Author's Note: .... wow.. lotsa stuff happening lately so I haven't been updating in almost 3 weeks... if you're that bored and have nothing better to do, I got my ranting listed on my profile page thing..
*raises an eyebrow* ..... so... if I write a Jurato story suddenly you people don't like my writing anymore? Oh, I see how this one goes. Well how about this... I'll start writing more into the Jenki stuff and mark the story as mainly Jenki, and use the Jurato thing as a sub-plot? You like that? Good.
And... hold on... I got to the whole proposal thing before arch did? Is that legal? *looks around nervously* .... I think... it is but I'm not really sure at this point...
I'm not too proud of this chapter.. it's choppy, and crappy, and pretty much every other negative term that ends in 'ppy'. (Keith... don't go looking up negative words that end in 'ppy'...... just.. don't...)
And one more thing (.... I've been watching way too much of that Jackie Chan TV show... I crack up whenever I say those words).... according to what the scary gay fashion dude said on Digimon in the english version, Rika's mother was given the first name "Makino". (Watch it yourself if you don't believe me). So I'm keeping Rika's mother's name as "Makino". Got a problem with that? Well don't tell me since I'll just reply with a shrug ^_^;;
----
This was completly horrible. It was almost as bad as when he first realised his feelings for her way back in the digital world. That was about the time whenever he would open his mouth, nothing but babbling would come out and she would call him and idiot and walk away.
With both hands firmly placed on the oak dresser, and deep gray eyes staring into those of his reflection, Henry repeated the words over and over again, each time with more courage.
"Rika, will you marry me?" he repeated for what seemed to be the millionth time, and stood up straight, groaning.
Five words, Henry... it's just five words. The thought kept racing through his mind time and time again.
He slipped a black leather jacket over a finely-pressed white shirt and took a deep breath. He'd have to worry about asking Rika herself later. Tonight, he had other things to worry about, such as asking Rika's mother for her daughter's hand in marriage. All the guys told him he was old fashioned by asking the mother first, but he knew it would more than likely score some extra points with both Makino and the grandmother.
Rika was out at a private fashion shoot, so Henry knew she wouldn't miss him too badly.
Half an hour later Henry pulled up outside one of the large office buildings in the area, just as the front door opened to a well-dressed young man pushing the door forward for a tall blonde woman.
After all those years, Makino still looked young and vibrant, and was still in the modeling business. Except now, she wasn't the one in front of the camera, but someone behind it. Between applying the makeup and picking out the model's clothing, she was still making top dollar for her family.
Makino stopped short at seeing the flashy red sports car in front of her, and Henry sitting in the drivers seat.
"I hope you don't mind, ma'am, but I thought I'd take you to dinner tonight." Henry said with a surprising amount of courage in his voice, and Makino stepped into the car, the young man closing the door behind her.
"Is something wrong, Henry?"
Henry stepped on the gas pedal, and pulled out of the parking lot, onto the main highway. "Nothing's wrong.. I just need to ask you a few things."
Makino leaned back in the leather covered seat, eyes squinting from the gusts of wind being thrown at her. "Well hurry up, son. I spent a good two hours this morning creating this hair style, and if we don't stop in the next ten minutes it will be ruined."
----
It was a large resturant that Rika and this new photographer took a booth in, it was almost right in the middle of the entire place, with a small wall separating them and the booth next to them, so that if you stood, you could see right over it to the other people, and Rika thanked heaven that nobody had been seated there yet.
She was already uncomfortable as it was with this guy, and having someone else listen in would just make it worse.
"You made the right choice, Rika. Another half a year or so and your career would've been gone, down the drain."
Rika fixed her light violet eyes on the older blond man sitting across from her, clearly in his late thirties to early fourties. He wore thick glasses in large black frames, and a few streaks of his mustache held bits of gray.
"I.. guess." Rika mumbled as the waitress placed their food in front of them.
The man waited until she was gone before continuing. "You're gonna be a star. I can call up my friends in the US to put up your pictures on their websites. You're less known over there anyways, less a chance you'll be caught."
Butterflies hit Rika's stomach hard and she closed her eyes. She knew in her heart she had made a terrible mistake. If Henry, her mother, or her grandmother ever found out about it, they would never forgive her. She had been brought up to know right from wrong, and this was wrong.... way wrong.
"For the five shots you took tonight I'll give you, lets say, about eight-thousand dollars."
Rika about choked on her drink. Never in her life had she been offered that much for only five photos. Well... they weren't any normal sort of photos, so it would make sense she would get more---
A pale brown envelope slid across the table towards her, and the man gave her a grin lacking a few teeth. "Welcome to the business." he said in a lower voice noticing a few people had taken the seats beside them while they were distracted with the conversation.
-----
Makino took a sip of the tall glass of wine and studied the intricate designs carved into the side of the booth. Beautiful strings of ivy were carved into the dark wooden wall that separated them and the people on the other side of it. Henry had fine taste to have brought her here of all places.
She shifted her glance to Henry who had been stirring sugar into a cup of hot coffee for almost five minutes straight now.
"I think it's stirred enough now, Henry." Makino said kindly, and Henry started suddenly.
"Uh... yeah... I..." Henry pulled the spoon out of the cup, and set in on the folded wine-colored napkin, leaving a wet stain from the coffee that had dripped off.
"What's troubling you, Henry? You aren't normally like this."
Henry took a long deep breath, and looked towards Makino with a sort of longing in his eyes. "I... have a question."
"Yes, I know, and you haven't made the effort to tell me what it is yet."
"I want to ask Rika to marry me." Henry spat out and suddenly fifty things seemed to happen at once.
The waitress that had just stopped at their table suddenly squealed for no real reason, Makino quickly snapped to attention in order to grab her glass of wine from falling on the floor, and a tall auburn haired girl bolted up from the booth next to them.
Normally Henry, being polite, would have not bothered to look up at strangers, if it wasn't for the sudden movement the girl had made. He lifted his eyes to meet the all-too-famillier ones of Rika, which immediatly were filled with tears.
"Rika...." he whispered, and then stood also.
Makino, the photographer, and everyone else in the resturant were suddenly forgotten about as Rika opened her mouth and barely forced out a few words.
"Henry, I think you have something to tell me."
"I think I do too."
"Wait a minute, who are you?" both teenagers were pulled out of the semi-romantic trance they had fallen into to see an accusing finger being pointed towards the older photographer.
The realisation suddenly struck Henry once he spotted the man also. "Yeah, who are you?"
The man stood and held out his hand to Henry, ignoring Makino completly. "Charles B. Hedgeworth, Rika's new photographer. My friends call me--"
"I don't care what your friends call you." Henry suddenly took on a whole new look, and everyone in the conversation looked at him, startled. "Just by looking at you I know what you are. You're not Rika's new photographer, and you'll never be one."
Rika started at his words, and looked quickly towards Charles, eyeing him over. Well, she could see where Henry was coming from. Charles wore baggy ripped jeans and a baggy gray t-shirt displaying the outline of a naked girl laying on her back.
"Sorry, kiddo, but I've already paid her for the shots she took." Charles said simply, not even phased by Henry's words, and immediatly Rika felt a pang of hurt as the soft gray eyes of Henry fell onto her.
"But I guess I'm not wanted here. Too bad, Rika... I thought we had something going for you."
With that Charles picked up the red plaid overshirt from the leather seat of the booth and turned, walking out.
Rika just stared at the open doorway he had disappeared into, desprately wishing herself elsewhere.
"Rika--"
She closed her eyes tightly at Henry's calm slow word.
"Please, I don't want to talk about it." picking up the envelope, Rika started towards the doorway as well, Henry close behind her, Makino forgotten yet again.
-----
"Please Rika, tell me it's not true."
Rika walked faster through the warm dark summer night, high-heels clicking on the concrete sidewalk of the park with every step she took.
"Rika, stop at least."
Faster.
"Rika, please... let's at least talk about it--"
Even faster.
Henry's hand wrapped itself strongly around Rika's thin arm, and she turned around abruptly, the tears trailing down her cheek stained black from the heavy mascara.
"Maybe I don't want to talk about it."
With that Henry let go of her arm, and she stormed on.
"Is this what you want, Rika?" Henry asked in one last desprate plea. "You want your entire reputation ruined by a few of these pictures?"
Rika stopped herself short, letting Henry's words sink in for a few moments. "I have no other choice." she said sharply, then finally turned herself around to look at him. "I got turned down for five different shoots, Henry. They don't want me anymore."
"And so you're going to become a porn star to cover for it?"
Rika choked on her words suddenly, then just stared at him. "I.."
"You hid this from me for how long?" Henry said gently, taking a few steps towards her and softly taking her hand in his.
"I just started tonight--- I can't believe this---" Rika snapped her hand out of Henry's angrily. "It's not such a big deal, Wong." she stated causticly.
"Have we ever slept together?"
Rika blinked twice at his random statement, and a pushed a piece of hair behind her ear uneasily. "No..."
"So... this freak and millions of guys all over the world get to see your body before I do?" Henry said, half jokingly with a slight grin on his face and caused a quiet laugh out of Rika.
"Hey, I offered but you said you didn't want me in that way until we got married." Rika shrugged with a slight grin on her face also, and Henry took her hand again, his face suddenly solemn.
He wasn't going to.... he couldn't.... Rika's mind suddenly raced as he slowly inched closer to her.
"About that..." he said quietly, and Rika turned her face away from him. He stood confused for a moment. "Rika?"
"I can't--" she whispered and pulled her hand out of his again. "I just can't."
"What? Why not?! I thought this is what you wanted!" Henry almost yelled out, eyes immediatly filling with fire. He didn't know why he was so upset--
"I don't know. I just can't." Rika repeated her words, and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Not now. I'm sorry."
With that she turned and continued walking, this time Henry not following her. He stood still, staring in disbelief at her. She.. turned him down. After all that, she turned him down, and didn't even have the decentcy to give him a reason why.
She did still love him, didn't she?
*raises an eyebrow* ..... so... if I write a Jurato story suddenly you people don't like my writing anymore? Oh, I see how this one goes. Well how about this... I'll start writing more into the Jenki stuff and mark the story as mainly Jenki, and use the Jurato thing as a sub-plot? You like that? Good.
And... hold on... I got to the whole proposal thing before arch did? Is that legal? *looks around nervously* .... I think... it is but I'm not really sure at this point...
I'm not too proud of this chapter.. it's choppy, and crappy, and pretty much every other negative term that ends in 'ppy'. (Keith... don't go looking up negative words that end in 'ppy'...... just.. don't...)
And one more thing (.... I've been watching way too much of that Jackie Chan TV show... I crack up whenever I say those words).... according to what the scary gay fashion dude said on Digimon in the english version, Rika's mother was given the first name "Makino". (Watch it yourself if you don't believe me). So I'm keeping Rika's mother's name as "Makino". Got a problem with that? Well don't tell me since I'll just reply with a shrug ^_^;;
----
This was completly horrible. It was almost as bad as when he first realised his feelings for her way back in the digital world. That was about the time whenever he would open his mouth, nothing but babbling would come out and she would call him and idiot and walk away.
With both hands firmly placed on the oak dresser, and deep gray eyes staring into those of his reflection, Henry repeated the words over and over again, each time with more courage.
"Rika, will you marry me?" he repeated for what seemed to be the millionth time, and stood up straight, groaning.
Five words, Henry... it's just five words. The thought kept racing through his mind time and time again.
He slipped a black leather jacket over a finely-pressed white shirt and took a deep breath. He'd have to worry about asking Rika herself later. Tonight, he had other things to worry about, such as asking Rika's mother for her daughter's hand in marriage. All the guys told him he was old fashioned by asking the mother first, but he knew it would more than likely score some extra points with both Makino and the grandmother.
Rika was out at a private fashion shoot, so Henry knew she wouldn't miss him too badly.
Half an hour later Henry pulled up outside one of the large office buildings in the area, just as the front door opened to a well-dressed young man pushing the door forward for a tall blonde woman.
After all those years, Makino still looked young and vibrant, and was still in the modeling business. Except now, she wasn't the one in front of the camera, but someone behind it. Between applying the makeup and picking out the model's clothing, she was still making top dollar for her family.
Makino stopped short at seeing the flashy red sports car in front of her, and Henry sitting in the drivers seat.
"I hope you don't mind, ma'am, but I thought I'd take you to dinner tonight." Henry said with a surprising amount of courage in his voice, and Makino stepped into the car, the young man closing the door behind her.
"Is something wrong, Henry?"
Henry stepped on the gas pedal, and pulled out of the parking lot, onto the main highway. "Nothing's wrong.. I just need to ask you a few things."
Makino leaned back in the leather covered seat, eyes squinting from the gusts of wind being thrown at her. "Well hurry up, son. I spent a good two hours this morning creating this hair style, and if we don't stop in the next ten minutes it will be ruined."
----
It was a large resturant that Rika and this new photographer took a booth in, it was almost right in the middle of the entire place, with a small wall separating them and the booth next to them, so that if you stood, you could see right over it to the other people, and Rika thanked heaven that nobody had been seated there yet.
She was already uncomfortable as it was with this guy, and having someone else listen in would just make it worse.
"You made the right choice, Rika. Another half a year or so and your career would've been gone, down the drain."
Rika fixed her light violet eyes on the older blond man sitting across from her, clearly in his late thirties to early fourties. He wore thick glasses in large black frames, and a few streaks of his mustache held bits of gray.
"I.. guess." Rika mumbled as the waitress placed their food in front of them.
The man waited until she was gone before continuing. "You're gonna be a star. I can call up my friends in the US to put up your pictures on their websites. You're less known over there anyways, less a chance you'll be caught."
Butterflies hit Rika's stomach hard and she closed her eyes. She knew in her heart she had made a terrible mistake. If Henry, her mother, or her grandmother ever found out about it, they would never forgive her. She had been brought up to know right from wrong, and this was wrong.... way wrong.
"For the five shots you took tonight I'll give you, lets say, about eight-thousand dollars."
Rika about choked on her drink. Never in her life had she been offered that much for only five photos. Well... they weren't any normal sort of photos, so it would make sense she would get more---
A pale brown envelope slid across the table towards her, and the man gave her a grin lacking a few teeth. "Welcome to the business." he said in a lower voice noticing a few people had taken the seats beside them while they were distracted with the conversation.
-----
Makino took a sip of the tall glass of wine and studied the intricate designs carved into the side of the booth. Beautiful strings of ivy were carved into the dark wooden wall that separated them and the people on the other side of it. Henry had fine taste to have brought her here of all places.
She shifted her glance to Henry who had been stirring sugar into a cup of hot coffee for almost five minutes straight now.
"I think it's stirred enough now, Henry." Makino said kindly, and Henry started suddenly.
"Uh... yeah... I..." Henry pulled the spoon out of the cup, and set in on the folded wine-colored napkin, leaving a wet stain from the coffee that had dripped off.
"What's troubling you, Henry? You aren't normally like this."
Henry took a long deep breath, and looked towards Makino with a sort of longing in his eyes. "I... have a question."
"Yes, I know, and you haven't made the effort to tell me what it is yet."
"I want to ask Rika to marry me." Henry spat out and suddenly fifty things seemed to happen at once.
The waitress that had just stopped at their table suddenly squealed for no real reason, Makino quickly snapped to attention in order to grab her glass of wine from falling on the floor, and a tall auburn haired girl bolted up from the booth next to them.
Normally Henry, being polite, would have not bothered to look up at strangers, if it wasn't for the sudden movement the girl had made. He lifted his eyes to meet the all-too-famillier ones of Rika, which immediatly were filled with tears.
"Rika...." he whispered, and then stood also.
Makino, the photographer, and everyone else in the resturant were suddenly forgotten about as Rika opened her mouth and barely forced out a few words.
"Henry, I think you have something to tell me."
"I think I do too."
"Wait a minute, who are you?" both teenagers were pulled out of the semi-romantic trance they had fallen into to see an accusing finger being pointed towards the older photographer.
The realisation suddenly struck Henry once he spotted the man also. "Yeah, who are you?"
The man stood and held out his hand to Henry, ignoring Makino completly. "Charles B. Hedgeworth, Rika's new photographer. My friends call me--"
"I don't care what your friends call you." Henry suddenly took on a whole new look, and everyone in the conversation looked at him, startled. "Just by looking at you I know what you are. You're not Rika's new photographer, and you'll never be one."
Rika started at his words, and looked quickly towards Charles, eyeing him over. Well, she could see where Henry was coming from. Charles wore baggy ripped jeans and a baggy gray t-shirt displaying the outline of a naked girl laying on her back.
"Sorry, kiddo, but I've already paid her for the shots she took." Charles said simply, not even phased by Henry's words, and immediatly Rika felt a pang of hurt as the soft gray eyes of Henry fell onto her.
"But I guess I'm not wanted here. Too bad, Rika... I thought we had something going for you."
With that Charles picked up the red plaid overshirt from the leather seat of the booth and turned, walking out.
Rika just stared at the open doorway he had disappeared into, desprately wishing herself elsewhere.
"Rika--"
She closed her eyes tightly at Henry's calm slow word.
"Please, I don't want to talk about it." picking up the envelope, Rika started towards the doorway as well, Henry close behind her, Makino forgotten yet again.
-----
"Please Rika, tell me it's not true."
Rika walked faster through the warm dark summer night, high-heels clicking on the concrete sidewalk of the park with every step she took.
"Rika, stop at least."
Faster.
"Rika, please... let's at least talk about it--"
Even faster.
Henry's hand wrapped itself strongly around Rika's thin arm, and she turned around abruptly, the tears trailing down her cheek stained black from the heavy mascara.
"Maybe I don't want to talk about it."
With that Henry let go of her arm, and she stormed on.
"Is this what you want, Rika?" Henry asked in one last desprate plea. "You want your entire reputation ruined by a few of these pictures?"
Rika stopped herself short, letting Henry's words sink in for a few moments. "I have no other choice." she said sharply, then finally turned herself around to look at him. "I got turned down for five different shoots, Henry. They don't want me anymore."
"And so you're going to become a porn star to cover for it?"
Rika choked on her words suddenly, then just stared at him. "I.."
"You hid this from me for how long?" Henry said gently, taking a few steps towards her and softly taking her hand in his.
"I just started tonight--- I can't believe this---" Rika snapped her hand out of Henry's angrily. "It's not such a big deal, Wong." she stated causticly.
"Have we ever slept together?"
Rika blinked twice at his random statement, and a pushed a piece of hair behind her ear uneasily. "No..."
"So... this freak and millions of guys all over the world get to see your body before I do?" Henry said, half jokingly with a slight grin on his face and caused a quiet laugh out of Rika.
"Hey, I offered but you said you didn't want me in that way until we got married." Rika shrugged with a slight grin on her face also, and Henry took her hand again, his face suddenly solemn.
He wasn't going to.... he couldn't.... Rika's mind suddenly raced as he slowly inched closer to her.
"About that..." he said quietly, and Rika turned her face away from him. He stood confused for a moment. "Rika?"
"I can't--" she whispered and pulled her hand out of his again. "I just can't."
"What? Why not?! I thought this is what you wanted!" Henry almost yelled out, eyes immediatly filling with fire. He didn't know why he was so upset--
"I don't know. I just can't." Rika repeated her words, and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Not now. I'm sorry."
With that she turned and continued walking, this time Henry not following her. He stood still, staring in disbelief at her. She.. turned him down. After all that, she turned him down, and didn't even have the decentcy to give him a reason why.
She did still love him, didn't she?