"Only 15 minutes left!" Noa said to herself while waiting for her shift to end. she was sitting behind the cash register, looking around the restaurant.

It was a small place, with light-brown walls; the enterance being infront of the register. there were four tables on each side of the enterance, and behind the register there were two doors; one leading to the kitchen and the other to a small Changing Room.

there were some paintings on the walls, and a rather big vase to the left of the enterance.

"Finally!!" Noa said as she looked at her watch. it was 6:00PM. "I gotta hurry home and help my mom!".She quickly headed to the changing room, took off her uniform and wore her casual clothes: Blue Jeans, and a yellow T-shirt with 3 pink hearts on it.

she hurried out of the changing room, said "Goodbye!" to her fellow co-workers, and started walking towards the elevator.  she pushed the button and waited for the elevator to come. the mall was quite busy at that time. she looked at her watch again, the elevator was taking too long!

"Why is this thing taking so long?!  i have lots of things to do! I've got math homework for tomorrow!!! and we have an english exam tooo!!!! Oh and i promised mom i would help her clean the house tonight!!!!"

all these thoughts made Noa panick, and she was pressing the elevator button repeatedly: "Hurry Hurry Hu- "

*ding*

The doors suddenly opened, and he saw a young, handsome boy inside the elevator, looking at her. she was very embarassed and her face turned red. she quickly went inside the elevator and pressed the Ground Floor button. the boy kept looking at noa for a few more second and then took his eyes off her.  

"Oh boy that was embarassing...he was looking at me like im crazy! he's so handsome too!" Noa thought to herself while peeking at the man standing beside her.

Suddenly, The ground started shaking!

~GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......    GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR~

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh YABAI WHAT'S HAPPENING?!!!" Noa Screamed as she was being thrown around the place due to all the shaking

"It's an earthquake." the boy said.

although everything was chaotic, he seemed very calm about the situation; unlike noa who was still screaming. the shaking continued, and The elevator's lights went out, and that made Noa let out another short scream.

"Stop screaming will you?!" the boy said with a commanding tone,while trying to keep his balance.   

"Ahhh~" Noa suddenly lost her balance and got thrown to the other side of the elevator, hitting the boy in the process and they both fell on the ground, with noa being on top of him. the shaking stopped, and the two realized the situation they were in. 

" *cough* I'm Sor- Sorry!" noa said while getting up. "It's okay" they both blushed. "it seems like we're stuck here for a while"

"So, What's your name?" he asked noa. 

"my name is Noa shimizu...What's your name?"  

"I'm Ryosuke Yamada, nice to meet you!" He said.

"Nice to meet you too, Yamada-san..." She said in a low voice. it was obvious that she's scared from the dark. the only light in the elevator was coming from a small red bulb next to the elevator's buttons.

"Oh no, what's going to happen now?" she said while shaking "I'm so scared!!, I'm stuck here and don't know whats happening outside! Mom's going to be so worried!! Mom is.."

she started to cry when she thought of her mom.

"It's okay, it's not like you're alone here, Im here too, remember?" Ryosuke said with a low voice, trying to comfort her.  he started to pat her head. after about 2 minutes she started to feel better and stopped crying. "than..thanks.." noa said.

Ryosuke smiled at him and said: "Okay, now i'm gonna call 119 (emergency number in japan) and tell them we're stuck here. it's gonna be okay don't worry!" noa nodded.

Ryosuke took out his phone and dialed 119. "Hello, we're stuck in an elevator in Shibuyamuri (random name :>) mall. can you send someone to get us out?"  *a moment of silence* "Okay, i understand, we'll wait then" 

after hanging up, Ryosuke looked at noa "They said they'll be here soon, but since there are a lot of emergencies at the moment it might take a while" Noa just nodded, and sat down on the floor.  "Hmmm, she still seems sad...what can i do to cheer her up?" ryosuke thought "Oh i Know!"

yamada sat down aswell ."Noa-kun, i have an idea! why don't you use my phone and call your mom? tell her that you're alright?!"  

Noa suddenly looked at ryosuke with a big smile! "Wow, she's so cute when she smiles!" ryosuke thought and gave her his phone. Noa started dialing quickly and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello? MOM!!!! Yes yes I'm fine don't worry! are you okay? ah thank god.  I'm still in the mall im stuck in an - Mom? mom?! hello?! HELLO?!" 

"Oh crap" ryosuke said "looks like the battery ran out!"   Noa was looking sad again "oh no, i didn't get to tell her everything...i wanted to talk to her longer too..." she said with a sad tone. she gave the phone back to ryosuke "Thank you, Yamada-san"

"You can call me with  my first name." he said with a smile. "Oh, okay then, ryosuke-kun" she replied back. then there was another few minutes of silence between the two.

"he's so nice, and kind to me" noa thought "well at least im stuck with a good guy..and he's handsome too"

noa started looking at ryosuke's face, his lips, nose, eyes.. she didn't realize that she was staring at his face for a long time. suddenly ryosuke looked at her too and she quickly took her eyes off while blushing.

"You know it's rude to stare" Yamada said, not with an angry voice though; quite the opposite, he was smiling .

"sorry for that" Noa replied.

"It's okay... hey, you really love your mother don't you? i could tell from the way you were talking to her."

"Hai, she's a very good mom!" she continued "my parents got divorced when i was little and since then i've been living with my mom, and she's worked really really hard to raise me well... That's why i love her so much!.....i hope i can see her again...."

she said the last sentence with a shaking voice, and she was about to cry again. "stop with the crying Noa!!" she thought to herself "all i've done since we got stuck was cry and cry again.." so she kept herself from crying.

ryosuke noticed that she's holding her tears back.."she's trying not to cry" yamada thought, and slowly moved beside her and wrapped his arm around noa, and he put her head on his chest

"don't worry, I've told you already, it's going to be okay...you'll definantly see your mother again, soon" he said as he was patting her head. "why am i doing this? we've just met 30minutes ago...but she's so innocent looking and cute..i just want to make her feel better"

Noa couldn't hold back anymore, so she started crying on ryosuke's chest. it was so warm, she felt so comfortable in his embrace...she kept on crying, and crying, and eventually fell sleep in his arms.

"She was so tired" ryosuke thought as he was looking at Noa "she's so...beautiful" he sat there thinking "do i have feelings for this girl? how is this possible? i don't even know her that well..."

he kept staring at her face for who knows how long. the sight of her red lips, long eyelashes were so stunning he couldn't take his eyes off. seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours; and he finally fell sleep too.

*ding*

The elevator's doors opened, and two firemen came in, with a bright flashlight Noa and ryosuke opened their eyes, they were both dizzy, and didn't realize what's happening. all they knew was they were carried outside, and somehow got seperated.

finally ryosuke came to his senses and realized that noa isn't around. alot was going on outside. rescue teams moving everywhere, firetrucks and ambulances all with their alarms on. so much noise and lights. it's enough to make anyone confused. ryosuke was looking for noa. he wanted to go look for her. "Noa? Noa?!" he shouted. he couldn't see noa anywhere.

one of the medical staff came to him. "Ryosuke Yamada-san?"  "Yes?!" he replied.

"We've been told to take you to a hospital for checkups right now. appearantly J.E was very worried about you after the earthquake, and couldn't reach you on your cellphone" "I'm Fine!  But what about my friend? she was in the elevator with me, is she alright? where is she?" he asked.

he was very worried; he didn't even get to give her his number, or tell her that he'd like to stay in touch.

"I don't know Yamada-san. please get inside the ambulance" the medic said while pointing at the ambulance. he grabbed ryosuke's arm and took him to the ambulance. yamada was resistant; he still wanted to go look for Noa. 

but it was impossible to look for her in this situation. the street was crowded with medics and firemen; so he gave up and went to the ambulance; with his head down in sadness.

next morning, nearby hospital:

Noa was sleep on her bed, her mom sitting next to her; looking at her child. noa started to open her eyes... "Mom...MOM!" she hugged her mom tightly. "oh i thought i'd never see you again..."    "It's okay sweetheart...you're here now.." .

she started to recall what had happened to her. "I was stuck in an elevator with someone...ryosuke-kun... but how did i get here?"

 "I remember a bright light, then someone carried me outside...then..then..I can't remember anything else..." she finished with a sad tone. 

"You were tired, the doctor said you fainted, Noa." her mother said "they took you to a hospital, and called me, and told me what happened."    "Mom, do you know where the boy i was in the elevator with went?" 

her mother shook her head:"No, sorry, i don't know anything about him"  then there was a moment of silence. Noa's mom looked at her sad face worriedly.

" i'll go and talk to your doctor now, you should rest" she said that, kissed noa on the forehead and got out of the room.

"Ryosuke-kun.....he was so nice and kind to me....." she said to herself. she knew that she might never see him again; and the thought made her heart break in half..... she closed her eyes and thought about him "ryosuke-kun..." and she fell sleep.

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Hope you enjoyed reading the story ^.^

I'm currently writing a sequel! "Second Encounter"

THANKX FOR READING!!! COMMENTS APPRICIATED :3