Dreams
Chapter 13: Booked
Rin stuck out her hand towards Len and demanded, "Money. I want more money. Give me more money."
"Shut up. That amount should be enough for a day," Len grunted and kept his wallet into his pocket.
Rin looked at the paper notes in her hands and pouted. Sure, it could last her a day. But the amount was so little that she could only buy two basic meals for herself.
"Be a kind soul and lend me," she grumbled with a glare. "I promise you that I will return you the money the next time."
"If I can survive with that amount, so can you."
"Why are you so stingy? I'm still a growing young adult! I need to eat more than you should!"
Len raised his right eyebrow and asked with suspicion, "Oh, are you sure that you're going to spend it on food?"
Rin blushed and looked away. Of course, she had lied. It was so obvious.
"Are you sure?" Len dragged his words teasingly and smirked. "Give me an answer, Miss."
"I... I want to buy... cigarettes..."
Len coughed and his expression went dull. He opened the boot of his car and took out a few papers and stationeries from a little basket before handing them to Rin.
"Will you be returning straight home after school?" Len questioned. "You know, you can't always stay at my residence."
Rin clenched her fists and mumbled, "Why... not? As you know, I'm not ready to return home yet. Are you going to leave me alone?"
"What?"
"Nothing!" she snapped and stuck out her tongue at him.
"I'm sure you..."
"Rin!" a voice interrupted Len and Rin immediately turned to look at the running figure heading towards them.
"Meiko!" Rin called out and waved frantically at her. "Are you free now?"
"Yes!"
Meiko stopped right in front of them and panted heavily. She leaned against the cab and wriggled her eyebrows at Len with a smirk.
"Hey, are you going out with Rin? Sending her to school early in the morning is kind of cool and romantic, don't you think so? I wish Rin could share some of her privilege with me," Meiko joked and upon seeing how Len cringed, she stifled a laugh.
"Meiko, what are you talking about? I happened to stay over at his..."
"I happened to see her on my way to work just now so I decided to give her a lift," Len interjected and nodded at Rin. "And it seems that she forgot to bring her lecture notes."
Trying to act along with him, Rin nodded too and made a sad face.
She added in a sad voice, "I overslept too. Thanks to this guy here, I'm slightly early today."
There was no way she could mention about the audition to Meiko, even though they were good friends. If she told her, what would her response be? Meiko had known about her dream a long time ago but if she were to tell Meiko about the audition, Meiko would definitely be shocked since her parents had never allowed her to follow her own dreams. Meiko might get suspicious over the matter too. Rin thought it should be the best to remain silent until it was the right moment to tell Meiko instead.
Len looked around and wondered aloud, "Hmm... Where is Kaito? I thought the two of you are always together."
Meiko stiffened by his words and gulped. The image of Miku and Kaito outside the library earlier flashed in her mind. The weird feeling was back in her chest.
Stifling a laugh again, she said, "He's with Miku."
"Miku?" Len repeated the name cluelessly.
Meiko frowned and helped him to recall who she was. "It's that beauty with two long ponytails."
Len scratched his chin and tried to recall the girl, but he just could not remember who she was. He had to admit that he had poor memory.
"Hey, I got to go now!" Rin looked at her watch and nudged Len's arm. "Pick me up after my lessons have ended."
"What..."
"I'll book the evening slot. Do reserve it for me!" She grinned cheekily at him and grabbed the astonished Meiko's arm, then walked away with a light blush on her cheeks.
Len shook his head and sighed. After closing the boot, he entered his vehicle and drove away. Meanwhile, as Meiko was being dragged away by Rin, she could not help but to wonder about Rin's obvious blush. Previously, Rin was looking very flustered when she had mentioned about Len. Was there something going on between them?
"Hey, Rin."
Rin stopped walking and stared at Meiko questionably.
"What is your relationship with Len?"
"Eh..." Rin looked down and tightened her grip around the rolled papers. "I don't know... maybe just friends?"
-:-:-:-
"If I become a model one day, will you support me?"
"Of course, I will."
"Then, will you be... my fan?"
"Of course."
"Just a fan?"
"Yup... why? Don't you want me to be your fan? What else do you want me to be? You know, friends can be your fans too."
"Len... can we be... more than just friends?"
"More than just friends?"
"Yeah, because... I..."
"Kagamine!"
Len flinched and stared at the fuming man in front of him.
"What happened to you, young man? You're always zoning out nowadays." His supervisor sat next to him and stared hard at him. "Is it because of your mother?"
Len shook his head and remained silent. The man was right. He had been spacing out a lot these few weeks. Maybe because he was tired from working. But did he really have a choice? He had to earn the money for his family, support his mother and pay for almost everything that was necessary.
"Hey, I heard that the orange puddings made by your mother are delicious," his supervisor whispered. "If your mother makes orange puddings again, please let me have a try."
Len chuckled.
"Sure, Sir."
That reminded him of his promise with Rin the night before that he would tell his mother to make some orange pudding for her. But he had forgotten to tell his mother about it. How bothersome...
"Don't space out ever again," his supervisor warned and patted Len's back before walking away to talk to other cab drivers.
Chuckling weakly to himself, Len stood up and headed towards his car. It was time to work again.
-:-:-:-
Gakupo flipped through a manga and thought aloud, "I wonder how Luka looks like as Madam Tsu. Madam Tsu is so pretty and clever here."
Rin moved closer to Gakupo and took a look at the manga, Beyond Reality. If she remembered correctly, this was the manga which Luka was going to act in a drama series. As her fan, Rin was willing to support this drama a hundred percent. While thinking about this, Rin wondered whether she could have a chance to act in a drama series too if she became a model. That would be fun, she thought to herself with a small smile.
"I advice you not to watch that show," Meiko warned Gakupo with a smirk. "Because Madam Tsu is going to kiss the Boss towards the end of the first arc. In fact, they kissed in the tenth chapter of the manga."
Gakupo cringed with disgust upon hearing the 'spoiler'. He was only at the third chapter of the story and the news about Madam Tsu kissing the protagonist made him feel like doodling the face of the lucky male character.
He slammed his head down on the book and he cried, "My Luka... oh, my Luka... She's going to kiss someone else..."
"It's just acting, Kamui. Luka won't be really kissing the guy." Rin tried to calm him down and started fanning him with her hands. "Besides, according to the manga, Madam Tsu and the Boss only kissed three times within five arcs. And the drama series will feature these five arcs. So, it's okay!"
"Thr... three times?!" Gakupo's head flew up and he bit his lips tightly, as if he was trying to hold himself back. "Luka is going to kiss him three freaking times!"
Meiko laughed at his priceless expression while Rin shook her head hopelessly. Gakupo slammed his head against the book once more and groaned loudly. Just then, Kaito and Miku plopped down next to Gakupo with a tray of food each.
"You're late," Meiko said and wriggled her eyebrows at Miku. "I wonder what's going on."
Miku's face turned red and began stuffing spoonfuls of rice into her mouth.
Kaito looked at Meiko cluelessly and answered, "Miku accompanied me to see the head mistress."
Almost instantly, Rin choked on her cold drink and began coughing violently before she hissed angrily, "That old hag?"
"You do hold a terrible grudge against the head mistress, don't you?" Miku giggled. "Well, I can understand."
"Why did you see her?" Meiko asked Kaito.
"Actually... someone has stolen my bike in the campus... and I've to report it to her," Kaito replied and he looked down sadly on his plate of food. "I guess I've to walk home later."
"I'll walk home with you!" Miku suggested with a huge grin.
Meiko nodded and teased, "Maybe your bike is fated to be lost. Am I right, Miku?"
Instead of replying her, Miku pouted at Meiko in response. On the other hand, Kaito sighed deeply and poked his dried fish with his chopsticks.
"It will trouble you, Hatsune. Anyway, I know how to go home myself. It's just... just that it's quite far away," Kaito muttered softly. "By the way, thanks for accompanying me."
Miku furrowed her eyebrows together for a moment and then she started giggling while saying, "You're welcome."
Rin continued to stare at Kaito's downcasted face and thought hard.
"Shion." Rin nudged his arm, earning her a curious and astonished look from him. "I have an idea."
Kaito stopped poking his fish and asked, "What is it?"
"Since I've already booked a cab, you can have a ride with me," Rin offered with a sweet smile. "I will pay for everything. Don't worry."
Kaito blushed and muttered, "That's..."
Rin interrupted him, "It's all right, Shion."
"Wait..."
"Kaito, don't worry," Meiko cut him before he could say anything more. "Len is the cab driver."
"Huh? Len?" Kaito looked at Meiko with wide eyes and then he shifted his gaze to Rin. "Wo... Wow... that's... great... Thanks..."
After forcing his words out of his mouth, Kaito looked back down on his plate of dried fish with an uncomfortable look.
Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 13.
Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 12. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D
Here are the reviewers:
- YellowFluffiesForever22
- seraphim. 159
- MethAddict11111111
- Isabella314
- Gruesome Deaths
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story.
Preview of the next chapter:
"That girl... she's really doing it, isn't she? How stupid. There is no way she could even become a model. Even if she could be one, she will just fall and return back home crying."
"You seem to enjoy harassing my face. I'm driving, mind you."
"Hey, the two of you... are quite close. Are the both of you already friends?"
"We're... friends, aren't we? But... yesterday... you said that I'm your friend."
"Why did you come back? Ha... you've finally realised that modelling is not suitable for you, right? That's fast."
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