_{Credit to: http://kaleidoscopek...s.blogspot.com/
Made By: Orphey}

Chapter 9 - Again


The smell of alcohol and smoke filled the extravagant bar, an almost welcoming atmosphere to those who’d had a hard long day or simply wanted to escape the nagging of a wife or the cruel reality that awaited them outside that small sanctum. For some it was simply a nice place to meet friends, yet for some it was a place for business arrangements.

That was the case for the three men that sat around a small table in the far corner, hidden from most of the light in the bar. Not that they were trying to explicitly hide. It was more that they wanted a bit or privacy to their business. There were two older men, followed by what one who place as the son of one of them. All wore black business suits and hair styled to suit that style.

Chuckled echoed from their table, but from the two older man. In fact the younger one held an awkward air about him and simply filled his father’s drink whenever it fell empty before leaning back and trying to disappear into the shadows.

A grinned surfaced on one of the wrinkled faces, pulling the edges of the black beard up, ‘Don’t worry Mr Koike, time will be over before we know it and she’ll be walking down the aisle.’

This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. It had come up for the past three years, since the man’s daughter had become a make-up artist and even before that for two years. It was relatively old news but the other man still held his doubts, much less of those held by his son.

Doubt crossed the older face briefly, reflected on the face of his son who sat awkwardly beside him, ‘She won’t defy you again?’

A brief chuckle of a laugh fell from the millionaire’s lips, ‘Midori isn’t strong enough.’ He turned his attention to the uncomfortable young Japanese man who sat formally, head bowed as he took a delicate sip from his tea, unaware that the attention in the room had been moved to him. ‘She’ll be a good wife, easily tamed.’

The tea spluttered, faltering in the lean hands as a slight embarrassed but overall shocked face lifted to stare at his soon to be father-in-law. His reply was stuttered, chocked out between coughs as he tried to make sense of the situation, ‘W-what?’

Laughter filled the room again, from both of the older generation males as they watched the handsome man become flustered by the adults teasing. They turned to one another, knowing smiles on their faces and simply nodded. Past concerns easily slipped from Koike’s mind. More wine was ordered and their plans began to flow from drunken mouths, falling onto the concerned ears of the younger man, Masaharu.

A sigh fell from his lips, his hands tightening around his cup, struggling to focus his attention away from the conversation his thoughts drifted to the one person he shouldn’t have been thinking of, Midori. He’d already waited three years, three wouldn’t hurt anyone but the thing that stirred in his heart was the knowledge that she would never really accept him. Her father may be fooled by the fake smiles and delicate bows but he’d seen her away from her father’s prying eyes and the media’s flashing cameras. If they married, especially against her will, she’d be no more than an empty shell, a doll that walked when told and replied when required.

A hand slapped down on the hard back of Masaharu, ‘Masa… I know you and Midori have a bit of a history…’ flashes of flowers caressed with the sun and long black hair that flowed around a smiling face filled Masa’s vision before he shook them away, focusing his eyes on his father. ‘Trust me when I say it will be ok.’ His father pointed a drunken finger at himself, ‘I raise you well!’ He proudly claimed before downing the last of his drink.

Masaharu’s hands were already moving to refill the cup that was slammed to the table when the other man’s voice shot into his head, ‘I gave her six years Masa, you know why?’

The man shook his head, eyes strenuously focused on the cup he was filling. He missed the grin that fell over Midori’s fathers face, ‘Because at five years she won’t even know that I’m going to take her back before time is up.’

The alcohol spilt over the edge of the glass, causing curse fury to fall from the man’s father’s lips and laughter from the other. Another hand slapped down on Masa’s back and the young man turned his eyes to meet the twinkling pair that was so similar to the pair he’d once fallen in love with.

‘It’ll all be over soon.’

Masa forced a fake smile to emerge on his face and was relieved when the older man again chuckled and, in a drunken squall, demanding his glass to be refilled.

~ღ~

It had been three years. Three years. Midori stared at her calendar, afraid to raise her hand that held the red sharpie and mark the third year anniversary of her freedom. It was half over. Everything was almost finished.

The girl shook her head, removing all the negative thoughts that were trying to eat away at her. In an effort to remove the tension running through her she raised her hand, trying to ignore the trembling and slashed the day with red. With a half satisfied half distressed smile she moved away from her bedroom, grabbing her handbag along the way and followed her nose to the kitchen where Maiko had already made breakfast.

‘Sleeping beauty awakes,’ joked her friend, a ladle in her right hand the other resting on the bench. A cheeky smile surfaced over Maiko’s face which became echoed on Midori’s.

‘You don’t always have to make breakfast you know.’

The girl shrugged, turning back to her cooking and brushing back a stray piece of black hair, ‘If I want to get a good husband I should at least try to be a good cook.’ Midori just shook her head, a soft smile on her face.

‘So,’ Maiko suddenly asked, coming over to lean her head on her warm hands, ‘how’s Yunho?’

Despite the blush that scored Midori’s cheeks she didn’t let up and simply took another bite from her breakfast, keeping her eyes downcast, ‘How’s that cute backup dancer? What was his name again?’

Maiko chocked on her toast, raising puppy eyes to meet the laughing eyes of Midori. The older girl stood, beckoning the younger to the come, ‘We’re going to be late.’

The day was long, as Midori had expected. They were filming a new music video; or rather they were making sure the five stars of the video were looking amazing to be shot in the video. A smile quirked on Midori’s lips, that wasn’t such a hard task.

‘Who’s that?’ Maiko’s voice suddenly asked, a hand nudging Midori’s shoulder. Maiko’s friend turned, her soft hair tickling her shoulders. The gentle eyes of the Japanese girl searched the room for whoever Maiko was mentioning before unintentionally settling on the mentioned person. He was a tall man, his hair styled around a handsome face with kind eyes. The suit matched his sophisticated air from the watch that gleamed in the light to the unintentional businesslike way he held himself.

Their eyes clashed, his reflecting joy but hers shadowed with fear. Like a deer caught in the headlights she looked away, frantically searching for an exit. She pushed the concerned hand of Maiko off and started walking away, occasionally glancing back at the man who had started to weave his way through the crowd, intent on catching up with her he called out her name. She ignored him, panic rising in her stomach. Why was he here?

‘Midori?’ Familiar arms wrapped around the Japanese girl who would have otherwise crashed to the ground after running into her boyfriend. She lifted startled brown eyes to meet his elated face, tipped off with a heart warming smile.

In other circumstances she would have stayed and chatted, more than likely grabbed a coffee quickly before Yunho had to do his solo shot for the music video they were shooting. Instead she shot another glance over her shoulder, panicking when the man had moved closer. In a vain attempt to escape she began to push past Yunho only to feel warmth envelop her wrist and pull her back into strong arms.

‘What?’ Yunho’s eyes twinkled, lean hands enveloping hers, entwining delicate fingers with hers, ‘What is it?’

Midori’s eyes shot around the room, her body involuntarily flinching away from Yunho’s lowering head. Rather than concern laughter filled his face and he pulled her back, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, completely oblivious to the tight air.

When her name slipped from the strangers lips; when he stood beside them, face tight from the scene in front of him, hands hanging aimlessly beside him and his suit slightly tussled from trying to catch up with her, time froze for a moment. Yunho’s smile remained for a moment as he turned to face the newcomer and with one arm still wrapped tightly around Midori’s waist he held out his free hand to shake, greeting the man kindly.

‘I’m Yunho, nice to meet you.’

The man’s eyes didn’t meet Yunho’s; instead they stayed locked on Midori’s turned away face. Subconsciously he took the offered hand, bowing slightly to the man who had his arms wrapped around the one girl he shouldn’t.

‘I’m Masaharu Koiki.’

Midori’s eyes squeezed shut, wishing the onslaught of memories to fade away. Subconsciously her hands had balled into fists, something noted by Masaharu, as if he could possible miss something like that. He was a business man, he noticed everything, even little flashed of fear or tightening in his opponents jaw. Yunho was different though, he tended to miss those little things so he didn’t change, didn’t ask what was wrong or tried to shield her. Instead Masaharu continued to stare at her, his face twisting into pain because he knew exactly what she was thinking, knew why her hands had balled into fist and why her face was still turned from him.

‘Can we stay like this?’ she whispered slightly, turning her head to meet the chocolate brown eyes of her future husband. Their fingers were entwined together, legs spread out side by side as she used his chest for a pillow.

The laughter that fell from his chest vibrated through her back, pulling shivers to the surface. His free arm wrapped tighter around her, pulling her back closer to him and resting his chin in the curve between her shoulder and neck, ‘Maybe.’

The sun stained the sky with shots of purple, pink and light blue as it tipped below the cover of far off mountains, puffs of clouds dotting the large escape of sky. They’d been there, resting silently on the hill for hours, trying to escape the reality of their situation. The reality that was that soon, they’d have to go back home, they’d have to return to their demanding parents and pretend they weren’t in love.

So, for the mean time, they whispered that forbidden love to one another and tried to escape their own reality.

The memories twisted, forming into a new area, a new place and suddenly she wasn’t in his arms anymore, she was floating about her body and his, watching their parents announce their engagement, watching the secret smiles of joy and disbelief over their faces. Watching as they left and embraced one another because they’d thought they wouldn’t be allowed to remain together. Watched her own tears of joy before the memory floated away, faded to white and then transformed to new colours as streaks of black flew through her vision and she was standing next to herself. Watching, with a heavy heart, as she rejected him, as she told him she no longer loved him. That it had just been some sort of faze and she didn’t know why it had taken her so long to realize.

Watching as he cried, begged her to think again and then turned cold, shooting her his famous business stare and muttered that it didn’t matter, that she was his anyway. Then she felt the icy tears fall down her face, felt her heart grow heavy as she watched her first love ignore reality.

Yunho’s voice brought her back from the memories, pulled her into the reality that was settling around her. He was there, Masaharu was there and Yunho was oblivious to what the man in front of him represented in their relationship.

‘What brings you here?’

Masaharu’s eyes flickered between the two, lingering on Yunho’s hand that was placed possessively around Midori’s waist. He swallowed the ball in his throat before turning his eyes back to Yunho, ‘I came for Midori.’

A flicker of confusion wavered over Yunho’s face as he turned to look at Midori; he bent his head slightly, his eyes trying to meet hers that fretted shyly away from both his and Masaharu’s. Finally Yunho realized there was something that concerned his girlfriend. His hand tightened around her waist, pulling her tightly into his side.

‘Midori?’ he whispered, eyes concerned he tried to make her respond to him but she simply turned her head away further, not knowing how to react to the situation. Yunho’s hand slowly slipped from around her waist, moving instead to turn her to face him directly and tilt her head to meet his eyes, which she inevitably did. That’s when he saw the tears that glittered in their brown depths.

‘I’m sorry Yunho,’ she whispered before leaving his side to move over to stand beside Masaharu, the strange man who had the same look of pain on his face that was reflected in Midori’s. Yunho stood, slightly shocked for a moment before flashing them his cheerful smile and raising a hand in farewell.

Her eyes followed him, concern lining her face as he walked wide shoulders and back straight to continue filming for the music video. She tried to ignore the way Masaharu’s hand slipped down to the small of her back and pressed her lightly forward, leading her out of the buzzing room and into the cold outside air.

It had been raining again, the fresh layer of water lined the pavement, shining with the lights from the street lights and running down the brick walls. Midori moved away from the door even as he shut it behind them, muting the voices and loud music that had previously followed them into the night. She turned her back to him, pulling her hands up to rub against chilled arms and tried to ignore the stirring of nerves in her stomach.

‘What do you want Masa?’ She eventually asked, her head still turned from his seeking eyes. He was looking for an answer, a sign that something might have changed. That old emotions may have returned and disappointment fell over him when she turned and he saw the same eyes that had stared blamelessly at him when they’d once broken apart.

He didn’t respond straight away, instead his hands tightened into fists as he tried desperately not to wrap her into his arms or make her run away. He took a step forward, intend on simply seeming like they weren’t so distant in their emotions but she followed suit and in the end they were no closer than they had been to begin with.

A sigh slipped from his lips as he stared at her back, the small hands still wrapped around her arms in an attempt to keep warm. ‘You cut your hair.’

Midori closed her eyes tightly, pain crossing her face. She didn’t respond before she was sure her voice would be steady, ‘I know you liked it long.’

His features hardened for a moment, ‘Is that why you cut it?’

She shook her head, not warranting him with a response. Time passed slowly between them, awkward tension wound through the night air as they both tried to ignore past emotions.

‘I met your dad last night.’ He didn’t miss the stiffening of her back nor the way she turned her head slightly in his direction, but it wasn’t until quite a while after that she responded to him.

‘That’s nice.’

He almost snorted. It was such a ‘Midori’ reply. He took two more steps forward, quickly crossing the distance between them and successfully grabbing her forearm before she could retreat like he knew she wanted to. He spun her, a little too roughly, until she was turned to face him, the short hair now in her face.

‘He’s trying to shorten your time,’ he’d expected gratitude, for shock to shimmer over her face but she simply continued to stare blankly at him. ‘Midori, he’s not going to give you six years, don’t you get that?’

She shrugged his hands off, took a step back in retreat and sent him the stare he’d only ever seen her give her father. Ice, her eyes were lined with ice. ‘Let him try.’

She was already walking away from him, his heart crushing as her hand rose to the door and began to turn the handle. In useless desperation words slipped from his lips, the words he didn’t want her to hear but knew she already understood; words that would stay with her, plaguing her even when she tried to sleep that night; his last words that were drenched in truth and twisted with pain.

‘I still love you Midori.’

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