N/N: Hey az09, thanks for being the first reviewer of this fic, thanks for reading!

OVER…NOT NOT?

Chapter 5

Who Is Changing?

After saving up most of her salaries during the past few months and with a little sponsor from Hanazawa Rui, Makino was ready for her seven-day trip to New York together with the girls.

"We shall put up in Maple Hotel for the first two days." Kyo said out while they were already inside the plane.

"But…how can we afford it and why didn't you consult us in the first place? I am not going to pay for that extra cost in accommodation just because you are a big fan of that Domyouji Tsukasa!" Miko voiced out her disagreement.

Domyouji? Makino looked up upon hearing the name in public and she was a little surprised to know that she was having a friend who was a fan of her boyfriend.

It was funny, strange…yes, funny and Makino wondered how Kyo would react if she were to know about her relationship with Domyouji. Would Kyo go hysterical and try pulling out each and every strand of Makino's hair?

"Dai jo bu…" Kyo raised up her left hand, with her fingers forming a 'V' sign as she started waving thro and fro in front of the girls.

"Maple Hotel will be launching another new branch in New York and they are offering all two free nights of accommodation for all Japanese tourists in New York during the day of their opening ceremony!" Kyo quipped happily as she took out her room reservation form and pointed to one particular column, "See here? Free of Charge!"

"Hooray!" All the other girls started cheering to the idea of the free accommodation in the six-star hotel, all except Makino Tsukushi.

- - - - -

Makino hid behind a fat pillar as she watched Domyouji delivering his speech during the open ceremony of the hotel. She wanted to be with Kyo, who had managed to grab a location with the best view directly behind the reporters but she backed out the moment she saw the woman who was the main course of her current misery, standing right beside her son.

Despite her well-hidden location, their eyes seemed to meet during one split second when his head suddenly diverted towards her direction. Had he already sensed her presence since there is one thing called telepathic power between two people are madly in love with each other? Domyouji was looking a little uncomfortable for a long time before he decided to wrap up his speech on the stage.

It was so obvious to Makino and yet oblivious to the rest of the world, immediately, she knew she had been noticed.

- - - - -

"The restaurant, two blocks away from the hotel.

Two

Remember, silence is golden."

Makino received the message in her mobile phone from an unfamiliar number during the next morning. It was a posh little restaurant and Makino managed to talk the girls into having tea in it. They arrived one hour earlier than the scheduled time and Makino took the liberty in choosing a seat near to the window.

Soon, she noticed a man appearing at the doorway and yet, he did not enter but moved towards the direction of an outdoor café right opposite the restaurant. He took a seat in which both of them were able to look at each other, from far.

"Don't mind me, okay?"

That was the second message Makino received in her phone minutes later, but she just nodded her head without understanding.Then she noticed Domyouji taking out a packing of cigarettes and a lighter, and he started smoking, drawing very deeply on his cigarettes.

Makino was unpleasantly surprised, for she had not known that he had taken up smoking.

She looked at him again and saw a well-built man looking utterly natural in an expensive suit as he expertly holding a cigarette between his two fingers, looking older than his twenty years. He was no longer the clean, lithe and graceful Domyouji Tsukasa she had used to know. Now, there was something about him that almost intimidated her.

She looked away sadly and thought to herself.

He's almost a stranger now; he's changed.

And even more sadly, she thought

Maybe so have I.

To be continued…