Dreams
Chapter 20: His Words
"I see... so... why? Why did you two..."
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."
"Len, I can't believe it. She actually lives with you now? What's this? A guy and a girl cohabiting?" Kaito shouted, feeling angry and irritated by the fact that his friend was hiding such important thing from him.
"Like I said, my mother is living with us and Miss Kagamine is not living with me. She is just temporary staying in my apartment," Len corrected calmly.
"Isn't that the same?" Kaito grunted.
"It's not."
"Len," Kaito lowered his voice as he shot him a glare. "But still, for a boy and a girl to stay together under the same roof, it's... unacceptable."
"It's unacceptable to you because you like her," Len blurted before he realised it.
He immediately kept his mouth shut and remained silent while Kaito's face turned bright red.
"What's this..." Kaito muttered under his breath and sighed deeply. "True... it may be acceptable to you but not to others. So, to me, it's unacceptable."
"I didn't say it's acceptable to me," Len shot back. "Furthermore, she has nowhere to go now."
"She could have stayed with someone else... like Meiko or Hatsune, for example."
"You're right. She could have done that but it seems that she finds it troublesome to explain the whole situation to them, don't you think so?"
"No," Kaito gave a sharp reply.
"Knowing Meiko, she would have told you what had happened to Miss Kagamine. Why didn't you know about her situation until now?"
Kaito knitted his eyebrows together and looked away. He put down his utensils and leaned against the back rest of his seat, breathing heavily as if to calm himself down. Imagine a person whom you like is living with your best friend in his apartment, who wouldn't be upset? Though he knew it was for Rin's good sake, it was still unacceptable for her to stay with Len without telling anyone about it. Kaito looked at Len again in the corner of his eyes and wondered why Len was so neutral about letting her stay in his apartment.
"I will tell Meiko about her situation," Kaito spoke softly and sighed again. "She will definitely allow Kagamine to stay with her temporary."
Len cleared his throat and replied, "It's fine with me anyway. It's not like I actually want her to stay at my place either."
Len carefully put his chopsticks down on the table. Kaito's eyes followed him as he stood up and bowed to him.
He said, "Thanks for the meal, Kaito. I've to return home soon... Oh! And I'll give you a treat next time."
"Len..." Kaito bit his lips, as if to prevent himself from saying something, and gave him a weary smile. "I'm sorry for being like this and..."
"I understand," Len interrupted him and patted his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll do something about it because I really want my privacy back. And I don't want our friendship to be affected by this girl."
"Len..."
"Goodnight."
Len smiled at him and walked off. When he entered the car, he turned on the radio and actually listened to it carefully for the first time of the past five to six years of his life. He waited for a moment until a speaker spoke.
"Luka, how was the audition?"
"Great! Those participants really impressed me. Seeing them worked so hard has motivated me to work even harder."
"Wow! I can't wait to know the results now! I know I have to wait until everything is over but still... I can't wait!"
Len chuckled to himself as he pressed his head against the stirring wheel. A lost feeling built up inside him when he thought of Rin. Ever since she came into his life, he could see different colours everyday. Though she was annoying and there were times he wanted to chase her away, the days with her were amusing because he could see her funny expressions whenever he tried to tease her and her mood swings were unpredictable. He just did not want her to leave like that.
"No... I've to do something about it..."
-:-:-:-
Rin fell onto her knees and rested her head on the edge of Len's bed with tears kept rolling down her cheeks. She knew that for someone who had no talent and could not pose like her would fail the audition. There was no question about it. The reactions of the three evil judges had already showed her that she had no hope in passing this audition.
She slowly stood up and unzipped the back of her purple dress, allowing the dress to fall to her feet. She wiped her tears and sniffed hard.
"What am I going to do? Should I really give up now?" she muttered to herself. "Maybe I should have listen to my parents."
Suddenly, the door behind her creaked open, startling her. She turned around only to find herself staring at a blonde guy near the doorstep. A guy whose name was Len Kagamine, for goodness sake! How could she not remember to lock the door before removing her clothes? And since when did he return? She mentally screamed as her face grew scarlet red while Len just stared at her with an uninterested look for a brief moment before shutting the door behind him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know that you're inside. You should have locked the door." She could hear his soft voice behind that door. "After you've changed, please meet me in the living room. I need to talk to you."
Upon hearing his footsteps slowly faded, she heaved a sigh of relief. Because of him, her heart was racing as if she had just run a marathon and the thought of him seeing her only in her undergarments was extremely embarrassing. Well, who wouldn't be embarrassed?
She hurriedly grabbed a random piece of nightdress and wore it. She opened the door and walked quietly to the living room. Len was there sitting on a couch while reading a newspaper. Upon seeing him, Rin blushed at the thought of the embarrassing incident earlier and quickly hid behind a protruding wall.
"Ah! Are you feeling okay?" Len's mother suddenly popped right in front of her with a look of concern on her face. "I saw you crying earlier."
Rin gave her a weak smile and said, "I'm feeling better now. Thank you."
Still unconvinced, Len's mother continued to question her worriedly, "Is it about the audition? How did it go?"
Rin wanted to cry again when she heard the word 'audition'. Of course, it did not turn out well, but there was no way she could possibly say that. It would worried her even more.
"It turned out quite normal. Just some slips here and there, but it was fine," Rin lied and laughed weakly.
"Really? That's good," Len's mother said with a smile. "Please sleep in early tonight, Dear. Sleeping late everyday isn't healthy. Len, you too."
"Hmm?" Len looked up and stared at the two ladies blankly. "Oh yes... Miss Kagamine, I need to talk to you."
"Ye... Yes?" Rin emerged from the wall and walked towards Len. "What is it?"
Len's mother just chuckled to herself before leaving them alone in the living room. Rin sat next to Len awkwardly and waited for him to speak, but it seemed like he was hesitating.
It took him at least a minute before he shifted his position, slightly facing towards Rin, and asked her, "How's the audition?"
Rin blinked a few times and answered with a fake smile, "Like I said, it's fine."
"Really? That's good to hear that," Len muttered with a light nod.
No, that was not it. It was actually not fine! That was not good at all! Rin mentally screamed. Why couldn't he see through her?
"It's time for you to move out," he said in a low voice, stunning Rin.
She stood up and glanced down at him with wide eyes. Did he just call her to move out? But why?
"Is it because I didn't lock the door while changing?" she grimaced and then put her hands together. "I'm really, really sorry! I promise not to do it again so please let me stay here a little longer!"
"No, that is not the reason... it's something else." He sighed. "Please understand."
"No, I don't!" Rin bellowed and clenched her fists. "I won't leave unless you tell me a reasonable reason."
"Because I said so."
"Len Kagamine! You..."
She was at the lost for a perfect word to yell at him. She did not care if it was a vulgar word but if that could describe him, then she would use it on him. What was he thinking? Did he think that telling her to move out of his house without a reason would really make her leave? How she wished that she could see through him and understand what he was actually thinking.
"I went out with Kaito just now and... and he has found out that you're staying here with me," he interjected and looked straight at her into her ocean blue eyes. "He's worried about you and he'll talk to Meiko about your current situation so that she could take you in instead."
"But..."
"I think it's a good idea because I can have my life back. What do you think?" Len grinned at her and she immediately scoffed at him.
That smile was a fake one which annoyed her all the time but this time, she did not mind it at all. She felt like crying all over again as she felt lost and disheartened after the audition, and what he had just said made her feelings worse.
His fake smile...
What did that mean?
She stared into his eyes, trying to make out what he was thinking, but he immediately looked away with a straight face.
"What?"
"Huh?" Rin flinched and took a step back. "What do you mean by 'what'?"
"You were staring at me," he replied and return her a stare at the corner of his eyes. "Now that we've already settled this. You may go and sleep."
Len stood up and headed towards the bathroom, leaving Rin still standing next to the couch. Fine, she understood what he had said, she was a bother to him, but there was no way she would leave without telling him the truth. She ran towards him and pulled the back to his shirt, preventing him to walk any further. Puzzled, Len turned his head a little and saw a her standing closely behind him while looking down on the floor.
"I... I'm sorry," Rin's voice was shaky as if she was trying to refrain herself from crying. "I think I've failed the audition... Even though you've helped me so many times... I still failed. I'm sorry..."
Before she could say anymore, she felt something warm brush against her head and tousled her hair. Looking up with red teary eyes, she realised that it was Len's hand which was reaching out to touch her head. It was her first time being touched by him. Not that she bothered about whether it was his first time touching her or not, being touched by his warmth hands made her feel like crying even more. He was carrying a small smile, a genuine one and she could tell it.
"In the end, you still tried your best, right?" Len said softly. "And... you looked pretty in that purple dress."
Rin's eyes widened as Len removed his hands away from her and walked into the bathroom. Her tears began to spill out from eyes and she covered her mouth to stop herself from making any sobbing sound, feeling extremely unsure if she was actually crying or laughing from his comment.
All she knew that she did not want to leave this place...
"Oh my... My dear Rin, are you all right?"
Rin looked up and saw Len's mother standing by the door of her own bedroom. Rin wiped her tears from her face and smiled at her.
"I'm really fine. It's just that... his words..."
... if only she could say it out loud.
Hi guys, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 19. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D
Here are the reviewers:
- I'm just a person now read 66
- MizuneMinamiki
- justanothernaah
- TheYokaiOtaku
- B.L
- Gruesome Deaths
- YellowFluffiesForever22
- seraphim.159
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story.
Preview of the next chapter:
Chapter 21: Separated
"Really? You stayed with him for at least three weeks and there must be a reason why you agreed to do so." Meiko lowered her voice as she wriggled her eyebrows again. "I'm sure that something great happened too. For a cute guy like Len, who wouldn't run wild? Even guys will be attracted to the likes of him."
"I don't think so..."
"Then, care to explain why you're blushing?"
"I'm not!"
Meiko suddenly gasped and said, "Don't tell me... the reason why you look like that is because... you and Len have done 'C'!"
"Huh?"
"You know, when a guy and a girl... on the bed..."
"Shut up! There's no way we could have done that! Don't be ridiculous!" Rin snapped and hid her flustered face behind her palms. "He... He saw me in my garments before but not that... we'll never do that..."
The two of them remained in absolute silence as Rin was trying to cool her burning head down while Meiko was undoubtedly shocked and speechless. After a minute or two, Rin realised how quiet her friend was so she peeped at her through the tiny gap in between her fingers only to find her gaping.
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