THE SURPRISE.
Smiling at the guests, shaking their hands, and exchanging pleasantries with them, Kyoko made her way across the ballroom, looking all over for her very special guest, Moko.
Her eyes kept dancing from face to face until they found their target. Moko was standing in a quiet corner with a drink in her hand. Her lean body being wrapped around a silk black, skin-tight, knee-length gown revealed her supple form, and with her raven hair tied back in an intended messy bun, she looked quite ravishing, but to Kyoko, she looked like the most beautiful girl in the world.
"Moko!" Kyoko engulfed her best-friend in a tight, bear hug. "I'm so sorry I made you wait!" Her eyes traveled down Moko's dress once again before coming back up. "You look absolutely gorgeous!"
"Thanks, but what's up with your dress? Aren't you gonna change?" Moko inquired out of curiosity as she eyed Kyoko's chalk white chef's uniform. The ends of her ginger hair were pulled together in a couple of fountain ponytails.
It was then Kyoko shared her experience of being a head chef with Moko. The two girls chatted for a while, about the party, their work, and their personal lives, before they were interrupted by Maria, who climbed on the stage and clinked her glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention.
"I just want to thank you all for attending this party," Maria smiled her sweet sugary smile. "To show my gratitude, I'm about to play a song which is dedicated to all of you." She said, tapping the grand piano beside her.
As she seated down and started to play, a chorus of awws arose from the crowd. For such a young girl, Maria played the piano exceptionally well. The rhythm of the jolly tune she was playing also captured the undivided attention of the guests. Not to mention the fact that besides her talent as a pianist, Maria looked as adorable as a little princess. Before her recital, she had changed out of her tuxedo, and instead, put on a pale puffy gown, with a bunch of pink flowers sewn onto it. She had also left her golden brown curls to hang freely behind her back.
As the song continued, the guests went ecstatic, applauding their hearts out for the little artist. Soon, the band members also picked up their instruments and joined Maria.
Moko couldn't help smiling herself as she watched the President's granddaughter chuckle like that. "You did it because you wanted her to celebrate her birthday, didn't you?" She turned towards Kyoko.
A sad smile stretched Kyoko's lips. "I can't even imagine how frustrated Maria would have been. The whole world is celebrating and partying on the same day her mother died. I think that deep down she still blames herself. I just had to do something for her. I couldn't get her to celebrate her birthday, but I at least gave her a reason to enjoy it."
As the evening passed, more and more guests appeared. Seeing how Maria was dancing on the stage with a bunch of other kids her age, Kyoko excused herself from Moko's company and decided to tend to the newly arrived guests herself.
It was around eleven when the Dark Moon cast and Director Ogata finally showed up. A little while later, the Taishos arrived as well. They all had the same surprised and slightly embarrassed look on their faces when they were welcomed by those men with the saxophones at the entrance. As wierd as it looked, it was also hilarious in a way to see them all get so flustered.
By eleven thirty, the person Kyoko had been awaiting the most arrived. Once again, the party poppers around the entrance went off showering him with golden confetti, as he stepped inside along with his manager.
Unlike the other guests, who turned shocked and agitated to receive such a grandiose welcome, Ren Tsuruga was amused. Instead of getting flustered, he chuckled out loud, sweeping away the golden confetti off his head by running his fingers through his smooth hair.
A few streamers from the confetti got tangled in Yashiro's glasses and the manager snorted, "damn it!" while trying to get them off. "Was all this really necessary?"
"What were you expecting? The President is involved after all," Ren laughed.
"Ren!" The two men were interrupted by a shrill and excited shriek from Maria, who dashed up to them in a hurry as soon as she saw then enter, so she could be the first one to welcome Ren. Swinging her arms in the air, she let Ren pick her up, and twirl her around before putting her back down. All the while, she giggled with delight.
At last, Kyoko joined them as well. After she had noticed their arrival, she scurried off to the kitchen and returned with a tray in her hands which had a couple of drinks on it.
"Thank you so much for coming," bowing politely, she flashed them a welcoming smile. Holding out the tray to them, she suggested, "Please enjoy these drinks! These are cocktails that I specially made for you two. I couldn't taste them myself since they contain alcohol, so please try them."
"Thank you," Ren and Yashiro chorused before picking up their drinks.
"It's quite delicious," Ren remarked after a sip.
"Indeed," the manager agreed.
All of a sudden, the lights went out and total darkness spread across the ballroom. Some of the guests gasped aloud before they all went absolutely still.
A minute or so later, a single beam of golden spotlight appeared on the stage washing over the figure of a tall man. His face was covered with a long hat as he stood there leaning on his wooden cane.
He held his cane up in the air and sweeped it around, at the same time, sparks went off around the darkened hall startling most of the guest. The man took off his hat and he was revealed to be none other than President Takarada. He swept his cane in the air again and this time, unexpectedly, a blinding light emerged from behind him. It was so radiating that the guests had to cover their eyes so that they could take their time adjusting to it.
When the people in the crowd finally opened their eyes, they found the whole ballroom illuminated with bright purple torches, and sparkling, colourful butterflies floating everywhere. Upon closer inspection, those butterflies turned out to be cut out of paper.
Kyoko and Maria stared at the breathtaking sight in front of them with wonderstruck eyes. Their lips parted in awe. The shimmering torches, and those floating paper butterflies, it was all so beautiful that it almost seemed like magic.
Ren caught one of those butterflies between his fingers and inspected it closely in fascination. The origami used to make those seemed pretty complex and out of ordinary. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Kyoko and his heart picked up it's pace with a deep yearning. Just as he expected, she was collecting those butterflies with a dreamy look on her beautiful face. Her hazel eyes seemed to be lost in those fantasies of hers of fairies from faraway lands.
"When the clock shall strike at midnight, like all good things, this party will come to an end with the end of december twenty-fourth," Takarada announced through a mic, drawing the attention of everyone back to the stage. "However, before that happens, there is one last present that has yet to be delivered." He looked straight at Maria. "A very special present for a very special girl. A flower of happiness is about to bloom for the little flower who hosted this party."
Maria turned flustered from all the attention. She cupped her cheecks to hide the deep shade of crimson suffusing on them as she grinned.
Takarada sweeped the air with his cane one final time, and the curtains behind him were pulled back. There appeared to be a large wooden box with double doors on it.
The President delicately clapped his hands twice and the doors swung open. A huge wave of pink roses tumbled out of that box flying everywhere and the crowd awed once again in a daze. As happy as Maria was to receive such a beautiful present, she shook her head while looking at her grandfather. Inspite of her strong wishes to keep this party small, Takarada had instead gone all out. Nonetheless, she was happy so she kept smiling cheerfully, before her eyes settled on what was behind the pile of those flowers.
Kyoko scooped up a bunch of roses in her hands and turned to Maria with an excited grin, but it soon faltered when she noticed the shocked and troubled look on the little host's face.
Following Maria's eyes back to that wooden box, she saw something - or rather someone - which she had failed to notice before. Behind the sea of those flowers was standing a man. It was the same man from this morning with the dark complexion, the crisp and pointed features and the fansy tuxedo.
Maria's eyes flooded with tears and her little hands balled into clenched fists as she held them up to her chest. She parted her lips to speak, but only one word was able to escape from them, and it came out in a hushed whisper. "Father..!"
"Father?" Kyoko exclaimed with delighted surprise. "That's so great, Maria! He came to see you!" Although, she did wonder quietly why he pretended to be a chauffeur this morning when he came to pick her up.
"But I-" Maria was overwhelmed. "But I didn't invite him."
"Surprised, are you?" Takarada laughed aloud, as he dragged his son forward to where Maria was standing. For some reason though, Kouki Takarada seemed just as troubled as his daughter.
Since Maria's mother's death, this was the first time the father and daughter were reunited. They did start talking to each other again through texts a while back, but this was still awkward.
"So how do you like your present, Maria?" The President asked. "Your father here was very upset that you didn't send him an invitation. He was so sulky that I had to have him draged back from America."
Kouki Takarada looked down, his face embarrassed. Unlike his eccentric father, he appeared to be a pretty serious man.
Maria wiped her face dry to get rid of the tears that were now seeping out of her eyes. After a forever long pause, she gathered up enough courage to hold her head high up and look her father in the eye. "About the invitation, I didn't send it because..." she tried to explain. "It's not that I'm not thankful to you or that I don't consider you important enough, it's just..." Her voice trailed off.
"I understand." Her father smiled knowingly. "I know you didn't invite me because you didn't wanna disturb me while I was working." He sat down on his knees so he could look straight at her.
"I'm sorry," she looked down, feeling disappointed in herself.
"The one who should be apologizing is me." He held her chin up. "You've grown up to be so mature that you don't ever ask for anything anymore. You always hold it in. And that's because I never asked you what you wanted. Instead of being there for you, I stayed away, never even asking you if you were happy." He let his hand drop down. "The truth is, I'm a failure as a father."
Fresh tears emerged in Maria's eyes and seeped down her rosy cheeks. She sniffed.
"But I'm here now," he went on. "I know that without your mother around, I'm still not good at this father thing, but I'm trying. So you don't have to keep holding it in anymore. Whatever you want from now on, just tell me. Let me spoil you a bit, because you've grown too big and too fast."
"No!" Maria sobbed. "It's not because of you. I never ask for anything because I'm afraid that if I do, it'll be taken away from me! Just like Mom was taken away from me when I became selfish and wished for her to come to my birthday!" By the end, Maria was crying hysterically. "I didn't invite you because I was afraid that your plane would crash too!"
"Maria," he wiped away her tears and cupped her cheeks. A kind smile tugging on his lips. "I flew here on a plane and I'm okay. See, I'm alive and well. No one would take me away from you again."
He spread out his arms invitingly and Maria jumped on to him. His arms encased her into a hug while she sobbed on his shoulder.
"Happy birthday, Maria" he muttered as he patted her back. "Thank you for being born. I love you."
"I love you too." Her voice came out muffled.
Their reunion was so heart touching and emotional that all the guests who had been spectating the whole scene couldn't help the tears of joy from seeping out of their eyes while also smiling at the same time. Kyoko was also one of them. As happy as she was for her little friend, she couldn't help the tears from coming out again and again after she wiped them away.
Someone offered her a handkerchief. Kyoko tilted her head to see that it was Ren. He had moved to stand right beside her. With a grateful smile, she received the white hanky and dabbed her wet eyes with it.
"I hope Maria will let her father spoil her a bit and grow close to him," Ren remarked.
"Yep," Kyoko smiled. "I'm so happy for her." Suddenly, the clock struck twelve. It was midnight and Maria's birthday was over. "He was at least able to wish her birthday before it ended. I kinda didn't want it to end," she confessed to Ren with a shy chuckle.
When Kyoko looked at him again, he was carrying a rose. Unlike the ones that came out of that wooden box, it was a red rose, and it was wrapped in sheet of decorative paper with a small ribbon tied around it. What was unusual about this flower was it's size. It's was thrice the size of any ordinary rose. Infact, Kyoko had never seen a flower so big before.
Just as she was about to ask Ren what it was for, he offered it to her. "This is for you."
"You mean me?" She chuckled nervously. "What for?"
"Happy birthday."
Guess it's over, Moko thought. She didn't get much time to spend with Kyoko, with her being the hostess, and she let out a discouraged sigh. She had even bought her best friend a present, but she didn't even get a chance to give it to her.
I'll give it later, she decided after a glance at the wall clock. It was already twelve. Better head home now.
She thought she should let Kyoko know that she leaving. So she made her way across the ballroom looking for the five feet three inches tall head-chef. Soon, she spotted her standing with Ren Tsuruga. And for some reason, he was giving her a rose. A red rose.
Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Moko quietly stood in the back and eavesdropped their conversation.
"December twenty-fifth, it's your birthday, isn't it?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, it is. But how do you know?"
Ren hesitated as he tried to come up with an excuse. In the end, he replied, "the President told me."
"Oh yeah, it was in my resume," Kyoko nodded. "I guess that makes sense."
"Let me try this again." A gorgeous smile tugged on Ren's lips and he held out the rose to her again. "Here. Happy seventeenth birthday."
Kyoko couldn't help it. She blushed up to the roots of her hair as she wrapped her delicate fingers around that flower. "Th-thank you." She touched the tips of her fingers to it's velvety petals and then sniffed it's heavenly aroma. "It's beautiful. And it's so big," she added with a chuckle. "I've never seen anything like it before. It's like the king of all roses, isn't it?"
"Well, it's name is actually-" Ren was answering, but he was interrupted by Moko, who jumped between them and grabbed Kyoko by her shoulders.
"Today's your birthday?" She almost shouted. She didn't even try to hide how upset she was that Kyoko didn't consider her important enough to share this fact with her.
"Oh hey, Moko!" Kyoko smiled. "I'm so sorry, I got so much distracted with the party that I didn't come to see you."
"It's your birthday!" Moko asked again.
"Um, yeah..."
Moko glared at her. She was so mad for not being told about it that she would've fought Kyoko right then and there. But that would have to wait. "Wait here!" She stormed off.
A minute of so later, Moko returned with a large box wrapped in a gift paper. She had left it at the check-in counter and so she had to go back to retrieve it. "Here!" She shoved it in Kyoko's hands.
"What's this?" Kyoko blinked.
"Can't you tell by looking at it?" Moko snapped, still angry about being left out. "It's a present, what else?"
"But why would you-"
"It's your birthday, isn't it?"
"But you said you didn't know about it?"
"Yeah," Moko hesitated. As embarrassing as it was to admit, she was left with no other choice but to tell the truth. "Yes, I didn't know when your birthday was. But when I saw this on the display, your face popped up in my mind and I just kept thinking how much you'd love it. So I brought it."
Kyoko was so touched with the gesture alone that new tears emerged in her eyes. She hugged Moko again, before she opened her present.
And when she did, a squeal escaped her mouth. She was just overwhelmed with happiness to see what was inside, that she almost danced. "Finally!" She sang and hugged the box before hugging Moko again.