Beta-ed by my-silver-lining


sept


To celebrate Professor Takumi Imai's 80th birthday, the Imais will be throwing a 'small' party with a guest-list of approximately five hundred people, most of them being business associates, politicians, multi-billionaire tycoons and even a few movie stars added into the mix.

To put it simply: there will be a whole bunch of famous hotshots will be attending Prof. Takumi Imai's birthday party.

And to pull off such a big-scale event, there's no doubt that massive preparations need to be done. Even though the party is at least three weeks away, the Imais are as busy, planning, preparing, and making sure that everything is perfect for the party, from the food to the invitations cards.

And for some reason, I was wrapped into the middle of this ordeal.

"What do you mean by you have nothing to do with this?" Mrs Imai—or Megumi, as that's what she's insisting I call her—narrows her eyes into slits. "You are a part of this family, so of course you should be involved in Takumi's birthday preparations. Don't worry about messing up, I trust your judgements. Though," she said in a softer voice, "I'd understand if you're busy." And that's when she releases the puppy-dog eyes that I'm so vulnerable against.

So what else could I have said besides yes?


Unfortunately, I didn't know what I was signing up for.

With a frustrated sigh, I snatch up my phone from the table and punch in Hotaru Imai's private number. She picks up on the third ring.

"I can't do this."

There's a four-second pause on the other line and I tap my fingers against the table impatiently. I eye the god-awful note stuck to the computer on the table.

"What do you mean you can't do this?" Her voice is clipped, obviously she's busy.

I snatch the sticky-note and wave it in the air, as if she can see me. "This. This message you left an hour ago. Do you really expect me to be able to go off work on such a short notice just to go cake-tasting and shopping for guest souvenirs? Woman, you're kidding right?"

"Ruka Nogi, I swear, if you ask me one more time on whether I'm kidding, I will slap you," she threatens in a mild tone. "To answer your first question, yes. I do expect you to take the day off."

This woman is impossible. And I'm not even kidding. I run a hand through my hair. "Imai, you and I both know that this is all a set-up, this 'relationship' we have. So why do I need to be tangled up with all your family affairs?"

"Ruka," she mutters in that patronizing tone of hers which she's constantly using, "it is because my mom wants you to meddle in our affairs. Besides, I clearly remember you making a verbal contract on agreeing to take part in all preparations for the party with my mother. Though I'd have to admit, I'm not exactly pleased with this arrangement either."

"If you're not pleased with it, then let me go," I grumble through gritted teeth. The a few quick raps at the door and a nurse steps in, ready to announce my next appointment. But before she can say a word, I hold up a finger to silence her. I tell her two give me five minutes. She nods—though with a disapproving frown—and the door closes behind her.

"No," she replies, "not when I need an assistant in these troublesome work."

"You already have an assistant!" I cry out loudly. "Three, in fact."

"Yes, indeed. But that would mean paying them for working overtime. Why pay when I can have an assistant for free?"

By assistant, she means me of course. I can practically see her smiling that sadistic little smile of hers. "Hell no, Imai! I have work to do and I can't possibly take the day off so that I can eat cake and go shopping, not to mention with you. I have work to do, just so you know. And it does not include being your assistant for free. My bills aren't going to pay themselves you know."

"Neither is that eight million yen debt you owe me."

Well that shut me up. My throat goes dry immediately.

There's a moment of silence before Imai speaks again. "See you at twelve?"

"Yeah. You know it." I sigh, knowing that once again, Imai has won.

Again.


After spending the entire afternoon hopping from bakery to bakery, trying out all sorts of cake on the market before picking out the perfect one, shopping for souvenirs mixed with a bunch of arguments on differing opinions in between, we're sitting at Anna's café for dinner. Imai's having a salad while I just settle for my third cup of espresso. The sickening sweetness from the cakes is still lingering in my mouth that not even after two cups of the blackest and most bitter coffee can wash away.

I raise the cup to my lips, only to realize that there's only a drop of liquid left. With a groan, I lift up the cup when the girl working at counter looks at me.

"You won't be able to sleep if you keep this up."

I snort at her comment, too tired to do anything else.

"As if you care," I mutter. Minutes later, a waitress stops by the table to place down a piping hot cup of coffee.

But just before she leaves, she places a hand on my shoulder in a friendly way with an equally friendly smile that's mixed with a tinge of—pity, is it?

"Go easy on them. It is evening." And then she walks off to another table.

As I eye the black liquid in the cup, I muse over the waitress' words, pondering if I should stop now and just order a glass of water instead.

"You look like your cat just died."

I flicked my eyes onto Imai whose attention is still on the huge plate of crab roe salad before her. "I don't own a cat. But my rabbit, on the other hand, did die a while ago. Which, now that I think about it, is the entire reason why I'm sitting here with you, being caught up in this ridiculous mess."

Without really giving it a second thought, I pick up a fork and just before I can pick up a bit of crab roe from her—did I mention humongous?—plate of salad, Imai's pointing her Baka gun at my temple.

"Don't even think about it." Imai's voice is low and menacing and is almost enough for me to run away and hide in a cave. I take a deep breath, calm myself down, place the fork back into its previous place and hold up my hands.

Imai tosses her gun back into her bag while I breathe out a sigh of relief. Crazy, mentally disturbed devil-of-a-woman that reeks of insanity.

"Mikan?"

I look up to Imai once more and see that troubled look in her eyes. She bolts from her seat and I turn around to see that she has her arms around a puffy-eyed, red-faced snivelling Mikan.

Imai leads the girl to our table and sets her down on the seat next to her.

"Nogi, go make yourself useful and get her one of Anna's strawberry cakes." Imai casts a glance at Mikan before adding, "Make that two."

As much as I'm curious about what happened to Mikan, I do as I'm told. While waiting in line, I dial Natsume's number, wondering if he knows that his girlfriend in a wreck.

Odd thing is, he doesn't pick up. The line rings and rings before eventually going to voicemail. I frown and try again but the same thing happens. On the fifth attempt, I give up, reminding myself to call him once more later. Perhaps he's in the shower or something.

As I return to the table, Mikan's already going off on what happened. The moment I place the plate onto the table, Mikan pulls it across the table and digs a fork into the cake before stuffing it into her mouth.

"And then we were just screaming—and screaming—and then he was going on—about how I'm being so—difficult and then—I said something—about his mom—and then he got—so pissed—but it just slipped—and—I didn't—mean it that way—but I guess he—got offended and then—Hotaru—I don't know what to do—" Mikan sputtered with pauses in between that are filled with sobs and her stuffing her mouth with more cake.

I hand her a tissue which she uses to blow her nose. "Mikan, it's going to be all right. Everything is going to be fine." Imai wraps her arms around her and pats Mikan shoulder awkwardly. Obviously she's not very good at comforting others.

With Mikan's back facing me, Imai mouths the words, "Call Hyuuga, now."

"I did. But he's not picking up the phone," I mouth back. "What happened?"

"Call him."

"What part of 'he's not picking up' can't you—"

Imai silences me with a cold, hard glare.

"Fine," I murmur before getting up and exiting the café to get away from the noise.

It took me another five more attempts before Natsume finally picks up his phone.

"What?" Well, someone doesn't sound happy.

"Uh hey, Nat," I begin while shuffling my feet, trying to string words together in my head. There's something about his tone that's making me nervous. "So I'm at Anna's café. Along with her majesty the eternally icy Queen. And also your—girlfriend. And well-ah-she's—not exactly in the best condition."

"So?"

His indifference is certainly alarming. Usually he'd be as worried as hell if he so much as hear about Mikan getting a paper cut and would rush to her side immediately. Take the time when Mikan was admitted to the hospital when she fainted a week ago as an example. Natsume was so close to having a nervous breakdown when he received the call. Not to mention, after the whole incident, he had actually phoned the girl to remind her to drink some water. Every. Single. Hour. Just like he'd promise—which we all thought was a joke in the beginning.

It took me a while to recover from the surprise but it took me a longer time to put two and two together.

"Nat-Natsume," I begin hesitantly, "d-did something h-happened between you and Mikan?"

There's a sigh on the other line. I count the people that pass me by as I wait for his reply.

"Yeah," Natsume groans, "we got into a pretty terrible argument."

"I can tell. You don't sound too happy and Mikan doesn't seem too happy either." I pause. "So what happened? Don't tell me it was something trivial like which shirt looks nicer or that you commented on her weight."

"Hn, I wish it was something as trivial as that. Well actually, it was trivial, at first. Then it just grew and things became out of hand."

Natsume sighs before muttering a soft 'fuck this shit'. "Where are you?" I ask.

"Home."

"So—what happened?"

He hesitates for a moment but just when he was about to give me a recount on things, my phone is suddenly snatched from my grasp. Startled at first, I turn around, thinking that I was robbed, only to see that the robber was none other than the Ice Queen herself.

"Is this Hyuuga? Bastard, you better get your ass here right this instant and make up with the dummy." She pauses while Natsume speaks. "Don't sass me, you bloody fool. I'm not asking, I am commanding you. I'm not giving you a bloody choice right now. I want to see you and your ass here at Café de l'Amour in twenty minutes or I'm going to release hell on you. You know what I'm capable of, Hyuuga, so you better not upset me.

"Hyuuga, don't you ever forget the fact that you fell for her first. Don't you ever forget the fact that Mikan should be with someone better if it wasn't because of you."

And with that, Imai snaps my phone shut before tossing it back to me. "Prick."

"Imai, what was that?" I exclaim. She merely smooths out the creases on her blouse without even acknowledging my question. Not that I'm surprised or anything. I'm probably already immune. I sigh. "How's Mikan?"

"Umenomiya is with her. She's more—experienced in these types of situations."

I have to force myself to hold back the snicker that threatens to erupt because if there's one thing that Imai hates—actually there's like five hundred billion things she hates—it's when someone laughs/ snickers/ giggles/ snorts at her. I've learnt that the hard way.

"So what do we do now?"

"Well," she looks at her watch for a quick second, "we could stay here and wait for that prick or go back inside to that stuffy café that reeks of perspiration."

"No it doesn't. You need to get your nose checked." Realising that there's no point in arguing, I groan. "Come on, let's go inside. It's getting pretty chilly out here."

"No. We'll be staying here. Anna will be able to handle that idiot. We, on the other hand, shall be waiting for his royal highness Natsume Hyuuga's arrival and you will be the one to talk some sense into his tiny little brain and convince him to be the one to apologize."

"Imai," I whine. Autumn's rolling in and the weather's pretty chilly here in Tokyo. Stupid me had completely forgotten to bring along a coat to keep myself warm, while Imai's pretty safe with one of her coats from her vast collection. She shoots me a glare and as usual, I'm silenced, keeping the bitchings safely in my head.

"Say," I begin after a moment of silence, "what happened to Mikan? Natsume told me that they got into a pretty huge fight."

Imai shrugs. "According to what I've gathered from the idiot's incoherent wailings, Mikan made a comment about Hyuuga's living room. For some reason, that turned into a fight when Hyuuga said something about not wanting to marry her."

I widen my eyes and stared at her. "Really?"

She shrugs once more. "Just a hypothesis. But I'm eighty-five per cent sure that that's the case. Considering that the word 'marry' came up about thirty-three times." Imai focuses on the road that leads up to the little hill Anna's café is built on. "I've known that idiot since elementary. If there's anything that can cause her to go berserk, it's probably something along the lines of marriage."

Imai's tone turns a little nostalgic as she takes stroll down memory lane with a frown. "She was one to go on and on about it. Even when we were in school, she'd plan out her entire wedding with a silly look on her face before going on for days about it. She had once gotten incredibly upset when she realised that it's impossible to hold her wedding on the moon."

"The moon? Really? How—"

But she cuts me off with a jerk of her head. "Here comes that prick."

Sure enough, the sleek black car that belongs to Natsume cruises past us before parking at an empty space. Natsume steps out from his car with a constipated look on his face.

Imai grabs my arm before hauling me roughly in his direction. "Go. Get him to kiss and make-up with the idiot. It's pathetic seeing her in her current state."

Throwing mental curses at her, I headed over to Natsume and place a casual arm on his back. "Hey."

He replies with a grunt and a curt nod. "Where is she?"

"In the café." Just when he's about to hurry into it, I stop him and move my lips close to his ear. "Look, I'm not quite sure what happened between you and Mikan but—" I cast a quick glance at Hotaru Imai who is shooting daggers at Natsume Hyuuga with her arms crossed. "—whatever it is, just go in there and apologise and just work things out, 'kay?"

He sighs, shrugs, mutters two words and gives me a pat on the back before walking away. Imai is at my side seconds later.

"What did he say?"

"'I'll try'."

A scoff escapes her and I'm pulled away. "Wait, wait, where are we going?"

'Leaving' is the answer I receive while being tugged before pushed into her car. Imai gets in and we're already leaving.

But just before the car leaves the compound, I spot Natsume with an arm around her shoulders as they head towards his car. As she wipes away her tears, Natsume presses a kiss into her hair.

I couldn't help it when a smile tugs gently on my lips.

"What is that stupid look on your face?"

I roll my eyes at her, though the smile doesn't leave. "It's called smiling, Imai. Not that I'd expect you to understand such a stupid action."

As a consequence from my sassy reply, Imai scowls at me before hitting me right on the head with her gun.

"Ow…" I groan while looking at the stars clouding my vision.

Should have seen that one coming.


A/N: Ah well, sorry for the wait. I was busy. Really busy. My exams are coming up in October and I have trials in one week. So better not get your hopes up for updates any time soon. At least, until October. ;)

P.S: PARTICIPATE, PARTICIPATE, PARTICIPATE IN THE FIRST EVER ALICE FICTION AWARDS! DETAILS ON MY PROFILE SO YOU BETTER GO CLICK-CLICK-CLICKITY CLICK! READ, NOMINATE AND VOTE FOR THE STORIES WHICH YOU THINK DESERVE TO WIN!