Ren bowed deeply to the vendor of the stall he had "rented" apologizing for the trouble. He also handed over the proceeds from whatever he had sold.
"Don't even think of trying to deny it." said Kyoko when he came out of the market. "I beat you fair and square."
"I won't deny it." Ren said smiling at her.
"Because I was still totally in character as an old lady... Wait you won't deny it?"
"No. You win. I did reveal that I was not really a fish vendor. But i would like to hear what you were saying."
"Well.." said Kyoko the wind out of her sails. She didn't want to seem like she was gloating now. "I thought that I- the old lady would get tired of flirting and getting no response and would try to take some drastic measures. So I went out found the vendor and complained to him that you were overcharging me while flirting with me. I was hoping it would get you away from the stall so i could properly sink my hooks into you. And if not well serves you right!"
"And how did the old lady figure out that i was not the owner of the stall and also identify the vendor?"
"Umm... you were obviously not the owner because you were sweating profusely. An owner who comes in and sits in that stall day in and day out would know to dress in layers. You must be a temp hire so the owner would not be far away so he could still keep an eye on you. She was just a very smart old lady is all. No break in character!" Kyoko finished triumphantly.
"Very good!" said Ren. "Now can we come back to the subject of why you are so nervous about your 'Mika'?
"Not so fast." replied Kyoko. "I won so you will now have to practice your role till I am satisfied." Kyoko grinned.
Ren said, "That is true. I was coming to that. If you tell me what your concern about acting as 'Mika' opposite my 'Kenji' then perhaps we can practice that scenes?"
"I can't say it" said Kyoko suddenly blushing.
"If I may take a guess? Is it because you are afraid your real feelings for me will break through your character of 'Mika'?"
Kyoko nodded thinking 'That is a better way of saying than "I am afraid I will act like I am attracted to you and kiss you by mistake on screen and then everyone will know we are married.'
"What is so wrong with that?" Ren asked.
"What do you mean 'wrong'. Everything is wrong. I am supposed to be the villain and you are the hero. I can't..."
"And has there been no villain in the history of drama that has not fallen in love with the hero?"
'That's right' thought Kyoko. 'The director did cast a woman for the role. Why would he do that unless he wanted to show some love-hate tension between them.'
"You have to act as though you are antagonistic toward me while being in love with me. Then that is your 'Mika'. A woman who acts antagonistic towards my 'Kenji' while unbeknownst to her, she is actually in love with him. And my 'Kenji' will also feel the same. I realized that I cannot stop from thinking 'not-really-antagonistic' thoughts towards you back there while you were flirting with me. So it occurred to me that perhaps we should work it into our characters. Add an edge to the story. What do you think?"
Kyoko felt a tingly excited feeling. All of a sudden she could visualize her - her 'Mika'. Up till now whenever she imagined the scene of the interrogation between Mika and Kenji, she would end up imagining kissing him- sometimes even worse. Or better, depending on how you look at it. But now Mika will be the one imagining and so Mika would try to fight against those feelings - initially denying them and then realizing the truth. She had wondered why such an intelligent and capable villain like Mika had been written as actually getting caught. This was why - she allowed herself to get caught.
"Let's do this Ren-san" she said and seeing the determination in her eye, Ren fell in love with her all over again.
Kyoko fingered her wedding ring. She usually kept it out of sight but sitting on the plane on the way back from San Francisco, the risk seemed minimal. People rarely recognized her as the star she was because her natural state was that of unobtrusive plainness.
It has been more than six months since the finale for "Killing you softly" had aired and even now Kyoko found it remarkable - remarkable that the director had agreed to the suggestions Ren and she had made about their respective roles - the falling in love angle. And what's more, their fans and the audience had been super appreciative of their on-screen love-hate relationship. In the promotional interviews she had done, people wanted to know more about her character, her lines and simply- her and Ren had fielded questions like "How was it to act opposite Kyoko-san?" Could it be that she was considered the "top" actress. No No No, audiences are fickle - they don't realize Ren-san's worth in this role but they will in others.
And now she had just finished filming what could only be described as the opportunity of a lifetime - working with the Academy Award winning director Rita Nisenbaum. Shooting had taken five weeks to finish - her role was only that of a supporting actress. She had called Ren everyday without fail -sometimes to ask for advice, sometimes just to hear his voice and sometimes just a quick call to say she was doing ok. He had made her promise to do that and also send videos of eating three square meals a day. Of course he was worried about her. She was pregnant after all.
"The captain has switched on the fasten seat belts sign. Please fasten your seat belts. " came the announcement.
Kyoko suddenly felt terrible. It came up from her stomach and into her mouth - a foul tasting bile. She vomited into the bag provided. She pressed a button asking for a steward to come help her. Before he could reach her, she had vomited two more times. When he came, she was feeling dizzy.
"Water" she said and seeing her pale face he quickly brought some for her.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yes." she replied automatically not wanting to alarm him.Probably morning sickness she thought wondering why it was coming on so suddenly. Is it supposed to be like this? What do I do?
She threw up couple more times. Even water was tough to keep down. She did not remember the landing at all nor did she remember how she had gotten from the plane to outside the airport. Ren was there of course, in disguise, waiting for her. Seeing her state, he ran to her catching her just in time as she fainted in his arms.
"Kyoko what's wrong?" he asked but by then she couldn't hear him.
A/N: Now we are almost back to original storyline. Hope the transition wasn't too abrupt.