Hey everyone! I'm so so sorry for the 5 year waiting, but here it is! I hope you like this chapter. Please leave a review.
Chapter 4: Engaged
"What are the chances?" Sora asked as she took a deeper look at Koushiro. "This is a hell of a coincidence."
"Tell me about it." Mimi sighed. "What am I going to do now?"
"What do you mean? You don't do anything; just nod your head if he looks at you. Unless this is more serious than I thought."
"No, of course not." She lied. "It's nothing, it will pass soon."
"You are feeling lonely, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about, Sora?"
"Come on, Mimi. I know you better than that. This man really got to you, didn't he?"
"I have no idea what you mean by that."
"Of course you do. You know exactly what I mean. You don't want to admit it because you know it's wrong."
"Can we please talk about something else?"
"Alright." Sora shrugged. "Keep avoiding the subject."
"I'm not avoiding anything."
"Then why don't you just admit you are starting to have feelings for this guy?"
"I don't want to hurt Jyou. We've been together for years. He's a good guy and doesn't deserve it."
"You have a point here. I'm intrigued to know how a man you saw for the first time last night could affect you so deeply."
"You fell for Yamato the first time you saw him as well."
"That's different, we were teenagers. Hormones were all over the place. Besides, you had a crush on him as well when his band was becoming famous."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Mimi frowned. "But you're right. I only saw him once. I should only nod back if he does the same and move on."
"Come on, the boys are probably starved."
*****
Taichi pinched Koushiro in the arm when he noticed his friend was mesmerized by Mimi.
"Dude, seriously, there will be a puddle in the floor if you continue drooling so much."
"What?" The red haired man shook his head and turned to his friend.
"I didn't think you'd fall for her this hard. What are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean, what am I going to do? I'm not doing anything. She has a boyfriend and I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment. Everything stays the same."
"But, Koushiro, did you see the way she acted when she saw you? She instantly froze where she was. You could see desperation in her eyes."
"Yes, obviously. She didn't expect to see me here."
"You should talk to her."
"Are you kidding me? Her boyfriend is here. She's having dinner with her friends as well."
"So what? It's not like you are going to sit down and join them. Just say hi and talk to her briefly."
"Let's just get out of here."
"We can't. Hikari is almost arriving."
"I forgot your sister is coming as well."
"She's looking for a boyfriend, you know?"
"For the last time, I am NOT looking for a girlfriend! Don't make me hit you."
"Okay, alright. Let's go to our table and wait for Hikari."
"Sure."
*****
Mimi and Sora returned to their table after having a conversation in the bathroom and on their way back.
"You two took a while." Jyou stated as his fiancé sat down next to him.
"We were talking and lost track of time. I'm sorry." Mimi replied without looking at him.
"It's okay."
"So did you order already?"
"Just a bottle of champagne. We thought it was better to wait and see what you two would want."
"That's clever." The model grabbed the menu and started looking for a meal to order.
"So, Jyou… how are things in Japan?"
"Okay, I guess." He fixed his glasses. "It's starting to get better now, but it's still a difficult situation."
"I bet. It's not easy to deal with the consequences of a tsunami."
"No, it's not. But these are the moments where I am surer of going to med school."
"I gotta say I admire you for that, Jyou." Sora joined the conversation. "I don't think I could ever be a doctor. It would be too much for me. How can you not get attached to a patient or a situation?"
"It's very hard at first. I suffered a lot with that, but it gets easier as you go. You learn to keep a certain distance, in order not to be so affected by someone dying or something."
"Isn't he the best?" Mimi said cheerfully and threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so proud of this man."
"Thanks, Mimi." He said a bit embarrassed.
Right after that, the waiter came with the champagne and served them all.
*****
Hikari sighed when she saw the entrance of Dina's. She wasn't used to going to fancy places like this. She checked her phone to see if she had the right address. After confirming it, she looked down to check on her clothes. They weren't exactly fancy, but they weren't bad either. She proceeded to enter the place. The woman felt harassed when the waiter that received the costumers looked at her up and down. She sighed when she finally walked away from him and smiled at her brother and his friend.
"Hi! I hope I'm not too late."
"No, you arrived just in time. We are just waiting for our orders to arrive."
"This place is quite fancy." She took a detailed look around the restaurant. "I don't think my clothes are elegant enough for it."
"Don't worry about it." Taichi said coolly. "Your clothes are great."
"How did you find out about this, by the way? It doesn't seem like somewhere you would go."
"Taichi wanted to go somewhere different, so we looked online and found about Dina's. We thought it would be cool to eat at a new place."
"I see."
"Aren't you going to sit down?" Taichi asked her.
"Yeah, yeah." Hikari shook her head and pulled her chair when she suddenly said out loud. "Oh my God! My boss is here!"
"What? Where?"
"We have to go now!"
"But Hikari, we already ordered."
"Please, you don't understand!" She cried.
"Is she that horrible?" Koushiro asked.
"No, she's great. I'll just have a hard time facing her later. It's gonna be weird"
"Hikari, chill out, okay? She's not going to do anything to you. She can't fire you because what you do after work is up to you."
"I know that." She sighed and sat down. "You know what? You're right."
"So relax." Taichi smiled widely and rubbed his hands. "Food is here!"
"Some things never change." Koushiro slapped his forehead.
"Brother, will you please behave yourself? You're not at your own apartment."
"Stop being a pain." He protested. "I wasn't loud and no one is paying attention to me."
Hikari opened her mouth, but decided it was better not to say anything.
*****
"Wow, that food was delicious!" Mimi laid her back on the chair as she rubbed her stomach. "I think I ate too much."
"Me too." Sora smiled. "I forgot how good their meal is."
"So…" Yamato spoke and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I have something to say."
Mimi couldn't help but laugh and had to cover her mouth. Jyou looked away to hide his smile.
"What's going on here? Why are two laughing at him? You don't know what he has to say."
"Sorry." The model tried to get herself together. "I didn't mean to be rude."
"Anyway…" The musician continued and turned to his girlfriend. "Sora, we have been dating for like five years?"
"Eleven." She corrected him.
"Wait, what? Has it been that long?" He asked with a surprised face.
"Yeah, we started dating in high school. How come you don't remember that?"
"Time has passed by so fast." Yamato shook his head and turned to Sora again. "Okay, what I want to say is that I can't imagine my life without you. You make me so happy, Sor. We've been through so much. You complete me. You showed me a kind of love I never knew could be real." He grabbed her hands and knelt down in front of her. "Will you let me have the honor of being your husband? Will you marry me?"
Sora blinked and took some time to understand what was going on.
"Sora?" Mimi poked her in the arm. "Are you okay? You're not saying anything?"
"Oh." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. Yes! Yes, I will!"
The fashion designer smiled and hugged her fiancé.
"For a moment I thought you would say no."
"I didn't expect it, that's all. I can't believe you set this whole thing up! I was so not ready for this."
"Well, it's part of the surprise."
"I say we should have another bottle of champagne to celebrate this."
"Mimi, we have drunk two bottles already. I think it's enough."
"Sora and Yamato just got engaged. We should celebrate." She raised her hand and called the waiter.
"Hi! We want another bottle of champagne, please."
"Okay. I'll be right back." The waiter bowed a little and left.
"I'm so happy for you two! It's about time you get married."
"You knew about this?"
"Yeah, Yamato told me a few days ago."
"And you managed to keep it a secret? I'm shocked!"
"I know, right? I'm surprised myself."
"I'm actually engaged." Sora contemplated the ring in her finger. "It feels unreal."
"Well, you better believe it." Mimi put her arm around her friend's shoulder. "And you are going to have the wedding ceremony you deserve!"
"I will have plenty of time to plan my wedding. Neither me nor Yamato are rushing to be husband and wife." She looked at him. "Right?"
"Of course." He said quickly. "There's no need to do this in a hurry."
"Okay." Jyou said. "Is there anything else you want to order?"
"I don't think so."
"So, I'll call the wait and ask for the bill."
"Alright."
"And we'll go to the bathroom. We'll be right back." Mimi pulled Sora by the wrist.
*****
Mimi and Sora stood by the bathroom and sink, chatting happily.
"Let me see the ring. Oh my God, it's so beautiful!"
"Thanks." The red haired woman replied shyly.
"I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you, me too." She fixed her hair in the large mirror. "I'm surprised he proposed. We haven't talked about it."
"I think it's cute. You guys have been together for so long. Have you actually never thought of marrying him?"
"I have, yeah. But I didn't want to push things, you know? You witnessed how troubled things were at a certain moment."
"I know. But you two got past it and that's what matters."
"Yeah." She sighed. "I guess so."
"You don't sound…"
"Oh sorry." Hikari quickly apologized as she saw the two women inside.
"It's okay." Sora smiled at her employee. "I didn't know you eat here."
"I don't. My brother and his friend wanted to eat in a different place and convinced me to join them."
"I see." She walked to her and put her arm around her shoulder. "I would love to meet your brother."
"What?"
"Sora, we are leaving."
"It won't take long, Mimi. I'm just meeting her brother."
"Okay, okay."
"Let's go."
"Are you sure?" Hikari asked. "You don't have to, really."
"Are you embarrassed by your brother or me?"
"No!" Hikari nearly shouted and realized she couldn't escape this. "Alright, I'll introduce to two."
"Great." Sora said with a smile. "I'll join you guys soon."
"Okay." Mimi replied without looking at her.
*****
On their way to the table, Hikari hoped her brother wasn't doing anything that could embarrass her in front of her boss. Luckily for her, he was only finishing his drink.
"Hey, Taichi. I'd like you to meet someone."
"I'm not looking for a date, Hikari. You know that."
"That's not it!" She said quickly as her face became red. "It's my boss. She wants to meet you."
"So you two bumped into each other."
"Yes, that's right." Sora said with a smile.
"Taichi, this is Sora. Sora, this is my brother Taichi."
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
"Well, my friends are waiting for me, so I have to go. But it was nice to see your brother, Hikari. See you on Monday."
"See you. Bye."
*****
Mimi stood in front of the mirror between the male and female bathrooms and carefully examined the ring on her hand. She couldn't help but wonder if she actually wanted to marry Jyou. She then sighed and put on the furniture under the mirror. She was taking an intense look at her image and didn't realize she had company until she felt someone poking her.
"Get away from me, freak!" She yelled and stepped back.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Koushiro apologized quickly.
"Oh it's you." She said a little calmer. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"
"It's okay." He cut her off.
"What are you doing here?"
"I didn't come on a date, if that's what you're wondering."
"I'm not wondering anything." She gave an awkward laugh. "Why would I?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "And I also don't know why I said that. We have no relationship, we're not even friends, so I don't know why I just justified myself to you."
"Well, I don't either."
"Are you always this rude?"
"I'm not rude. You were the one who started justifying yourself over nothing. I didn't even ask if you were on a date or not. It's not my problem."
"Alright."
"Anyway…" She put a lock of her hair behind her ear. "My fiancé and my friends are waiting for me. So I should go."
"Okay, then."
"Mimi, what are you doing?" Sora came looking for her best friend. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt anything."
"You're not interrupting. I was just telling him I was going to meet you."
"Okay, we're ready to leave."
"Great." Mimi started walking towards her friend, but looked over her shoulder. "See you around, Koushiro."
"Yeah."
"This man again, Mimi? What's up with him?"
"Nothing, nothing. I'll probably never see him again."
Though they were far away, he could still hear their words and it hurt him a little. He then shrugged and proceeded to meet his friends when something on the furniture caught his attention. He looked down and saw a very expensive ring lying on it.
"Damn it, she forgot her ring!"
He quickly grabbed it and rushed outside to see if he could still see them, but it was too late. She had already left.