Sitting in the office of Johnny Kitagawa was thrilling, yet intimidating to say the least. The décor of his office was a huge detour from the rest of the top floor’s experimental modern design. It was modern, yet a throwback to an English sensibility and it suited Johnny-san.

Following behind the Kitagawas Lolita found the room intimidating at first. After all THE Kitagawa Johnny was no joke and neither was Rei-san. Taking in the interior Lolita suddenly realized that they were not alone. Already seated on one of the two sofas in the office was Akanishi Jin.

Lolita was confused. Jin wasn’t supposed to be here at the Jimusho today, ne? But here he was in the flesh it seemed. Johnny must have noted the expression on her face because he stated,

Johnny: I asked Jin here to discuss the opportunities that are opening for him but did not think it was necessary to let his former band mates know he would be here today…, for certain reasons. *Turning to Jin who had risen from his seat* Jin glad to see that you made it. I would like to introduce you to Rodriquez Lolita-san. She is from the United States. She will be working with you and Rei to develop the look and style of the tour and album.

Placing his arm around Lolita’s shoulders Johnny place Lolita in front of Akanishi who had removed his sunglasses from his face. He seemed to be observing her from head to foot. His famous appeared on his face.

Lolita didn’t know whether to be annoyed by that or not.

Jin: Hello, Nice to meet you.

Up until that moment the language spoken was Japanese yet Jin spoke to her in English, so Lolita answered in kind.

Lolita: Nice to meet you Mr. Akanishi

Rei-san: Well, I guess Jin wants to practice his English, so this meeting will be in English. *she speaks this in perfect non-accented English, which annoyed Lolita since even her English wasn’t that clear*

No one appears to object to holding the meeting in English

Johnny: Alright then let’s get this started. Everyone be seated and lets began.

The meeting was a casual one yet a lot was discussed. The official dates and arenas had not been determined there was still some negotiations as to the potential sales from the tentative areas.  Also the name of the tour was to be determined as to the music. Jin was excited about creating some new music for the tour and his first solo album. What was definitely discussed was Lolita’s job as Jin’s stylist, personally and professional for the tour and album both in Japan and the States.

During the course of the meeting, Lolita took out of her magic messenger bag her portfolio that was on a smaller scale that she had fashioned specifically for this meeting. Being a fan of KAT-TUN she was well aware of all the styles, both professional and personally, of each of the members; their collective and individual tastes.  So her portfolio was readily prepared to display her ideas for Jin. (Although at the time she had been under the impression that she would be working with KAT-TUN specifically). At the thought of Koki that morning’s interaction and the way his hands felt on her body entered her mind. Quickly doing a mental head shake she concentrated on the task at hand.

She was in her element and loved it.

Jin and Lolita clicked right away especially when Jin realized that she was understood his sense of style and by the ideas that she threw out to him for possible looks for the album and the tour. Johnny and Rei just seat back and watched as the two young people vibed and meshed over ideas.  Right when the synergy was clicking at its best, Johnny’s office door opens with a loud bang an in barged who Lolita came to believe was the most annoying person she had ever meet.

His name was Daichi.

No last name, just Daichi. And like other people with one name monikers he was a Diva.

As soon as he entered the room Jin immediately rolled his eyes, HARD. He rolled them so hard that Lolita was afraid that they would get stuck in his head. At first she was amused with Jin’s reaction, then Daichi opened his mouth and then she understood.

Daichi was an .

Daichi: Johnny-san!!!! What is this about me no longer being Jin’s Stylist? You promised me that job!!!

Lolita was taken aback by the outburst. One, because the man had not even been asked into the room, not even knocking to announce his presence.  Kiri, Johnny’s secretary, had scurried behind Daichi worried about the uninvited guest.

Kiri: Johnny-san I’m sorry he just barged right past me…

Johnny: its okay Kiri.* Kiri-chan leaves the room quietly closing the door behind her* Daichi, Rei has already explained the situation to you. I decided that the concept needed to be a mix of American and Japanese fashion merging into one. What better way than to have an American on board for this.

Daichi just looked at Lolita with disdain and continued with the barrage as if Johnny-san had not said anything.

Daichi: Rei, I know you had something to do with this!! Mark my words this isn’t over!!! *He snared in a disturbingly creepy way*

Rei: But this conversation is. * Rei stands and opens the door * and so is your career here if you continue to act this way.

Daichi huffs like a pouty little girl and storms out of the room like a angry hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. Whoa!!

Lola: Should I be scared? And who was that?

Johnny: Just one of those temperamental people that work here.

Rei: Or that will soon no longer be working here…

Jin just laughed, and then looked over at Lolita.

Johnny: His name is Daichi and contrary to his attitude he is really good at his job.

Jin: You got to understand it is never dull when you work here. *he smiled assuring at Lolita*

@@@@@@@

            On the roof top of the complex, Koki was leaning over the railing contemplating. Contemplating what you may ask. Nothing and everything all at once, in other words his mind was a tangle of thoughts, emotions, and ideas. He looked at his watch realizing he had been up here for 15 minutes already but was no more closer to a state of calm then when he had walked up here to begin with. Straightening up to his full height of 5’ 9” he took in a deep breath of air and tried to imagine that he was in his special happy place.

Koki: I am in my happy special place*deep breath*…I am in my happy special place*deep breath*…I am in my happy special place*deep breath*…

Yuichi: Are you every going to enter into your happy special place?

The sound of Yuichi’s voice jerked Koki out of his semi induced trance. Turning towards his best friend who was now standing right beside him, Koki gave a quirky smile.

Koki: I was about to. Have I been up here a little too long?

Yuichi: Maybe. *Yuichi pauses for a second then continues as he leans against the rail* Koki are you okay? You’ve taken this a little hard about Jin, and I don’t really think this is strictly about Jin disbanding from the group.

Koki looked at Yuichi then shifted his eyes away from him and looked out at the cityscape and drew in another breath. This was why Yuichi has been his best friend for the last 10 years, he understood him in a way that others outside his immediate circle of friends (Kame, Jin, Yuichi and Yamapi) never could. Yuichi understood he was deeper than he appeared.

Koki understood what Yuichi was asking. Yes Jin leaving the group did upset him, but not so much the leaving as the way that he left. It smacked too much of Erina, and that alone pissed him off, extremely.  Erina Takamatsu, his ex-girlfriend, was part of a short but devastating list that Koki tended to call the “I shouldn’t have ever went there” list and she was right up there at the top of this list tying for first place with Maria Ozawza. That alone was saying something.

Refusing to go there but knowing that he must for just a minute he answered Yuichi.

Koki: Yeah, it more than that, but it’s something I need to get over with on my own.

Yuichi: By the way….is she still calling?

The she in question was Erina.

Koki: Yes, and it’s becoming ridiculous now. She is calling at like 2 am in morning and it’s become harassing phone calls that continue on and on. Yuichi. I don’t know what to do, she won’t give up.

Yuichi: May I say that I told you so?

Koki: NO

It was no secret that none of Koki’s friends or family had like Erina much. They sensed right away that she was not what she appeared to be, but Koki had been smitten at the very beginning and was now paying the price. The situation was outrageous. Erina had decided after the first of the year to break up with Koki. But she didn’t tell him that. She just stopped taking his calls or calling him back when he left her messages. After a few weeks of no answer from his girlfriend he realized that he was left looking like a complete fool. Then to add to his crushed ego the gossip magazine Friday uncovered that Erina had began a new relationship with a bigger older idol. All of this was while Koki and Erina had been together, almost from the start. She had played him.

What Koki couldn’t understand was why was she now calling out of the blue for? What was she after really after?

 Koki was tired. He was sick and tired of the whole dating game. It was just too hard.

And then to have Jin smack of Erina’s behavior was just super annoying.

Koki: Are the people from the magazine here yet.

Yuichi: They just arrived. That was one reason why I came to get you.

Koki: And the other reason.

Yuichi: To let you know that I am here for you. Always.

Koki appreciated the sentiment and decided to lighten the mood.

Koki: You know if you were a girl or if I was gay. I would so kiss you right now. You know I love you man.

Yuichi: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Save all that for the concerts. Are you ready now?

Koki:*nodding his head in affirmative* about as ready as I will be.

Yuichi: Don’t fret Koki. I think this still could be our best year yet.

Yuichi said as was they walked the flight back to their floor.

Koki: Well I really hope so.

@@@@@@@@

Shortly after Daichi vacated the premises, the meeting between Johnny, Rei, Jin and Lolita ended. Jin offered to take Lolita back to her place to get some rest since she basically had not had any. The jet lag and the time difference were starting to show. Lolita was appreciative of the offer, especially since she knew that Jin had a lot to do with creating new music for the tour. And soon it was just Rei and Johnny left in his office.

Rei continued to sit on the sofa that had faced where Jin and Johnny had been sitting. After a moment Rei-san showed a soft smile and released a sad sign from her lips. Johnny sat observing her from his seat. His Rei-chan was his youngest and only girl of his four children. She was his beloved baby girl and the one that he doted on the most of all his children.

Johnny: She is beautiful Rei-chan. More beautiful than the photographs.

Rei: Yeah. I was taken back at how much she looks like Noé. Her eyes are obvious mine with the distinct Asian look to them and her skin tone is a mixture of Noé and mine. But I love how it leans more to his darker brown skin tones then to mine.

Johnny: She doesn’t appear to know that you, we, are her family.

Rei: It appears that way, but Noé would not have kept the truth from her. What other reason would there have been for her to change her birth name from Kokoro to Lolita.

Rei rubbed her hands over her face and moaned.

Rei: She hates me dad. I just know it.

Johnny-san got up from his seat and came and sat next to his beloved daughter and took her hands into his.

Johnny: You don’t need to lose hope that things can work out between the two of you. We just need to play our cards right.

Rei: I know dad. Thank you for doing this.

It was no coincidence that Lolita had been given this job opportunity to work for JE. Johnny Kitagawa for the past 24 years has been keeping a close watch on his granddaughter. 26 years ago Johnny Kitagawa sent Rei Kitagawa to Graduate School to earn her MBA at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). It was while she was there that she meet the true love of her life Noé Taylor Rodriquez Maldonado a budding Salsa musician. 

Noé was like nothing Rei had ever seen. He was tall at 6 feet compared to her 5’7” and muscular built. His skin was a deep rich caramel color that seemed to glow even more under the stage lights that permitted around him. Eyes that were hazel and luminousness and when Rei looked into them she felt like she was drowning. On his face were two moles that once the two of them became lovers she would kiss and caress. She realized she had a mole when it came to Noé.

Noé, Spanish for Noah, was a transplant Puerto Rican who had come to LA at the same time that Rei had. It was by mere chance that they meet. But to Noé and Rei it was fate and destiny. Even when things fell apart around them and Rei was forced by her father to return to Japan, to abandoned Kokoro and Noé, they never doubted their love for each other. Both believed just as they were fated to love each other they were fated to be torn from each other.

Johnny had created a rift between the two that in the end scarred the life his most favorite person in the world. Don’t misunderstand, Johnny wasn’t a bad father, quite the opposite he was a concerned father and at the time he had thought he had done the right thing by taking her away from whom he thought was undeserving of her. Only to realize that he had made a grave mistake that he could not go back and change. As penitence, even before he came to that conclusion he had kept watch over his former son-in-law and granddaughter receiving reports of their life and pictures of Kokoro as she grew and matured.

He rejoiced at her first baby steps, was wistful that he wasn’t there to walk her to her first day at kindergarten. He felt a sense of pride when she produced straight A’s ever school year until she graduated from high school. In awe of her beauty as she held her fifteen birthday party, and cried many tears when a year later her father died when she was 16. He was also majorly proud when she was accepted to Columbia University on a full academic scholarship. Had a copy of the court document of her legally changing her professional name from Kokoro to Lolita at age 20. But in spite of this Johnny knew only the surface things about his granddaughter but not the most intimate things.

As the years went by, from time to time he would see a glimpse of the sadness that clouded Rei-chan’s eyes. She longed for her daughter. Which is why Johnny who was an admirer of Lolita’s work as a stylist decided it was time that he rectified the matter between Mother and Daughter. So after 23 years of secrecy he revealed that he knew the whereabouts of Lolita, showing her the private investigator reports and pictures releasing them to her. He held her as she cried in his arms, as guilt and regret and longing overwhelmed her. Guilt for  choosing her father over Noé, regret over not being with her daughter and longing to have spent those lost years with the people who had lived in her heart for 26 years. She cried the hardest over the loss of Noé, her heart unable to accept that he was no longer in this world.

So Johnny informed her of his plan to bring Lolita to Japan. After a full year he had achieved his daughter’s dream. Lolita was in Japan and in such a way that Rei and Lola could work together and get to know each other and get comfortable before Rei could begin the process of reconciliation.

Rei just needed to play her cards right.

Johnny: I am sorry Rei-chan .

Rei: No dad. It is my fault. I should have been strong enough to follow my heart. But what is done is done right? Like you say I need to play my card right and I will have my daughter back.

Johnny: And your mother and I will be right here with you all the way.

And father and daughter sat on the sofa and pondered where all this would lead.

TBC..

Chapter 4 will be posted on 08/24/2011