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Everyone stood still; neither a single slight move nor a single word came out from their mouth. It seemed like time had stopped, even the bossing leader Masami was quiet.

"Come on, fashion show is just around the corner. No time to waste."
It was Kazunari who broke the silence. With words from the president, everyone started to go back to what they were doing earlier.

"Aya, could you help me sort some papers out?"
Seeing the stares from Kazunari, Satoshi quickly dragged Aya to the other floor where he left all the papers behind.

"Where's Jun?"
Sho looked around; he didn't see him at all today. He thought the only guy that could make Mao happier would be Jun.

"Oh yeah, where is he?"
Masaki had no idea, the last time he saw him was yesterday night. It was rare for Jun to miss a practice or a work day. He has always been keen to come and practice since he was a perfectionist towards his career.

Jun was standing in his dark room by the window, holding the magazine. He didn't bother to on the lights. He stood still, memories of past were going over his mind as his anger towards Toma increased. Throwing the magazine on the bed, he knew he had to settle this war declared by Toma.

"Hello?"
He picked up his phone from his pocket, ringing. He sees the caller and it was `Aiba Masaki`, it must be about this matter, he thought as he answered.

"Where are you? Anyway, you should already know but Mao's in big trouble. Toma's behind all of this."
Masaki explained what exactly happened when he was dragged to Crystal, Toma suggesting to take some photos for `fun`.

"Mao is suspended from the fashion show, somehow she didn't tell the whole truth. I think she's hiding something."
He continued, telling Jun she is innocent. He remembered Mao acting not as the usual her, being pissed and misplacing her anger on someone else.

"Right, thanks for calling."
Jun closed his phone, not telling his best friend about recent moves by Toma. He wanted to deal with this problem himself, he knew this has nothing to do with anyone but him. He felt miserably bad and sorry for Mao. She had nothing to do with the revenge by Toma and yet she has gone into a big trouble. He flipped open his phone once again, went down his contact list and pressed the dial button.

Mao was walking down the streets after the dramatic exit from Diamond, depressed and shocked of all the things happening to her in one day. Her phone rang in her bag but having no mood to talk to anyone right now, she ignored it until the person called her continuously for ten times.

"Who the heck is calling me?"
She tried to ignore it for few times but it kept on bothering her. She thought of turning off her phone until she saw the caller was Jun. She once hesitated to accept the call but she couldn't resist, it was her long true love, Jun.

"He-Hello?"
Not used to talk on the phone with him since it was the first time and because she was still depressed, her voice sounded lower than usual.

"Thank god you answered. Where are you?"

"I just walked passed Tokyo Station."
Mao looked over to her left and told him the biggest thing she saw around her. Was he worried about her? Does he know about the trouble she caused? Is she angry with her? Her mind was full of questions.

"Okay, wait there. Wait around the fountain, that big one."
Jun quickly grabbed his keys and ran out from his room. He needed to see her quick. Apologize and at least explain to her what is going on.

"Hey, Satoshi..."
Aya stopped her hands from organizing the papers and looked up. They had to sort out papers according to ascending order of the first alphabet. The paper consisted of each model, all their schedule, timing, type of dress and hair was written.

"Hmm?"
Still sorting out papers, he replied holding pin clips with his mouth. There were still piles of them left.

"Am I that annoying?"
Aya still was tied to Mao's line of `You're annoying`. Mao never shouted at her that way and Aya thought maybe Mao was always thinking she was annoying.

"No you're not. You're one kind friend. She was just upset about all the things happening to her, I guess."
Surprised by her question, he looked up and smiled. He guessed she still cared about what Mao told her.

"You should go and cheer her up then!"
A light bulb lighted up above Aya's head as she believed Satoshi's denial on her annoyingness. She felt lighter than ever. Using her phone to track down where Mao is right now with her GPS application, there was question mark on Satoshi's face.

"She's around Tokyo station. I'll finish off the work, don't worry."
Checking where Mao is, she shows the map on her phone to him and smiled back.

"Wait, but-"

"Not buts! Just go! Go! Go!"
Satoshi wanted to tell her he wasn't ready yet but Aya cut in, pushing Satoshi towards the elevator.

Mao stood around the fountain as she as told by Jun. She sees the plasma screen on buildings, all showing the big news about the new Crystal magazine issue and there were people handing out newspapers on this shocking news. Every citizen in Japan would know this news at the end of the day. She pulled up her collar to hide her face since she didn't have her hat or sunglass with her today.

"Oh my god. What is this girl thinking? I thought she's like the innocent little angel."

"I can't believe she betrayed her own company."

"Well, I support Crystal anyways so it is a great chance."

"I never want to see her face! Just quit!"

People reading the newspaper and the others watching the screen starts to comment out loud. Mao hears loads of negative comment towards her and she couldn't stand it anymore. She had no confident shouting back at them so she walked away, somewhere quiet but near the fountain so Jun will be able to find her. She stood still and thought back the faces of all the staffs and the models, including Aya's shocked face. She regretted shouting at her, she couldn't control herself back then and she didn't mean to say it or didn't feel much that way.

"Hey."
A voice called her from behind. She knew it was Jun but didn't want to turn and face him. She couldn't smile; she didn't want him to see her mood-less face.

"Are you okay?"
Jun walked over to see her face since she didn't turn back and it was his first time seeing her cry. Mao is usually the mood maker among the models who usually laughs out loud along with Masaki who just is stupid that makes people laugh.

"I, I... Ah!"
Mao couldn't in her tears which she usually does when something bad happens to her. This time it was too bad, her tears just uncontrollably falls from her eyes to her cheek. Before Mao could finish her sentence, Jun pulled her close and hugged her tight. She didn't know why he was hugging her but she didn't mind. In fact, she liked it. Jun just whispered in her ears with apologies. Mao was having mix feelings of sadness, happiness and confusion while Jun somehow couldn't leave this girl alone. Both of them never realized the existence of Satoshi who was looking at them from the side.

"I see it now...”
Satoshi whispered to himself as he decided to go back to work but he didn't want to. He had lost his energy. He did have some sense that Mao has some feeling towards Jun for a long time. Always watching her would give him some ideas on where her eyes were on. He believed it was just his imagination and never gave up until now. Right now, he is terribly hurt for knowing the truth and that both of them are together now. He just wished he never have seen it.

Aya wondered how Satoshi went on with Mao. With her dance of excitement, she went over the window to look at the beautiful scenery and opened it to feel the nice breeze of the cold wind.

"Oh no!"
As the wind got stronger, the whole pile of papers scattered around the room, some in the air flying and some were sliding down the floor. She quickly ran around to catch the flying papers, she knew they were important.

"Hey. What are you doing?"
Sho came over, checking up on Aya. He knew Satoshi and Aya would be here so after he was done with his things, he decided to visit them. Visit Aya to be precise and it was his lucky day, there was only Aya present.

"Sho-kun! I know it's in a mess but yeah, hi!"
Running around, chasing the papers that flying around all over the place, Aya greeted Sho who just stood in front of the elevator with his round big eyes. He never had seen such a drama for past few years.

"Why don't you shut the window first?"
Sho chuckled and walked over to close the window. The papers were now easier to catch and to gather. Aya never thought of closing it since she just panicked to catch the papers.

"Oh, right. Thanks."
She scratched her head and felt so stupid. Now she had to organize all of them from scratch. She sighed and squatted down to pick up the papers scattered on the floor. She was about to pick up another one when her hands met a bigger warm hand. She looked up and sees Sho with number of papers in his hands; he must be helping her picking up.

"I guess you need some help."
He smiled and continued to pick up some more. Two is obviously better than one as they finished clearing the floor just around ten minutes, faster than they both expected.

"Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it."
Sho handed his pile of papers to Aya and she neatly put it on the table. There is no way I'm ever gonna open that window, she thought.

"Are you going home now?"
He asked, thinking probably not yet seeing her starting to separate into parts.

"No, I still have to finish up organizing them."

"Then I'll stay and help. I have no plans later anyway."
He didn't want to leave her alone and he wanted to stay with her as long as he can.

"Thanks, you're really kind."
Aya started to explain what he has to do, since it was an easy job there was nothing much to tell him. They both tried to do it fast, faster they finish, faster they could leave this building. While doing the paper work, they chit-chatted to release stress of work and it worked. They both laughed and at the same time, their hands were moving and they are keeping up a good speed.

It was past 6pm, most of the staffs left home since their working hours are over. Masami was still at her desk, editing some of the fashion show's line ups. Works that her co-worker left undone was usually finished by Masami; she always wanted to finish before the deadline which was tomorrow. Printing the last few pages, she stapled them and decided to hand over to Kazunari today. Pressing for the elevator, she practiced her smile. She knew that Kazunari would not be in good mood from all the Mao happening so she wanted to at least make him feel better anyhow. She knocked on the door and wondered if he is still here. He might gone home already, she thought. There was no answer from the room and without waiting for his answer, she went in and placed her paper works on the table.

"Are you feeling okay?"
She asks, seeing Kazunari sitting on the chair facing the back, gazing outside the window. He does this when he's fed up, tired, sad or confused and this time was mixture of all these.

"I don't know. I never felt this way before."
He turned his chair to face front and starts to read the work she has done. He always proofreads first before signing for approval.

"What are you feeling?"
Masami's expression groomed. She had a bad feeling about his thoughts and she didn't want to know about it but couldn't help to care.

"I don't know if I did the right thing."
Finishing reading and signing the paper, he passed it back to her and covered his eyes with his hands.

"I never felt this way for anyone before, like seeing her cry made me think I made the wrong decision. Ah, why am I telling you all these, sorry. You should go home and take some rest; I know you have been working overtime for past few days."
The moment of Aya shedding tears flashed in his mind and every time he thinks about it, his heart starts to bleed. As a president of this company, he also had the pride to save his company and the priority goes to this.

"You did the right thing. You should take some rest too, Nino."
She emphasized on the `did` part and waved goodbye. Leaving the room and shutting the door, she leans on the door with her paper held tight in her chest, trying to tolerate the sore in her heart. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before walking back to her floor and packs her stuffs to go home. Just as she was filing the papers Kazunari signed, her phone vibrated on the desk but she didn't pick up.

"Ryo..."
She picked up the phone from the table in her hands and she can see the caller's name appearing. `Nishikido Ryo`, the last name she would want to hear or see from this world. He has been calling her repeatedly every night for past few weeks. She never picked up any of his calls or replied mails. Ryo was her ex-boyfriend who worked at Diamond before as a cameraman. They met, started as friends and dated happily for a while until he cheated on her with other pretty models. It was Masami's first love and she always believed in `happily ever after`. Relationship between them was only known to handful of people since they liked to keep it as a secret for both of their career's sake. Ryo quit working in Diamond after their breakup and the guy that filled Masami's empty heart was Kazunari. He understood her condition and took care of her as her talent as designer improved dramatically. Gradually but certainly, Masami was falling in love with him. Well, at least until just now. After hearing his feelings, she was definitely seeing the guy she love going over another girl. Masami took her phone and slowly walked out to the balcony and opened it. There was unheard message left from him.

"Come back to me."
The voice sounded dearly to her, maybe because her heart started to have little holes in them again. With a weird strange feeling in her heart, she left the building to go home.

"You know the first time I saw you, I was so shocked."
Sho spoke, remembering the first day Aya stepped in his life, start of something new.

"Heyyy! What's that suppose to mean?"
Aya interpreted in a bad way, thinking did she look like a monster on the day? She admits she had a bad hair day but other than that, she was fine.

"Haha, I mean in a good way. You looked really pretty."
How cute, he thought. Her expression was like a angry child who couldn't get the toy they wanted.

"Looked? As in the past? Ouch, I'm hurt."
She joked and pretended to cry but Sho took it seriously and he looked pathetic, trying to cover what he said.

"No, no. You still look pretty. I mean it."
Just then, the lights went off and so did the heater with a loud thunder. There were rain drops hitting the window hard and the whole city out.

"AHHHH!"
Aya screamed and ran over to Sho. She hugged him tight with her head right on his chest. She hated thunders and lightning. Both sounds and light scared her, especially in a dark lonely place.

"Arr, are you okay?"
He rubbed her back to calm her down but she wouldn't stop trembling.

"I'm sorry. Can I just stay like this till the lights get back on?"
She held him tighter every time she heard the thunder. She closed her eyes and the warmth of his body reminded her of the day she was on his back and the time she slept next to him. It felt nice and the scent of his slight perfume relaxed her.

"S- Sure."
Slowly, he moved his arms around her and hugged her back. Her hair smelt like fresh apples and her soft skin were just heaven. He thanked so much to the thunder and the power cut in his head.

"Oh great. Come on, work. Open, open. OPEN."
Kazunari was stuck in a elevator alone as he continuously pressed the open button but failed. There must have been power cut from the lightening, he thought. He did hear some thunder just few seconds ago and there was one big one before the elevator got stuck.

"Yes?"
A voice came out from the speaker after pressing the emergency button.

"The elevator is stuck. Can you turn it back on?"

"Ah, president! I'm sorry but the thunder caused damage to our power supply. Please wait for a moment."
With a sigh, Kazunari tried to call someone but there was no service inside the elevator. He had no choice but to wait until the power comes back on.

"Oh, finally."
After ten minutes of darkness in the box, the door opened. The whole building was still dark but he knew this wasn't the floor he expected. He sees two dark figures in front of him but he couldn't recognize who they are. He tried to call out to them but before that, the lights turned back on and he sees one thing that he never wanted to see in his current sadness situation.  

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