Chapter Ten: Ron's Request
She quickly rolled off of him, a blush and an embarrassed smile on her face.
"I am so sorry sir; I really need to look where I'm going." She retrieved the violin case as he sat up, amused.
"You know, there are less painful ways to gain my attention, Miss Yoshioka."
She stiffened, looking back into his certain eyes as he returned the top hat to its perch, lost from the fall.
Drat, a complete stranger could tell it was her. She sighed.
"Is it really that obvious? I thought my disguise was a good one."
He grinned at her as he got to his feet, his hand resting a second too long on hers as he retrieved the case from her.
"It's a very good one, but I don't recommend letting people get a good look at your eyes; they're too distinctive."
She colored slightly, wondering if he was flirting with her. She pushed her sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose and checked the wig's position.
"If there are any damages to your violin, I'm willing to pay for them."
He waved one gloved hand.
"Please don't worry about it. It's a small price to pay to meet the famous Haru Yoshioka." He put the hand forward, still grinning at her. "I'm Ron Gikkingen by the way."
She scanned her memory bank, trying to find a violinist by that name without success. Strange, perhaps he only played as a hobby. She smiled back at him while putting her hand in his.
He surprised her by bowing and kissing her hand. She blushed hard, all doubt gone about his flirting techniques.
"My condolences about your canceled engagement."
Haru bit back her tongue just in time to keep from asking 'what engagement?'
"Thank you. But I prefer that it ended this way instead of an ugly divorce a few months from now."
He grinned and started walking by her side down the hall.
"It will certainly save time and heartbreak later. If it helps at all, something similar happened to me a few years back."
She looked over at him, surprised that he was opening up to her so quickly.
"You found out that your fiancé was cheating on you?"
"Almost. She found someone richer than me the day before our wedding, and gave me the boot."
Haru winced painfully.
"Ouch. Man, life would be a lot simpler if people came with warning labels."
He smiled at her again.
"Like what? 'I drink from the carton' or 'dog-lover'?"
She laughed softly.
"Yeah, something like that. About the closest we have are the t-shirts that say 'I'm out of my mind, please leave a message' or something like that." She raised one hand to open the door, but Ron beat her to it, letting her go out first.
"Unfortunately, that would simplify things, and since this is reality, that can't be allowed."
She laughed again, the words truer than they should be. She adjusted the hold on the bag on her shoulder as he let the door close behind them. She nodded her head in gratitude.
"It's been nice talking to you, Ron, but I have some grocery shopping to do before heading home."
"Uh," he said, raising one hand to her retreating back. She looked over her shoulder at him, slightly confused.
"Hmm?"
Ron took a steadying breath.
"Look, I understand that you must still be hurting from the thing with the ex-fiancé, but I was wondering…" he paused, obviously trying to make something up on the spot. Haru smiled, guessing what he was about to ask her.
"I don't feel ready to start dating again. Maybe a month from now, but things are still a little raw for me." Even if she thought he was incredibly handsome and played the violin like an angel. He snapped his fingers in irritation.
"There goes plan A."
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Plan A?"
He nodded.
"Yes. You see, I'm actually a long-lost Cat King bent on taking you away to my kingdom."
She stared at him, her mouth dropping open slightly.
Behind her eyelids, she could perfectly see Lune's father as he was sprawled across a golden rickshaw, telling her close to the same thing. The differences between the real Cat King and this guy…
She burst out laughing, earning strange stares from people passing away. She couldn't see Ron's face, being bent over in mirth at the moment.
When she regained control of herself, she looked up and grinned at him, the man obviously surprised that she had found it that funny.
"Sorry; one already tried that." She bit back another giggle, sorely needing the release his humor had given her.
"On second thought, what did you have in mind?"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Baron managed to beat her back to her house, dying to know what she thought of his human side. It was a good thing the Cat Kingdom was usually peaceful, or he wouldn't be able to spend this much time away from it. And Lune had promised to contact him immediately if anything happened.
Yuki was grinning at him when he slipped through the kitchen flap and strolled towards the couch in the living room.
"Well? How'd it go?" She had obviously lost her fear of him being a royal, since he was so unassuming. He grinned at her before curling up for a nap, remembering that his brunette was grocery shopping before coming back.
"We'll see when she walks through that door."