So I guess I need to apologize in advance because I'm not going to be active for the next four weeks (debate camp D: ). Instead of posting like three chapters a week or whatever it's been, I think that it'll be around one chapter per week. Sorry, I'll make it up by writing furiously when I get back. :P


Her work had gotten out early than she had expected. The kids had all been picked up on time, so she didn't have to stay behind with any stragglers. Thursdays usually meant that parents picked kids up at 12:45, so she had expected to get out at 1. But strangely enough, Mikan was seated at the One Star Café and had gone through two cups of coffee by 1, browsing a magazine. There were various celebrity scandals going on, and Mikan skimmed the articles with obvious disinterest. A photo caught her eye; it was an article for Hyuuga Corp. Natsume was emblazoned on the page, depicted standing in his office looking out the large glass windows into the fading sunset. It was an extremely picturesque photo for an article, but Mikan supposed that it suited something as large and ostentatious as Hyuuga Corp.

Something akin to a bittersweet smile flickered on her face. Mikan had been thinking a lot these days, lingering especially on the opportunities that she had passed up to explain things to Natsume. When she had called up Hotaru and explained everything, unable to hide anything from her best friend, Hotaru had berated her mercilessly. "Do you want to lose him?" she had asked viciously. Mikan had frozen up at that comment. She wanted to reassure her immediately that losing him was the last thing that she had wanted, but she couldn't. The words fell flat on her tongue. She didn't know what to say. The more Mikan thought about it, the more she realized that there was a part of her urging to let Natsume go on two accounts. The first was simple: if he couldn't trust her in their relationship, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Although Mikan had never been a staunch supporter of things like fate and destiny, she truly believed that some things just wouldn't work out, regardless of how hard you tried. To Mikan, trust was essential. After having her mother leave at an early age, Mikan upheld trust above almost all. Sure, she was free with giving out her trust, but betraying her trust was something near unforgiveable. As petty as it sounded, Mikan just couldn't stomach that fact that Natsume didn't trust her, and it caused her to question the durability of another relationship with him.

The second reason wasn't any better. Mikan felt like she was holding him back. He was a CEO of a multimillion dollar corporation, incredibly powerful and influential. Although she knew that his family would accept her, she wasn't sure the rest of elite society would. Even in the years that they had privately dated, there was always stinging gossip about the "leeching whore" or "gold-digging seductress" that had beguiled Natsume. And those weren't even the worst names she had heard.

Mikan sighed heavily, trying to expel some of her stress unsuccessfully. She firmly closed the magazine, watching its pages flutter down and reveal its brightly decorated cover. Reaching for her coffee with one hand, Mikan checked her phone. It was 1:45, and Tsubasa still hadn't shown up yet.

"Well, he was always late back in college. Guess that didn't change," she remarked.

There were two missed calls on her phone, both from the same unknown number. This was the fourth time. She had gotten a call in the car, then at home, and two while she was at work. She had tried calling back several times, yet all she could hear was static before she hung up in frustration. She pouted, thinking that it probably wasn't helping her phone bill to be making such unnecessary calls. The thought of bills made her even glummer. Recently, her rent had spiked up and her salary at the nursery wasn't exactly enormous. Not only that, Mikan still had to pay the rest of her hospital bills from her unexpected emergency visits. Although Sumire and Yoichi had helped a bit while she was unconscious, Mikan had to pay off a few more fees before she was completely cleared. And this was all on top of her grandfather's medical bills, which was the reason she had even moved to the city in the first place. She considered the idea of picking up another job. It wasn't as if it was impossible. In fact, it might be good to distract herself from all these rapid changes. She nodded to herself, strengthening her resolve to move on and get a grip on her life.

The door chimed as it announced the entrance of another customer. Mikan whirled around, happy to be greeted by Tsubasa's familiar smile. He was wearing a beige beanie that kept his dark flyaway hair down close to his head and casual street clothes. Mikan laughed silently to herself, thinking that his attire wasn't exactly suited for the potential second-in-command of a multimillion dollar corporation.

"Mikan!" his eyes lit up when he saw her. Mikan flashed a wide smile and stood up to wave to him. She straightened her clothes slightly. Mikan had felt obliged to dress up slightly for their coffee meet, wearing a dusky rose skirt and heels. She had even put in the effort to iron a cream short sleeved blouse, which was saying a lot. Mikan didn't usually put that much effort into things like this, but for some reason, she had wanted to dress up a little.

Tsubasa moved to the counter to order his coffee and Mikan reseated herself, sweeping the magazine off the table and pushing it deep into her bag. She sipped her coffee, enjoying its soothing warmth, and looked out the large window behind her. It was fairly cloudy today; recently, the weather was starting to colder and uglier. Mikan didn't mind too much though. The clouds looked velvety and kept the world softly lit, which was easier on the eyes.

Someone tugged her ponytail, snapping her attention back from her thoughts. Tsubasa flashed a cheeky grin and held up a pastry bag in one hand.

"Sorry I'm late. This place is hard to find! I brought Fluff Puffs," he added, watching the woman's eyes gleam in anticipation.

"I haven't had one of those in forever," she said wistfully. He laughed, throwing the bag at her in response. She caught it, almost dropping it, and eagerly opened up the bag to reach inside and place one of the sugary confectionaries in her mouth. She moaned in delight.

"Hey, keep it down will you," he teased. She blushed lightly, but paid him little attention as she ate the sweets.

"Mhm," she murmured through the candy. A nimble tongue darted out to catch the excess bits that had clung to her fingers.

"Have some dignity, will you? You're an adult, Mikan," he told her jokingly. Mikan pouted in response.

"Sure, sure," she waved off, "So spill all the gossip on your new company! Is there a girl?"

Tsubasa flushed. So there was a girl. She cocked one eyebrow at him and waited for him to divulge.

"Well. I mean, there isn't a girl. I met Misaki and it's not like there's anything, but maybe something and I think that, well, I don't know, so-" he babbled on until Mikan cut him off.

"MISAKI? You're gay?" she whispered loudly, confusion written on her face. Tsubasa choked and spluttered.

"GAY? Where did you get THAT?"

"Misaki! Like, Hyuuga Corp's Misaki? Like Narumi's Misaki?" she asked incredulously.

Tsubasa burned bright red. Even the tips of his ears were on fire.

"NO. NOOO," he vehemently denied. She cocked her head and waited.

"I was talking about the CEO of my company. You know?" he muttered, still embarrassed. She flushed as well, before brightening up.

"What does she look like? How is she like? Does she know that you like her?" Mikan asked animatedly.

"She's really pretty and nice. You'd like her, I think. I haven't really spent that much time with her outside of the office, so probably not…"

Mikan was happy. Tsubasa deserved someone nice in his life, and he sounded extremely happy as well.

"Ah, that's good," she said, feeling content at that moment. She paused to sip her coffee and glance out the window. Several cars passed by and Mikan almost thought she had seen Natsume's face, but was improbable. It seemed that her mind was creating a hallucination in order to satisfy her selfish desires. The mind played cruel, cruel tricks.