Act II: Falling

Nami Amou was always an early riser, and travelling first class on an overnight flight to Japan was not going to change that. She felt very inspired to work on her stories and articles during the time before dawn, and loved to watch the sun rise everyday.

This morning she intended to make an entry in her travel diary about her meeting with Len Tsukimori. But she needed to freshen up first, so she started to fold and put away her blanket, then picked up her hand bag and got up.

Len was still sleeping; she stopped to observe him. How different he looked when asleep! How… vulnerable… like a child you wanted to give a hug to!

"So many girls must have fallen for his princely looks… and afterwards been disappointed by his cold and anti-social behaviour" she thought. Thank goodness she knew better than to let herself be fooled by appearances although he really was undeniably…

Wohhh…

As the plane suddenly entered a zone of turbulence, its structure began to rattle, which made Nami lose her balance and cause her to fall towards the sleeping Len. Thud! Her palms hit the seat on each side of his face, and she braced herself to prevent actual contact with him…

To her utmost relief, Len didn't wake up.

She hurried to straighten herself and made her way to the water closet.

"Phew, that was close!"

She could easily imagine how embarrassing it would have been if Len had opened his eyes at that moment; perhaps he would have misunderstood the situation entirely…

When she felt composed enough, she came back to find that Len was stirring. He looked around him slightly dazed as she took her seat next to the window.

"Ohayo!" she ventured.

He frowned in return: "Did something happen?"

"…Ie… why do you ask?" she tried to sound casual but she knew her smile was a bit forced.

Well, he couldn't exactly explain it to her. That he just woke up from a disconcerting dream… A dream which had started out pleasantly, with him playing the violin in the garden of the Tsukimori residence. The sunshine had been wonderfully warm on his skin, the sky overhead was a brilliant blue, the birds nearby had gone quiet, as if intently listening to the sound of his violin which seemed as sweet as his parents' music ever was... until… until something sprang onto him from above and he fell. Was it a wild cat or something?! He wasn't sure, but when he landed on the grass, apart from the shock, he also felt something soft brushing his cheek… something soft like… No, not like a cat's tail… more like a…

He looked at her. More specifically at her hair.

… a curl?

Eyebrows raised and tight-lip smile on her face, Nami was watching the various emotions running on his face but refrained from asking him anything.

As Len felt his cheeks beginning to warm up, he decided that cold water would be the best remedy to this early-morning confusion, and got up.

Could it be that Len wasn't totally asleep and had a vague remembrance of the incident?

She sighed and took out her diary. What a start!

Other passengers were now waking up. Breakfast came and went uneventfully. Len put on earphones to listen to the on-flight classical music channel, and emitted such a "do not disturb" aura that Nami chose to keep to her writing for the rest of the flight and watched the changing view through her window.

She was back to her usual talkative self by the time the plane landed and they had finished the normal arrival procedures. "Isn't it great to be back home?" she exclaimed when they had collected their luggage.

"Usually."

"Ah, are you afraid of being mugged by fans?!"

"It doesn't happen…"

"…yet!" she interrupted, "but I would love to see how you would cope with that!"

Well, it won't happen because only a handful of people know I'm coming back, plus I'm not that famous…

"Would you really give them the cold shoulder?"

"…I'll probably smile and show them my girlfriend…" he said with a deadpan face and tone.

Eh??! Nami was taken aback. She didn't know which was harder to believe: that he could smile or that he had a girlfriend. Then she laughed. "Nice one Len! You almost got me!"

"By the way, is your family driver picking you up or something?"

"Actually…"

They had reached the exit and Len scanned the rows of people waiting.

A red headed girl was trying to catch his attention.

To be continued