Finally a new chapter. I just randomly decided to type up the next chapter. First I had midterms and then I was just lazy. Sorry.
Kotoko had sometimes wondered in the six years that she had been out of contact with the Iries what meeting them again would be like. Noriko would most probably be very emotional, Shigeki would be slightly so but not as much as his wife and Yuuki would begrudgingly greet her. She had tried not to think what meeting Noaki again would be like as she knew that her imagination ran wild. That was useful when planning out a music video or a concert tour but when it was regarding Noaki it just got her hopes up and look where it brought her. Groveling at his feet.
Out of all the ways she had imagined meeting the Irie family, it had never come to her mind that maybe, just maybe, she would meet them at her father's restaurant. Which is quite ironic since that was actually the most likely place that she would meet him. (She did wonder how she had not run into them before)
Even though Kotoko was happy to see them again, she knew that she had to lie a lot to them and tried to get out of questions that required it. Those that she could not avoid she answered as honestly as she could. Such as where she worked. She said that she worked in an entertainment company and switched the topic. Because she felt like she was betraying them, she tried for some time to leave and when she got a message from her manager regarding a fan meeting the next month, she pretended that it was urgent and left though not before Noriko insisting on giving Kotoko her phone number.
As she left the restaurant, she looked back at the family who had gone back to conversing. They looked happy. It seemed as though the fact that Noaki had been divorced did not affect them. They got along with his ex and they had a sweet child in the family.
The following day she met up with Satomi and Jinko. It was then that she realized how much she had missed. She did keep in touch but there was only so much that she could take part in due to her hectic schedule. Satomi had gotten pregnant and then married her baby daddy RyoTakamiya. Kotoko had come to the wedding but had to her disappointment, not been there when her daughter Yuki was born. She also missed many important things such as two of four year old Yuki's birthdays (though she did send a present each time- an extravagant one to try to make up for it) and when she had said her first word. Jinko had met a guy at her the hair salon that she worked at he had proposed to her. She felt as though she and her friends were growing apart. Yes it is a normal thing for friends to grow apart but they had been friends for such a long time that she used to think that nothing will draw them apart. Even good old Kin-Chan had gotten himself a girlfriend.
Sometimes, during the time that Jinko, Satomi and Kotoko hung out, Jinko and Satomi would be talking about something that was going on in their day to day life and they would mention some people that Kotoko did not know. At moments like that, Kotoko realized how different things were and how lonely she was.
She loved her job. She really did but it felt as though she was being left behind. She knew that her friends must have also felt that way when she had gotten more involved in her career but they had soon moved on. They made new friendships and started relationships and in Satomi's case, had a baby. Kotoko felt as though her life revolved around her schedule and she wished she had someone who would kiss her goodnight and would pull it out as long as possible in order to be with her for more time. She knew that her standards had changed a little from when she was in love with Noaki but she now knew that was obsession and not real love.
When Noaki came home the evening that Kotoko had met the Iries, he was met by his mother who was squealing. He gave her a strange look but just ignored her and did not question her behavior as this was not that unusual.
Noriko saw that her son was taking no interest in what she was doing so she decided to inform him no matter if he wanted to know or not.
"You would never believe who we ran into today!"
Noaki did not even bother asking who as he knew his mother would tell him whether he asked or not.
"Kotoko! She looked so pretty and she works in and entertainment company
His heart skipped a beat when he heard her name. After she had left, for some time his mother had been moping but after some time her name stopped being mentioned. He did think about her some times before he went to sleep and he wondered if she thought of him.
The next afternoon Noaki had finished signing the documents his secretary had given him and as he was going through his drawer, in the back, he found a USB. He remembered that he had taken the usb and brought it to work so his mother nor Anne should find it. He plugged the usb into the computer and he started going through the pictures. He stopped at the picture that his mother had taken of Kotoko and him and looked at it intently. She was looking at him and he had the look on his face that he had when he teased her. Noaki knew himself though and he could detect the attraction he had to Kotoko even though it was most probably only in his mind as he knew that he had liked her.
"Mr Irie, I have the final pictures of the Kyra advertisement project."
"Bring them in."
His secretary complied and brought in the files. He took his gaze off the woman on the screen and looked at the advertisement. Unintentionally he looked back at the screen. Then something hit him.
He compared the advertisement to the picture on the screen.
Why did the woman in the advertisement look so much like the woman he had secretly fallen for?
That was fun to write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter : )
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