Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat! And its characters..
Sorry for the typos and grammatical errors down there. I went camping last weekend so I was busy last week in preparation and couldn't finished it before going… anyways, enjoy reading! ^_^
A little recap…
"You look good. You always look good in any clothes you wear, Tsuruga-san." She said honestly with a light blush. And out of it, too. A voice in her mind echoed and she froze.
A short memory played on her mind. Ren was dressed in the black tuxedo he just changed out of. He also asked her how he looked when he got out of the changing room. She was in front of him looking him up and down and liking what she saw. She heard herself reply, "You look really handsome… just like a prince!" She said as she smoothed the lapels of his jacket with her two hands and then rested it on his shoulders. Her lips curved into a sexy smile and her eyes glittered of desire as she continued. "But I think you look even more handsome out of it, too."
The Great Escape:
Chapter 7
Over the line can't define what I'm after
I always turn the car around…
~10:00 AM - Present…~
After they paid for their clothes, they immediately went to the last place they went to. The taxi pulled up in front of a bridal store. They went inside and was greeted by a middle aged woman.
"Welcome to our store. How may I-" The woman stopped when she recognized them. "Oh! It's you two! Congratulations!"
"Good morning." Ren greeted the woman.
Kyoko only stood frozen when she recognized the inside of the shop. She was staring at the closed door of the fitting room. That was the setting of that little flashback she had a while ago at the store. It just finally hit her that that little flashback really happened. I really acted like that? NOOO! Kyoko shouted inside her head. No way!
While Kyoko was busy inside her head, the two people carried on with their conversation.
"Thank you for helping us yesterday! In our impromptu wedding." Ren said.
"Oh no, it was nothing. I was glad to be of help." The woman replied. "So, did the dress and suit survived the night?" She asked with a sly smile.
Ren blinked. "What?" He asked and then caught on to what she was asking. Why the hell is everybody talking to us like we were two sex-crazed teenagers? He shouted in his head.
~Tokyo, 20 hours ago at 2:00 PM, 25th of December~
"Sir, his name wasn't in the international flights or even in domestic flights." Sebastian informed his boss of his findings.
"Hmmm…" Lory absorbed the information. It was just a guess, so he did not really expected much from it. But best to cover all the bases… And at that thought he remembered what Yashiro asked him a while ago. "What about Mogami-kun's?"
"I took the initiative to add her name, Sir. But still nothing."
"What about her phone?" Yashiro asked. "You didn't find any of Kyoko's stuff in his apartment right?"
"Track her phone. It's a company phone so that should be easy." Lory commanded Sebastian and then turned to Yashiro. "Good job, Yashiro."
Two hours later, Sebastian called Lory to inform him of his findings.
"Sebastian, did you find them?" Lory said as he answered his phone.
"Unfortunately no, sir." Sebastian replied. "I'm currently outside of a towing company. It seems that Ren's car got towed."
"What? Did they get into an accident?" Lory exclaimed worriedly.
Yashiro looked at the president in shock. It was one thing to hear that his charge and his charge's lady love might have been involved in a car accident and completely another to see and hear the president so worried and nearly in a panic. He had not seen the president that worried before. Sure, he had seen him panic over trivial things but this, this was serious panic and not just you'll-ruin-my-costume-of-the-day panic.
"The people inside think it was not so, sir." Sebastian replied. "They said the car looked totally fine when it was brought in. But they would not tell me any more info unless I show them car registrations and pay them to retrieve the car."
"Well, then do it." For the first time in many years, Takarada Lory snapped.
"I am currently on my way to Ren's apartment to get a copy of his car registration and spare keys, sir. I will report back what I will find as soon as I possibly can." And Sebastian hang up.
Lory heaved a heavy sigh. He walked to his mini liquor bar and pour himself a glass of hard liquor. He needed it to get a grip on himself. The thought that Ren and Kyoko might have been involved in a car accident shook him. It would all be his responsibility. And there would be two people who would surely kill him or slowly roast him naked in an open fire if anything happened to their beloved son. This not-knowing-what-happened-to-them thing is really getting to him.
~Back to present… 11:00 AM~
Ren and Kyoko got out of the cab and went into a jewelry store which the taxi driver pointed to them was the place they went to yesterday before the bridal shop. They already took care of business with the bridal shop. They found out that Ren already paid for the dress and not merely rented it. Ren easily persuaded the woman to take a picture with his wife, Kyoko, as a remembrance for their wedding album. Kyoko finally woke up from his shock of realizing that her flashback really happened and somehow managed a smile for the camera. The woman gave them business her card for their album and for future purposes.
As they walked the short distance to the entrance of the store, Ren unconsciously put his hand on her back to guide her. The hair on the back of Kyoko's neck all stood up in awareness of the man. But she also felt a pleasant electric thrill down her spine. In her mind, her body's reaction was very confusing, especially when her body does not listen to her brain. The Kyoko before that forgotten night would have stood stiffly beside the tall, handsome man. But now, her body was slowly relaxing in his arms. Why in the world was that? But her mind went blank when they finally got in. Everything her eyes seemed to laid on was sparkling and glittering and shimmering. She was La La Land, Jewels and Gems version.
When Ren noticed her reaction, he could not hide the warm smile that automatically graced his lips. A sales lady greeted them and Ren replied in kind. One of the salesman inside the shop recognized them and went to them.
"Good morning, Hizuri-san." He greeted and Ren replied in kind again. "I'm Sakihara Jin, we met yesterday. Is everything alright with the items you bought yesterday?"
"Oh, hi." Ren replied. "No. no, everything is alright. Fits perfectly." As Ren showed the man his hand with the wedding band on.
"Congratulations!" Jin said and then went to work mode. "So are you here to buy another gift for your new wife? We have new necklace and earrings arrivals."
"Oh, no." Ren refused politely with a smile. "We're actually here to make sure everything was paid. It was a whirlwind yesterday, we could not remember most of the preparations." Ren smiled shyly.
Jin's smile widened in understanding. "Yeah, I saw." He said with a chuckle. "But not to worry, you already paid it all in full."
Paid it all in full… The phrase caught in Kyoko's ears and went straight to her brain which woke her up from her La La Land: Jewel and Gems adventure. Something clicked in her head and she looked at the salesman. "Exactly how much did he pay?" Kyoko suddenly asked the man. When the man replied with an amount of too many zeros for Kyoko's mind's eye to imagine, she nearly fainted.
Thankfully, Ren caught her. The salesman looked worriedly at Kyoko but Ren assured him she was okay. Understanding the situation, Jin went away to give them a little moment for themselves. When Kyoko finally caught her breath and could finally get the strength to stand on her own, she pulled away from Ren's embrace.
"Ren!" Kyoko hissed, unconsciously using his first name, as she continued in a whisper so that nobody could hear. "It's too much! I could not even possibly pay it full with interest in years even if I land three roles at a time!" She then went to take off the rings on her finger.
"Kyoko, stop it." Ren stopped her slender fingers from taking off the rings. "It's already been paid."
"They could refund it." Kyoko argued. "We only used it for one night."
"You can't return and get a refund for jewelries." Ren argued back. "And even if they do, what would it looked like? That we only borrowed it for one night for our wedding?" Kyoko froze at that. Ren sighed. "And we still haven't solved this. We agreed that we will decide what to do, after we figure out what really happened yesterday." Kyoko was silent for a moment and then nodded.
"Good." Ren said and kissed her forehead. Kyoko immediately blushed red and looked down to hide her face with her hair. Ren smiled at her cute reaction. "Alright, now will have to get a picture with Sakihara-san and get this store's business card. Then, we're off."
~Tokyo, 17 hours ago at 5:00 PM, 25th of December~
"Sebastian?" Lory answered, already on speaker phone for Yashiro to hear too.
"Sir, I already retrieved Ren's car and I'm heading to where the people in the towing company said they picked up the car." Sebastian reported. "The car is totally fine both inside and out. I found Mogami-sama's purse with her phone inside. Nothing was stolen as I can see and the car itself, I can say, was not stolen either. Mogami-sama's mountainous gifts are in the trunk and backseat."
"Where did they say the car was left?" Lory asked.
"They said, it was illegally parked on for disabled parking space only and they did not pay for a whole day parking. The parking lot only let a half hour free parking, so it got towed." Sebastian explained to them. "It was parked near the Tokyo station."
"Tokyo station?" Yashiro exclaimed. "They could have gone anywhere if they did took the train! That station has a lot of lines running through!"
Before Sebastian or Lory could react to Yashiro's outburst, they heard a phone rang. Yashiro looked at his phone but it was not ringing. Then, Lory and Yashiro heard a screeching sound from the other line and then shuffling noises.
"Sir, it seems that Mogami-sama's phone is ringing." He informed them. "Should I answer it?"
"Who is it?" Lory asked.
"It says here, Mo…Moko-san."Sebastian read the caller ID.
"Go ahead." Lory replied. Then Sebastian hit the answer button and the loud speaker button for the other two to hear who was calling Kyoko. It may give them a clue to the whereabouts of Ren and Kyoko.
"MOOOOO! KYOKO!" A loud angry voice shouted from the other end. "I've been trying to call you for the past hour! Where in the world are you? You said you wanted to spend Christmas with me after work. I've been waiting here in your room for the past hour. The Okami told me that they didn't even notice you came back last night."
"Kotonami-san?" Yashiro said questioningly as they heard the loud tirade coming from Kyoko's phone.
Sebastian didn't know what to say, so Kanae only heard silence on the other end. "Kyoko? Hello? Are you there? MO! What is going on?"
The president sighed. "Sebastian, ask her where she is. Go pick her up and get her here in my office ASAP. I don't want anyone knowing what's happened."
Half an hour later, Kanae was sitting beside Yashiro in the president's office.
"Oi! Glases boy, what is going on?" Kanae demanded to Yashiro. "Where is Kyoko? What happened to her?"
Yashiro cringed at the frustrated woman a couple feet away beside him. "Ca-alm down, Kotonami-san."
"Calm down? You want me to calm down?" Kotonami exclaimed in disbelief. "How can I calm down when some stranger answered my best friend's phone and asked me where I am only to drag me here without any explanations? I don't even know where Kyoko is? Is she even alright?"
"Okay, okay… Breathe, Kotonami-san. Just take a deep breath for a second." Yashiro grabbed both of her shoulders and tried to calm down the hysterical woman. "We will explain it to you in a minute, so just take a moment to breathe."
Kanae glared at him for a minute before she settled back down on her seat. The President finally came back from his talk with Sebastian and he sat back down across the two of them.
"Now, Kotonami-san. Don't panic yet." The president assured her. "We think that Ren is with her, so she should be okay. They left the villa together last night and it seemed that they didn't made it to Kyoko's home. But they did made it to Ren's apartment. We found evidence that they dyed there hair there and then they drove near Tokyo station. That's where Ren's car was parked and Mogami-kun's purse was found in the car. Right now, we're trying to figure out why they parked there. Sebastian is on his way there now to check out the surroundings."
~Back to present… 12:00 PM~
Ren and Kyoko stood and looked at the building in front of them. The taxi stopped in front of it and the old driver told them that it was really that building they had went into yesterday. The building was one of Kyoto's ward offices. Ren read the name of the building and gulped. Kyoko stood still in shock. They just realized the extent of what the two of them had forgotten they had done yesterday. They finally realized that their situation was really serious and apparently very LEGAL. The only hope they wanted to cling to was the fact that Kyoko could not marry legally without parental consent.
After that frozen moment of uncertainty and fear, Ren firmly placed his arm around her waist as he pulled her close to him in assurance and made their way to the door of the building. Inside, they did not know where to go, so they just went to one of the windows and ask the person behind it.
"Hello, how may I help you?" Asked the person behind the booth window.
"Hi, uhm…." Ren paused, not really sure what to reply. "Uh, we were here yesterdays. We, uh, just wanted to confirm something."
"What do you want to confirm, sir?" Replied the older woman who was on the other side of the window.
"We want to confirm our… marriage registration." Ren finally replied. Ren then took out his camera from his pocket and powered it on. "We have a picture of someone who looks like he may work here." Ren continued as he quickly browse through the pictures to find the right one. "Here it is." He said after a few minutes when he finally found it and then showed it to the old woman behind the counter.
"Oh, Fujiwara-san. Yes, he works here." She replied to them. "Oh, you must be the young lovey-dovey couple he talked about yesterday." The two were silent as Kyoko blushed at the mention of lovey-dovey and Ren just stared at the older woman.
"Yeah, I… guess…" Ren finally answered when the older woman just looked at them, too, waiting for their confirmation.
"I see…" She murmured as she continue to stare at the two of them. "You have to come back later. Fujiwara-san is on his lunch break right now. He won't be back for about an hour." The woman informed them and then sighed. "You, youngster, these days really can't wait to do it, huh?"
Ren instantly turned tomato red, while Kyoko looked confused as she was still in the process of understanding the older woman's statement. SERIOUSLY! He shouted in his head. Why the hell are all the people we meet ask questions like that? Are all newlyweds subjected to these kinds of questions and innuendos?
Well, I hope you enjoyed it coz I certainly enjoyed writing it. I like torturing Ren and Kyoko… hehe ^_^ It's just fun, I can't help it… I think that is the whole reason of me writing this story…LOL Sooo, you know a little of the places they went to and it should give you a little glimpse of what they had done on Christmas day and Kyoko's birthday. Let see next chapter if they really are legally married. What do you think guys?
Anyways, thanks for all the support through reading, reviewing, alerting and favorites… I really appreciate it guys and hope to see you next chap… ^_^
