Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat and its characters...

Please excuse my poor English grammar and limited vocabulary. This is my advance birthday gift to all of you guys. And two more days, I can finally buy myself a drink! Yaay! Hahaha! Feel free to send me a bottle of champagne. ^_^ I will certainly give you my address. Lol Anyways, belated Happy Halloween! Though I don't really believe in it nor celebrate it. So, let's be merry and have a reading party! Lol Enjoy! ^_^

Little recap:

She, Mogami Kyoko herself, was the one that opened that box. Love did not pushed its way in, it forced its way out because love does not come from the outside, it comes from the inside. It's within your heart, not without. That was the lesson Mogami Kyoko painfully learned that day.

...

"How long, Boss?" Kuu asked worriedly. "I feel sorry for the little guy to be away from them so much. And feel sorry for us too, Boss. I don't think we can take another week of this."

"Oh, tough it out, Kuu." Lory replied. "That's what grandfather's do." Then, he put the phone back to its receiver.

Chapter 40

...WHY?

...HOW?

Those were the questions Kyoko kept asking herself because there was no other else to ask questions to, except herself. She was the one who fell in love. She was the one who had broken all the locks on the box that she personally chained and locked and swore that no one, not even her, would open. So now, the question were WHY and HOW?

Well, she did knew the answers to those questions. She did not really willingly and sanely opened it. Her over imaginative mind caused her feelings to burst its way out. Of course, she knew of her own feelings. But she chose to ignore it as best as possible. Her mind, that so greatly helped her ignore or delude herself of her own true feelings for her respected sempai, was also the one that helped her to completely and irrevocably realize and acknowledge the truth in her heart.

As they say, 'our minds are the most deceiving thing of all.' You may be able to momentarily escape or run away from your own heart, but you cannot escape from your own mind and thoughts. You cannot get out of your own head. It's even more impossible to turn it off or stop it from thinking. That was where Kyoko was now... Inside her head... Cornered in her own mind... With no where to run and nothing to stop the inevitable of her facing her true feeling for Ren.

Feelings are substances we cannot touch or grasp by hand. It does not have physical form and most people have a hard time believing in some emotions that we feel, like love. Hearts are only instruments that enable us to feel, but it does not contain all feelings. Feelings spreads in your body and fill you up, make you smile, cry, shout, frown, jump, punch, kick, dance, etc. It does not stay only inside you heart. It wants to be expressed and the more you suppressed it, the stronger it will want to come out. That was what happened to Kyoko.

The box was opened. All her hidden and suppressed feelings came out all at once that caused her brain to overload which resulted in overreaction of the situation. It was her subconscious telling her of her fears and true feelings in her dream last night which caused her conscious mind to run wild. Dreams are powerful things. Experts said dreams are connected to your subconscious. And in Kyoko's case, it was.

Now that it was out, Kyoko was having a war between her mind and her heart, inside her head. But neither one was backing down. Kyoko's mind did not want her to show it. It has the instinct to protect herself. Her heart is bursting with her suppressed emotion. It's like a bomb ready to explode. Fear versus Love. Who was going to win?

Kyoko was startled when someone knocked on the door of the trailer. The woman outside was calling her to dinner. Kyoko did not want to go outside where she was going to be vulnerable. She wanted to stay inside that trailer forever and wished that everyone would just leave her alone. She was busy thinking inside her head that she did not reply. The woman knocked and informed her again. Kyoko still did not make some kind of response or sound of acknowledgment. After the third time, Kyoko heard the woman walked away. She released the breath she was holding and relaxed once again on her bed, lying on her stomach and facing to her right.

Kyoko closed her eyes and went back to battling with herself again inside her mind. She knew she was not going to be able to sleep that night. Her mind was too busy running on overdrive. She was strengthening her mind to battle her heart. She was searching her mind for all of the reasons that what she was feeling was wrong and not true or even if it's true it was impossible. She had to give up and forget everything ever happened.

Then, a sudden knock on the door of her trailer was heard again. She stilled and held her breath as she felt her heart pounded against her rib cage. My feelings are like my heart... She thought dryly. It feels like it's constantly trying to break out of my ribcage.

"Kyoko, are you in there?" The familiar velvety voice that made her heart race even faster and melt her very strong bones, called out to her from outside the door.

It's Ren! She thought as she was starting to breath a little heavily. W-wha-what should I do? I don't want to see him! Why does it have to be him? He's the one I don't want to see most of all at the moment... or ever! I don't know what my heart will make me do if I see him!

"Kyoko? Are you alright?" He asked again. Now, with concern in his voice. "Are you feeling okay?"

Oh, goddess of love! Do you really hate me that much? Why are you torturing me? Please... I beg of yo-

"I'm coming in!" Ren called out in warning to her.

NOOOOOO! She shouted in her head. But before she could do anything or speak, the door opened and Ren stepped inside. What was worst was that she heard the door closed behind him. Right that moment, they were totally alone inside her trailer. She squeezed her eyes tight and pretended to sleep as she tried hard to control her breathing.

Ren crossed to her and sat at the edge of the bed she was laying on. She felt the bed dipped and her heart ran wild. She was even afraid Ren might hear it at how loudly it was pounding. It was like a puppy who recognized her master's scent outside the door and was excitedly jumping and scratching at the door to get to her master for a cuddle and a kiss.

"Kyoko?" He called her name in a whisper. Her heart stumbled and skipped a beat. Then, she felt warm fingers brushed strands of her hair away from her face. He continued stroking the side of her head with his palm and Kyoko's breathing was getting more labored. She was also feeling all warm and tingly inside. Before she could snuggle her head to his palm, fortunately for Kyoko, Ren stopped and pulled away. She thought he was going to stand and go away. But she was wrong. He leaned forward and kissed her hairline near her temple. Then he whispered softly to her ear, "Sweet dreams, my love."

Ren stood up and walked out of Kyoko's trailer. She was too stunned to hear Ren telling Yashiro and the director outside that she was fine and asleep, so they don't have to worry about her. But if Ren should have stayed and looked at her for a minute longer after he kissed and whispered sweetly to her, he would have been able to see Kyoko blushing from head to toe.

Kyoko's heart continued to pound vigorously as her mind became pirated. Ren's whispered words to her ear were repeating like a broken record inside her head. The words that really broken her mind were the last two words. Her eyes were open wide and she was frozen in place. Her mind had trouble understanding the words but she felt inside her heart, there was like a tiny ball of fire, rapidly growing in size. It was spreading across her entire body, enveloping her with its warmth. Her lips moved in its own accord and lifted into a smile. Her heart was singing and she was absolutely in a place higher than she was at the moment.

Then, her brain kicked in. The insanely rational and reasoned part of her. It broke through her happy bubble and caused chaos. Why did he call me my love? Her mind asked and her master of insane reasons and excuses came up with a solution. Oh, he calls me my love when we were in our married couple disguise. Maybe he slipped into character. Her heart sank instantly as her brain reasoned with her that she should not feel that way. Her brain and her heart continued their debate, giving evidence to their supported beliefs.

Came past midnight, it arrived to where her mind finally dropped the piece of concrete evidence that weighed millions of tons which her heart was not going to be able to lift up. He said he was already in love with a high school girl before, remember? Her mind played a blurry flashback of that memory. But the sound of his voice saying that the person he was beginning to fall in love with was a high school student. Are you sure he's still in love with her? He was only beginning to fall in love with her, maybe he did not continue to really fall in love with her because as you clearly know right now, Ren is still single. Kyoko's little angels/her heart reasoned.

Tsuruga-san is not that kind of man. You thought so too at the time, if you can still remember. Replied her demons/her brain. And the love angels could not argue with that. The flash back continued to where Ren told her he had no intention of falling in love and to recent memories where she found out the reason why. Everything was swirling and somewhere along, she drifted off to sleep at 3:14 in the morning.

The next day Kyoko was woken up by one of the make-up artist. She bolted upright at the loud banging on the door. She replied that she was going to get ready for the day immediately. It was 7:00 in the morning when she looked at her phone for the time. She quickly got ready and changed her clothes. In her haste, she completely forgot about Ren. When she arrived at the dining area, she saw Ren sitting in a chair with his back facing her. She just froze with her eyes wide, jaw dropped open. Then, in slow motion, her eyes twinkled, lips lifted into a wide, angelic and breath taking smile and her face just lit up like a Christmas tree. She felt so light, like she could fly in the sky and conquer the world.

Yashiro noticed her and called out to her. She snapped out of her trance and realized what she just did. Her face darkened and she glowered at herself. Yashiro who saw the entire change from sunny face to dark as hell face, stopped waving at her in shock and confusion as to what he did wrong. Ren noticed and followed his gaze to her. Ren quickly but smoothly walked towards her and stopped in front of her.

"Are you still not feeling well, Kyoko?" Ren asked worriedly.

Kyoko snapped her head upward to look at his face. She opened her mouth to answer him but when she looked at his beautiful face, she stared dazedly at him as she got lost in his eyes.

"Kyoko?" Ren asked, growing more concerned for her.

She snapped again and felt mortified at what she had just done and angry at Ren for having that kind of power and effect on her. Damn you, Tsuruga Ren! She cursed him in her headas she literally glared at the man in question. I won't be defeated!

The glare only lasted a second but Ren noticed it clearly and felt surprised and confused. Kyoko then smiled at him, a little to fake.

"Good morning, Tsuruga-san." Kyoko greeted with a bow and her fake smile. After that, she marched away towards the table with the food. Ren and everyone who noticed their interaction, looked at them strangely. Kyoko got food and sat with her make-up artist and other lady staff. Yashiro, the director and especially Ren were confused and busy thinking of why Kyoko was acting like that because Kyoko and Ren were inseparable since they started filming. They sit next to each other, ate on the same table, chatted with each other during filming breaks. They were just together all the time. Now, Kyoko was obviously avoiding him like Ren did not just saved her yesterday and held her while she cried. Women really were a mystery to men.

They proceeded to preparing after breakfast. They filmed the scene where Maddie was packing here things to move in with Miles for his remaining stay in Japan. It was just short and easy scenes and they finished it quickly. They took a break after that, but the crews were busy packing up the tents and everything because they were going to go to the next location that night in order to be in schedule. They had a deadline to meet. This drama was going to air soon after the current Harlequin drama finishes.

They had little time because the director was insisting that he would only start filming if he got the actors he wanted. The president owed director Shingai one for the Ruriko scheme and he was using that now to get what he wanted. But The president at the time was very busy with his scheme with Baby Ren going to be adopted and Ren and Kyoko were at Taiwan at the time. After that, the president wanted to give Kyoko and Ren more time to change their minds and realize their feelings for each other and adopt the baby for real. The president was disappointed and this drama was the next plan of action. Then, the scandal came and shook the president's plan for a second there but he was eventually grateful for the scandal, because it pushed Ren and Kyoko even more to take the role. Everything went according to plan.

Everyone had lunch and then prepared again for the scene on the beach yesterday. Kyoko locked herself inside her trailer during the breaks and everybody was very worried about her. They thought she was nervous about the scene and everybody was very understanding of her and left her alone. Ren did too, despite of his curiosity and concern for her. The filming finally arrived and went perfectly. Kyoko was so in character as Maddie. She lost herself to another character to forget her own dilemma. Dilemma because expressing her true feelings was not acceptable for her mind and forgetting Ren was also not an acceptable option for her heart and neither one was budging or giving in.

The next scene was of Miles coming home after his work on Friday, a month in their relationship, and Maddie greeted him at the door. She kissed him and it became more passionate, deeper and frantic by the second. Miles tried to stop her for a moment because he had something to give her, the diamond earrings. But she didn't stop and he was glad to continue too.

Kyoko was very nervous. This was their first kissing scene after the box was opened and she realized her feelings for him. She was very afraid that she was going to lose herself in it and never come back to herself again. Kissing was like giving herself to him and letting him know her true feelings for him to accept or throw away. She was going to be vulnerable and she did not want that. But when the unavoidable came, she hoped and prayed to be only Maddie and not herself.

The director yelled 'action!' and she was Maddie. She greeted Miles with a kiss that turned deep and passionate and needing for more. They started making out and Miles pushed her down slowly to lie on the floor as he followed her. She responded fervently too and more passionately like she could not get enough of him.

Ren inside Miles noticed a little difference in Maddie's Kisses. It has more pressure and more... Feelings, if I am right. Ren thought.

While Kyoko inside Maddie moaned, Oh my heart!... Why are you rejoicing?

The scene ended with that, before more skin was shown and before the two would be lost in their own world and embarrassed themselves in front of everyone.

Wow... I can't believe I finally finished that. I was having a bit of a hard time starting this chapter because it felt like I was going inside a new Mogami Kyoko's head which is really true. She's not really the same Kyoko from the beginning of this fanfic. She evolved with every decision and events that happened along the way. It was fairly difficult to write out her conflict and emphasize the effect of the box being opened and the resistance of it. But my weird mind came up again with some interesting things. It was just popping out and I just kept on writing what was popping up. And this was the result, so I really hoped you liked it. I'm sorry there's not much of Ren's perspective here. But I promise you, after Kyoko, it's Ren's turn next and he's going to do it with a BANG! Lol I hope you look forward to it...

Anyways, thank you thank you thank you very so many much for all~ the love and support... And for reading and all those wonderful reviews, follows and favs. I really do appreciate it guys from the bottom of my heart. Though I didn't realize before that my heart has a bottom. HAHAHA! I love you if you get it.. Lol I know I tell lame jokes... Take care guys... Read yah next chap... ^_^