Dreams

Chapter 35: Friday Afternoon

The door slowly opened, revealing his mother in a dull yellow dress. Her hand was clutching tightly onto a white plastic bag and she was wearing a weary look on her face. He stood up and headed towards her with a stern and worried look, knowing that she purposely left early to avoid him accompanying her to see the doctor. He noticed her lips form a straight line and slowly curl into a weak smile.

"Len, I'm sorry."

He groaned inwardly.

"I was too caught up with... my friends," she explained. "We chatted for hours and I had to rush for my appointment in the end."

Was this the truth?

She removed her shoes and put them on the rack. As if nothing was wrong, she walked past him and put the white plastic bag on the dining table.

"Len, have you eaten?"

"Nope."

"Do you need me to..."

"No thanks," he interjected and turned to look at his mother.

They stared at each other silently for a few seconds before she looked away from his eyes and chuckled.

"What?" he asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Nothing." As she said that, she walked into the kitchen while Len remained still and expressionless.

"Mum..."

"Yes?"

He asked, "Which park do you always take your strolls?"

"Tori Garden, the park nearby," she answered quickly. "Why?"

"Were you there this morning?" he continued to question her.

"Yes..."

"I was there too."

Her eyes widened.

"Di... Did you see me?" she stuttered and that made him more suspicious of her.

"Nope." He grinned and looked at the white plastic bag containing his mother's medications on the table. "Maybe... we didn't cross path."

She fell silent and looked away. The atmosphere turned somewhat awkward and uncomfortable for her. Len was behaving weirdly these days especially when it concerned her leaving home too early. Was he planning to take control of his mother's daily life? Or did he feel too insecure?

"Anyway, Len, the doctor said that I will be fine as long as I eat those medicines," she assured and pointed at the white plastic bag. "Don't you have to meet Rin Kagamine?"

He nodded. "Yes, later."

"Great! I'm going to make puddings for her!"

"Mum, you don't have to."

"But she likes puddings, right?"

"Please..."

"As a form of encouragement... Oh! And also to show my support!" she proclaimed and hurriedly went into the kitchen, leaving Len alone as he stared hopelessly at his mother's small back.

-:-:-:-

Haku knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in."

She swallowed hard as she slowly turned the door knob and opened the door. The director was sitting on a couch with a cup of coffee in his hand. Giving him a slight bow, she wondered why he had called her to his office. The worst scenario that came into her mind was about him wanting Rin's debut to be cancelled. Well, it might not be possible at all because this would taint the name of his agency.

"Miss Yowane, how's the progress?" he asked as he placed his cup down on the small table in front of him.

"Very well, Sir. Miss Kagamine is all prepared for tomorrow," Haku replied.

The director leaned his back against the couch as his gaze shifted to a pile of files on his desk. Then, he let out a sigh.

"I'm planning to hold another audition," he said. "I may need your cooperation."

Haku frowned. She got what he meant and there was no way she would want to stay quiet about this. She did not care who originally proposed this idea but she promised herself that if she found out who the person was, she would kicked his or her arse a hundred times with her pointy heels.

"Sir, I may need your trust. No matter what happens, I will guide Miss Kagamine to her success, as well as our success."

The director rubbed his forehead with a heavy sigh. "I... I'm not saying that she is..."

"Why don't you trust me?"

He fell silent as he stared at Haku with an obvious guilt portrayed in his eyes. Knowing that she had already stepped on his tail, Haku cleared her throat and looked away. While she was waiting for him to say something, he sighed again.

"It's not that I don't trust you and Rin Kagamine. You know, everyone has been talking about it," he answered calmly.

"About what?" Haku spat. "Rin Kagamine is not talented enough? She's not pretty? She is a fluke? Oh, come on! What do those people know? Rin has been trying her best in everything she does. If I were to compare her with Luka Megurine, Rin is just as hardworking as her. There's no lying to it."

"The reason why she's a hot topic among the staff here is because of you."

Haku's eyes widened and she bit her lips.

"Ms Yowane," the director lowered his voice as he softened his gaze on her and gave her a weak smile. "Your eyes... are not like mine. And please... stop forcing your dreams upon her."

Haku clenched her fist to control herself from giving in to her rising temper. She knew that the director wanted the best for his agency but he had made a sensitive remark about her eyes. Her eyes had always been a sensitive topic to her, and everyone in ALICE Studio knew it. Because of her eyes, she had given up on her dream and left her past behind. Never had she looked back, not even once.

But here he was trying to reopen her old wounds of her pathetic past.

"Rin is different and my eyes have nothing to do with my intuition," Haku argued. "Hey, I'm sure you've heard about women's intuition. We, women, are pretty good at this type of thing."

The director frowned and Haku could see the side of his mouth twitched a little. She inwardly snickered to herself. Did she say wrong? Women are famous for their intuition skills, right?

Just when she was about to carry on rebutting him, someone knocked on the door. Her mouth was slightly opened when the door suddenly swung open, revealing a woman in a formal office attire.

"Sorry for the interruption, but someone is looking for Ms Yowane... urgently," the woman said in a confident voice but her shaky eyes and hands betrayed her.

The director frowned deeper and said coyly, "I didn't say you can come in."

"Ah... I'm sorry... but it's urgent."

"Looking for me, you said?" Haku turned and looked at the trembling woman with a smile. "Sure. Who is it?"

"Ms Kagamine's... personal fashion designer."

"H... Huh?"

-:-:-:-

She was so sure there was no one who was willing to be Rin's fashion designer. Even the idiot whom Rin kept grumbling about refused to help her. As she followed the woman to the information counter, she spotted a good looking young man leaning his body against the counter while staring at a large banner of some famous models hanging above the exit door with an unreadable expression. He had beautiful cerulean eyes like Rin but his gaze reminded her of someone.

Someone whom she had always wanted to see again.

"He's the one," the woman interrupted Haku's thoughts and walked away.

Haku coughed and covered her mouth with a hand as a faint blush spread across her cheeks while her eyes staring intently at the man.

Crossing her arms, she called out to him, "Hey there."

The man flinched at her sudden cold words and turned to look at her with an uncertain smile. He immediately straightened himself and stretched out his hand towards her.

"Hi, Ma'am. I'm Miss Kagamine's fashion designer. I'm here to pass the cheerleader outfit to Miss Kagamine but it seems that she's not here yet. Would you mind handing it to her instead?"

"Rin didn't say anything about having someone to... Wait. Hold on!" Haku stopped talking and turned around as she took her handphone out of her pocket.

She dialed for Rin and the call immediately got through. That was quick.

"Rin..." Haku spoke softly as she averted her eyes towards the man.

"Yes? What happened?"

She could sense disappointment in Rin's voice. Was she anticipating someone else instead?

Ignoring that, Haku removed her gaze from him and continued to ask Rin, "Where are you?"

"I've just left my friend's house. Why?"

"Rin, you... Why didn't you tell me about the clothes?"

"What do you mean? I told you that I was going to borrow a high school uniform from my friend."

Haku looked at the man again with suspicion. "I know, but..."

"What is it?"

The man turned his head and stared at Haku. A kind smile flashed across his face and that made her shudder and look away in response.

"Just come back to the agency and you will know."

With that, Haku cut the line off and looked at the man at the corner of her eyes. Though he looked innocent with his smile flashing so beautifully before her and the way he stood was like an elementary student waiting for a good response from his teacher, could she trust this guy here? Rin had no idea about the outfit! That made him more suspicious, or like a psycho!

"Oops... I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Len Kagamine. A good friend... I mean, acquaintance of Miss Kagamine. You can check with her later if she knows me," the man said politely with that charming smile which Haku began to suspect to be forced on his face.

"Let me see the outfit."

"Here. It's in the plastic bag." He pointed at the white plastic bag on the counter and moved his finger in an up-and-down motion as if telling Haku to quickly open the bag. "I hope she will like it, Ma'am. I don't know her taste but I think I got her size right."

Haku let out a heavy breath as she took the plastic bag and looked inside it. She saw a neatly ironed piece of shirt inside and with curiosity, she dug the shirt out and spread it open in the air, revealing a perfect piece of work. It was an orange-coloured long sleeved shirt with a smooth elastic texture. Next, she took out the skirt. Strangely, the skirt was not as short as she thought it would be. She placed it against her lower half of her body and gaped a little.

"The skirt... don't you think it's a little long?" she queried softly, hoping that she would not insult him.

Hey, he had already done a great job!

Len bent a little and inspected the skirt length. "Why is that so? I made it fall to her knees."

"Shouldn't it be a little shorter?"

Len's smile vanished and his face turned a little sour. "Like? Exposing her thighs?"

Haku thought for a moment before replying, "Something like that. You know, mini-skirts."

"I get what you mean," Len said and took the skirt from Haku's hand. "This skirt isn't completely a skirt. Look, it has a pair of shorts inside."

He lifted the hem and showed Haku the hidden pair of shorts that was connected to the skirt. Haku raised her eyebrows as she nodded. Not that she was bewildered, she was wondering what that pair of shorts got to do with the length of the skirt.

"So?" Haku prompted with a questioning look.

Len smiled. "So, it's just design. I wanted it to be this way and trust me, Miss Kagamine doesn't look good in mini-skirts."

Haku nearly wanted to bang her head against the wall. He was not even proving to her that he really got what she meant.

"Rin is on her way here. Don't you want to see her trying it on?"

"I'd love it but I need to run some errands," Len said with a grin. "If there's anything wrong with the clothes, call me. She has my number."

He shaped his left hand into the shape of a telephone and brought it against his left cheek, grinning innocently. Haku's mouth twitched. She was not sure if this was his usual way to pick up girls or he was unknowingly and innocently showing his playboy side. But he did not look like a playboy to Haku.

Len turned around and walked a few steps ahead before stopping. He turned his face to look at Haku again and pointed at the plastic bag.

"There's an orange pudding inside. It's for Miss Kagamine. Please give it to her, okay? Thanks a lot, Ma'am."

After he said that, he beamed cheekily and walked away. Haku peeked inside the plastic bag and rolled her eyes with a soft groan. Firstly, she still could not trust him; who knew what he might put in the pudding? Secondly, who in the world put food inside a bag of clothes?

Yeah, only Len Kagamine.

Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 35.

Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 34. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D

Here are the reviewers:

- Sychronicity girl
- Ama Zon
- YuiHeartsOreos
- xxPockyStraw21xx
- fujin of shadows
- Mimi02
- HatsuneLenka

Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story.

Preview of the next chapter:

Chapter 36: A Special Someone

"Work of an amateur," Rin replied in a sassy voice and flipped her hair away from her shoulder. "But I like it."

"If that's okay, I will contact him to ask how much he will charge us for this outfit."

Rin looked at Haku excitedly and said, "Oh, and ask him why did he make this for me? He rejected me lots of time, you know. How unexpected."

Haku rubbed her chin in deep thought and muttered aloud, "He must have already planned to help you but because you were so persistent, he pretended to reject you out of embarrassment. Some guys are like that. You thought he was pushing you away but he was actually pulling you closer to him."

"Huh? I don't get it."

"Don't worry. You will get it next time." Haku smirked and took out her handphone.

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