Hey everyone! I'm back with this story! I'm sorry for not being able to post a chapter last month due to Sora's week and other stories I was working on, but I finally manage to write a new chapter for this one! I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are appreciated.
Chapter 10: In New York
Mimi found herself in the streets of New York again after spending about ten days in Tokyo. She was still adjusting to the change of opposite periods of day and always found that part difficult. Minutes later, she was knocking on Sora's office door in her unique style.
"Come in, Mimi."
"Hello!" She exclaimed excitedly as her head popped in. "I'm finally back!"
"Welcome back." Sora said without taking her eyes away from the papers she was analyzing carefully.
"I was expecting more cheerfulness. I'm disappointed."
"I'm sorry, Mimi. I really need to focus here right now. It's about the fashion show are we planning to release your collection."
"Really? What's it about?"
"Just backstage stuff. Like how many models we are going to need and which clothes each one is going to wear. Hairdressers, make-up artists. These kinds of things."
"Geez, this looks so boring." Mimi sat down on a chair opposite to Sora. "I would hate to do it."
"It's not that bad, really. I love doing these things. It's basically a sketch of the whole event."
"Hmmm." The brunette woman played with a blue pen that was over Sora's table. "How much longer will it take for you? I was hoping we could go to a bar, you know? A girl's night. We haven't done that in ages."
"I'm almost finishing here." Sora looked at her for a moment. "I need a girls' night. It would be fun."
"Great! I really need to go to a bar."
"Except I'm not drinking, just to let you know."
"You're not drinking?! Why the…" Mimi asked surprised and then covered her mouth in shock. "You're pregnant!"
"Shhh, Mimi!" Sora looked towards the window desperately and was relieved no one seemed to hear her. "I didn't tell anyone yet."
"How did that happen? When?"
"Well, that can happen when two people have sex and don't wear protection or an accident happens with them and…"
"This I know." Mimi cut her off and rolled her eyes. "What I meant was if you and Yamato were planning to have a child or not."
"We weren't, it just happened. We talked about it and decided to go through with it."
"That's so great!" She squealed. "I have no doubt you are going to be an amazing mother. This kid is going to be so lucky!"
"I guess. I just want him or her to be healthy and happy."
"Having you as a mother there's no way he or she couldn't be."
"Thanks, I guess." Sora gathered all the papers on her table and put them into a very thin pile on her right. "Okay, I'm done here. Do you want to go now? I kind of need to take a shower and get ready first."
"Please, let's go now. I really need to get a drink."
"Why are you so desperate for one? Did something happen?"
"Not really. I just feel like drinking one. No big deal."
"Okay." Sora said eventually, but she wasn't very convinced with it. She shook her head and grabbed her purse before following Mimi out of her room and office.
.
Taichi and Koushiro walked into a bar in Tokyo. It took the brunette a lot of convincing for his engineer friend to agree with that.
"I have to admit this place is quite nice." Koushiro stated as he looked around, impressed. "How do you even find out about it?"
"I'm a soccer player. I know all about these cool places." Taichi bragged. "Come on, let's get a drink."
"Taichi, I have to work tomorrow. I can't drink."
"One drink won't hurt, Koushiro. Unless you're weak for it, which we know you aren't. You're stronger than me actually."
"Which is why I won't drink tonight. You lose control way too fast."
"Just one and I promise I will stop bugging you about it."
"Fine." Koushiro rolled his eyes. "Just one. I really don't want to lose my scholarship and have to return to Japan."
"You're so pessimist. That won't happen." Taichi grabbed his wrist and pulled him down towards the drink section of the place.
.
"Taichi, I don't have a good feeling about this." Koushiro said when he and Taichi arrived at the bar.
"Don't be silly, Koushiro. That's just because you're still reluctant about being here. It will go away once you have your drink."
"I'm not sure about that."
"Just relax, dude." Taichi turned around and placed his elbows on the bar, looking around the place. More specifically, for women. "What do you think of that woman over there?"
"Who?" Koushiro turned around and followed Taichi's gaze. His heart stopped beating for a moment. He thought it had to be a coincidence and shook his head to get rid of it. "Are you looking for a girlfriend?"
"Why don't you buy her a drink?"
"Taichi, I don't even know that woman." He desperately tried to find a way out of the mess he was about to get into. "Besides, it may sound a little disrespectful."
"We're at a bar, Koushiro. That's the kind of thing you usually do in places like these."
"No, really, we should find another woman."
"What's wrong with that one?" Taichi asked confused. "She has such a cool silver hair."
"Yeah, and doesn't that ring a bell to you?"
"Not really." Taichi frowned and gathered his courage to go talk to the woman. "Since you don't want to make a move, I will."
"Taichi, really, you don't want to do this." The engineer tried to convince him not to do it. "There are other women here, please."
"Okay, what's wrong with you? Spill it."
"That woman is Natsuki."
"Wait, what?" Taichi asked shocked. "Natsuki as in your ex?"
"Yes, my abusive ex. We need to get out of here."
"Calm down, alright? This place is crowded, she won't even see us."
"Still, I don't want to take my chances."
"Don't worry, everything will be alright." Taichi reassured him. "Just relax, okay?"
"Fine, but…" He stopped talking the moment a hand with red nail polish on her fingers slid down his chest.
"Hello, Koushiro." Natsuki's pitchy voice echoed in his ears.
.
Mimi and Sora were sitting on a table at the back of the bar simply enjoying each other's company.
"So tell me." Mimi said after she took a sip of her drink. "How far pregnant are you?"
"According to my count, two or three months. But I still need to do a blood test to be surer about that."
"Does Yamato know about this?"
"Yes, I told him. He was so happy he already started talking to the baby."
"He's going to be an amazing father, I'm sure."
"I have no doubt about it. And the best thing is that I can feel he's changed, you know? He's not that immature anymore."
"I'm glad for that. To be honest, I don't know how you pulled up with that. I mean, I know you love him a lot, but really… I didn't like his attitude at all sometimes. I hope you don't take this personally."
"I won't, don't worry." Sora smiled. "I don't hold anything against you, I didn't like it sometimes too. I even called him out for that. He's a good person though."
"I know, and you deserve the greatest man in the world. Well, second greatest because Jou is the first." Mimi showed her ring off with a large grin on her face. "But yeah, you deserve someone who appreciates you and doesn't take you for granted."
"You can be sure Yamato learned his lesson when I told him to get out of my apartment."
"Wait, you did what?!" She screamed in shock and covered her mouth with her hand. "When did that happen?"
"Almost two weeks ago. He started making a big deal of the fact I was reading a book for motherhood and said it was unfair to him because I knew how much he wanted to be a father and that I had changed my mind without telling him."
"No offense, but what a jerk."
"Yeah, and then I called him out on it and told him to leave. He didn't argue or complain about it, but he did stay in my door after that."
"And then what did you do?"
"I felt bad about him staying there and asked him to go inside because all neighbors were hearing everything."
"And then you worked everything out, I suppose."
"Pretty much." Sora drank a sip of her water. "And then I revealed I was pregnant. It happened sooner than we thought, but we're both happy about it. Though I admit I'm scared too."
"Scared, why?"
"I don't know if I'll be a good mother. Honestly, I don't think I have what it takes to be one."
"Are you kidding me? You are perfect for this! I have no doubt you will be amazing at this role."
"Thank you, Mimi. So, you and Jou actually got married, huh?"
"Yeah." Mimi showed her Kido family wedding ring proudly once again. "It may sound like the craziest thing ever, but both us were never surer of anything in our lives before."
"Let me see your ring." Sora grabbed Mimi's stretched hand and carefully looked at her wedding ring. "It's so pretty!"
"I know, right?"
"I'm happy for both of you, truly, But don't you think it was a rushed decision? I mean, you simply hopped into a plane to Tokyo with this idea of getting married to him."
"I know, but in the end it was going to happen anyway. We just anticipated things. I won't deny I wanted a big wedding ceremony, but we can have it another time. I surprised him with an amazing sex night as soon as I arrived there."
"Really?" Sora asked with her eyebrows raised. "What did you do?"
"I blindfolded him during sex."
"Wow, that surely seems… interesting."
"It is! I never tried it before and…" Mimi was cut off by a situation happening on the place. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, someone must be having an argument or something. This is so embarrassing"
"Come on, let's see what's happening there." The ex-model grabbed Sora by her hand and dragged her to the crowd that was forming around the fight.
.
"Natsuki, what are you doing here?" Koushiro asked after he got away from her.
"As far as I know, this is still a public bar. So I'm allowed to come here whenever I can."
"I know. What I meant is why you came to talk to me when clearly we don't have anything with each other anymore."
"Don't you think it's destiny that brought us here today?" Natsuki tried to kiss him, but he dodged away from it.
"No, I truly don't. I said I didn't want you to follow me around anymore and control every step I take. Why can't you just accept it's over and move on?"
"It's not over. I can feel you still have feelings for me. And I can prove it." Natsuki jumped on Koushiro's arms and locked lips with him in a fiery kiss. She gave a satisfied smile when his arms wrapped around her.
.
"I swear these people shouldn't come to a bar if they are going to embarrass themselves like that." Mimi stated as she and Sora got near the crowd.
"I know, and they aren't even teenagers anymore to do something like this."
"Exactly, and…" She stopped talking when she saw the people causing a situation were Koushiro and another woman who was kissing him. "What the hell?"
"Is that the man you met when you had that car crash months ago? What's his name again?"
"Koushiro. That's the one."
"Wow, I never thought he'd be the type of guy to create a scene like this in front of everyone here. He seems like such a cool guy who doesn't like to draw attention."
"And he is. I bet she was the one who tried to push things and he couldn't back away."
"It surely doesn't seem like that to me. His arms are around her, so I really think it's something that goes both ways."
"How could he do this to me?" Mimi cried and left the place in a hurry.
"Mimi, what are you talking about?" Sora turned to her, but she was already far from her. She chased after the brunette. "Mimi, come back here!"
A few people drew their attention towards the two women, including the duo of best friends.
"Oh shit. Koushiro." Taichi said, but nothing happened. He then tried again, rather loudly. "Koushiro!
Koushiro finally had the strength to push Natsuki away and looked at his friend. "What?"
"Mimi was here and just walked away. I don't think she liked what she saw."
"Damn it! Did you see where she went?"
"I don't know, but I'm almost pretty sure she left."
"I need to go talk to her." He forced his way through the crowd and then outside the bar.
.
"Mimi, will you please stop?" Sora managed to grab her arm and turn Mimi around. "Why are you so upset with him kissing another woman?"
"He shouldn't have done that, Sora. I was there."
"Yeah, so? First of all, he has no relationship with you. Okay, so you two had a fling or something, but it's over. Secondly, he didn't know you were there. But most importantly, why does it bother you so much? I mean, look at your hand. You're married now."
"I know, but…"
"So I was right all along. I knew there was a reason behind your sudden trip to Tokyo a few weeks ago."
"Sora, the last thing I need is you lecturing me right now."
"But you went to Tokyo to run away from how you truly feel. How can you expect not to get lectured on this? You're hurting people's feelings in the process because you don't want to let go of Jou, but want to be with Koushiro too."
"I know that's what it looks like, but it isn't like that at all."
"Then what is it?"
"You're carrying a baby, do you really want to go through unnecessary stress?"
"Oh no, don't turn this around me just to get away with it. It's time you assume how you truly feel and do something about it. Whether you want to stay married or…"
"Married?" Koushiro asked a few meters away.
Both Sora and Mimi looked over the brunette's shoulder towards him and Mimi quickly turned around.
"You got married."
"That's not how it seems." She tried to hide her left hand behind her back, but deep down she knew it was in vain.
"That's why you disappeared so suddenly." Koushiro paused and bit his lower lip, looking away. "You got married to your fiancé. Of course. I should have known it."
"Koushiro, please." She began to walk towards him and suddenly stopped. "You were kissing someone else just now."
"Mimi, what are you doing?" Sora approached her and tried to get her to turn around. "You can't call him out on anything because you have no relationship what so ever. So let's just go home."
"He hurt my feelings, Sora."
"Okay, let's not talk about this here. We're in the middle of the street and people are starting to stare."
"I don't care if they are staring." Mimi pulled her arm away from Sora's grasp and walked towards Koushiro. "How could you do that to me?"
"Do what? I didn't want to kiss Natsuki, it just happened. Beside, you ran away to get married. So I don't think you have any right to judge me."
"You knew it would hurt me and did it anyway."
"I wouldn't do it if I knew you were there. And just so you know, I kissed her because I was thinking about you!" He didn't give her a chance to reply, as he quickly slid his hand behind her neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss.