Hello everyone! I'm back with this fanfic! I hope it's worth the wait. The re-written version is uploaded on AO3 (link in my bio), but there aren't many changes. Anyway, as usual I ended with a cliffhanger and want to know what you think is gonna happen next. So leave your comments after you finish reading. Hope you enjoy it and see you next month!
Chapter 5: The Lost Ring
Mimi sat on the edge of her bed feeling extremely desperate and hopeless. Her hands were covering her face and the tears made her palms wet. She had searched everywhere for her emerald ring, but it was nowhere to be found.
"Mimi, are you still there?"
The sound of Sora's voice made her remove her hands from her face. She had completely forgotten her best friend was on the phone with her. "Yes, Sora, I'm still here."
"Good. Did you find it?"
"No." Mimi began to sob. Her anxiety was about to attack. "Jou is gonna kill me."
"Calm down, Mimi. I'm sure we're gonna find it." Sora tried to sound as reassuring as she could. "You really don't remember where you left it?"
"I had it with me when we arrived home last night. Or… at least I thought I did." The ex-model started crying again. "Sora, this is a family jewelry. It has been in the Kido family for generations! If I'm already being this clumsy while engaged to him, you can imagine the disaster I will be as a wife."
"Stop putting yourself down like that." Sora said firmly. "I'm sure you're gonna be an amazing wife. Now, is it possible that you forgot it at the restaurant?"
"The restaurant!" Mimi exclaimed. "Of course! But someone might have taken it. I'm so screwed!"
"Mimi, would you relax? Someone also might have found it and gave it to a clerk."
"Would you be this calm if you ever lost one of Yamato family's jewelry?"
"Well, to start, I wouldn't wear it anywhere but my apartment. I can't risk losing it."
"Wow, thank you so much!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Sora said quickly. "Let's be positive and hope we'll find your engagement ring before Jou notices."
"We're supposed to go to Central Park in about thirty minutes. He will notice it the moment he holds my hand. What am I supposed to tell him when he asks me about it?"
"Well, can't you come up with some excuse to get some more time to find it?" Sora suggested. "But something reasonable, Mimi. I know sometimes you fantasize a lot with lies and it makes it hard to believe."
"Maybe I should just tell him the truth and see what happens."
"Yeah, that's another possibility. Maybe he will understand and even help you find it."
"But I'm scared, Sora!" Mimi cried. "I don't know what to do. I can't face him, especially like this."
"Mimi, are you okay?" Jou asked from the other side of the door. "We need to get going before it's too late. It's my last day here."
"Yes, honey, I'm okay. I'll be right there." Mimi took a deep breath and grabbed her phone. "I can't tell him the truth, Sora. He will definitely break up with me if I do."
"Alright, I have a plan."
"I'm listening."
Koushiro was lying on his bed, carefully examining the emerald ring in his hands. He knew Mimi was probably looking for it like crazy, but he didn't know how to return it to her, considering he hadn't gotten her number. Not that it would have helped, since it was stolen and she most definitely got a new one. And then it hit him: Hikari was Sora's employee. He could hand it to her and ask her to give it back to Mimi. Koushiro immediately stood up and stormed off into Taichi's room, tripping over his foot in the way.
"Ouch!"
"Koushiro, what are you doing?" Taichi hurriedly appeared in the hall after hearing the thud noise and found his friend standing up. His voice was alarmed. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Koushiro was now all up. His right hand curled into a fist. "The ring!" He opened his hand and sighed with relief after noticing the ring was still intact over it.
"What ring? Did you buy it?"
"No, why would I buy a ring? I have no reason to. This is Mimi's engagement or commitment ring, whatever it is. She forgot it at the restaurant last night and I couldn't reach her in time to give it back."
"So what are you planning to do now?"
"That's why I fell down, actually. I was going to ask you for the address from Hikari's work place. Sora is Mimi's friend, so maybe she can give it back for me."
"Can't you call Mimi and give it back yourself instead?"
"Her phone was stolen, remember? Besides, I didn't get her number, so there's no way I can contact her. This is the only option I can think of."
"Sure, I can give it to her. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow, since today is Sunday."
"Damn it. She must be so worried thinking she lost it."
"In a way, she did."
"Well, yeah. But I meant lost it forever."
"You know, you can always look for her address in the internet and give it back today."
"I could." Koushiro pondered it for a moment. "But isn't that invading her privacy? It seems a psychopathic thing to do. I mean, I don't even know her that well. We saw each other once or twice. Showing at her house like this is way over the line."
"It's not like you're breaking into her house. You just happened to find something she lost and want to give it back. She's a celebrity; she's used to some odd situations I guess."
"She shouldn't, though. She's still a human, no matter what."
"I agree with you." Taichi nodded. "Some people do cross every possible line. But that's not your case. It's not like you spend all day watching her house, spying into it with binoculars to see what's happening inside. These are the kind of people you should feel afraid of. You can barely kill a cockroach."
"I find them disgusting, but you're exaggerating here." Koushiro rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I agree with you though. It's not like I go to her house all the time. I'm just going to return something she lost, right? I shouldn't feel this bad about it."
"Right. If you want, I can go with you."
"No, it's okay. It will be something fast, I'll be right back."
"Alright. Oh and by the way, I'm going to spend the day at my sister's today. Our parents came to a short visit and they want to have a family lunch. They agreed to have you over too, if you want."
"No, that's okay. I just want to sleep all day today. But thank them for me."
"Alright, I will. Good luck with Mimi." Taichi winked.
"Stop it, Taichi."
The morning breeze hit Mimi softly as she walked outside. One hand reached up for her hat to prevent it from flying off and the other one was carrying a picnic bag for her romantic date with Jou before he had to go back to Japan.
"Are you ready?" Jou wrapped an arm around her waist after he closed the door behind him and planted a sweet kiss between her neck and shoulder.
"Yeah." She moaned because of his kiss and placed her hand on his cheek. "It sucks that you are leaving tonight."
"I know." He stared at her eyes when she turned around to face him. His hands were rested on her hips. "But I'll come back soon."
"I wish you got a job here in New York. We could get married faster."
"Maybe I'll get to in the future. For now, we'll have to keep doing what we are currently."
"Sadly." Mimi pouted. "I'm going to miss you."
"So am I." Jou pulled her close to him. "But let's not think about this now. I have better things to do with you."
"Oh really?" The ex-model said mischievously and wrapped her arms around her fiancé's neck. "I'm curious to know what they are."
"I can start showing you right now, if you want."
"I do." Mimi brushed a lock of Jou's blue hair away from his face and she felt his hand slide behind her neck and pull her head towards him. Their lips met in a soft kiss that turned into a passionate and deep one when their tongues got involved. Before she knew it, she had her legs wrapped around Jou's waist while he tried to keep her short length dress close to her body by having his arm under her butt; his other one was on her back, pressing her into him the way he could. Even though he was having some trouble keeping her steady and close to him, he didn't dare to break their kiss. Mimi smiled into his mouth when she felt his penis starting to get erected. She broke the kiss and stared down at it. "Someone's horny."
"It's hard to not be when the hottest woman ever is in my arms like this."
The woman reached down for his ear and whispered seductively. "You know, I've always wanted to make love in the park, and today seems the perfect day for it."
The trees were completely full of flowers, and Mimi couldn't have picked a better place for a picnic. She knew Jou was the one who always chose the best places for these kinds of things, though. Jou was putting the last items over the checked red and white towel when Mimi knelt down behind him and ran her hands up and down his chest and abs. He felt cold rushes all over his body when his fiancée kissed the back of his neck and softly bit his right shoulder.
"Don't you think your fiancée deserves some attention?"
"She always does." Jou turned around and cupped Mimi's face with his left hand.
"So what do you say we skip the main dish and I'll treat you to dessert instead?" She said suggestively.
"That sounds like a deal to me." He kissed her neck, right below her chin. "I'm not really that hungry anyway."
"Me neither." Mimi tilted her head back and let out a moan as Jou continued kissing her and his hands held her breasts. She grabbed his hair seconds before his mouth made its way up to hers and their lips met in an urgent kiss. It took a lot of effort for Mimi to break the kiss. She stood up and held his hand. "Come on. I'm going to show you that perfect spot here. Then you can enjoy your full dessert."
Sora parked the car at the Dina's parking lot and made her way to the entrance with Yamato.
"This is our last chance to find this ring. It has to be in here."
"Has she told Jou about it already?"
"No, she is scared as hell about it. She said it's a family jewelry, so you can imagine how desperate she is."
"Geez, I don't blame her for being scared."
"I know, neither do I." Sora reached out for his hand, intertwining with hers. "That's why we have to find it."
The couple entered the restaurant and was immediately taken to their usual table. Yamato looked at Sora with pleading eyes and the stylist couldn't help but laugh at him.
"You're such a child sometimes, Yamato." She found the whole situation rather amusing. "Yes, you can order food here. It's kinda hard not to, though."
"Great!" He said excitedly and grabbed the menu. "Let's see what I shall eat today. What are you having, by the way?"
"Oh, you can order the usual for me."
"Salmon with grilled vegetables? Didn't you eat it last night?"
"Eh… no?" Sora rolled her eyes. "Last night I ate spaghetti with béchamel sauce."
"Oh right. So salmon with grilled vegetables it is. I might order one for me too."
"What?!" The woman exclaimed in shock. "Since when you like vegetables?"
"Since when I decided to eat more healthily, which is today."
"Yamato, that's great!" Sora said cheerfully and kissed her fiancé in the cheek. "We can go running together early in the morning."
"Okay, let's not go that far. I still don't like exercising that much, especially when I have to get up early to do it."
"Not even when your beautiful fiancée is asking you to?" The red haired woman seductively whispered in his ear.
"Okay, that is a low move." Yamato wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
"Well, you asked for it." She softly grabbed his hair and tilted his head back, kissing him on the lips briefly. "Alright, I'm going to see if Mimi's engagement ring is here."
Sora went to the bathroom area and started looking everywhere as carefully as she could. The first place she searched was the sink, and her heart nearly skipped a beat at the thought of the ring possibly falling into the drain. Mimi could say goodbye for Jou family's engagement ring if that was the case. The stylist didn't want to consider this option, so she shook her head and resumed her search in the area. She spent about fifteen minutes there, but found nothing. She was even surprised that none of the restaurant's employees came to find out what she was doing. Not that it matter to her, she was actually glad she wouldn't have to explain why she was searching by herself. When Sora was sure she wasn't going to find anything there, she went to the cashier area.
"Excuse me, miss? I was wondering if you found an emerald ring here last night or if someone found it and gave it to you or any other employee."
"Let me see." The woman went to a part of the reception people couldn't see, where they kept the things costumers forgot in the restaurant. It didn't take long for her to come back. "Unfortunately, there isn't any emerald ring here. The person who might have found it probably took it home."
"Mimi is gonna be so devastated." Sora muttered to herself. "Thank you so much, anyway."
"You're welcome. I hope you get to find your ring."
"It's not mine, but I hope so too."
"Any lucky?" Yamato asked Sora when she returned to their table, only receiving a negative shake of her head in response. "Poor Mimi."
"What are we going to do now, Yamato?"
"We tell her the truth and be here for her. That's the only thing we can do."
"Yeah." She said sadly. "I was so sure we were gonna find it."
"Me too." Yamato caressed her arm softly. "But I'm still positive she's gonna find it."
"I wish I could be as positive as you are." Sora looked at his blue eyes.
"I can teach you." He grabbed her chin and kissed her in the lips briefly.
Koushiro was inside his car in front of Mimi's house, but for some reason he couldn't come out and give her ring back. He didn't know what he was afraid of, it was just a ring. He stayed in for a few more minutes until he saw Jou walking out of the garage and heading towards the house. When he was sure the man was no longer around and couldn't see him, Koushiro headed to the front door and waited for Mimi to appear, hiding in the bushes. It didn't take long for her to appear, and the red haired man was speechless at the way she looked. She was wearing a knee-length flowery light yellow dress. Her hair was loose and fallen over her shoulders. Koushiro could swear he had never seen her this beautiful.
Mimi looked over her shoulder when she heard her name being called. "What are you doing here? How did you find my address?"
"I looked for it on the internet. I found your ring and had to give it back to you."
"You found my ring?! Where?"
"You left it at Dina's last night, over the sink. I tried to give it back to you back then, but by the time I arrived outside, you had already left." Koushiro was mesmerized by the sweet smile that appeared on her face the moment he showed her the emerald ring. He thought he could spend all day admiring it almost at the same time he realized he was falling in love with Mimi. "I suppose this is a family jewelry, so you must have been looking for it like crazy."
"I was. Thank you. It's been on the Kido family for generations now. My soon-to-be mother-in-law gave it to Jou when we started dating six years ago, but he only proposed to me last year. And I don't know why I'm telling you this."
"You just wanted to share it I suppose." Koushiro shrugged and then turned to leave. "Well, I guess I'll see you around maybe."
"Yeah." Mimi said weakly and watched him start to walk away. The words came out from her lips before she even thought about holding them in. "Koushiro, wait!"
"Is something wrong?" Koushiro turned around and saw her coming towards him. He watched her hands grabbing his arms and looked at her with a confused expression. He didn't realize his left hand was resting on her hip while his right one touched her chin. His heart was pounding on his chest as her right hand moved to his neck and she slowly closed the distance between them.