Yay, a new chapter! No, it's a short one! Gomu Gomu No Santoryu 300 Pound Cannon! [insert me flying backwards]
I'm sorry I got too caught up in Supernova's Spiderweb. Bonney's going into the arena, claiming to the rest of the Supernovas that she'll have mano-a-mano duel with Robin – now I'm itching to write that scene, although it won't happen very soon cos I need Robin to return Shusui to Zoro first. Why can't I plan my research paper like this? Yohohoho.
I've planned a very warm, yet less dramatic ending for Ask Your Heart though. I've been inspired by one of the shorts I've watched on YouTube. Mehahah. However, do you like happy endings or sad endings? I'm always drawn to sad endings, you see, because happy ending fictions have been a bit redundant and non-challenging lately…
One Piece belongs to Oda, who's trolling us with Chapter 730.
Frozen yoghurt, what's not to love?
A layer of triple berry-flavoured frozen yogurt at the base of my green Tutti Frutti cup, followed by another layer of Chipsmore-flavoured creamy frozen yoghurt, decorated with small pieces of marshmallows, chocolate chips and apricot halves, and Hershey's caramel dessert sauce – just the way I like it. I savoured every scoop slowly as I made my way into the auditorium, because I knew the weight of this Tutti Frutti serving would've cost Cutty Flam twenty bucks at least, and from the looks of his Tutti Frutti cup, thirty something!
It was Day Three of "Ask Your Heart" musical theatre, right here at Sabaody Grand Auditorium. The first two days presented a full-house auditorium. The amount of success made everyone pschyed for Day Three, and some even wondered if we took half of the profit, who knows how much we would've made by now! But ninety percent of the money was meant for charity causes – that was our promise. Ten percent of it, goes to our food stock, of course.
Marco from Boho phoned Bon Clay to tell him tickets for the fourth day were sold out. We knew we came to the right place – Boho was such a good way to market an event.
"I was thinking, something that is dance-based. Maybe a hospital-like setting." I said dramatically, lifting my free hand up in the air putting up a gesture of imagination, while my occupied hand struggled to keep my Tutti Frutti cup balanced on my lap so it would not spill over.
"A girl with cancer, with a dream of being a professional dancer?" Flam made a quick guess over the semi-acoustic guitar on his lap. In between plucking melodies, he feed himself his frozen yoghurt one scoop at a time, savouring the expensive dessert as much as I do – expensive for the brand, but the taste justifies the price too!
"Not another typical plotline. I was thinking of a mentally-ill protagonist in a mental hospital, trying to tell her life story by dancing."
"You are super weird."
"Thank you." I'm often pleased when people regard me as weird. It feeds me the thought that I am somewhat unique.
"So, the team's thinking on having a small barbecue party after everything's over."
"Sounds good. Where at?"
"Powerhouse Theatre HQ. The backyard's big enough. Usopp has barbecue sets that we can use."
"Ah, awesome. The cast too?"
Our excitement was interrupted by a familiar voice. We both turned to find Perona, in her skater dress and cream ballerina flats, her pink hair tied in a bun and her script held close to her chest, in front of us. I don't know how Flam could pretend that this wasn't awkward, although he had known that I sort of despised her, no, annoyed by her presence alone. I tried putting on a decent expression, considering she is one of my cast member.
"I was wondering if… I could practice a little of my duet with Sanji… I couldn't get the low notes still… I feel a little pitchy." She said all these with one eyebrow raised, being polite since both Flam and I are much older than her.
I looked at Flam, and hinted to excuse myself.
"Robin!" Perona called, the moment I stood up, readjusting the waistband of my moss green long skirt. "I might need you, for comments."
"Ah, alright." I sounded annoyed. I sat back onto the tall stool, focusing on my froyo.
Flam positioned the semi-acoustic guitar on his lap, adjusting the capo to the third fret. "So, your duet with Sanji… 'Where The Heart Is', right?"
"Where's Sanji?" I interrupted, raising my head to look around for signs of our supporting actor, but he was nowhere to be found. Aren't she supposed to practice with Sanji? It's their duet!
"Um, Robin…" Her voice was annoyingly soft, like what you've heard from the receptionist of a five-star hotel in Thailand, soft and soprano. "I was hoping if you and Franky would sing, and I can jump in."
Flam raised his shoulders, and despite being surprised by her request, I tilted my head to signal him, 'let's just get this over with'. Flam got my message, and began plucking through. The G-sus, C-sus, G-sus, D major… His husky voice came in. "No matter where I go, there will always be, a very special place, that calls out to me…"
And then it was my cue. "No matter where I go, you'll always be a place that I can call my home-"
"I know who you are, Robin."
Flam's fingers stopped plucking. I stopped singing. Confused and nervous, we both looked at Perona. She wore a serious face. "I know who you are."
I should've known. Who would want to rehearse a song that was perfectly performed for two days straight, anyway? Perona came with another motive, and maybe something to confront. I was curious, but if this was meant to turn into some other drama, I'm really not interested in participating, please! "I'm your junior producer, your scriptwriter and your song composer. Now-"
"I saw you left with Zoro last night. I've never seen you two make any other contact these two days, so I was curious," she explained. There was a little restless tone in her voice. "I looked you up in his Facebook friends list just to check. You were there. I checked his past posts… Zoro called you 'dear'."
My lungs pumped for oxygen more than it did five minutes ago. My mind hasn't decided on what to feel just yet, maybe all current feelings should be placed on roulette or a dartboard for easy random selection. Flam was more than ready to leave, but perhaps he felt that his presence would prevent anything from turning ugly, so he stayed in his seat.
I have no more appetite for my halfway-eaten frozen yoghurt now. "Perona, we don't have to talk about this. Zoro is all yours, that's what I can promise you."
"But last night-"
"Last night was just a good chat between old friends."
She paused, probably not satisfied with whatever answer I provided her. "Why did you guys broke up?"
"Perona, that's none of your business."
"But I wanted to know!" She stomped her feet once, like a little child.
I was surprised I even managed to keep my temper. "It's not important."
"Was it because of your dreams?"
I froze at her sentence. I looked at her. "And what sort of dreams of mine are you referring to?"
"You wrote songs. You can sing – you sang with Franky. You wanted to be a performer, didn't you?"
Surprised at how right she is, I gave out a short snort. "Singer-songwriter, to be specific."
"Zoro didn't let you, right?"
"I didn't let myself. It was my choice to abandon that dream, or at least," I raised my hand, gracefully pointing to the stage, "turn it into something else, which is equally satisfying."
"Why did you?"
"I did it to make him happy, back then. I have no regrets. If he only wants me to sing for him, then I'll only sing for him." I knew where this is going – it's about her, questioning her life decisions, on which is more important, Zoro, or her budding career in performing arts?
"But what about your dream?! You must've wanted it so much now! Performing!"
"Perona, Zoro was my dream. Nothing else mattered."
Her sulky face was all I've caught before she ran off backstage. Flam and I exchanged glances. With a heavy sigh, we both crossed our fingers that our 'Anastasia' wouldn't be so emotional tonight.