Note: This chapter will be a longer one compared to the rest I did before and there won't be any reminiscing for this chapter. Hope it's fine! Thought I'd focus on the present and so on so forth. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters besides Kira Mori and the story.
- Chapter Five -
Months passed and Mimi had graduated. She couldn't deny the fact that she wished Yamato was there to watch her graduate but she didn't ask for much and was grateful since Taichi and her parents were there on her graduation day.
Mimi earned herself an internship at a fashion magazine as a personal secretary to the editor-in-chief, Mori Kira, after graduating. She was excited for this opportunity as she had been yearning to work in the fashion business since she was a young girl.
But she had yet to spill the wonderful news to Taichi.
Thus, the young brunette decided to meet up with her other brunette friend. She called him up about an hour before to let him know they'd both be meeting up at his apartment since Hikari and Taichi's parents would be out for the day. According to Taichi, Hikari was out to socialize, Mrs. Yagami had a cooking class and Mr. Yagami was out working and Taichi didn't want to miss the opportunity to spend some time alone with Mimi so he figured, why not? Why not invite his best friend over? It's not like they'll be doing anything besides just hanging out... Or would they?
Mimi took the cab to Taichi's apartment complex while Taichi dashed across his apartment back and forth, to make sure every item and everything were in place. He knew how much Mimi hated messy apartments.
The door bell rang and Taichi panicked.
Frantically, he muttered to himself, "Mimi's here. Mimi's here. Mimi's here!"
Before heading for the door, he took one last look in the mirror. He ran a hand through his thick mane and flashed a lop-sided smile before exhaling. Why was there a need for him to be anxious about? Didn't Mimi come over just to talk and share the great news with him?
The boy was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a black polo t-shirt. He wasn't sure if dressing this way was appropriate but then he thought 'to hell with it', although he knew Mimi's the type that's particular about dressing. Regardless, he opened the door.
Standing before him was Mimi, simply dressed in a short denim skirt and a tank top, and with the way she dressed was enough to sweep Taichi off his feet. Mimi just had that power over him whereby her beauty inside and out made him go weak in the knees. Taichi, for one, did not realize that Mimi had already greeted him with a simple 'hello' while he was standing there with an idiotic grin plastered on his face.
Mimi waved to capture Taichi's attention and she successfully did. Taichi snapped out of his thoughts, apologized and welcomed the girl in. She kicked her shoes by the door and entered the apartment. The moment she walked past Taichi, he took in her floral scent. It made him go crazy; crazy in a good way.
The boy shut the door behind him and rubbed his hands together as he caught up with the girl, who was standing in the middle of his living room, staring at him and waiting for him to appoint her a seat in which he preferred. Instead of reading her mind, Taichi stood by her, looking all stupid. Mimi chuckled at his actions.
"Mr. Yagami, I'm waiting for you," Mimi said, giggling.
"What? You're wait- Oh! Right." Taichi pointed to the couch with an open palm and remained standing while Mimi settled down. "So, uh, Meems. Do you want anything to drink?"
Mimi shook her head. "No thank you, I'll be alright," she replied, placing her handbag on to the coffee table, then looking up at Taichi and smiled.
Taichi nodded idiotically before sitting down next to Mimi, and suddenly his heart was racing for no apparent reason. Mimi was the one with the good news and he was right there, behaving like a nervous wreck. Maybe he was just afraid if Mimi's news included her moving out of town permanently.
"So... What's the news you said you wanted to tell me?" Taichi began. He rubbed his palms together with his eyes both fixed on Mimi's.
Mimi blushed and decided to look away for a second before making eye contact with the boy again.
"Taichi, I earned myself an internship," she spilled.
"Really?!"
"Yes!"
"Mimi, that's great!" Taichi excitedly pulled her into a hug, which she gladly returned the hug. He pulled away from the hug and grabbed the sides of her arms.
"I know right! I'm getting a job as a personal secretary to the editor-in-chief of a magazine, Mori Kira." Mimi winked.
"Mori Kira? Hey, I've heard of that guy!"
"What? You've heard of him?"
"Yeah..." Taichi muttered.
"How did you get to know him? I mean, like, how do you know him?" Taichi knowing an editor-in-chief surely confused her. Taichi was never one to read magazines; especially a fashion magazine.
"I, uh... Well, you know, Hikari reads fashion magazines. I just happen to cross the 'letter from the editor' page and yeah, he signed his name there."
Mimi continued to give him a blank stare, still surprised with the fact that Taichi actually knew who Mori Kira was.
Taichi glanced away and sighed, "Don't look at me like that, Mimi." He pouted.
Without a spending a second to think, Mimi started bursting out in laughter. And apparently, her actions confused the poor boy.
"What..?" Taichi stayed there, dumbfounded. He must've done something to amaze his best friend.
"Oh man... Taichi!" Mimi playfully slapped Taichi across the chest. "You actually read fashion magazines? Fascinating, aren't you?"
"In my defence, I just needed something to read and that was the first magazine Hikari gave me so I read it!"
"Okay, okay..." Mimi stopped laughing but she still had that smile on her face. "That really helped."
Taichi continued to pout and leaned on the couch's arm.
"Aww, you poor baby... Come here," Mimi pulled Taichi by the arm so that the boy would sit up straight, in which he did.
Taichi crossed his arms and continued to pout.
Slightly annoyed with Taichi's behaviour, Mimi leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. Just like she expected, the boy's jaw dropped. Taichi turned his head to look at Mimi with his mouth still wide open.
"What was that for?" Taichi asked, still in a blur.
"That was for you to stop pouting, young man," said Mimi.
Taichi shook his head vigorously before closing the gap between him and the girl. Mimi noticed the physical closeness between them and hugged herself, while blushing at the same time. The boy cleared his throat and bit his lower lip.
"Mimi..." Taichi started. His voice was low and he did sound a little sleepy.
"Hm?"
"Um..."
Without uttering another word, Taichi turned to his right and his lips met Mimi's. The kiss caught Mimi off guard, sure, but instead of pushing him away, she welcomed the kiss. She could feel Taichi drove his tongue through her teeth and into her mouth; their hot kiss was setting her on fire. Taichi's kiss was hungry and that's when she knew what he wanted and she had to draw the line if he was planning on going too far.
Taichi finally pulled away after a while to catch his breath. Mimi stared at him, shocked.
"Taichi..."
"I'm sorry..." Taichi caught Mimi staring at him and embarrassedly looked down on the floor.
Mimi was thankful that Taichi stopped their kiss to catch his breath, otherwise they'd be doing it right there and then. It wasn't the right time, or the right place. It wasn't as if Taichi lived alone; any of his family members would just barge into the front door and catch them doing it.
"Meems..." Taichi got up when Mimi did.
Mimi stood there without uttering anything and grabbed her handbag. As she looked into his chocolate eyes, she knew this was the same look Yamato had in his eyes when she and the blonde had done the same thing (except that Yamato had gone further than Taichi did).
The girl remembered how desperate Yamato was, the same way Taichi did.
The girl remembered when Taichi mentioned he wanted to be more than just best friends with her, the same way Yamato did.
That's when she managed to figure out, that both Taichi and Yamato were so much alike. They wanted the same thing – they both wanted to be with her and it scared the daylights out of her more than anything.
"Taichi, right now I want to focus on this internship. Please? Relationship is the last thing I need right now," Mimi said, almost whispering. "I hope you understand."
Taichi tucked his hands into his pants pockets and nodded. He understood how excited Mimi was about this internship. It was too good of an opportunity to pass.
"Actually, there's another thing." Mimi did a little shuffle with her feet. "I need to go over to the office of the magazine company today and I was wondering if you'll like to tag along and then maybe, you know, we can have... A date?" The smile on her face grew wider.
Taichi's ears perked up at the mention of 'date'. Likewise, his frown turned upside down and grew wider.
"Sure," Taichi responded. "Just let me get my things and then we'll go."
Mimi nodded and made her way to the front door as she waited for Taichi.
Walls, walls. And more walls.
"This place reminds me of the principal's office..." Taichi muttered, loud enough for Mimi to hear whilst they walk down the aisle towards the editor-in-chief's office.
"Taichi, I know you are amazed with the architecture of this building and/or office but I would really appreciate it if you could just keep your cool, yes?" Mimi said kindly to Taichi.
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
Mimi walked ahead of Taichi. She was focused on her task whilst Taichi was completely amazed with everything in the office. The office wasn't really his type but he was sure Mimi would be better off working in that kind of environment. After all, Mimi may be the simple type but she's the type of girl with not just simplicity, she has extremely expensive taste.
Once they reached outside the door of the editor-in-chief's office, Mimi took a deep breath and knocked on the wood.
"Come in," said the voice from the other side of the door.
As soon as she was given the permission to enter, Mimi grabbed the door knob and turned it, the swung the door open.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Mori. I'm Tachikawa Mimi. We spoke on the phone?"
"Ah yes, Tachikawa Mimi. Have a seat."
The moment she took a step forward, she realized she was not alone with Mori Kira in that office. There was a familiar mop of blonde hair sitting across the editor-in-chief and instead of going directly to her seat, she remained glued at her spot.
She was right.
The moment that blonde turned around, his blue eyes immediately connected with her caramel eyes – it was Ishida Yamato, the boy she hadn't seen in almost a year.
Kira stood up and walked around his table to stand next to Mimi.
"Mimi, this is Ishida Yamato. He will be working with this magazine for this week and since you will be my assistant starting tomorrow, you will be helping me assist this young man's needs. Got it?" Kira asked Mimi.
Mimi and Yamato didn't break their eye contact.
"Um..." Mimi finally broke their eye contact and nodded at Kira's question. "Roger, sir."
"Good girl." Then he turned his attention to Yamato. "Yamato, this is Mimi. Like I said earlier, she'll be my personal assistant starting from tomorrow..."
Yamato rose to his feet and stood before Mimi. He crossed his arms and gave her that half smirk that always made her melt.
Inside, Mimi did melt. She missed this boy and now he was standing an arm's length away from her. She could pull him into a hug right then and there but there were boundaries. As of then, they were considered business partners.
"So Mimi, Yamato, I'm heading to the cafeteria. Would you like anything?" Kira asked them politely.
Mimi shook her head, "It's fine, sir."
"Alright, then. What about you, Yamato?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Yamato replied.
His voice. She missed it.
Kira nodded and told the both of them, "I'll be right back. Make yourself at home."
With that, he turned on his heel and left his office.
The atmosphere was suddenly awkward between the two. Mimi wanted to ask him a question but she was afraid to.
Therefore, Yamato decided to speak up first. "So, Meems, how have you been?"
"Err... I've been... Fine."
Yamato shook his head. "No, you haven't."
"Urgh. I hate it when you know me."
The blonde scoffed, "You are my best friend, Mimi."
"I was your best friend. I'm your past tense."
"No, Mimi, you're not my past tense."
"Listen, I really don't want to talk to you right now—"
"Hey Meems?" Taichi entered the office and was utterly shocked to see Yamato standing there with Mimi and all of a sudden, the view of the two of them together angered him.
"Taichi, I'm not done," Mimi told the boy.
"Yeah, I can see that," Taichi responded bluntly, his gaze fixed onto the blonde. "Hey, Ishida."
"Hey, Yagami."
Both the boys' voices sounded cold. They never like each other, since their high school days.
Mimi stood there in between them, wishing neither of them were behaving this way. She watched them as they got themselves involved in a staring competition, not knowing what to do.
- End of Chapter Five -