-Mikan-
"Mikan." Hotaru warned, her right hand itching with the urge to smack me upside the head.
"Hotaru." I pleaded back. I maintained my notorious wounded puppy dog face in the process.
It's all in the eyes, Kids. It's all in the eyes...
"Please? I promise Shi-chan won't make a mess at the apartment. I'll look after him properly!" I fiddled with the hem of my shirt for effect.
She snorted. I couldn't tell if it was directed at my scrunched up face or my pet's new nickname.
"And, like I've said already, that thing will never come within a kilometer of our place. It either stays here or you stay here."
Sticking out my lower lip more, I shot her my 'on-the-verge-of-tears' look.
Hah. Try resisting me now, Hotaru.
With a resounding thwack, my disapproving manager walked out of the house with a, "the movers will be here tomorrow with your stuff anyways... No point in having you stay with me since that would clearly be inefficient and cumbersome." She slammed the door shut, leaving me alone with an overexcited dog.
Dang nabbit. Or is it dangnabbit? I wonder who made up that word... maybe it was supposed to be 'dang rabbit,' but people became too lazy to pronounce the 'r' so it became 'nabbit.'
Okay, I seriously need to stop daydreaming.
"Well, it's only going to be a week before Natsume comes back. That's not too bad, right Shi-chan?" I cooed. He yapped twice before batting at my face playfully.
But later that night, after Shigure settled down next to me on the bed, I dreamt of being trapped in a large, empty house with no one to save me.
No knight in shining armor.
No Natsume.
-Natsume-
"Hello?" I picked up the phone, shuffling away from the emergency room, and getting into the safe confines of my car.
"Yeah." A bored voice drawled as I turned on the engine and smoothly parked into the nearest spot. I resisted the urge to growl at the person.
After a long pause, I grew irritated and snapped, "I'm assuming- since you seem too stupid to speak- that the dog's ready, so I'm going to do us both a favor and tell you the address you're going to get a responsible coworker- since I don't trust assholes like you- to deliver the dog to. I will then hang up to end our misery, much like how boxers end a match with one of them punching the living daylights out of the other, so you better have a pen ready right now. And another thing: I'm not repeating any of this, so suck up and look bright, Bane of my Existence."
Needless to say, I was extremely tetchy at the moment.
Following my tirade, I heard the worker sigh into the phone and, believing that the noise of rustling paper meant he was obeying my orders, say, "go for it, Big Man."
Through clenched teeth, I managed to bite out our address before punching the end button.
Did I just say 'our address'? I mean Mikan's address... Or soon to be Mikan's address since I'll be moving out.
Dialing my manager's number, I was unsurprised to hear him answer the phone after one ring.
"What did you do now, Natsume?" He panicked, muttering in his usual frightened voice.
Why does he always think that my calls mean bad news? Besides the last couple of times I've called him, when have I ever brought- I take that back. All of my calls have brought bad tidings to my unfortunate manager.
"I want out." I stated simply. Yuu was smart enough to get what I was referring to.
His silence confirmed that he did understand.
I continued. "I want out because-" I grappled for an excuse that didn't reveal the actual reason behind my leaving, "-the house is... lame." I finished... lamely.
Yuu's soft footsteps echoed into the receiver. I could just imagine him pacing back and forth in the small confines of his office. He sighed tiredly before speaking. "You're going to have to deal with Sumire."
Translation: the reason you gave me was complete B.S.; tell me the truth.
"I don't care. I want out." I stubbornly refused, shoving my hand into my pocket.
Translation: piss off, it's none of your business.
"You're going to fashion week today, so you won't be in that house anytime soon." Yuu consoled with a pleading note.
Translation: rethink this, you're known for making hasty decisions.
I groaned, knowing exactly what was going to happen next- Yuu will propose a compromise, and as usual, I will give in, and things will go his way. I've experienced his skills of persuasion firsthand, much to my dismay.
But things won't go his way this time. Hopefully.
"At the end of fashion week, if you still want out of the deal then I'll talk to Sumire. If not, then we'll pretend that this conversation never happened."
Fashion week will end with me still wanting to cancel the modeling gig, I resolutely swore to myself.
I grunted in agreement.
"I'm all packed up. Where are you?"
"The emergency room."
Yuu sputtered into the phone, most likely wondering why I was there since my hatred of hospitals prevented me from coming within ten kilometers of one. "What did you do?" I heard him take out his stomachache reliever pills.
Am I being too hard on him?
"Natsume! Holy crap, what would happen if the paparazzi found out about this? Then you're image will be ruined, and you'll be shunned by society for forev-"
"Good luck finding me, Yuu. I'll be waiting." I saluted with a grin.
Nah.
Exactly 48 hours and 10 minutes have passed since I've landed in New York, and I already know how fashion week is going to play out.
Fashion week is going to consist of me remaining in autopilot the whole time, along with me walking down the runway bored out of my mind, and me attending photo shoots with snotty, pompous designers whose heads are too far up their as- butts.
Why does my brain always auto corrects me? Why can't I swear like before? Like before I met... my steps faltered. I came to a stop in the middle of the busy hallway, people angrily jostling into my body as I thought about a certain quirky girl.
Life just didn't feel the same without her and it's only been two days. Gods, I'm such a pansy.
"Move your ass already, boy!"
My feet started up again robotically, directing me towards the room at the end of the hall. Once inside, I found myself being welcomed into an interview room by several fashion designers and well known models.
Greeting them in my usual drawl, I sat down on the couch next to my fellow peers and waited for the usual barrage of questions. The door creaked upon a second time, and by the forced smiles everyone put on, I could only assume who just entered the room.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Natsume." A soprano voice drawled.
I mentally groaned tiredly. Slowly, I swiveled my head towards a tall orange-haired woman. Under normal circumstances, I would have turned on the old charm and returned the greeting, but instead I opted for a short, "Koizumi." In my current condition, toleration for the irritating model wasn't an option, and I wanted to make that message clear.
Apparently she didn't catch my drift, because she sashayed over to me. Reacting instinctively, I spread myself out as much as possible on the couch and blocked the space next to me that Koizumi was planning on taking. I knew it was immature of me to do it- and I probably looked like an idiot with my legs and arms draped all over the couch- but I couldn't help myself. I really didn't want to have to deal with Koizumi's flirting.
An awkward silence consumed everyone after I melted on the furniture like butter on a hot pan. Something flashed through Koizumi's eyes, but another model offered her seat up to the influential female. Without a glance at the girl, Koizumi sat down nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened. I withheld a snort; no doubt Koizumi had never had a guy reject her before.
What the hell did I see in her before besides her looks?
A cough came from the man who sat across from me. "Hello, and thank you for coming. I am the director of TWGM, George Taylors, and these are my colleagues Tatiana Buchene and Leanne Buchene." The two strawberry blondes next to George waved at us. "We are planning to create a new branch in Japan and have selected you five to be our lead models. We have already asked your managers and they've given us their consent, but the reason for this meeting is to debrief you guys about the company's image and have you sign a couple of papers.
"TWGM is a company that strives for versatility and minimalism..."
By then I had zoned him out. I walked into this room expecting for this meeting to end in five minutes. Obviously this wasn't going to happen. I tried imagining the different tactics I could use to distract everyone while I escaped this hellhole. That lasted for about ten minutes before I started thinking about Mikan. And the guy was still going strong with his lecture.
I believe an appropriate phrase for this situation would be 'FML.'
And then it was finally the end of day two. But I both embraced and dreaded returning to the private confines of my room. The former because I hated being around a bunch of fakes. The latter because being alone meant I was along with my thoughts, which meant that inevitably my thoughts would lead to Mikan.
I slid my hotel key in and entered my room as slow as a sloth. Tossing my jacket and wallet onto the desk, I turned on the television and flipped to the Japanese music channel. I found the sound of my native language soothing, despite being fluent in English.
Getting ready to take a shower, I was in the process of taking off my shirt when a flash of auburn distracted me completely. Fully turning around, my eyes ravenously drank in the familiar long, wavy hair and petite back of the girl who has been preoccupying my thoughts. I, unknowingly, sat down on the edge of my bed- leaning towards the television with intense concentration lining my face. And at last, it hit me.
Damn. I missed her.
The beginning strings of Alex's song, Daisy, softly filtered into my hotel room, but three errors became evident in the next second:
One- instead of Korean, it was sung in Japanese.
Two- instead of seeing the popular Korean singer, and my acquaintance, I saw Blondie instead.
Three- instead of revealing her gray eyes and face, Mikan kept her back fixed towards the camera on purpose.
And let's tack on a fourth thing just for shits and giggles. Four- why the hell was Blondie serenading Orange on national television?
The blood simmered in my veins as the song came to an end, and my fingers itched to pick up my phone and call Mikan. I refrained but that didn't stop my epiphany; the horrible realization that maybe. Just maybe, I was...
I was attracted to Mikan.
I ground out a string of swear words, rubbing my face tiredly, the truth of the epiphany crushing me like a ton of bricks. Jesus, I was attracted to Mikan. I was attracted to Mikan. My taste in girls has definitely taken a dive. And then I realized that I had to call it off with Yuu if I wanted to stay with Mikan. Another groan, and I knew that Yuu had won another one on me.
Snapping up from my bed, I rushed to the room next to me and banged on it madly. "Yuu! Yuu, open the damn door."
A series of bangs and crashes from inside, and then my sleepy manager poked his head out with bloodshot eyes. "What did you do this time? It's 3 AM for crying out loud! Just leave me in peace... Please!"
I waved off his pathetic pleading, saying, "I want to keep working with Orange. You're right, and I'm wrong. I apologize, blah, blah, blah. Great. Now forget we ever made this deal and go back to bed."
His bewildered expression grew. "What? Orange? Deal? Huh?"
"The deal..." I reiterated slowly for my disbelieving manager, "is off. Done. Over. Never happened."
Yuu's gaping mouth slowly curved upwards into a relieved and triumphant smile. "I knew you'd come around."
"Fuck you."
Sorry, Orange, but I just had to get it out of my system.
I pulled up in the driveway of our cheery house.
I wonder if she was home.
Hastily making my way in, I explored the whole house and found no one. Sure, I was strangely disappointed, but I understood. It was only twelve o'clock... she was probably hanging out with her friends since it was a school holiday.
But then I heard it. I faint voice coming from outside.
Without even realizing it, my body automatically tore towards the girl- I hadn't seen her face since that day in the hospital. In the back of my mind I knew I craved it.
I craved her expressive eyes; her heart-shaped face; her carefree, sunny smile.
At last, I located her to be outside. My heart swelled at the sight of her in a pair of ratty sweatpants and baggy sweatshirt, and at the happily yapping dog who came bounding towards me in great leaps.
"Shi-chan!"
Forcefully willing her to turn around, she did and something hitched in my throat. Her gray eyes conveyed shock before twinkling with joy.
"Natsume! Welcome home!"
I shoved my hands into my pockets, pleased. Dang I was acting like a nervous kid.
"I'm back."
A/N: please don't kill me. And thank you so much for your reviews! Honest to the man upstairs... I will update sooner next time!
