Gakuen Alice? Disclaimed.
His smile... makes me realize how utterly dumb I was. –Kimi ni Todoke
Chapter 7: The Trusted Secretary, the Lazy Inventor, and the Third Wheel
Mikan was panting really hard. She took another step… and then another. And another. And then another one.
Wooooh! That was tiring. She was now on the sixth floor of Hyuuga Corp. building. She almost jumped because of surprise when she heard her cellphone ring. The brunette looked at her phone before answering it.
Weird, she thought. The reception is not even good here.
The brunette's curiosity was answered when she picked up her phone and her unknown caller said something on the other line.
'Baka. Where are you?' Mikan sighed. Hotaru really was a genius. How did she even contact her in such a place like this? Oh. She could only wonder.
"Fire exit," she managed to say in between climbing the stairs.
'What are you doing there?'
Mikan giggled. "Hotaru, I thought you're the genius between the two of us."
The raven-head clicked her tongue before saying, 'I know that already by now, considering that I don't use the stairs to get to the topmost floor of this building. Now, tell me, is there something you want to talk about?'
Mikan was caught off guard by what Hotaru just said. How did she know?
"Nothing, Hotaru. Nothing's wrong. How did you know where am I, by the way?"
'I had a tracker planted on you, baka.'
Mikan pouted on the other line. Was that even legal?
'By the way,' she heard Hotaru again, 'Aunt Kaoru called me and told me that she was trying to call you several times already. She said that she needs to tell you something urgently.'
"What is that, Hotaru? Did mama tell you?"
'No. She didn't tell me.' She heard Hotaru sigh on the other line. 'Just get out of there, ride a vacant elevator, go to Natsume and call Auntie. Seriously Mikan, you have a knack on how to make us worry.'
Mikan's eyes shone as she heard Hotaru. "Really, Hotaru? You were worried about me?"
Hotaru snickered, though inside her mind she knew that the answer was yes.'No, I'm worried about your shoes. They're way too cute to be murdered like that,' Hotaru said. 'Baka, I'm hanging up now. My feet hurt from all this waiting. Remember and obey what I said, ne? Jaa.'
The brunette sighed when her best friend ended the call. She looked up in front of her only to see another flight of stairs. She groaned.
"Why am I doing this again?" she asked as she forced herself to climb up the stairs. And boy was she thankful to reach the fifteenth floor and got into a vacant elevator. She the pressed the topmost button and leaned on the elevator wall.
She sighed when she remembered what Luna told her a while ago.
It's incredible what an elevator ride could do to your brain, she thought. She also thought about the things Luna-pig said a while ago again, during her almost three-minute elevator ride.
"I need him. I love him since… we were in high school. He was mine then and now, I want him back, Mikan."
…
"You can't fool me, Mikan. I'm a woman, too. And sadly to say, it seems like we're in love with the same man."
Mikan groaned when she remembered those exact words from Luna. She still couldn't believe what that woman had said. Well, didn't she just realize her true feelings for Natsume a few days ago? And now, here she was, inside an elevator, pondering on her love rival's (she almost gagged when she thought of that word) words of determination.
She sighed once again, as the elevator opened. She walked out from it and smiled at Matsuhara-san.
"Is Natsume inside?" she politely asked the smiling secretary. The secretary could only nod while flashing her a kind smile.
"You could go inside, Mikan-sama."
Nodding her head, the brunette just smiled at her and went inside the awaiting door.
It has been fifteen minutes since Hotaru left Natsume's office (to pick Mikan up) and exactly eight minutes since Koko left. He said something about delivering a pizza to Mochu's office and proposing another business deal there.
Natsume smiled inwardly. 'That guy,' he thought. 'He never did give up on that dream job of his.'
Yes. Natsume and Koko had known each other since they were little. And Natsume also knew that becoming a 'pizza guy' was one of Koko's dream jobs.
Natsume frowned when he heard his cellphone rang. It was Hotaru who was calling him.
"Imai," he said when he picked up and answered his phone.
'Hyuuga, the idiot's not here in the lobby. She's somewhere inside the building though.'
"What?"
'And she's using the stairs to get to your office, cousin.'
"That idiot," he mumbled, "She's using the stairs? Is she freakin' mad?"
'She's Mikan. What do you expect? Something's bothering her. I can really tell,' Hotaru sighed. 'Oh, well. Go get her, Hyuuga. She's currently on the eighth floor now.'
His forehead creased. He got up and walked near the door.
"How did you know?"
'Oh. I have my ways, dear cousin,' Hotaru said with a smirk.
"What ways?"
'That's for me to know and for you to find out.'
Natsume could even imagine Hotaru snickering on the other line.
'Oh, by the way, Aunt Kaoru called me, since she couldn't contact Mikan. She told me about your postponed… honeymoon.'
Natsume grunted on the other line. He almost forgot about their honeymoon! He heard something like 'Oh, Permy… I thought you're doing your job? What the hell are you doing here?' before he heard Hotaru saying something again to him. He went to his chair and sat down again.
Better just wait for that baka to get here, he thought.
'Sorry, that was my idiotic secretary. Where was I again?'
"Honeymoon," he curtly said.
'Oh, yeah. That. Shut up, Permy! And yes if it really bothers you, Natsume and his wife will go on vacation for their honeymoon. Geez! Just shut the hell up and go do your job,' he heard his cousin said, her voice cold as ever as he smirked and listened to her while she was lecturing her secretary.
'Sorry for the unnecessary interruption. As I've said, auntie mentioned something about your honeymoon. And oh,' Hotaru continued while pausing for a few moments. Natsume waited patiently for her to speak again and sighed when he heard her voice again.
'The baka is already inside the elevator. She'll arrive in your office in just about…' Hotaru smirked. 'Now. I've got to go, cousin. I still have a business meeting to attend to. And my idiotic secretary was still sulking. How troublesome.'
"Okay, Imai."
Natsume had his eyebrows rose Mikan finally went inside his office and nearly collapsed on a couch near his table. He got up and went near a small bar in his office and got a bottle of water for her.
"Tired?" he said, his a hint of amusement present in his voice. Mikan glared at him and before taking the bottle from him. She almost drank the bottle's content.
"Imai told me you planned to use the stairs to get here."
Mikan looked at him and nodded while pouting. "I just want to get things out of my head for a while."
Natsume's eyebrows rose.
"Oh. So Polka-dots has a brain after all," he said while smirking. The brunette pouted as she stood up and went near Natsume's table.
Still pouting, she said, "Hotaru said mama called. Did she call you, too?"
Natsume grunted while shaking his head. "Imai told me though. She called just before your arrival."
Nodding, Mikan sat on the chair near his table, while examining something that looked like a stapler. Uh-oh. The raven-head mentally shook his head. Remembering their first meeting, he then got the stapler from the brunette and put it inside his drawer.
"What's with you and staplers, Polka?"
Mikan could only look at him with confusion written on her face. He sighed.
"Imai told me that my mother called… well, tried to call you so that she could tell you about our honeymoon."
Mikan turned away from Natsume to hide her reddening face. She got up and pretended to get her bag, which was still on the couch, and fished her cellphone. It rang a few moments after she got it from her bag.
"Hello?"
'Mikan-san! You picked up last! I couldn't contact you earlier that's why I told Hotaru-chan to call you. I'm so worried. What happened?'
"Mama, uh… nothing happened, actually. I was just a little preoccupied a while ago," Mikan said while taking a look on Natsume who was eyeing her curiously.
"Put her on speaker," he immediately told her. The brunette did as what he told her.
'Is that Natsume?'
"Yes, mother. Mikan is here in my office."
'Wonderful, then. So I told Hotaru-chan to tell you about your honeymoon. It has been postponed for two days. Goodness! How about my grandchildren?'
"Mother," Natsume spoke to Kaoru in a voice full of authority.
'Pssh, Natsume. I'm getting old already. I wish to see my grandchildren soon.'
Mikan blushed beet red after hearing what the old Hyuuga said, while Natsume sat on his chair, his hands gently massaging his temples and the bridge of his nose.
'So as I was saying, I've already booked your flight again for the same location. You'll leave tomorrow, at exactly eight o'clock in the morning. Hopefully, there will be no other interruption this time.'
Mikan was shocked. It was too sudden. Well, she was prepared for a honeymoon but… but! Her mind was still in haywire because of what had happened earlier. But she quite agreed to what the Old Hyuuga said. She, too, hope that there would be no interruptions for her and Natsume this time. Again, she felt her whole face flush because of what she's thinking.
"Mama? What about the school? I haven't told the new principal that-"
'Nonsense! I already informed Tamaki Suoh-san that you'll be on vacation because of your honeymoon for two weeks. Isn't that great?'
"Tamaki Suoh? Who's that?"
She heard Kaoru giggle on the other line.
'He's the new principal in your school, dear. Haven't you met him? Oh, he's just plain charming. He used to be a president in a host club when he was in high school together with his other friends. And oh, I think he also asked Natsume to be a host, too. Too bad my son was too anti-social so he declined.'
A host club? What?
(A/N: I do not own Tamaki Suoh or Ouran High School Host Club. I wish I do though. Especially the Hitachiin twins, Usa-chan, Nekozawa-senpai and Honey-senpai XD I didn't remove this disclaimer for a reason. Haha! I l simply love OHSHC. Woohoo!)
'So back to our main topic here. I already told the maids to pack your things. I can see my cute grandchildren coming already! Oh, yeah!'
Mikan and Natsume sweatdropped as the call ended. The brunette could only stare at her husband.
"You were asked to join a host club when you were in high school?" she asked him while preventing herself to laugh.
"Yeah. So?"
Now, Mikan couldn't help but laugh. She knew Natsume was handsome, gorgeous even, to be invited to join a host club, but she couldn't just imagine him, well… hosting girls and being nice to them. Yeah. It's too out of character for Mikan's liking.
"What are you laughing at, Polka?" he asked her before launching himself at her and mercilessly poking her sides.
Mikan's laughter could be heard even outside Natsume's office. And Matsuhara-san could only smile because of that.
Sumire was fuming. She found out a while ago that Natsume and his wife were going outside the country to have their honeymoon. She was just so angry that she could shout at Hotaru.
Oh, yes. Even Hotaru got mad at her earlier.
"Why? Why? Why go on a honeymoon with her if I'm just right here, Natsume-sama?" she asked. Too bad Natsume couldn't hear her. Or was it the other way around?
"What did you say?" a lady asked her. She was dressed in bright orange, from head to toe. Sumire almost flinched when she look at the lady. What she was wearing almost hurt her eyes, well… almost. The woman was still stunningly beautiful though.
And she remembered this woman. It was that Koizumi, the woman who kissed Natsume in the lobby two days ago.
Sumire frowned.
"Why are you here?" she asked Luna coldly. Luna smirked at her, before putting an orange-flavored candy inside her mouth.
"I heard you said something about Natsume going outside the country a while ago. What about it?"
Sumire smirked at her while eyeing her from head to toe. She then snickered and put away all the things that she needed to be done by the end of her break.
"Nothing. So just go away. You're ruining my break."
"Listen here," Luna said, as she took a glance on Sumire's ID, "Listen, Shouda. Tell me all the things you know about this trip and maybe… I'll reward you something… good."
Sumire laughed, with Luna shocked at her expression.
"No. I don't want those good things. Especially from you. So just go away," Sumire said and excused herself and went to the restroom. A moment later, after talking to herself in front of the mirror, she got her phone and dialled a familiar number.
"Hey, Wakako. I'm so depressed today. Did you know that Natsume-sama will go on honeymoon with his wife…"
Sumire talked and talked there, venting her emotions on her best friend without even noticing the smirking Luna standing near the door.
It was still early that morning when an alarm clock made noises in order to wake two people up.
Natsume switched the alarm off, harshly muttering some words under his breath. He then glanced at his side and looked at his still sleeping wife. He gently touched her face, gently tucking some of her hair behind her ear.
He ran his thumb on her succulent looking lips, before touching her cheeks once again. A grin could be seen on his face as he gently ran his fingertips on her smooth cheeks. His grin turned into a smirk as he pinched her cheeks really hard. Mikan could only yelp, after opening her sleepy eyes. Cupping her hurt cheek, she glared at Natsume and muttered a curse at him.
"Nuh-uh. Bad mouth on such a beautiful morning, Polka," he said as he motioned to get up from their bed. He whistled as he decided to go inside the bathroom. But Mikan beat him to it. Oh. He would certainly enjoy waiting for her to finish taking a bath for at least an hour, doing nothing.
Could you say boring?
...
Yeah! At last after almost thirty minutes of spending inside the bathroom, Mikan got out wearing her bathrobe and a towel wrapped around her head.
"Natsume! It's your turn to-" Mikan was then cut off by the sight of Natsume who was sleeping on a couch. The sight was funny because Natsume, who was tall, could be seen lying on a small couch, curled like a ball in order for him to lay down on it without falling.
The brunette softly giggled while looking at him. She gently nudged him and told him that it was finally his turn to take a bath.
Natsume's eyes opened slowly as he took a look at his wife. He clicked his tongue when he glanced on the wall clock, which was just hanging above the couch he was lying on, and found out that it was almost six o' clock in the morning. And they needed to get into the airport an hour before their flight. But whatever. He was Natsume Hyuuga. And a Hyuuga could do anything if it's only telling the airline to postpone their flight for another hour.
Luna was mad. She was at the airport before Mikan and Natsume's supposed to be flight, but where the hell were they? Luna Koizumi could only wonder as she looked at her plane ticket. She almost strangled the woman behind the counter when she saw read what was written on that piece of paper. It says there, Seat No.: F21 ECONOMY CLASS.
So Luna sat there, between an old man and a crying child, as she waited for the flight to be announced so that they could finally leave. But Luna inwardly groaned as she glared at the child beside her who was bawling his eyes out and calling for his mother.
Oh, yes.
This flight will be Luna's own version of torture.
Yeahba!
End of chapter.
A/N: I have a confession to make. Gaah. I'm too lazy to revise this story. Hahahaha- not. :| See how a year of not updating changes the author's writing style? :/
