[F|vE]

Yeon was waiting in ambush at Keiko’s house early in the morning. This was Keiko’s big day! Onew was also helping Sho with the necessary preparations. The trio had prepared a big pleasant surprise for Keiko. Yeon was confident that Keiko had solved the number code and she was reassured when she saw the paper that Keiko had left in the living room last night.

“She must have been too confused about the reason that her tutor would propose to her and hence she chose sleep. It would be too bothersome for her to think too much especially after doing those mathematical problem sums.” Yeon explained to Sho and Onew who did not understand Keiko as well as her.

Sho nodded his head and smiled. Keiko was way too adorable. He could not wait to see her reactions and he really hoped that she would say “Yes” to being his fiancée.

“Nervous, Sho? I seldom see you worrying like this…” Onew punched Sho gently, trying to ease the atmosphere.

“Of course, what do you think? How did you feel when you confess to Yeon? Don’t tell me you don’t feel nervous at all!” Sho replied honestly. “I really hope she will get it and will like all these…”

Yeon went up and gave Sho a pat on his shoulder. “She will like them. I know her well. However, she may say ‘no’ due to shock. Just repeat your question a few more times and make her say ‘yes’!”

Sho and Onew looked at Yeon with widened eyes.

“She may say no? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“If you make her say yes, isn’t it like tricking her?”

The two men spoke at the same time.

“Breathe guys, all will be fine. Trust me!” Yeon grinned and continued the preparations. Keiko was still sleeping soundly. They had one more hour before Keiko would wake up at her designated waking-up time.

The two males looked at each other with bewildered eyes.

“FASTER, GUYS!” Yeon shouted but quickly toned down for fear that her loud voice would penetrate all the way to Keiko’s room and wake Keiko up. The two males started work immediately. The trio was decorating the guest room that Yeon always used when she slept over at Keiko’s house. In fact, Keiko left the room to Yeon. Yeon had actually placed some belongings in the room.

Balloons of different colours were filled with helium and let go. Long silky ribbons were used to tie the balloons. Attached to each ribbon was a Polaroid card. All the cards were based on the theme of love. Hence on some cards, scenes of couples were printed, others were heart shapes in coffee, clouds, and also hands tightly intertwined together. Behind each card were Sho’s heartfelt words put down in ink for Keiko. Yeon had said that Keiko loved quotes and was a hopeless romantic. Keiko would definitely be extremely touched at Sho’s efforts.

In addition, Yeon had also helped Sho picked sunflowers and roses. The roses picked were of red, blue and pink colours while the sunflowers were bright yellow. Yeon placed the flowers around the room appropriately. The room was like a rainbow. Rose petals were also scattered on the floor. The bed-sheets were also changed into plain pink sheet to fit the romantic atmosphere.

Onew was busy with wrapping presents. There were in total 20 presents that Sho had bought for Keiko, which included shoes, dresses and most items that Keiko had desired for.

Yeon had gone shopping with Sho. There were several small ceramic art figurines and decoration items that Keiko had wanted but she never really wanted to overspend.

There was one particular item which was not to be wrapped- a musical carousel. When the knob was turned, the melodious tune of Canon in D would be played. The horses would turn around. Orange light would be shined on the horses.

After finishing the job of tying the balloons and the cards to the ribbons, Sho proceeded to decorate the small dining table they had carried into the room. Sho had made a simple Western breakfast of hash browns, eggs and sausages for Keiko. He could not handle more sophisticated dishes within the rushed time.

“Now the last part…” Yeon talked to herself as she took out the puzzle pieces which she started pasting on the presents. The last piece was on the carousel. She guessed Keiko would hate this part. It would be a hassle to find all the pieces and put them together. These puzzles would reveal Sho’s identity and proposal plan. The puzzle was a picture of Sho’s head and a speech bubble, “BE MY FIANCEE?”

“Sho, it is weird to leave the breakfast there. You should carry it with you. No. You should serve her the breakfast before she even enters this room. She will be stunned when she sees her tutor becoming her waiter. That will be funny!” Yeon grinned to herself as she visualized while Sho and Onew looked at her and then at each other.

“Yeon! Please come back to earth!” Onew called out and pinched Yeon’s cheeks. Yeon snapped back to reality and rubbed her cheeks, punching Onew gently. Sho chuckled at the couple in front of him. They were adorable and he hoped Keiko would really say “yes” to him and they could be as adorable or even more adorable couple than Onew and Yeon.

“Sho, so you move the breakfast! And you serve her. While she is stunned, you can ask her if she has solved the code. Keiko will probably nod her head and not say anything since she is too shocked. After that, you can praise her and pat her on her head and you leave her to have her breakfast! Sho, during that time, Onew will help you with your makeover. I will make her finish her breakfast and come to the room. Understand?” Yeon finished her instructions.

Sho and Onew nodded.

“Onew, you have to prepare the music later. Note the volume, I will help you later. I bet Keiko will be fixated and stoned when she noticed Tutor Sho.” Yeon continued. Onew nodded again.

“Oh, now I have to think of how to disappear when you serve the breakfast and how to appear before Keiko and make her dress appropriately and come down for breakfast. Sho, can you please serve two breakfast sets? Then I can just watch you serve and I get to eat!” Yeon beamed delightedly at her marvelous plan.

Sho nodded. Afterall, Yeon had helped him tremendously in his proposal plan to woo Keiko to become his fiancé.

It was 10 more minutes to Keiko’s waking up time.

“Alright guys, shoo! I need to prepare myself!” Yeon said as she calmed herself down and started thinking pessimistically about her studies, friends, family and Onew. She needed to get teary so that she could break down in front of Keiko.

Back in Keiko’s room, she had woken up slightly before her designated waking time and was brushing her teeth. She was still oblivious to all the hassle and tedious preparations put in by the trio.

Right on time after Keiko had changed into a casual dress, Yeon barged into her room, sobbing loudly. “Keiko!”
Keiko was taken aback and embraced her crying friend. “What happened?”

“I argued with Onew.” Yeon replied and continued crying in Keiko’s arms.

“Alright, hush hush. It is normal for couples to argue.” Keiko consoled. The silly and innocent young lady, Keiko Kitagawa, was duped totally by her best friend Yeon.

“But… but…” Yeon continued crying.

After about 10 minutes of crying and hushing, Yeon pushed Keiko to change into a prettier white dress. Yeon had insisted for Keiko to change since Yeon’s tears had stained Keiko’s casual dress earlier.

“Step one done.” Yeon cheered for herself.

“Now that I am done with changing, what do you want to do next?” Keiko asked Yeon.

Yeon pretended to ponder and put on a serious face, “I am hungry.”

Keiko burst out laughing at her temperamental friend. One moment she was crying so hard and the next, she was complaining of hunger. “Let’s go and have breakfast then!”
Yeon hooked arms with Keiko and arrived hard in the dining room. Sho had completed his disguise as the tutor, Old Mr Sho. His back was now facing the ladies. “You can serve breakfast now.”Keiko instructed, though not specifying that two sets were needed as her waiter or rather butler had always been very conscientious and meticulous. He would notice Yeon’s presence and serve two sets.

“Yes, Miss!” Sho answered.

Keiko did not notice the change in voice of her butler and continued conversing with Yeon. Yeon brought up the topic of Keiko’s assignment. “So what was the message? I mean what did it exactly mean?”

Keiko’s face scrunched. “He proposed to me. How weird is it? I mean Mr Sho is old enough to be my father… Furthermore, the last person I want to be with will be a Mathematics tutor. I mean, I hate Mathematics so much.” Keiko pouted.

Yeon chuckled. “Keiko, you are so amusingly adorable. Are you going to tell him that you have solved the puzzle then?”
Keiko buried her head behind her palms, covering her face.

“I don’t know.”

“Breakfast is here!” Sho’s voice rang out. He served Yeon first and Yeon winked at him. Sho had overhead Keiko’s frank answers as well and he too thought that Keiko was amusingly adorable.

“Miss, your breakfast!” Sho set the plate of breakfast which he had made with much of his sincerity and liking for Keiko. Keiko turned to say “Thank you” and then it hit her.

“What is Mr Sho doing here as my butler? Where is my butler? Or is this my imagination?” Keiko wondered as she pinched herself gently. Her eyes winced slightly in pain and she realized it was really her tutor who served her breakfast.

“What’s going on?” She blurted out loudly.

Sho merely smiled. “I see you are a hardworking student and had solved the puzzle. Enjoy your breakfast first. I will serve you the bonus question after breakfast.” Sho then winked and patted Keiko’s head.

Yeon giggled inwardly.

Shudders went down Keiko’s spine. Sho then disappeared. He quickly made his way discreetly to the room.

“Keiko! Keiko!” Yeon waved her hand in front of Keiko.

“Yeon, did you see him? That wasn’t my usual butler but my Mathematics tutor. Tell me that I am seeing things! What could he be doing here?” Keiko spoke rapidly.

“Relax, Keiko. Didn’t he say he was here to serve the bonus question? Just enjoy your breakfast. It is nice. Sho has quite a talent in cooking.” Yeon trailed off, dropping an explicit.

“What? He made this breakfast?” Keiko exclaimed. Yeon had dropped an explicit hint that it was Sho, but yet Keiko thought Yeon was referring to the tutor Mr. Sho.

“Keiko, just eat it and we will look for him to figure things out. Alright?” Yeon used her puppy eyes to make Keiko obey. Keiko picked up her utensils and began to enjoy the breakfast. Indeed, it was a decent breakfast, though Keiko trembled at the thought of her Mathematics tutor who made her breakfast.

“Just what’s wrong with the world? Or is it me?” Keiko’s thoughts were scattered as she continued munching.

After breakfast, Yeon led Keiko into the guest room.
When Keiko stepped in, her eyes lit up in surprise and she let out a gasp. “Wow…”

The room was decorated till the extent as if it was a fantasy land. Balloons, flowers and tied to each balloon was a beautiful card with words behind the card. Keiko felt like a fairy. She stepped forward to a balloon and took a look at the card.

“Don’t go looking around desperately for love, instead just meet new people and see if you like spending time with them. Love has a way of surfacing when you least expect it; so look for a good time instead. Love will come along before you know it, just as long as you’re ready for it. –Anonymous”

Keiko adored the quote. She moved on to the next card, “You are beautiful.” Keiko giggled.

“I am glad that I found you.”

“Hope you will like these cards, flowers and everything else…”

Some were sincere compliments, others quotes and some hopes from the person who had prepared all these. While Keiko was engrossed looking at the quotes, Onew had played the Wedding March instrumental softly but audibly to heighten the mood.

“Yeon, who prepared this?” There were tears in Keiko’s eyes. She was touched by the suitor’s efforts. She knew Yeon had to be linked to the suitor in some way or else the suitor could not possibly have access to decorate the room in such an extravagant manner.

“Yeon?” Yeon was nowhere to be seen. In fact, she was standing with Onew behind the thick curtains at the left side of doors leading to the balcony. She was also holding a video recorder while Onew was fiddling with the portable speakers and his handphone where the songs to be played were saved.

Then the mathematics tutor Old Mr Sho arrived stepped out from the curtains at the right side of the doors leading to the balcony.

Keiko was stunned. It was really her mathematics tutor?!

She gasped.

Old Mr Sho smiled happily. “Welcome. This is the second last part of the mystery. You will see. Your bonus question requires you to fix up another puzzle. You have to piece up the puzzle pieces stuck to each of the presents here.”

“What?” Keiko let out a sigh of disbelief.

“Don’t worry, child. You can do it. The last piece of puzzle is on an unwrapped gift, but once you see it, you will know that it is the last and most important gift to you. It may or may not be in the room. You will have to shout ‘I am done. Give me the last piece!’, after putting together the 19 pieces you have found. The puzzle will contain the bonus question.”

“Why is it so complicated?” Keiko was disgruntled. She was touched initially but the puzzles would really deplete her brain cells and energy.

“Just do it. You can unwrap the presents if you want to. If that makes you happier…” Old Mr Sho grinned in an animated manner and took brisk steps to leave the room.

When he walked past Keiko, Keiko was reminded of someone else as she scrutinized Old Mr Sho’s grin. “Why did he suddenly remind me of Sakurai Sho?” A blush crept into Keiko’s cheeks.

“Alright, I shall start work and figure out what is wrong with Mr Sho? And Yeon just disappeared like this?” Keiko grumbled as she started picking out the puzzle pieces stuck on the wrapped presents. Luckily, the pieces were taped on the wrapping paper and not inside. Keiko just wanted the mystery to be solved as soon as possible. She did not know if her heart was strong enough to endure till the final decoding of the bonus question.

Finally Keiko gathered the nineteen pieces and she began piecing them together on the floor. After a while, she could see the picture. It was a picture of Sakurai Sho with a speech bubble, asking her if she would like to be his fiancée. The only missing piece was of Sho’s lips. Keiko chuckled and blushed. Was this real?

She then smacked herself on her forehead lightly. Both her mathematics tutor and Sakurai Sho had the same surname. Maybe Old Mr Sho was trying to help Sakurai Sho. Keiko laughed loudly at her own silliness for thinking that her mathematics tutor would want to marry her.

What should she answer? Yes or no? Afterall, she did not really know Sakurai Sho well though he did make her heart pound. Her parents would be greatly satisfied as well and would not try as hard to push her for matchmaking. It was a good deal. She could take the time and interact with Sho even more and verify if she really liked him… This might also be the reason why Sho used the question “Be my fiancée?” instead of “will you marry me?” or “will you be my girlfriend?”.

“Why did he skip a step then? Shouldn’t he ask me to be his girlfriend first before fiancée?” Keiko wondered with her head tilted. Meanwhile, the wait was killing Sho.

Sho had already changed into his suave attire of a formal suit. He had the proposal ring, carousel and the last piece which was his lips. He laughed at his own childishness of taking away the lips as the last piece. It seemed to symbolize a kiss in Sho’s opinion.

As if after centuries, Sho finally heard Keiko shout, “I am done. Give me the last piece!”

Sho then reentered the room and he saw Keiko’s surprise at his entrance. He could also note the reddened blush in Keiko’s cheeks.
“Here, the last piece.” Sho passed the carousel to Keiko,

their fingers coming into intimate contact after quite a while.

“Thank you,” Keiko blushed and immediately withdrew her hands. She stared hard at the carousel. It was what she had strongly desired for. She knew Yeon had been behind this.

She smiled sweetly, thankful of having such a great friend who always helped her whenever possible, even her love life.
She put the last piece into the puzzle and turned the knob for the carousel. Canon in D started playing; the horses started galloping with grace and the orange light shimmered. 
She then stood up and gazed directly into Sho’s charming eyes.

“So how is Old Mr Sho related to you?”

“What is your answer?”

They both spoke at the same time and then lowered their heads afterward due to embarrassment.

“You have to answer me first before I answer you. I need to clarify first.” Keiko spoke quickly.

“I am Old Mr Sho.” Sho replied honestly.
“What?” Keiko’s jaws dropped.

“I disguised myself to test the potential candidates as my fiancée. I am graduating soon and my parents are rushing me to get engaged. I really want to find my own partner and not undergo an arranged one. Then I found you.” Sho beamed in delight.

Keiko however was not as pleased with his answer. “So you were testing me all along…”

“Please, Keiko. I mean I had to do this, to find out how the ladies really behave. You do know that there are many hypocritical ladies out there. But you, you are different. You are natural. Your character and spirit and smiles and everything… You are … who I would like to spend my life with.” Sho could not believe that he could actually say such sweet words.

Keiko blushed upon the compliments. She understood his intentions but still, she was not going to let him off that easily. Then something struck her. “So Miss Mana was also part of the plan?” Her eyes widened.

“Yes, she is my cousin…” Sho felt guilty about that. “I am sorry. Mana tends to be harsh as she really wanted me to find the best…”

“But I wasn’t great at all…” Keiko’s spirits went down immediately.

“No, you were more than great! She was very satisfied. She admired and respected you for standing firm and trying hard.” Sho answered quickly.

Keiko’s eyes lit up once more and smiled.

“Now, will you please answer me?” Sho asked.

“No!” Keiko shouted.

“What?” It was Sho’s turn to have his jaws drop.

“No, how can I be your fiancée when I did not even become your girlfriend? You are skipping steps!” Keiko vented out her frustrations. She still did not get the logic.

“Well, Keiko. I need to show my parents that I did find a partner, and I… I … I wanted to tie you down in a way so that you would just focus on me.” Sho rubbed his hands together. He was terrified and nervous.
Keiko was pleased with Sho’s answer but yet she replied,

“No, I will not be your fiancée.”

“What? Why?” Sho swore inwardly and he felt that the sharp pangs of agony in his heart.

“Who proposes without a ring?” Keiko questioned with her hands behind her back. She felt embarrassed to phrase such a question to Sho.

Sho chuckled and then stepped nearer to Keiko.

Instead of taking out a ring, Keiko stared hard at what was in front of her.

It was a holder with Scramble letters. She then looked up at Sho again.

“Look carefully,” he said gently.

On the holder, the letters spelt out “I LOVE YOU.”

Then Keiko spotted the glistening of the letter “O”.

It was not just any letter “O”, but a ring. A simple silver ring.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She could see Sho’s efforts in creating this amazingly different proposal.

“Will you be my fiancée?” Sho took the “O” (ring) from the holder and knelt down.

Keiko nodded her head. Sho then slipped the ring onto her third finger and then stood up and kissed Keiko gently on her forehead.

“Thank you,” Sho whispered into Keiko’s ears as he pulled her into an embrace. Keiko laid her head on his shoulder.

The happiness she felt was indescribable.

“Yay! Happy ending! The prince and princess got together!” Yeon shouted happily, saving the video she had recorded in secret. Both Onew and her were glad to be out of hiding and they hugged each other in happiness as well.

Keiko wanted to leave Sho’s arms and chide Yeon for hiding though she was glad that Yeon helped with this surprise. However, Sho held her tightly and whispered once more to her. “Let’s just enjoy this moment!”

Keiko smiled.

Soon after, Sakurai Sho announced his engagement with Keiko Kitagawa in school. It was groundbreaking news, especially to the female student population. However, Sho could openly express his feelings and display his affections towards Keiko.

However, Keiko sometimes pouted and grumbled about their relationship as Sho continued to supervise her on her Mathematics. He would even scold her as an idiot at times which really angered Keiko.

Though she was angered, Sho always managed to make it up to her with his home-cooked meals, gifts, sweet words and his intelligence.

Keiko concluded and confessed to Yeon one day, “I think I am stuck with him for life. Both the serious tutor and that scallywag senior.”

Yeon then chortled. “But you are a willing victim, aren’t you? Mrs Sho!”

Keiko immediately blushed and hit Yeon gently.

Keiko wondered what would lie ahead for her new relationship but then she recalled Sho’s words back then to her, “Let’s just enjoy this moment!”

She smiled sweetly to herself. Indeed, what was most important was the present moment and she was blessed to have such a talented fiancé and good friends.

-

THE END.

if anyone is still kindly reading this, do drop me a comment please?! :p THANKS:D

CHEERS

th1rd3ye / crunch :)