start tomorrow. Didn't even consider that Len and I are both still suffering from jet lag. Not only that, I still have a few things I need to do for the house…" Like suddenly remembering something, Fuyumi said cheerfully to Jun, "Maybe you can rehearse with Len for the next few days instead of me! I heard you played with him the other day, you sounded great together!"

"That is a great idea!" Ryo joined in with his mother. "I am sure Len wouldn't mind."

"I…I can not possibly…" Jun stuttered with shock.

"My concert is not for amateurs." Len cut in coldly. "I am a professional and I take the job seriously. There is a reason we are rehearsing a month ahead of schedule because I will not allow any mistakes in my concert."

Jun felt her heart sank immediately with Len's cold and hard word. She knew herself to be no way close to a world class professional like Len, but it still hurts to hear it from him.

"Your face said something else that day when you both performed together." Fuyumi was not at all intimidated by her son's reaction and grinned. "Didn't you always complain that you did not want to work together with your mother? Maybe this will be a good chance for you to get rid of me."

Although Len did not say any more, Jun could sense the unpleasantness arousing in his eyes. Squeezing out a smile, Jun declined quickly. "No, Aunty Fuyumi. Unfortunately I will be busy working on my graduation thesis in the next months. I might not be able to help with the rehearsal."

"Your graduation thesis?" Fuyumi looked to Jun, "That's right, I remembered Len writing this major thesis on his final year too." Turning to Len she asked, "Who was it that you had to write about?"

"Fedrick Chopin."

"Yeah, I remembered too." Ryo laughed. "I was so annoyed at that time trying to study for my medical exams when Len was playing his Chopin pieces on the piano ALL THE TIME."

"Len plays the piano too?" Jun asked in astonishment.

"You'll be surprised how many other instruments he actually mastered." Fuyumi replied. With what Fuyumi said, looking over to Len again, the admiration and respect cannot be hidden on Jun's face.

Noticing the stars in Jun's eyes, unexpectedly a shade of redness came up on Len's face as he stood up from his seat.

"Don't go so fast, Len." Fuyumi said trying to hold in that laugh. "You should help Jun out with her thesis. Give her advice or something. Be a gentleman." With a sigh, Len sat back down and asked out of obligation. "Whom do you have to write about?"

"Ugh…I…" This time Jun's face turned red instead with Len's question. She could not possibly tell him that the person she has to write about was actually him! "Don't…don't worry about me! I…I can do the thesis on my own!"

"No, Jun. If you need help let Len know." Ryo teased. "Although he tries to play cool all the time, I am sure he is actually willing to help."

"Let me guess," Fuyumi smiled with wisdom when she saw Jun's reaction. "Is it Len Tsukimori that you had to write about?"

With Fuyumi's spot on answer, Jun felt her ears became burning hot with embarrassment. However her silence confirmed that Fuyumi was correct.

"What…?" The frown appeared once again on Len's face.

"Oh wow, what an coincidence!" Ryo patted his brother's shoulder. "Now you HAVE TO HELP her."

"Exactly!" Fuyumi also joined in. "Since Jun has to work on her thesis about you, you have to let her come to your rehearsals! Or else are you going to be responsible for her failing grades…?"

Len crossed his arms and gave another sigh, finally he looked to Jun. "When do you finish your class tomorrow?"

"Thank…thank you so much!" Jun said quickly when Len came to pick her up today after class. Luckily she only has two hours lectures in the morning and the rest of the day she could spend at the rehearsal with Len working on her thesis.

Although as expected Len attracted many admiring eyes from the other students when he showed up at the school gate, luckily Jun was not in too much trouble since no one knew he was the famous "Len Tsukimori."

As expected, once again the trip to the concert hall was in silence. Len said not a word to Jun and neither did Jun dare to start a conversation. Luckily the ride to the concert hall did not take long as soon the two arrived a huge and beautiful theatre.

Upon arrival, a man ran up immediately, "Len, your mother just called and said she won't be coming for the next two weeks!"

"I know." Len replied calmly.

"What are we going to do?! Can we rehearse without her for two weeks?" The man asked anxiously.

Pointing to Jun, Len explained calmly. "She will be replacing my mother for the next two weeks of rehearsal."

With surprise the man looked to Jun, "You are…?"

"I am Jun, nice to meet you!" Jun greeted quickly.

The man observed Jun from head to toe, looking over to Len again, a mysterious smile appeared on his face as he held up Jun's hand. "Nice to meet you, I am Sei, Len's manager." Turning to Len he smiled. "Len, you never told me you had such a cute girlfriend."

"What…?"

"No…no…no!!"

Sei burst out laughing as he pointed his finger at Len. "You should see the expression on your face when I said that. I finally broke your coldness!" Seeing that warning look on Len's face, Sei quickly cleared his throat. "Alright, alright. I guess we better head into the building now. Everyone else is ready to start." Gesturing Len to walk first, he added. "But you know, I have always been so fatally correct with my instincts, and I can sense that the two of you will eventually become a couple."

Jun felt the blood in her rushed to her face again with Sei's statement, "Mr Sei, please do not tease Len like this. It makes him very uncomfortable."

Len's eyes looked to Jun with surprise when he heard how Jun had defended him. She was also being teased by Sei but she spoke up for him instead. Noticing the thoughtful look on Len's face, Sei shrugged his shoulders. "Is he? Or is he not?" Leaving the two, Sei headed off first into the building.

"Thanks…"

June felt her heart gave a thump when Len whispered the word before he too entered the building. Taking a few deep breaths to gather herself, Jun followed quickly after Len and Sei.

Jun couldn't believe her eyes when she saw who were present at the rehearsal. This was the gathering of world class musicians in one single room! The famous cellist Keiichi Shimizu, flautist Yunoki Azuma, and trumpeter Hihara Kazuki!

"I see we have a new face." The flautist Azuma came up to Jun and greeted with a gentle smile. "My name is Azuma Yunoki, nice to meet you."

"I am Jun, so nice to meet you!" Jun said with excitement! This is incredible! Usually you will have to pay a few hundred dollars to be able to see only one of these musicians, and now they are all here performing at Len Tsukimori's concert!

"Hi Jun! I am Katsuki Hihara! You must be the new replacement that Sei just mentioned Welcome!" Unlike Azuma's gentle smile, Katsuki held Jun's hand and shook it drastically accompanied by a bright cheerful smile.

"It's interesting Len got a replace on such a short notice, after all he does not just let anyone be his piano accompany because he is such a perfectionist when it comes to music." Azuma said as he watched Len tuning his violin next to the piano.

"True," Katsuki nodded in agreement. "Len has this particular definition to his music so he will play according to how he feels at the time. Very hard to coordinate with."

"I guess that is why we are here way ahead of schedule to make sure we can all catch up to him." Keiichi said as he walked up to Len to do the tuning of his cello to his violin.

"But you are all world class musicians, it shouldn't be too hard right?" Jun asked.

"I guess that's the main problem. We all have our own ways of defining the same piece of music, but I guess this time it is Len's concert so we will have to try to catch up to his pace." Azuma explained patiently.

Jun nodded in agreement, "It is still amazing to see all of you appearing together with Len in his concert! The audiences will be so overwhelmed!" With excitement and admirations all over her face, Jun let out a sigh. "It would be so worth the money."

Laughing brightly, Katsuki shuffled Jun's hair like a brother to a younger sister, "That's because Len had helped us out in our concerts too when we were all in Vienna, I guess now it's our turn to return the favour."

"Jun," Suddenly Len interrupted. "Don't you need to warm up your fingers before we start?" Surprisingly there was a slight tone of irritation in his voice.

"Sorry!" Jun apologised quickly as she moved quickly to the piano.

"Interesting…" Azuma's eyebrow raised a little in discovery. "Sounds like our Len doesn't like us talking to his new partner."

Passing a set of music to Jun, Len asked coldly. "You are not here to have fun are you?"

"No, no…sorry…" Jun apologised again feeling her heart pumping fast with fear every time that frown appears on Len's beautiful perfect face.

"Good, now try this piece." Opening to a new page, Len placed the music before her.

As Jun started playing, Len picked up his violin and joined in. Immediately all Jun's fear disappeared the moment she heard that magical violin playing from Len. His music was so full of feelings and expressions and touches Jun's heart every time. It was as if she understood him like no one else could. Just like the last time they played together, their music matched just perfectly. Although Azuma had mentioned that Len has a particular definition to his music, but Jun could see through it all. She knew when he wanted to add the crescendo and knew when he added the allegro.

"Amazing…." Katsuki praised wholeheartedly.

Len could not deny either how content he felt after they finished the first song together. Even after years of partnership with his mother it did not felt the same way. Unable to let out a word Len's eyes looked deeply at Jun, how did this girl know his music so well?

"Bravo." Azuma applauded and came up. "That was incredible performance. Even one of the best I have heard from Len so far."

"I agree! You guys accompanied each other perfectly! How long have you been practising together?" Katsuki joined in.

"Only once…" Jun blushed shyly and replied.

"No way!" Sei exclaimed. "It took Fuyumi and Len a few months to finally be able to accompany each other, and you have only practised once with Len?" Turning to Len he teased. "Told you my instinct was always right. She is your soul mate!"

"No, no, don't say that. I was just lucky because I have heard Len's music many times." Jun waved her hands quickly to stop Sei from going any further. She would hate to see that frown appear on Len's face again!

Amazingly Len did not seem so upset with Sei's statement. Turning to Len in surprise, Jun saw a gentle expression on Len's face. "I guess I did not have to worry any more. Like my mother said, you could do this part."

Jun felt her heartbeat raced when for the first time she heard something nice from Len. Seeing the blank stunned look on Jun's face, Len turned away quickly in embarrassment and changed the topic. "Let's start the next song."

"What's cooking tonight? Smells great!"

Turning around Jun saw Ryo's head popping in the kitchen. After a stressful day with Len, seeing Ryo's bright cheerful smile was like such a relief for Jun. The rest of the rehearsal was rather hard as for the grand finale Len was supposed to play his final song with the other three musicians. Like Azuma and Katsuki had mentioned before, totally unlike the amazing bond that Len and Jun had, sometimes either Katsuki's trumpet was too fast, or Keiichi's cello was too soft, or Azuma's flute was disappearing because Len was too dominant. Being such a perfectionist, Len was becoming more and more irritated that the other three just could not come into the same wavelength as him. Luckily Sei reminded Len that it was getting late, so he should allow everyone to return home and as there are still three months to go till the concert, there was still plenty of time to practise.

"Hungry already? Dinner will be ready soon." Jun replied.

Coming up to Jun, Ryo took a look at what Jun was cooking, with a joyful smile Ryo praised. "Wow, you should consider changing your profession and open a restaurant or something. I will be your loyal everyday customer."

Immediately Jun's heart was filled with ecstasy hearing Ryo's words. Most of all, she was very touched to know that Ryo is looking forward to her cooking everyday. "You always tease me, there are over a million women out there that can cook like me…" Jun said although she felt so sweet.

"Well, to award you for your hard work, I have something for you." Ryo smiled and placed a box in front of Jun. Jun's heart gave a huge thump when she saw the box, looking up at Ryo in extreme joy Jun asked. "For…for me?"

"Well, don't get too carried away." Ryo teased as he opened the box for Jun. "As a matter of fact actually this was a gift from one of my patients. She wanted to thank the team for looking after her so well while she was in the hospital, so she baked these muffins for us."

Jun felt as if she was carried into heaven and the dropped immediately with Ryo's statement. Squeezing out a smile Jun said quickly. "You must be very…popular with female patients…"

"Really?" Ryo did not notice the sour tone in Jun's voice and replied. "If you consider me particularly attractive to sixty year old patients."

"Sixty years old?" Jun blinked.

Ryo laughed and explained. "She is an old retired lady who just recovered from her broken leg. Apparently she tripped when she was in the shower."

"Oh…ok." Jun felt relieved once again feeling herself so stupid. Putting the muffins nicely onto a plate Jun smiled, "Alright, we will have these for desert tonight."

"Great, I will set up the dinner table then." Ryo said as he took out the cutleries and plates.

Jun nodded and helped Ryo, however when she turned around she saw Len standing at the entrance of the kitchen looking coldly at them. Surprisingly different to his normal unemotional look, this was the same look that Jun saw today at the rehearsal after her conversation with Yunoki and Hihara.

"Len…?" Jun called cautiously.

Walking up to the fridge and taking out a drink, Len did not reply Jun as he walked out of the kitchen again.

However unlike Jun, Ryo laughed seeing Len's reaction. Turning to Jun he teased. "Looks like he is jealous."

"Jealous?!" Jun couldn't believe Ryo used such a word.

Popping his head back into the kitchen, Len said coldly. "I heard that." Jun covered her mouth quickly in embarrassment and looked to Ryo. However Ryo acted calm as normal and placed some serviettes in Len's hand. 'Thanks for returning to the kitchen. Now help me set up the dinner table."

Knowing he fell into his brother's trick again, Len frowned as he followed his brother out with the serviettes in his hands.