A/N: from time to time I will break from the current story line to present small bits and pieces of the back ground stories before the beginning of this story takes place (I will label those Drabbles) and jump ahead and give glimpes of what takes place in the future, of course without too many hints to the outcomes that take place in the story (those are called Interludes). They can taken independantly and together as a whole with the story...

Takes places serveral months before Lolita (Kokoro) leaves for Japan...

Lolita was sitting in her apartment, alone in the dark with a few romantic candles flicking light around the dining room. The food had long grown cold on the table as she waited patiently for her boyfriend to arrive. Fidgeting at the table, she checked the time again for the umpteenth time. Her boyfriend Miguel was supposed to have arrived at her place around 8p.m.  It was now 10 p.m. Worried Lolita called Mike’s phone several times to no avail. Finally ay 10:30 her cell phone rang. It was Mike.

“Hello”

“Hey”

“Where have you been? I’ve been worried! Are you okay?”

“Okay, what is the deal with leaving me 100 messages?”

She chuckled lightly, “It wasn’t…”

“Look” He interrupts. “I am not coming. That is pretty obvious. I guess I need to explain this to you since you haven’t been taking my hints. I don’t want to see you anymore. So it is best that you forget this number. I thought you would get the message when I stopped coming over and stopped call like I did before. I found someone else that makes me happy and doesn’t bore me…that does something for me.”

And with that Miguel disconnected the line. Lolita just sits there for a while, the phone still to her ear in a daze not sure that this ludicrous scene just happened to her. Finally after a while, she flips the phone closes and weakly stands up and blows the candles out; throwing away the food, dishes and all. She had spent weeks planning this, buying the right dress, getting her hair and nails done. She had wanted to look perfect. She knew that she was no beauty but she wanted to look attractive.

Walking to her cold bedroom she allowed her body to collapse, physically and emotionally onto her bed. Even though she attempted to squeeze her eyes tight fat tears still fell from her eyes and down her checks.

“Happy Birthday Lola-chan”