"She will not be lucky... if there is a second attack."
"Then, what should I do, Doctor?"
"Make sure that she takes her medications daily and don't let her be too stress physically and mentally. Stress will only worsen her condition."
I'm sorry, Luka. I knew this would happen to me.
Dreams...
They were useless. This world was cruel after all and had no place for idealistic dreams. Fashion designer? No way... I need money, not that anymore. People said that those who craved for money were the rich and materialist. They were wrong.
Even the poor craved for money to survive. I needed to survive so that was how I ended working part time as a fast food restaurant cleaner during my high school days and promoted myself to become a cab driver after getting my driving license.
Deep in my heart, I was jealous of Luka. Not only her, but almost everyone. I hated everything in my life. Many people could fulfill their dreams but I could not. They had the opportunities which I did not receive. Instead everything was taken away from me...
One by one.
Chapter 50: His Decision
The red light finally turned off and the glass door slid open, revealing a group of surgeons and nurses as they walked out of the operation theatre. Len and Rin stood up and ran towards them with an anxious look on their faces.
"How's my mother?" Len asked.
The surgeons looked at one another and then back at him with an apologetic look. Len took a step backward and shook his head.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay... It's my fault," Len interrupted the surgeon as he hid his face from the surgeon.
His chest felt so heavy that he wanted to let his body just fall onto the ground and cry aloud. That sounded so girlish but he wanted a release. He wanted to let go of those things that were hurting his chest right in front of the medical team. He could not blame those doctors because he was at fault. It was his carelessness and irresponsibility that caused his mother to end up like that.
"Mr Kagamine, we have tried our best."
Len pressed his arm against his eyes and held his breath. He had to calm down and hold back his sissy cry.
"Len... Kagamine..." Rin's weak hesitant voice was heard next to him and the next thing he knew, he felt her arms around him again. "Oh... dear..."
"Her body condition is stable for now. Except that she is still unconscious. The impact on her head must have been very hard. Her frontal lobe has the most impact..."
"Wait... what?" Len interrupted the speech again but this time he was looking straight at the surgeon. "She's alive?"
The surgeon who was doing all the talking looked at him in puzzlement and replied, "Err... yeah."
"She's fine!" Rin said as she removed her arms from Len and she grabbed his arm instead and shook it vigorously.
Len looked at Rin and grinned, clearly showing how relief he was.
"Mr Kagamine," the surgeon spoke again. "Let me continue a little about her condition now."
"I want to see her now!" said Len eagerly.
"No, wait. She's still..."
"Please! I have to see her!"
"... in a coma."
"Huh?" Len froze and stared at the surgeon with wide eyes. "Wh... Why? How come?"
"Calm down, Mr Kagamine. She has a concussion on her forehead. Because she had lost a lot of blood, her blood pressure dropped drastically and is still quite low so she will be under our observation for now."
"What about... her heart attack? This is her second time."
The surgeon smiled weakly at him and answered, "We have tried our best. Luckily, the attack took place in the hospital so we tended to her rather quickly."
"Is... is that so?" Nothing he was feeling right then could be expressed through words but all he could do was to bow to the surgeons. "Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for saving my mother!"
Even though his mother was unconscious, he was glad that she was alive. As long as she was breathing, he believed that she would wake up one day and greet him like always. As the medical team walked away, Len turned to look at Rin who was also staring at him with a worried look, and he smiled at her.
"Miss Kagamine, thank you too."
Upon seeing Len's facial features started to relax, she felt herself slowly relax as well and her grip around his arm loosened. She returned a smile and a hand reached for his face, wanting to rub off the obvious tears that were welling up in his eyes again. She really felt like his girlfriend for doing so.
"There, there... You're going to cry again," Rin spoke in a gentle voice while rubbing her thumb across his lower eyelids.
Closing his eyes, he touched both of her hands and pulled them away from his face. "As if I'm crying."
Rin withdrew her hands and narrowed her eyes at him. He was obviously going to cry just by looking at his swollen red eyes with tears on his lower eyelids. Even a fool could also tell!
But what could she say to this man who was obsessed with 'man pride'?
"Yeah, right. Maybe I just felt an urge to rub your eyes. I wonder why."
Maybe that was all she could say to him, albeit in a sarcastic manner, rather than losing her temper in front of him again. After all, that teary look of his...
"That's because you're perverted," Len said with his nose in the air.
He was right. She admitted that she was a little perverted... and a little twisted. That was because for some reason, she found his teary eyes, together with his husky voice which was calling out for her name, was so sexy and erotic that she would mentally groan each time when she replayed those images of Len's vulnerable self over and over again in her head.
For goodness sake, Rin thought that she had definitely become twisted for liking not only the 'bad' Len, but also his weak self.
-:-:-:-
"Enough of these rubbish, Tete! We have to welcome our guest of the show today."
"Oh, Tata. Who's the guest?"
"A comedian."
"Like the two of us?"
"Tete, you're funny. She's not like us! She's a girl."
"Female comedian? Let her join us so that we can call her..."
"Toto!"
"Or Titi!"
"Tutu will sound pretty nice too since the girl was a cheerleader before."
"Hold on, Tata. Isn't a tutu worn by ballet dancers?"
"Tete, it's just a name. A name!"
"Ouch! You don't have to shout at my ear!"
"Everyone, it's time to get a little serious. So... Let's welcome Rin Kagamine on stage!"
"And just to let you know, Miss Kagamine is a model, not a comedian! Even she's a comedian, she can never be as lovely as us, yeah?"
"Hi everyone, I'm Rin Kagamine! I'm a Law student but an awful noob at it. Really. I failed four assignments so far."
"Errr... Miss Kagamine... about you being a cheerleader... When did you take part in this exciting sport?"
"Me? In cheerleading? I'm wearing this outfit today because it was made by a special someone."
"Oh, come on! We all know that you're a cheerleader..."
"I'm not that spontaneous, Tete. I'm someone who always watches TV and falls in love with magazines models."
"Wow... wow... let's give Miss Kagamine a round of applause. Nice try in humoring your audience, newbie model!"
"Perhaps I should say more about myself. I don't follow rules and orders. So, nice try in trying to blend into... my little game of honesty."
"So... Shall we start the actual show now?"
Luka closed the magazine and looked at Neru quizzically. Why out of all days did she want to watch Rin's debut on tape? No, it was more like she was rewatching and reviewing the debut from scratch. It was not like she was Rin's manager or someone close to Rin.
"Why are you watching this again?" Luka finally spoke her mind.
With her grey eyes fixated on the screen, Neru mumbled a few words out of her mouth which Luka found it difficulty to even hear and understand her.
"Huh?"
"I want to know why SimpliMe wants her," Neru replied loudly but in a draggy voice.
"SimpliMe?" Luka gasped and moved closer to Neru. "Isn't that a famous brand?"
Neru kept quiet as she watched the show while Luka who received no answer from her manager turned to the television and smiled.
"This girl is so lucky. She will be a perfect model for that brand," Luka said.
Neru chuckled softly and looked at her. "You favour Miss Kagamine because she looks like that blonde midget."
"He's no midget!" Luka snapped as her cheeks turned pink. "You saw him earlier, right? He has grown... this tall!"
Luka raised her hand slightly above her head and raised it even higher since she remembered that her nose had touched Len's collar when she had hugged him earlier. Neru rolled her eyes and stared back at the television screen. She grabbed the remote control and pressed the reverse button much to Luka's surprise.
"What are you doing?" Luka asked as she looked at the television and Neru back and forth.
Finally, Neru let go of the botton and the scene of Rin stepping on stage was replayed.
"Hi everyone, I'm Rin Kagamine! I'm a Law student but an awful noob at it. Really. I failed four assignments so far."
"Errr... Miss Kagamine... about you being a cheerleader... When did you take part in this exciting sport?"
"Me? In cheerleading? I'm wearing this outfit today because it was made by a special someone."
Luka blinked. That cheerleader outfit was made by Rin's special someone?
She shook Neru's arm and queried, "Who's her fashion designer?"
Neru shrugged. "As I recall, Miss Yowane had some trouble looking for someone who could help Rin to create a cheerleader outfit. Now, come to think of it, no one really knows who designed that outfit. Maybe except for Haku and possibly the director."
"Is that so? But really... the person who came out with that outfit should be an amateur," Luka stated after analysing the outfit on Rin critically. "The design is good because it matched Rin's looks and personality but the workmanship was not there."
"Anyway, it was a last minute thing, right? I bet the fashion designer was rushing this piece through within a few days."
"Even so, this was bad!" Luka scoffed and her eyes narrowed at the cheerleader outfit. "Women should wear pretty clothes."
Neru groaned. There went Luka's rants on pretty clothes. She was always like this whenever the topic was about clothes. She would say that all humans were like canvas, waiting to be decorated with clothes and make-up. Even if the clothing was of a poor quality, it should still be presentable at the very least.
Luka added, "Honestly, Rin Kagamine deserves better clothes than that one."
"Uhh..." Neru was speechless and stared dully at Luka.
Just then, the door of her office swung open and Haku rushed in hastily. The two women looked up in shock and stared questionably at Haku.
"Knock first, Miss Yowane. Where are your manners?" Neru scolded.
Haku waved her words off and jabbered, "I need your help, Miss Akita. It's a matter of life and death."
"What?"
"Rin has gone to the hospital and I'm going to look for her. If the director gets a call from our trainer, help me to think of an excuse. A very good excuse!"
Neru's eyes widened in bewilderment. "Wait! What happened?"
"I'll leave it to you, friend!" Haku said and bowed to Neru a few times as appreciation and apology before leaving the room.
Luka stood up and turned to Neru with an anxious look.
"Rin is in danger! I need to look for her!"
"I don't understand." Neru ruffled her own hair and groaned again. "What's going on?"
"See you later!" Luka shouted to her manager as she ran after Haku.
"Luka, come back here!" the blonde manager yelled and then she slowly leaned her back against the couch, feeling so defeated and lost. "What am I supposed to say, idiot Haku?"
-:-:-:-
"Why are you tagging along? Aren't you supposed to be taking a rest?" Haku asked Luka in a stoic manner, feeling a little annoyed that this pink-haired model kept tailing behind her even though she had told her countless times not to follow her to the hospital.
Luka shook her head and replied, "But Rin is in danger, isn't she? I have to see how she's doing."
"She's fine."
"What?" Luka stood still and stared at Haku's back with a puzzled look. "You said that she has gone to the hospital... a matter of life and death..."
Haku turned to look at her and interrupted her in her famous low monotone voice, "She went to see someone. Her important person's mother, apparently."
"I'm wearing this outfit today because it was made by a special someone."
A special someone... Her important person...
Could it be her boyfriend?
Luka clasped her hands together as her eyes sparkled with glee. Oh boy, how she loved love stories! She had to see Rin quickly and forced her to tell her all those wonderful romantic moments which she and her boyfriend had shared.
"Judging by your look, I know what you are thinking." Haku extended her arm and rested her hand on Luka's shoulder. "I advise you not to see her now."
Luka furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Why not? I bought some flowers and I'm thinking maybe I can pass them to her so that she can give them to the patient."
Haku's gaze immediately rested on a small little bouquet of flowers in Luka's right hand. She let out a heavy sigh. Since when did Luka bought those flowers?
As if the pink-haired model had read her mind, the former puffed up her cheeks and made a whining sound. "Awww... You didn't make yourself clear, Miss Haku! I thought Rin was the one who was hospitalised so I quickly bought these on the whim along the way here."
"I don't need to know, Miss Megurine." Haku cracked a fake smile and tried to get Luka to leave the hospital by waving her hand in the motion like what most people always did when they wanted to chase a cat away. "Now, go. Neru may miss you."
Luka laughed heartily and gently removed Haku's hand away from her shoulder. "Oh, come on! I just want to see her before I go."
"Take my advice..."
"What's so bad about it, Miss Haku?"
The said lady sighed nearly in defeat. "You will regret seeing her. Listen to me."
Deciding to ignore her, Luka pouted and walked ahead of Haku. What could Haku do? Luka would definitely regret when she visited Rin. Well, this stubborn pink-haired model could not blame her for not warning her at all. Having no choice, Haku adjusted her handbag scrap on her shoulder and headed towards the counter to ask the nurses for directions.
-:-:-:-
'Thud!'
Haku turned her head to look at the shocked female behind her. She had warned her earlier and this was what she got for not heeding her advice. Luka's eyes wavered at the sight before her, hardly believing what she was seeing right in front of her.
Haku looked at the bouquet of flowers which was lying on the floor and muttered, "Miss Megurine, your flowers..."
"Argh!" Luka gasped and bent forward, hugging her stomach in a painful manner. "I have a stomachache! Bye, Miss Yowane!"
"Wait!"
Without further ado, Luka turned around and ran further away from the scene outside the operation theatre. As much as she wanted to dismiss that mental image from her head, words like 'special someone' and 'important person' had hit her hard. It had made sense to her.
It seemed that the newbie model was having a relationship with him all along. Judging by how the female blonde was holding onto his arm and comforting him by running her hand against his back, she was definitely closed to him. He was not even retaliating, unlike that moment at ALICE Studio. She grimaced at the thought of it. Did he hate her that much?
Her eyes were painfully battling against her tears as she headed towards the elevator. She jammed on the botton many times before the metal doors of the elevator slid open. She ran inside and pressed the ground floor button. As soon as the doors closed, she found herself fell onto her knees and broke into tears. Had she listened to Haku, she would not be witnessing this.
"Me? In cheerleading? I'm wearing this outfit today because it was made by a special someone."
Outfit...
"Promise me, Len. Promise me that you will make this dress for me when our dreams are fulfilled."
"Eh? Sure... but why?"
I want to be the first person to wear one of these wonderful creations of yours!"
Luka looked up with wide eyes upon another realisation.
That newbie model had not only taken her place as the closest person to Len, she had also stolen his promise made with her. Yes, only with Luka Megurine.
"Fine then. It's my promise to you."
"Pinky-promise?"
"That's so childish!"
"You'd still do anyway! Here we go! Pinky-promise... sealed!"
"Sealed."
"You're so cute, Len. No wonder I cannot stop liking you."
"S... Stop it. It's... ch... cheesy..."
"But you like cheesy stuffs, right? Look, you're blushing."
"Lu... Luka!"
"I love you."
"A... U... Uh?"
"I love you, Len."
After so long, she could finally see Len. But he had changed. He had returned with a new life which she hardly knew of. Were Rin and Len really in the relationship? She wondered painfully to herself as the door slid open again on the ground floor.
-:-:-:-
Haku picked up the flowers and stared at the two young adults standing outside the operation theatre. Luckily, she and Luka were metres away from the two of them because if they had noticed Luka, she just knew that things would get very complicated. The manager clutched the bouquet of flowers against her chest and headed towards them.
"Rin. Mr Kagamine."
The two blondes turned her heads around and looked at the source.
"Miss Yowane! How did you know that I was here?" Rin asked, looking quite startled by her presence.
"Ah... I'm quite an IT savvy," Haku mused with a smile smile. "I tracked you with GPS."
"GPS?" Rin blinked and looked at Len quizzically. "What's that?"
Instead of answering her, Len gave her a lopsided grin and placed his finger over his lips. "Find out yourself."
"Wh... What?!"
"How's your mother, Mr Kagamine?" Haku changed the subject while Rin pouted after realising she was being ignored.
Len gave the older lady a relief smile and replied, "She is safe but the doctors said she's still unconscious."
Haku looked over to the theatre and stared at the unlit sign above the sliding doors. "Is that so? The operation is over, isn't it?"
Len nodded. "Yes, but I can't see her for now."
Just then, the bouquet of flowers caught his eyes. He raised his eyebrows and pointed at the small bouquet curiously.
"Is that for my mother?"
"Nope," Haku gave a quick and short reply, smiling slightly. "Somebody dropped it so I picked it up. The flowers are beautiful, aren't they?"
Len cleared his throat and looked away, uninterested. Flowers were never his thing since young. True, they were pretty but the very pretty ones were usually the most dangerous ones.
"Oh, flowers! I forgot to buy them!" Rin suddenly exclaimed loudly, earning her a few glares from the nurses who walked past them.
Len grabbed Rin's shoulder and shook his head disapprovingly. "You don't have to..."
Still grinning widely, Rin picked up her bag and waved to Haku and Len. "Later, people! I will be right back soon!"
Upon seeing her diminishing figure, Len let out a soft sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. Rin never listened to what others had to say. Even if she did, she still would not care about what they had talked about and would continue to stick to her die-hard ways or whatever thing she had set her mind on. Innocently stubborn brat, Len believed that he had already labelled her that at the back of his mind a long time ago.
"Ma'am," Len spoke as he turned to Haku.
"Miss Yowane," Haku corrected him with a grim look on her face.
She really hated people who called her Ma'am. It made her feel so old and she was not even married yet!
"Ah... Miss Yowane, I have decided."
"Decided what?"
Len grabbed the file which he had been holding onto all along and took out a stack of papers from it. Haku immediately recognised the stack of papers and frowned. Those papers were about the JUAFD scholarship. She eyed at him strangely. It was such a rare good opportunity and he was letting it slip away so easily.
"I have given lots of thoughts about it, Miss Yowane." Len placed the papers in Haku's hands and smiled. "Knowing my mother's condition, she is probably staying in the hospital for quite some time and I may need some financial assistance."
Haku's mouth twitched. She knew what he was going to say anyway. Just like earlier, he would be using his mother as an excuse to let go of this scholarship.
"I read the benefits too," Len continued as his grin widened which made Haku furrow her eyebrows as she began to feel that he was not as predictable as what she had expected him to be after all. "I certainly do look forward to the monthly allowances."
Her eyes widened. There was no way he could change his mind that fast! She flipped through the pages and stopped right where the supposedly empty page was filled up with black pen ink. She stared at his not-so-neat handwriting in shock for a long moment before Len decided to make himself clear.
"I really thought about it carefully. I mean, there's no harm trying, right? I just filled it up not long before you came. Miss Kagamine knew about this too," he stated.
Haku smirked and said smuggingly, "I'm glad my words have hit some sense in you."
"Ah, that... you're wrong."
Haku frowned again as she noticed his lips curled into a smirk instead of hers this time. He took the papers away from her hands and began flipping through the pages fast before stopping on one of them. He brought the papers right in front of Haku and his finger began tracing the monetary benefits printed on the paper itself.
"It's the hospital bills, Miss Yowane," Len said with a slight hint of slyness in his voice. "From experience, the hospital and medical bills will slap me harder than your words."
She should have known better than that. This young man here was sure cunning. Using the scholarship benefits for his own purposes and taking on a free sponsorship to study to refine his talent were like killing two birds with one stone.
Haku cleared her throat and said sternly, "I can tell that you are going to study part-time so that you can continue working whatever you're working as right now. But your allowance... Your monthly allowances given by JUAFD are supposed to be used for buying textbooks and other academic materials. Tertiary textbooks are very expensive, do you know that?"
"I know," Len answered and his face suddenly turned serious. "That's why I have thought of a way to reserve the allowances, together with my salary, to pay off the bills without affecting my study."
Haku raised an eyebrow at him and queried, "How?"
How?
How was he going to pay off those debts? It was unknown when his mother would wake up. Furthermore, she had undergone two operations within a day, which no doubt had already burn a hole in his pocket. If he did not calculate wrongly, four-month worth of his salary would be going to pay off these two operations only. Cab drivers did not earn much in reality. Even with bonuses given to them once in a while, they could only enjoy a small bit of luxury which average people found it an ordinary want.
"I can help you," the female blonde said with a serious look and touched his arm gently. "Since I'm currently earning a decent amount and with Haku's support, I can help you to pay off your mother's hospital debts."
Len smiled wearily at her and replied softly, "No, please don't. I don't want to owe anyone's money. I will figure out somehow."
"I'm not lending you the money. I'm repaying back your mother's and your favour," she retorted. "Because without both of your help, I am not who I am today. I might probably be stuck at home, causing trouble in school and finding ways to be expelled."
Len laughed silently at her claim but quickly replaced his amused face with a dull look and commented in a monotone, "You are still a trouble."
Rin pouted and tightened her grip on his arm irritably. "Aren't you as well?"
"Probably." Len shrugged and returned back to their main topic. "Anyway, thank you for wanting to help me but I don't like outsiders meddling into my affairs..."
"I'm an outsider?" Rin interrupted him angrily. "Not a friend?"
"I mean..."
"Why can't you just rely on me once? I'm your friend, right? Friends rely on each other. Is that right?" Rin sounded disappointed when she spilled her inner thoughts out of her mouth.
Her words sounded as if she was trying to convince herself more than trying to convince Len to rely on her. He shuddered slightly at her hard stare which seemed to search for his answer. He really appreciated her willingness to help him but there was no way he could rely on someone else because of...
"You and your man-pride!" Rin snorted loudly and slapped his arm. "Rely on your friends, for goodness sake!"
It was Len's turn to snort this time. "What does my man-pride got to do with this?"
Rin ignored his question and continued to chid, "Man who is filled with pride isn't cool! You should really learn to trust your friends more and... and... oh yeah, make full use of others' help and stop working like a bull!"
"Bull?"
"Yeah, like a bull!"
Rin brought her two hands to her head and curled her two index fingers to imitate the image of a bull. She growled and snorted, trying her best to emphasise her nose by contracting her nose muscles. Seeing how ridiculous she looked, Len held back his laughter no matter how funny her expression was.
Make full use of others' help...
Opportunities...
Rely on friends...
Stop working like a bull...
Part-time...
JUAFD...
Monthly allowances...
Len's eyes widened as something within him snapped. Before he knew exactly what he was doing, he found his fingers running through his mother's medical records in his plastic file. He remembered there was something which was supposed to be there since he had forgotten to remove it out of haste. Finally, his fingers stopped moving and his eyes sparkled at the sight of JUADF scholarship information. He needed this help. Since he did not want to burden anyone, especially Rin, he did not mind sacrificing himself and his time to gain those monetary benefits.
"Pen."
Rin looked at him quizzically and asked, "Do you need a pen?"
With his eyes still focused on the paper, he replied, "Yes, please. Thank you."
Rin opened her bag and took out a black pen. She handed it to him and a look of sadness clouded her eyes.
"What happened? Is there something wrong with your mother's medical records?" she spoke meekly for fear that whatever answer he might be giving her might be bad news.
"Nope. I don't need your help anymore, Miss Kagamine."
She blinked. "Huh?"
"I have already found a way to lessen my burden with the scholarship."
"H... How?" Rin stammered anxiously.
Somehow, she had an uneasy feeling about this.
As he was scribbling on the application form, he answered her with the most devious smile she had ever seen in her life, "Secret."
"Hmm..." Len crossed his arm and narrowed his eyes at Haku. "Not going to tell you."
"Well, I can ask Rin..."
"She doesn't know that too," Len interrupted Haku and upon seeing a hint of disbelief on her face, he brought his finger to his lips and smiled. "It's a secret."
Little did he know that he was creating another pool of trouble underneath his feet.
End of Part 2
"Don't say my name in vain, newbie!"
"Maybe... black cats are nice too."
"Liar."
"Would a bunny outfit look good on her? Sensuous? That's right... It's me again, Sir.
Nice to meet you again!"
"I would be lying if I say that I can't see it. It's all in his eyes. He always looks at Rin... Not me or Meiko."
"I have been thinking real hard these days...
Can I call you by your first name? Like close friends do?"
"Why not? No one's stopping you, right?
In the first place, I did not instruct you to call me 'Sir'."
Again, each sentence spoken by seven individuals lies another dramatic twist (and a little more romantic development) in Part 3 of Dreams.
"L-Len."