Chapter 7
It was the day of the engagement. Misaki was nervous, but being the stubborn woman that she is, she plastered her fake smile across her face. Her goal wasn't just to prove to Aoi that he was over Tora, no. It was to prove to herself also that she could move on and continue life.
She was waiting at the foyer part of the block of flats. Fortunately, it was warm enough to be outside, but even so. She kept her golden shawl wrapped around her tight. A few minutes later, a limousine arrived right infront of her and the chauffeur came out the car to open the door for her, to which Misaki blushed. She wasn't used to this kind of treatment. She smiled at Aoi, who was sitting in the car, but was taken a back by his gaze, no, glare.
"What the fuck are you wearing?" he demanded as they felt the limo begin its treck to the hall, in which the party was to be held.
"What? I am literally wearing everything your little 'helpers' forced me to wear!" she said angrily as she reminisced on what had happened the previous couple hour.
2 hours before
DING DONG.. DING DONG... DING DONG! ran the incredibly annoying door bell. Misaki, who was having the difficulty of trying to zip on the back of her dress by hersef, sighed for the 56th time before giving up and walking over to her door.
"Who is it?" She asked into the intercom.
"Yeah, hi? Hyoudou-sama requested that we fix you up for the party, can you let us up?" replied the voice that Misaki's couldn't distinguish is it belonged to a male or female. The person from the other side sounded pissed, which made his or her voice deeper,.
"Um, sure," she said politely.
A few moments later, Misaki found herself in front of a mirror, that she didn't know, almost naked, and two blonde women infront of her inspecting her body, even though she needed to leave in about an hour and she was not anywhere near ready.
"She's just like he said, beautiful," the blonde excaimed, to which, Misaki blushed, and the other chuckled.
"Don't worry, we assumed that you needed a treatment for any blemishes that may have been on your skin, but it appears that you are clean of anything, which is helpful, anyway, lets get you ready!!" the other squealed excitedly.
Misaki was slipped back into her dress, and then it dawned on her when she saw to 2 large suit cases at the door. They were going to make her wear make-up and other unnecessary items!
After being zipped up, she was sat in her dressing chair where her make-up was applied by one of the women and her hair was made by the other, both working at lightening fast speeds. Their equipment all came out one of the two suit cases, and she dreaded what was in the next one.
In case you couldn't tell, Misaki hated dressing up. Dolling up. Anything like that made her feel nauseous and angry. Why does it matter what you look like when no one had the guts to tell you anything wrong about your appearance and just says 'I like your outfit' no matter what you wear. Of course, she dressed up a bit when she had very important meetings or events, but in a normal day, she dressed smartly and effortlessly since Aoi had created 40 different outfits from her wardrobe and created a magazine type book for her to easily chose an outfit and move on to the next task in her already busy life.
"Okay, so now we are going to move onto the next step, accessories!!" and with that, the red haired clicked open the accessories case, and lo and behold, stacks upon stacks of jewellery, shoes and clutches. The colour made Misaki feel dizzy and so she took a few steps back and fell onto her bed.
"She should totally wear this and this and this! Such a complex combination yet beautiful," the blonde held a set of gold accessories and gold stilettos. The stilettos, however did not scare Misaki as Aoi had created a line of heeled shoes that were comfortable and easy to walk in, even if they weren't the best looking. The friends had argued about heels, so Aoi had got to the drawing board and created his best selling work.
"No, she will be with Hyoudou-sama so she must look elegant and sophisticated, therefore, she will wear a simpler set," argued the other, and unfortunately for Misaki, the arguement continued for a good 10 minutes or so, and by this point, Misaki, had given up on all hope and life.
Then, they agreed that Misaki would wear parts from both outfits. The clutch she was told to wear was very small and Misaki had protested that it wasn't practical and needed a bigger one, however the couple couldn't believe that a girl would ever argue with them and got angry and told her to keep it buttoned or Aoi would hear about her behaviour. Then, just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, the forced her to wear rather uncomfortable stilettos that were not what she had wanted. More arguments came and then the girls left a dejected and lost diplomat on her bed, pissed.
Long story short, Misaki was not happy.
Back to present
"I'm talking about the ring, it doesn't match at all! I'm going to have to
punish my workers if they don't do well, and I may be sadistic, but I don't mean it in a kinky way. Anyway, please take it off, I feel embarrassed just looking at it," Aoi commanded, and Misaki sighed and did what she was told. She had quite liked the ring, which was rose gold and had a shiny silver line running along the middle of the band.
The ride to the venue was a quick and quiet one, where every so often, Aoi would comment on something in the shop windows. Misaki sat, trying to calm off her nerves. She was going to see him, Tora. She was going to attend his engagement party, not to her, but another woman. She was still hurting from everything and how sudden it all had happened.
Before she knew it, it was time to get out the car. Much to Misaki's displeasure, a red carpet with a sea of reporters flashing their cameras greeted her. There was minimal reaction to Misaki, as she had never been a celebrity, even if she had an important job, however, as soon a Aoi came out, fangirls ans fanboys from behind the reporters began screaming for his attention. Misaki was glad that she wasn't noticed much but she felt awkward because of it. Some members of the crowd booed at her, which hurt her slightly, but instead she played her fake smile card and linked arms with her date.
"What do we do now, I'm not used to this," she mummbled to Aoi discreetly.
"Enjoy and smile," he simply replied and began walking with her to the doors of the venue. "Remember Misaki-chi," he fake smiled sweetly, "your night begins as soon as we walk through the doors. If you can't handle it then I win, you go home and go on a blind date."
Misaki squeezed his arm in agreement as they walk throught the doors. The venue was beautiful. It was a very expensive hotel. The ceiling had plains of mirrors stuck to it, with large gaps of grouting between each plain. In the middle was a large oval shaped chandelier in the centre of the room, beneath was a water display, which was a stature of a mountain. There was a circular dance floor to the right in front of the small orchestra, who were playing a range of music from the Romantic era. In the far left of the room, there was a set of steps to a platform higher up where there were chairs and tables, an open bar and a buffet, which was currently closed. Despite this, there were waiters coming arround to all the guests offering canopaes.
Misaki was too nervous and scared so she lost her apatite, but instead she agreed with Aoi to find their seats. They sat down and sighed a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" Aoi asked genuinely.
"I'm fine, yeah," Misaki lied.
"So, you up for a dance?"
"There's no dance music..."
As if on cue, the orchestra stopped and Tora's father emerged from withing the crowd and stood infront. He twirled around and bowed and people cheered. Smiling, he coated hours throat.
"Welcome to this evening of celebration for my son, Tora, and soon to be daughter-in-law, Chiyo Sakurai. Their engagement will be one that will be treasured always, well, at least until they marry, hehe" he chuckelled and so did many others. When he finished his mini speech, he requested the orchestra play some dance music, to which the complied.
"So, dancing," smiled Aoi and without waiting for a response, he dragged Misaki onto the dance floor and began dancing with her. The were elegant together, simply becsuse they had dances like this at home many times for fun. Misaki gave him a sheepish smile.
They continued to dance through the second piece peacefully, she had finally relaxed in the arms of her best friend. When the piece finished, they bowed to teach other, and then Tora appeared followed by Chiyo. He introduced himself and Chiyo and the danced together for the next piece. Finally, when the piece finished, Tora walked over to Misaki.
"May I have his dance, Misaki?" he asked, eyeing Aoi.
"Yes, Misaki would like to," said Aoi, with a serious face.
"I -okay," the maiden stuttered and stepped away from Aoi without making eye contact with Tora during the whole exchange. Aoi went to Chiyo and they began dancing together.
Misaki and Tora were awkwardly standing together. The shifted together and began to dance.
"So," Tora cleared his voice, "how are you?"
"Better, without you," she replied bitterly.
"Why are you being so mean? You were never like this, ever. You were so pleasant. You know my reasons, and quite frankly, you can do better," he explained looking away, upset by her reaction.
"I, sorry. I'm just not exactly happy with this whole situation. I feel like I've been lied to this whole time, which I have and it hurts. Please excuse me, I don't wish to dance anymore, my feet hurt," she tried to move away, but his strong grip held her in place.
"Your not going anywhere, you won't run away not now," he whispered. Neither said a thing after that
The music ended and they bowed to each other, but the atmosphere between them was bitter.
Then, as Misaki went to leave to sit down, someone placed theur hands on her hips and spun her around.
Sorry for the wait. I had a suprise exams, because, you know, teachers like to do that. I plan to upload a one-shot on Christmas, which I'm telling you now, since I don't know when I'm updating next. Is this length for chapters enough? Let me know :) Also, i will start to respond to reviews by pming you, I worked it out.Well, I'll see you around :) thank you for reading and reviewing, following and favouriting (is that a word lol) its so heart warming to know people like what you write, makes it worth the time and makes me smile like and idiot.Take care you guys!K x