101. Happy News
502 Words
A small press conference was held yesterday to announce the engagement of actor Matsuno Taiki (known for the 2010 yakuza film Lawless and for a lead role in the TV thriller End to Games) to actress Hidaka Noriko (who played the heroine in the recent film Sincerely Yours and is famous for her performance as the female lead in the long-running period drama Once Upon A Time In Edo).
The happy couple met through mutual friends two years ago, and they have been dating for almost 18 months. Matsuno laughed that to him it was love at first sight, but that it took a while until he managed to win Hidaka over. Matsuno proposed while the couple was out celebrating Hidaka's 25th birthday.
When asked about the recent article published in Stars Weekly featuring a photograph of Matsuno and an unidentified female, Matsuno denied the rumours and said the woman in the photo was a work acquaintance of his, and that at the time the picture was taken, he was actually out buying a ring for his fiancée. At this, Hidaka raised her hand to allow the assembled reporters a better view of the slender white gold diamond ring fit for a princess.
Currently, the two of them are both working in the anticipated TV drama Inuyasha, which is expected to start airing in August.
Narita Ken closed the magazine and handed it back to Satsuki.
"I believe congratulations are in order," he hummed bemusedly.
"I congratulated them on the set. The whole studio was taken by a storm when they walked in this morning and announced the news." Satsuki replied, putting the magazine away to her bag.
"I can imagine," Ken murmured, shaking his head lightly.
They were having another lunch date. It almost felt that they had nothing but lunch dates anymore, twice or thrice a week. As of late, Ken had been very busy with the filming of his new movie. He was at the studio or on a location until very late in the evenings, so lunch breaks were the only times he could manage to see Satsuki, however shortly it would be. Still, it made Satsuki feel flattered that he wanted to see her so much that he made time for her in his hectic schedule. That alone spoke a fair deal about how serious Narita was about her. She was happy for that.
She actually liked their regular lunch dates; she enjoyed the conversations they had. He was courteous and attentive. He had a sharp and dry sense of humour Satsuki was growing fond of. He was intelligent, and well learned in many kind fields, which made him an interesting person to spend time with.
Slowly but surely, he was making her see who he was, as a person, not as a professional. And little by little, it started to become more and more evident to Satsuki that there was much more to him than the charismatic ladies' man she had initially mistaken him to be.