DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia in any way. Philippines would be a character, if I did.

Chapter 2

Kiku's morning wasn't as bad as he expected it to be. He woke up at 7:00am, just in time for the room service to bring his breakfast. Being used to his Japanese-styled room, he kneeled down on the floor to eat as if he were using a kotatsu. The breakfast was the usual egg, bacon, and fried rice, however, the rice was cooked with various vegetables and spices, making it the main highlight of the dish. It was tasty, but nothing compared to what his mother would cook for him back home

After satisfying himself with the delicious meal, he had noticed his untouched suitcase still sitting beside the bed. He had completely forgotten about it! He made a mental note to unpack as soon as he finished clearing away his used dishes for the room service to collect later.

As he put the first batch of his clothes inside the closet, his phone blasted a familiar tune of a Japanese boyband singing "thank you" in different languages. As much as he'd love to leave it be and listen to the song instead, he couldn't for it might be his childish boss again waiting for an immediate reply.

Leaving his baggage for a while, he approached his bed and flipped open his phone to reveal an unknown number.

'That's strange.' Kiku thought. 'Who could this be?'

He opened the mail to see a message typed in French. "Bonjour~! Comment allez-vous, mon chéri?* ;)" Kiku read, ignoring the strange smiley at the end of the short text. He didn't even have to guess whoever was the mysterious sender. With the way the message was typed, he immediately knew who it was.

Not anymore interested at the message, he returned to arranging his clothes. The phone kept playing the same song throughout the unpacking process, and he was already close to snapping when he heard it for the 12th time. Kiku once again checked his phone to see a total of 12 unread mails, all from that stubborn Frenchman. Every single message only said the same thing: "You there?" After scrolling to the bottom, he heard the phone ring again for another mail. Same person, same words. He was trying his best to pull back any gruesome emotions towards the sender.

But then, he had to reply soon, or else his inbox would be full of spam messages.

"I would highly appreciate it if you would stop pestering me. I'm very busy at the moment."

In just a few seconds, he got a reply saying, "Oh, my deepest apologies. See you at work later, Monsieur Honda. ;*"

After reading the mail, Kiku threw his phone back at the mattress and went to his wardrobe to pick which clothes he should wear today. A black vest caught his eye, so he chose it along with a blue vertically striped dress shirt and khaki pants, setting it on his bed. He grabbed a towel and a bath robe before closing the closet and going straight to the bathroom.

The first site was the country's most well-known structure, the Eiffel Tower. Yao brought his own camera to take pictures of the tower at his own accord as Kiku discussed some important guidelines with Ivan.

As Ivan spoke, Kiku noted every instruction the editor said. He learned that the theme was 'Spring at Paris.' After a few minutes of discussing, Ivan called Francis, who was currently flirting with some French lady. The blonde greeted Kiku a smirk, who was given a cold glare in return. Ivan signaled for the photoshoot to start as Francis got himself set.

Kiku took a whole lot of shots at the first minute, however he was unsatisfied with how it turned out. Although Francis was, Kiku had to admit, great at posing, the Japanese man couldn't really feel the spring theme. After a few contemplations, he noticed a rose bush nearby the French man and suddenly got an idea. He picked one flower from the bush, careful that he might get pricked by its dangerous thorns, then gave it to Francis who, of course, mistook it for something else.

"Our photoshoot had just began, and you already had those kinds of feelings for me, Honda?" Francis laughed in seductive tones, which only annoyed the Japanese photographer.

"It's part of the photoshoot. Please pose with that." Kiku tried sounding as polite as possible, returning to his earlier position. Francis brought the flower to his lips as if kissing it, intentionally making his photographer blush. Kiku mentally cursed himself for not controlling his emotions too well as he took more shots of the French model.

The photoshoot ended quickly, just in time for lunch. Kiku agreed with Francis taking him to a nearby restaurant, remembering that he had a lot of things to discuss with the French man.

"Are you finally going to ask me out, mon cheri?" Francis announced, almost making Kiku spit out his drink.

"Don't be ridiculous." Kiku quietly snapped, wiping his mouth free of any milkshake moustaches. "I'm here to ask where you got my number."

Francis raised an eyebrow at him. "From Ivan, of course." the blonde replied. "As far as I could remember, you're the one who gave him your business card."

"That's the point. I gave it to him, not to you. It's for business and business only."

"Honda, he's my boss. It's normal that he would give me that number for I'm one of his magazine employees and, not to mention, your model. Plus, you're in France, the city of l'amour." Francis dragged his chair closer to the Asian as he cupped Kiku's chin in his hand. "You should've known by then that people here love to flirt with whoever they think is beautiful." he whispered seductively before attempting to lock his lips with the photographer's own until he felt a strong hand hit his face, sending him flying off his chair. Touching his painful cheek, he looked up to see an enraged Kiku standing with a fist held up.

"No one invades my personal space." Kiku told the injured Frenchman as he grabbed his camera bag and hurriedly barged out the restaurant, leaving Francis sitting on the floor startled, confused, and cheek bruised.

End of Chapter 2

Hey you guys! Ohoho! Thank you for reading this little story of mine! Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate it!

This chapter is real short, ain't it? I'm very sorry about that! I'll try to make my future chapters longer. I'm still new to writing multi-chapter fanfics! OTL

About Kiku's outfit, it was based on Arte Stella's cover. He looked so gentlemanly there, and it's one of my favorite outfits, too! Maybe I'll try to draw it one day, if I have the time.

And oh yeah, can anyone guess what Kiku's ringtone is? A clue is that it's sung by a 9-membered (formerly 10-membered) boyband.

For some notes:

*"How are you, my dear?" in French

Please review! I would like to know if you guys like my story or not! ^^