Hello! It's that time of the month again! I feel like this story already heading to its ending and it's making me a little sad lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! See you next month xoxo

Chapter 8: The Message

Sora woke up that day feeling much more relieved and happy. About a week went by since she had last talked to Taichi. Things in London were starting to get easier for her and Yumi, but she still missed all her friends back in Odaiba. As if they were reading her mind, she received a video call from Mimi.
"Good morning, Sora!" Mimi had the same cheerful voice Sora knew and loved since she was a child.
"Good morning to you too, Mimi!"
"Hold on, let me just put my phone over here." The woman placed her phone against a vase and set it on silent mode, so it wouldn't fall down. She gave a few steps back and sat on the couch. As she was getting smaller in the screen, the other people in the room appeared.
"Guys!" Sora said tearful. "It's so great to see you!"
"We miss you, Sora!" Koushiro said.
"I miss you too!"
"How's everything going over there?"
"It's getting better now. The first days were very hard, now I'm adjusting to the London lifestyle."
"That's great to hear, Sora."
"So, when are you coming to Japan again? It's not the same without you here."
"I'm not sure yet. Probably not anytime soon. Though I have to admit it's starting to get really lonesome now that Mike is back to work. What about you all though? How are things there?"
Sora could tell there was a tension building up among the group after she asked her questions. She raised her eyebrow as they silently looked at each other, deciding who the one to answer her was.
"Everything is great." Taichi was the one who replied. "Nothing much happened since you left."
"Somehow I don't believe you." The woman replied on the other side and he got tense. "We've been friends for decades; I can tell when you are lying."
"Taichi is just stressed with his job and helping Mimi running your flower shop." Hikari stepped in. "Besides, he's been having some problems with Akiko."
"I am? Ouch!" Taichi bent over when his sister nudged him in the stomach. "Oh right, I have been."
"Guys, what's really going on? You all seem weird."
"Sorry, something just came up and we have to go."
"Are you and Hikari going grocery shopping today too?"
"What?" The woman asked. "We didn't…"
"Not today." Taichi laughed awkwardly as he covered his sister's mouth.
"Where's Yumi? I miss my niece."
"She's sleeping I think. Since today is Saturday, I always let she stays in bed a little longer."
"Aww I was hoping I'd see her."
"Maybe I can call you later and you two can talk, Mimi."
"I'd love to!" Mimi said happily.
Sora thought it was best to end the call before anything weirder happened, so she pretended like Mike was calling her as an excuse to hang up.
"That was close." Taichi sighed after Mimi had turned off the call. "But she still figured out what was happening."
"We are terrible actors."
"How were we supposed to tell her that Yamato knows about Yumi and that he's seen her already?"
"I don't know."

Yamato was making his way home that morning. When he was about to walk in, he heard his name being called. He turned around towards the direction of the voice and raised his eyebrow.
"Good morning!"
"Good morning." He said awkwardly. "Eh… who are you again?"
"I'm Mayumi." The woman said with a smile. "You know, the woman you met last weekend at the Empire."
"Oh right. How did you find my address?"
"It wasn't that hard to find online, actually. You're pretty famous after all."
"I suppose so." Yamato casually shoved his hands into his pockets. "So how can I help you?"
"I was waiting for you to call, but you didn't try to reach me. Didn't you enjoy our time last Saturday?"
"I did. But I forgot to ask for your number, so…"
"Ah yes! I remember now. Well, let's change that." She stretched out her arm towards him, with her palm up. "Give me your phone."
"Excuse me?!"
"So I can save my number, silly." Mayumi said playfully. "What do you think I was going to do?"
"I was just taken by surprise." He grabbed his mobile and handed it to her.
Yamato watched as she saved her phone number into his cellphone and got tense when she took a picture of its screen with hers. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just taking a photo of your number, so I can save it later." She replied without taking her eyes off the device.
"Isn't it better and faster to just type it?"
"Yeah, but this is an OCD I have. There." She handed him his phone back. "So now we can go on a real date sometime soon."
"Yeah, yeah." Yamato replied absentmindedly. He really wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "We can talk about this. I really have to go now."
"Alright. By the way, Yumi and Sora are very pretty."
"What did you say?!" He turned around and looked at her again. "How did you find out about them?"
"You told me about your daughter at the bar, don't you remember?"
The blonde covered his face with his hands. If this was leaked into the press before he had the chance to talk to Sora, he could say goodbye to every chance he had at meeting his daughter. "I may have been drunk, but I definitely remember not telling you about them."
"Gosh, you were more wasted than I thought. You have a weakness for sex-on-the-beach drinks." Mayumi stated with a mischievous smile. "You were whining about how you had just found out about the girl's existence. Now that I think about it, you actually didn't tell me her name, it was your friend."
"But the guys from the band don't even know about it and they were the only ones with me."
"What about the brunette guy who took you home?"
"Taichi?" Yamato asked. "He wouldn't do such thing."
"He must have been just as wasted as you then." Mayumi turned around and looked over her shoulder, smiling. "Well, I'll be waiting for your call or message. See you!"

Taichi was about to close the door to go to the movies with Hikari, Mimi, Koushiro and Ken, Akiko was going to meet them at the mall. His phone started ringing and he shoved his hand into his pocket to pick it up. He looked at the screen and raised his eyebrows. "Hello?"
"Did you tell that woman I met in the bar my daughter's name was Yumi?"
"Good morning to you too." Taichi snapped. "I don't remember, but I don't think so. Why? What happened?"
"Apparently she knows and she said you told her. She also happens to know Sora's name too."
"What's going on?" Hikari asked beside her brother.
"Hold on." Taichi took his phone away from his ear and put it on speaker. "Okay, how does she know Sora's name?"
"Now that you asked me this, she didn't tell me." Yamato sighed and noticed Taichi's voice sounded distant. "Wait, did you put this call on speaker? Is Hikari around? I really don't want to drag more people into this mess."
"Not only her, Koushiro, Mimi and Ken are here too. And don't worry, we're all already dragged into this mess. You really have no idea how she found out about Sora?"
"No, she just said they both are very pretty. But I suppose you can find it on internet."
"What are we going to do now?" Mimi asked.
"I don't know, but this can't get to Sora before I have the chance to see her. It will ruin all my chances to ever meet Yumi."
"Don't worry, Yamato." Taichi assured him. "There's no way she can contact Sora, they don't even know each other, let alone have her phone number."
"I hope you're right, but we never know."
"I don't think she's a menace to be honest. If anything, she just didn't react well with you not calling her or something."
"Let's hope that's just it." Yamato took a deep breath. "Well, I have to go now. If I hear something else, I'll let you know."
"Thanks." Taichi ended the call and looked at everyone in the group.

Sora, Yumi and Mike took the afternoon to go sightseeing in London. The woman was anxious to see the Buckingham Palace, so that was the first place they went to. She was mesmerized by how big and beautiful it was. Yumi's expression wasn't that different from hers. Sora was holding her in her arms and Yumi was a perfect replica of her. Mike couldn't help but smile and take a picture of them. While the woman blushed, Yumi grinned at the camera. She loved taking photos.
"Stop it." Sora felt a little embarrassed.
"You two look so cute together! I had to take this picture."
"I wanna see it!" Yumi bent over towards Mike, reaching out for his camera. She watched its screen with anxiety and curiosity as the man went through the photo gallery.
"There you are."
"Yumi always looks great in pictures." Sora said proudly after putting her daughter down.
"You do too."
"Now you're just saying this to look better with me."
"Maybe I am." Mike said suggestively and wrapped his arm around Sora's waist. "Was I good?"
"You were the best." Sora grabbed his t-shirt collar and pulled him towards her, kissing him on the lips. "But your real test only starts later today."
"I can barely wait." He whispered against her ear, causing her to giggle and shiver at the thought.
"Mommy, can I have a cotton candy?"
"Yes, sweetie. Which one do you want?"
"The blue one." Yumi replied excitedly.
"I'm not really surprised." Sora smiled and picked up her wallet from her purse.
"Since you and Yumi miss Japan so much, I thought maybe we could go to the Kyoto Garden here."
"Really? Is there a Kyoto Garden in London?"
"Yeah, and it's really pretty. Maybe this way you two can feel closer to home."
"Let's go, mommy!" The girl jumped up and down with excitement.
"Why not?" Sora smiled. "We do miss our hometown and our friends there, don't we?"
"Yes."

Yamato walked inside his apartment and found his father sitting on the couch watching a terrible TV program.
"Hey, dad. What are you watching?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's just a gossip program. There's nothing really good on weekends."
"Those are awful." Yamato shivered at the mere fact. More often than he'd want, there were some news about him in these kinds of programs. The bad side of being famous.
"Where were you?"
"Oh I went to see a new apartment. I hadn't had any lucky with the ones I've visited so far, but I really think I found the one now. It's already verbally bought, but I'm going to sign the papers on Monday."
"So you're moving out soon?"
"If things go well, probably next weekend."
"This place won't be the same without you and Takeru."
"I'm not sure if he will actually move in with me. We need to discuss it again." Yamato walked into the living room again and almost dropped the glass he was holding when he looked at the TV. He was being the subject on the gossip program Hiroaki was watching. "What the fuck is this?! I cannot believe she's exposing my daughter, Sora and me like this!"
"Do you know this woman?" Hiroaki asked him as he turned to see the screen across him.
"I may have met her at The Empire last weekend and hooked up with her."
"Yamato, you should be careful with who you make out with."
"How was I supposed to know she'd go on TV to talk about my personal life like this? Information is shared so quickly nowadays that this can be sent to Sora within minutes. I need to do something." He grabbed his phone and quickly called Marie, his personal assistant. "Hello, Marie. I need you to do something for me." He headed towards his room and closed the door.
"What is it, Mr. Ishida? You haven't gotten in touch with me for a while."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Things have been a little crazy lately. So, I need you to call this woman named Mayumi Hashimoto and make a financial deal with her. I'll text you her number."
"Alright. Did she threaten you or anyone you know?"
"No, she didn't. But this is a possibility, so I want to make a deal with her before things get out of control. We really don't need a scandal involving Knife of Day."
"I see. Well, I'll contact her and let you know after."
"Thank you so much, Marie. I'll explain it to you when we meet in person again."
"You don't have to tell me, Mr. Ishida. I understand this is a personal matter."
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Yamato smiled. "So, I'll be waiting for your call."
"It won't take long. Bye."
The musician sat down on his bed and opened the message that had just arrived. It was a message from Taichi asking if he had seen the report shown on the gossip program and sent him the link. Yamato confirmed that he had seen it by accident when he arrived home and had already taken matters to make Mayumi silence. Taichi's next reply told the musician that he and the group were just as worried as him that this could get to the Sora and they'd all be screwed.
"Yamato!" Takeru burst the door open and stormed into his bedroom. "Dad told me what happened. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just a little anxious and nervous. I already called my personal assistant and she's gonna take care of this."
"That's good." The writer said relieved. "Hopefully we can prevent this from causing more damage."

Sora, Mike and Yumi came back home a little before dinner. Yumi was sleeping on Mike's arms and he went to put her in her bed. Sora went to the living room and sat on the couch at the same time she took her phone out of her purse for the first time since she had called Taichi and her friends in Japan. There were a few messages, including one from an unknown number. She was confused, but opened it anyway. She screamed and dropped her phone after clicking on the link of the video she had received. Mike came running and saw his fiancé's condition. She was on the verge of crying with desperation. He sat down beside her.
"Sora, what happened?"
"This couldn't have happened."
"What couldn't have happened?" He asked again, but still didn't receive a response. He was starting to get more worried. "Did someone die?"
"No." Sora managed to say between her tears and sobs. "It's much worse than that."
"Worse than that? What could be… oh." Then it hit him. The truth was out. "Yumi's real father?"
"I've tried to hide for so long." Sora cried. "I have no idea who must have leaked it. And to the media! This woman was talking about my daughter on gossip show!"
"Calm down, Sora." Mike gently placed his hands on her forearms and she looked at him. "There's still a chance Yamato doesn't know about this."
"It's just a matter of time until he does, Mike." Tears began to fall from her eyes again. "What am I going to do now? He'll want to meet her. I can't believe my friends would betray me like this."

So Yamato's life is a living hell now! What do you think he will do? And Sora? Please leave a comment, I want to know your thoughts.