Chapter 3: The Ballroom Dance

Two weeks had gone by and Ran had to leave for the ball tonight to meet his "prince charming". Sighing, she opened her wardrobe to select a perfect dress for this evening. Conan knocked at the door a lot of time but it seemed that Ran was too busy thinking that she could not hear it. As Ran was about to pull of her pink T-shirt, Conan opened her door to ask her if she could bring him to the park today as the weather was fine. Blushing, Conan and Ran both turned away from each other. "Haven't anyone taught you that you ought to knock on the door before entering other people's room?" Ran was embarrassed. Although she had changed in front of Conan a couple of times before, ever since she knew Conan was Shinichi, she regretted for what she had done. She could no longer treat Conan as a kid. He is Shinichi, the guy that she had loved for a long time and she will love him still even though she is going to.

"I'm sorry!" Conan said in a nervous tone. His face was beet red by now. He apologized again and ran out of the room to the living room. Ran sighed again, closing the bedroom door after he left. She felt like crying again. She had been trying her best to put up a forced smile for the past two weeks yet deep in her heart, she felt miserable. Her dream of marrying to Shinichi was shattered into many, many pieces. She felt terrible. Her heart ached whenever she thought of the wedding to the new leader of the Black Organization, Kaito Kid. Her tears were swelling up in her eyes by now, as she leaned against the door, slowly sliding down till she sat on the ground.

Eventually, she was ready for the ball. She was wearing a pink dress that hugged tightly to her body, following the contours of her body, along with a scarf tied around her neck. She tied her hair up neatly into a bun, yet allowing a few strands of hair to fall beside her face. 'She looked gorgeous' Conan thought. She had not been dressing herself up since the day Shinichi disappeared. Curiously, he approached Ran, asking, "where are you going, Ran?" Ran looked at him, taking her very last look of him from head to toe. She paused far a moment and replied slowly, "Pass this letter to Shinichi for me, can you?" Conan nodded. "Thanks," she whispered in his ears as she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. Conan was shocked and embarrassed, yet confused about what Ran was going to do. Ran turned to the door and went towards the car that was waiting outside her house. "Isn't that Professeur Agasa's car? What is Ran doing in his car? This is getting weirder and weirder." Conan thought to himself. He could not do anything but to wait till Ran comes home.

----- At the ball----

As Ran stepped into the ballroom, all eyes were on her. She was the most beautiful lady that evening, next beautiful to Aoko, another pretty lady around her age. Kaito went forward and asked Ran for a dance. Ran reluctantly accepted it and went to the dancing ground with Kaito. Spotlight fell onto the couple as they danced gracefully around the ballroom. Kaito could not keep his eyes off her attractive face, gazing at her throughout the dance. Ran, however, could only smile and wish that he would propose to her tonight, preferably now, so that she could ask him to let Ai go.

The evening was tough for Ran as Kaito kept dancing with her all night, under the jealous glance of Aoko. Aoko obviously yearned to be the one holding onto Kaito's arms, not Ran. Soon the ball ended late at night. Ran was too anxious and so she decided to approach Kaito and force him to propose to her tonight. She looked into the eyes of Kaito, having the urge to tell him to propose to her now, yet could not as he would be hurt deeply. Ran did not want to hurt anyone for her selfish needs. She will never do that.

"Kaito, do you love me?" Ran began trying to hint to him something.

"Why? So what if I do? So what if I don't?" Kaito answered nonchalantly, knowing the obvious reason of her question.

"Uh," Ran hesitated. "Never mind then, I have to go now,"

"You want me to do you a favor, don't you? That's what you are really here for, right?" Kaito replied.

Ran took in a deep breath, "yes, I know I am being selfish but I really need a favor from you. I won't mind marrying to you." Her eyes did not dare to look at him.

"Alright, I'll do you a favor but according to the notice, you'll have to marry me then." Kaito answered again, trying to scare Ran but to no avail.

"I will marry you, but please let Ai go." Ran finally told him the purpose of her trip.

"So you are marrying me for the sake of Ai? Or someone else? In any case, I'll keep to my promise and you HAVE to keep to yours too."

"Sure. I will." Ran responded softly. She knew her life was torn from this very moment onwards.