Chapter Six: New identities, New mysteries
(I totally removed Horo from the 2nd chapter, so expect some changes. Ren mentioned Horo, but it doesn't count as an appearance.)

Ren shook his head as he dried his body. He still can't get the words out of his head. Hana was probably exaggerating…yeah, that's it. He's just exaggerating…the guy probably just has the same hair color…it was dark, he wouldn't be able to tell…Oh…I should just forget about this…

A figure dressed in a black Chinese dress with green trimmings walked in the"Tao Towers", talking to someone on her phone. Her long emerald hair was let loose on her shoulders, with a black hair clip on the right studded with small shaped pieces of jade. She was accompanied by two men in black suits and shades, obviously her bodyguards.
"Ren, you have less than twenty minutes to come here. If you don't arrive in time…"
"I will, I will…just…oh, damnit—THUD! Ugh…damn carpet..."
"Ugh…be careful…if you don't then I'll have difficuly finding you a wife. No one wants a guy with a broken nose. " Ren blushed.
"JUNE!!! …" he said. June gave out a giggle.
"Just kidding."
"Yeah, right…" Ren muttered, pushing a button on the loudspeaker, which was equivalent to hanging up a regular phone receiver.
June's face straightened up as her brother hung up. She needed to look her best for the meeting.

Rika looked at herself. "Eight long years…and now I'm back…" she whispered, brushing her long hair. Taking one last look, she walks out the bathroom.

Hiro was already in the function room, waiting for Rika. He tapped his foot on the floor as he waited, looking cooly at the ground.

"Alexis, this is Rika…hope you're doing fine. I'm off to the meeting, don't worry, Hiro's volunteered to be a last-minute substitute. Hope you're doing well, please give me a call when you're better. Love you. –BEEP- No more messages."
Alexis sighed. His head felt heavy, as if he had a real bad hangover. His body felt like it was burning; he remembered not too long ago someone mentioning that his temperature was around 41 degrees or something. He couldn't say for sure, he felt like he had a ton of concrete balanced on his head. He threw his cellphone on the desk and sat down on the couch, hoping some tv would help him relax.

Little did he know that he wasn't alone.

Rika looked on the ground as she walked, not conscious of the guys at the lobby gawking at her pretty face as she passed them by.
"Ren…" she said. Wait…Ren? Why did I say that?
Deep in her thought, she didn't notice a fault on the carpet, which causes her to trip.

And fall.

She shut her eyes as she fell, expecting to land on the carpeted flooring of the lobby.

"You okay?"
Rika slowly opened her eyes. I…didn't fall? She looked up to see…

A pair of pale blue eyes. Looking at her. He looked kind of familiar…but…she had no more time to ponder.

"Heeeey…You still there?" her savior asked, abviously wanting her attention.
Realizing she was still in his arms, she quickly motioned him to put her down, obviously embarassed.
"Er…thank you." She looked away, her face burning with redness. He was a cute blue-haired guy in his twenties, gorgeous despite his glasses that framed his blue eyes.
"Welcome. Hey…I'm Gilbert. Gilbert Ortega." He said, extending his hand.
"Rika Han, it's a pleasure to meet you." She gave his hand a shake.
"The pleasure is mine, Miss Han."
Rika's lips curved into something that looked like a smile, and he smiled back.
"Are you staying at this hotel?"
"I'm here for a meeting…but I'll probably stay here for a while."
"It was nice meeting you Miss Han…I'll look forward to seeing you again."
"The same to you, Mister Ortega."

Ren almost tripped as he got out of his black convertible. His assistant slash secretary Callie Miranda, a pretty blonde around twenty, was blabbing something about his day's schedule, which totally distracted Ren from the simple things he was supposed to be doing perfectly. The headset jammed into his ear totally annoyed him, aside from the fact that he would be running in late for a meeting. Punctuality was one of his best qualities, and he was not about to break his perfectly-on-time meeting attendances.
"…as I was saying, you have three hours to spend freely before your next meeting with Mister Yu, which was, by the way, postponed and replaced with a lunch date with your sister. Miss June claims that she wants to spend some time with her brother…" came Callie's voice from the receiver. Ren rolled his eyes. June has always treated me like a baby…when, oh God, when will she treat me like a 23-year old?