CHAPTER 15


The hall was filled with people. Not just people. Famous and renowned people. At one corner, secretary Haruna is seen having an intimate conversation with the Head Chef Mariko. The head of the PR department, Yamamoto Sayaka were busy talking to some female guests, or rather flirting with them. Head of receptionist Yokoyama Yui was also there with her girlfriend Shimazaki Haruka. Even Atsuko and MInami attended. They were busy having a great time for themselves as Atsuko was busy running around the buffet table, grabbing onto food that the loves while Minami was busy holding the plates for Atsuko. 

“Hey, slow it down, Atsuko...” Minami just got another plate added to her arms. Altogether there were already four plates. Two on the left hand, two on the right hand.

Atsuko didn’t seem to pay attention to what Minami was saying as continued grabbing food and placed it onto another plate. She was smiling and giggling to herself with every dish that caught her eyes. “Fried chicken.. Yummy..”

Minami sighed as Jurina passed by her. “Why the sigh, Minami? It’s supposed to be a cheerful and fun event.” Until The four plates on Minami’s arm caught Jurina’s eye. “Uhm.. There’s a lot of food.”

Without uttering a single word, Minami pointed her face at the buffet area, signifying Atsuko who was cheerfully running around with a plate.

“Ah.. Atsuko with her love of food. I’m not surprised at all.” Jurina let out a short giggle.

Minami sighed. “Sometimes I’m not sure if Atsuko’s dating me or the food.”

Jurina patted Minami’s shoulder. “You’ll get used to it. Just hang in there.”

“Yeah...” Minami then gestured Jurina to come closer which she did. Minami then whispered into Jurina’s ears. “You didn’t invite HER did you?”

“You mean Itano Tomomi?”

“Yes, her, Who else? And please keep it down. Atsuko is very sensitive with that name.”

“I actually did invite her because I had no choice. She’s the president’s daughter. What do you expect me to do? But don’t worry. She’s on a vacation in Germany.”

“Phew..” Minami sighed in relief. “Good thing she didn’t turn up. Or some princess drama will happen again.”

“Now that you know that princess isn’t here, you don’t have to worry about anything. Have fun with Atsuko.” Jurina greeted Minami one last time before heading off to greet other guests.

Jurina and Mayu looked extra smart today, with Mayu wearing a black tuxedo while Jurina was dressed in a complete white one. Elegantly holding onto a glass of wine, Jurina was busy having a conversation with some of the guests there until Mayu pulled her over.

“Hey, Jurina. Have you seen Yuki?” Oblivious of the situation, Mayu asked with a big smile on her face.

“That’s rude to pull me out of a conversation just like that, Mayu. I was talking to a CEO.” Jurina glared at Mayu a little with her voice a little raised.

Looking at Jurina’s reaction, Mayu stepped back a little as she realized that she stepped on a tiger tail. “Oh, I’m so so so sorry. I was just a little anxious about Yuki. Have you seen her around?” Mayu apologized and asked.

Jurina let out a loud sigh at Mayu and answered. “She went out with Rena earlier to get their hair done. They should be here soon. Didn’t Rena tell you?” She frowned.

“She’s already gone when I woke up today. Darn it. She doesn’t even pick up her phone.” Mayu cursed silently.

“Don’t worry too much about it. They’ll be here.” Jurina assured

“What if they don’t come?”

“If they don’t come? No worries. Worst case, you’ll be my dancing partner.” Jurina answered cooly and began walking away from Mayu.

“Huh? Who’ll be the guy then?” Mayu asked.

Jurina turned her head and raised an eyebrow at Mayu. “Who do you think? I’ll be the guy of course.” and began walking away again.

“No no no no... I’ll be the guy. I’m the guy in the relationship.”

“Like I’m not.”

“I’ll be the guy!”

Jurina turned back once again. “Are we seriously having an argument about something that is unlikely to happen? Please. Grow up. I have no time to argue with you on such a grand night.”

“But we did made ‘the plan’ together for tonight though. ” 

“Damn right. You better make sure you don’t mess this up, Mayu. This plan is one of the biggest highlight for tonight’s ball.”

“Don’t worry. I will not mess it up.” Mayu winked.

Jurina shook her head. “Don’t wink at me, please.” Jurina then made her way back to her guests.

“....Jeez.. She’s so hot headed and serious like an ape. And Rena dare tell me that she has a cute and funny side to her. Boohoo... I call that bull.” Mayu showed her tongue behind Jurina’s back.

It was that time when Mayu noticed someone sneaking behind a column at the corner of the ballroom. Mayu saw who was that and decided to pay her a little visit. “Oh, look who’s here... It’s my super duper long lost sister! Hugs!” Mayu demanded and forced a hug. Milky didn’t really responded to the hug, so it made Mayu question her. ”Is something wrong, Milky? Where’s your partner?”

“Uhmmm.... I don’t have one.. I hope somebody would ask me to be her partner though...” Milky then shifted her eyes towards a good looking lady standing with a few younger girls.

Mayu then looked over and grinned. “Ahhh.... You like Sayanee, huh?”

“I...uhmm.....” Milky blushed a little.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s understandable. Most girls fall for her charming looks and her smooth speeches. Well, I agree she’s good in speaking. She’s not the head of the PR department for nothing.” Mayu shrugged.

“Uhmm...” Milky was a little too shy to confront Sayanee.

Good thing Mayu was there to help. She was a little close to Sayanee so she decided to help Milky a little in her love life. “You know what, Milky? I’m going to help you.”

“H-Huh?? Help me?? Help me what??” Milky got panic all of a sudden.

“Don’t worry. Take a deep breath and wait for my good news here.” 

Mayu approached Sayanee without a moment of hesitation. As Mayu reached closer, she let out a cough, alerting Sayanee and the few girls. Noticing Mayu, Sayanee told the girls to leave them for a moment and the girls left. The first thing Sayanee did was look at Mayu from head to toe. “Looking good, Mayu... Even though it doesn’t match your personality, but still, I have to say you look good in a tuxedo.”

“Why thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself. You’re definitely killing some ladies tonight.” Mayu nudged her shoulder a little.

“I blame my smooth communication skills.” Sayanee boasted a little. “So, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Do you have a partner for tonight’s ball?” Mayu asked straight out of the blue.

“I haven’t found any yet. Why?” At that moment, Sayanee showed a weird expression at Mayu. “I’m sorry, Mayu. You’re really not my type..”

Mayu rolled her eyes. “Don’t even start. I have no interest in you at all... But someone else may have..”

“Oh? Who?”

“Alright. I’m just gonna cut things short. See Milky right there?” Mayu pointed at the girl standing by the column. “You do know Milky, right?”

Sayanee looked right at the direction of the column and saw Milky. “Yeah, I do... She’s a receptionist, just like you. She’s always looking at me.”

“Yeah. She likes you a lot. And she really hope that you’d be her partner for tonight.” Then, Mayu began frowning as she recalled something Sayanee said. “Wait, you actually noticed her looking at you everyday?”

“Yes, I do.. It’s because I was looking at her too.”

Mayu clapped her hands. “It’s done, then. There’s your ballroom partner right there. I’ll entrust her to you. Make sure she doesn’t feel awkward. She’s my long lost sister, ok?”

“Communication is my specialty. I don’t need you to teach me how not to make someone feel awkward.” Sayanee adjusted her necktie and slowly walked towards Milky.

Milky who was standing by the column noticed Sayanee walking towards her and she immediately looked over to Mayu. Mayu gave her a wink and two thumbs up, signifying that Sayanee will be her partner for tonight. Milky shot a slight smile at Mayu before looking back at Sayanee. Milky couldn’t help but to blush at the sight of the manly looking lady walking towards her.

Mayu felt like she had accomplished something huge for tonight by helping her friend get a date. Now, all that’s left for her is Yuki. It was already 30minutes late, Yuki and Rena were still nowhere to be seen. Mayu became really anxious and she went looking for Jurina again. After awhile, she finally found Jurina speaking to a few guests.

Mayu pulled Jurina out of her conversation for the second time. “Hey, are you sure they’re coming? It’s already 30 minutes late.”

“Mayu, you do that again, I swear I’m going to issue a warning letter to you.” Jurina warned once again. She didn’t like Mayu’s unprofessional behaviour.

“I’m really really sorry. I’m just worried, alright?” Mayu really did seem worried.

“As I said, they’ll be h-” Her sentence was interrupted by something from the ballroom door.

The grand ballroom door opened and the chatters of the crowd below stopped. Two fine looking ladies stood beside each other, glancing back at the crowd silently. The taller lady was wearing a bright red dress that symbolized her elegance. The smooth silk fabric of the dress draped past her toes, slightly drifting from her legs. It fitted flawlessly, the dress molding her torso beautifully and complimenting her feminine shape. Her lustrous diamond earrings glinted, light reflecting from the ballroom's glow. On the other hand the shorter lady standing by her side wore a simple strapless black gown, revealing her precious collarbones wrapped in smooth and alluring, skin. Both their postures was perfect, the shoulders were pulled back and hands were held together in front. 

The shorter of the two gulped and whispered. “Yuki, I’m feeling nervous. I never had so many people stare at me like this before.”

Yuki then held onto the shorter girl’s hand softly and smiled. “Don’t worry, Rena. You’ll get used to it soon. Let’s walk down slowly and smile at the guests like how I taught you, ok?”

And then they did. Step by step, they elegantly made their way down the stairs wearing their sweet smile. One thing was for sure, both Yuki and Rena stood out the most compared to the other guests in the ballroom.

As both Yuki and Rena made their way down, murmurs were heard around the hall, but only a few were heard, "Ahhh, they have good taste on clothes.." "Wow, she's beautiful." "She looks great in that outfit, better than what I’m wearing."

Mayu and Jurina had their eyes fixed on their respective partners for the night. Mayu had pryed open from the sight of Yuki. Jurina merely smiled at Rena and thought to herself. “Tonight’s going to be a long and fun night.”

“My god..” The dazzling beauty of Yuki was almost unbearable for Mayu and that caused her to mumble by herself without realizing. “Yuki’ssodamnbeautifulohmygodIdon’tevenknowhowtoexplainthis.”

Jurina intercepted right away. “Mayu. We’re in a grand ballroom filled with respectful people. Mind your words.”

That made Mayu clear and had her eyes fixed back on her beautiful partner. As they made their way towards their respective partners, more murmurs were heard in the hall like “Wow, that’s the CEO’s partner?” “She must be so lucky..”

Ignoring the murmurs around them, Yuki stood in front of Mayu. “Well, w-”

“You look gorgeous if that’s what you want to ask, Yuki. You look absolutely gorgeous.”

Yuki chuckled. “Why thank you, Mayu. You look incredibly handsome today as well.”

“Of course I do.” Mayu adjusted her hair a little before continuing. “I have to look really good if I were to partner you, Yuki. Or else I’d be a laughing stock.”

“I’m happy as long as you’re my partner, Mayu.” Yuki smiled.

“Partner in life too?”

“Yes, Mayu. Of course.” Yuki giggled once again.

“So are you saying you’re gonna marry me?”

“E-Eh??” Yuki got stunned for a moment as her face started turning pink.

“Nah, I’m just kidding.” Mayu let out a laughter

“Oh, god. I got nervous for nothing..” Yuki sighed of relief.

At that time Jurina gave a short glance at Mayu and returned her sight to Rena.

“Maybe next time, Yuki. I still need more time to ‘study’ you..” At that time, Mayu traced her finger on Yuki’s waistline.

Yuki blushed once again and immediately removed Mayu’s finger off her. “We’re in public, Mayu. Stop it.”

“Ok ok. I will... Well, since you’re so beautiful today, I shall start treating you like a queen for the rest of the night.”

“Oh, like how?” Yuki was curious.

“Like doing stuff for you....” Mayu then moved closer to Yuki’s ear and started whispering. “And I’ll let you dominate me in bed.”

Hearing this from Mayu made Yuki’s face turn tomato red and smacked her on the shoulder. “Stop it, Mayu.”

“What? I’m just saying.” Mayu shrugged playfully.
   
At the same time, Rena who was standing in front of Jurna shyly smiled. “Uhm.... So, how do I look today?”

“Do you want to know the truth? Or would you prefer a lie?” Jurina asked.

“Interesting. Let’s hear the lie.” Rena giggled.

“A lie? You look like a monstrosity that just came out from Lady Gaga’s wardrobe.” 

Rena giggled a little at Jurina’s ‘straight to the point’ statement. Despite that, Rena was still curious to hear the truth from Jurina. So, to ease her curiosity, she asked again. “What about the truth then?”

“I’m sorry to say this but you are limited to only one choice, m’lady. I’m afraid you’ll have to live with that curiosity for the rest of your life.” Jurina stated in a polite manner.

“Hey! You didn’t say that we’re only limited to one choice! I wanna know what you really think about how I look today..” Rena pouted

Seeing Rena’s cute pout, Jurina couldn’t help it but to smile at her happily and held both her hands. “You look unpleasantly beautiful today, Rena.”

“Unpleasantly beautiful? What does that mean?” Rena tilted her head a little.

“It means, you’re so beautiful that you’re gonna make everyone in the ballroom fall in love with you. And that makes me unpleasant.” Jurina smiled.

“So what if people fall in love with me? It shows just how much I’m desirable and how you’re lucky to have me as your girlfriend.” Rena joked and giggled.

“Desirable? No.” Jurina tilted Rena’s head up with her one finger as her face got closer and closer. With her face centimeters away from Rena’s face and eyes locked, she said with an almost breathless voice. “You’re mine. I won’t allow anybody else to take you from me. Got it?”

Rena blushed so hard at Jurina’s action and comment that she almost forgot how to breathe. She then came back to her senses and took a step back from Jurina. “I almost died of cardiac arrest.”

“Cardiac arrest? I’ll be happy to give you a CPR.”

Rena’s face turned red once again. “Oh my gosh, Jurina. Since when did you become so cheesy??”

“Thanks to you, I’m starting to open up to my feelings.. I just wish that you’ll stay with me forever..”

“I-I...” Rena was simply too shy to respond to that and she changed the subject on the spot. “U-Uh... Y-Yuki chose this dress for me.” She clinged onto Yuki’s arm.

“Figured. Yuki’s really fashionable. She had been a fashionista ever since I met her. So I wouldn’t be surprised that she was the one who chose this dress for you.” Jurina turned over to Yuki and smiled at her. “I must thank you, Yuki.. For dressing Rena up so beautifully for tonight.”

“Don’t thank me. Rena’s just born with a pretty face that suits every dress.” Yuki answered.

Jurina looked at her watch. “Well, since you’re both here, I think it’s time to get on with the special performance for tonight. I need you to wait here, Rena. I’m gonna go prepare something special for the night.”

“Yeah. I should be going too.” Mayu informed Yuki.

“You’re working together in this??” Yuki asked.

Jurina answered. “I could have done this alone, but Mayu insisted on joining me, so I decided to just let her join because she was wasting my time.” 

“Meh.. She just couldn’t accept the fact that we work pretty well together. We even practiced together before this.”

“Practice? Practice what?” Rena asked.

“You’ll see soon. Mayu, let’s go.” Jurina ordered and left right away.

“Hmm? Mayu are you gonna tell us?” Yuki asked while grabbing on Mayu’s hand, not wanting to let her go.

“Just sit back and watch, Yuki.” Mayu shot a lovely wink at Yuki and ran after Jurina and into the small door situated at the right side of the ballroom.

“Just what are they planning?” Question marks floated above Yuki’s head.

Ten minutes had passed and yet no sign of Mayu and Jurina.

All of a sudden, the lights in the hall were shut off. Complete darkness. People started voicing out if there was an electricity failure. Just when people were starting to panic a little, a light source came out. Not the lights from the chandelier but a bright spotlight aiming directly at the center of the ballroom where the grand piano is situated at. Everyone was attracted towards that direction. Apparently there was somebody sitting there. It was Jurina. She shot a smile at Rena as she placed her fingers on the keys. The soft piano tune caught everyone’s ears. Everyone in the ballroom were engrossed in the beautiful tune.

Rena and Yuki clasped their fingers together and smiled in awe. A few seconds after Jurina started, another spotlight lighted up on the right side of the hall, showing Mayu holding onto a violin and shot a smile at Yuki.

Rena snapped her fingers. “I knew it! From the moment Jurina started playing the piano, I knew Mayu would be playing the violin. She’s good at playing it after all..”

“Yes yes I know.” Yuki’s smile widened as she clasped her hand harder at Mayu’s entrance.

As soon as Mayu placed the bow on her violin, Yuki literally squealed at Mayu’s coolness. She then started playing a beautiful rendition as she slowly walked down the steps and towards the grand piano. The music echoed throughout the whole ballroom. It’s no doubt that the duet of a piano and violin was really good, no, brilliant. Emotion poured out of each note.

“Wow. I didn’t know Mayu and Jurina can play so well..” Minami stood there in awe.

“Yeah.. I didn’t know too.. They’re really talented.” Atsuko smiled at them.

“Jurina is so cool....” Haruna squealed at Jurina. “I’m totally in love with her.”

That was when a tall lady beside her let out a cough. “You’re in love with who again?”

“Oh, don’t be jealous, Mariko.. I love you more.” Haruna clinged her arm onto the tall lady.

“What a beautiful piece...” Sayanee closed her eyes slowly and let the music run through her mind.

“Wow, I’m surprised.... Mayu’s character doesn’t suit a violin at all.” Milky who was standing beside Sayanee stated.

“There’s a lot of things that you’ll be surprised when you get closer to that person. Just like how I was surprised to see how compatible we are, Milky.” Sayanee looked over to Milky with sparking eyes.

“I...I don’t know what to say..” Milky blushed a little.

“You don’t have to say anything. Let’s listen to this masterpiece for now.”

“Mmhmm..” Milky smiled.

(Link to song below)

As soon as their music ended, the whole crowd went wild with applause. Both Mayu and Jurina stood up and bowed to the crowd cheering wildly for them. They made their way back to their partners.

“So, what did you think of the performance?”

“That was so beautiful...” Rena clapped her hands as Jurina approached her.

“You both look so cool..” Yuki was still squealing a little.

“Yeah? Who look cooler?” Mayu asked. Jurina who was curious looked at Yuki as well.

“Don’t be asking such questions, Mayu. You both were equally cool.” Yuki answered.

“Well, I think Jurina looked cooler playing the piano.” Rena clinged her arm on Jurina.

“In that case, I think that Mayu looked cooler with the violin.” Yuki did the same gesture to Mayu.

“It doesn’t matter who’s cooler, alright.” Jurina said.

“Pfft... You’re just saying that because you know deep down inside Rena, she thinks I’m cooler.” Mayu said.

“Don’t even start.” Jurina stated.

At that time, a soft waltz tune came alive. Mayu looked at Yuki and smiled. “May I have this dance, my queen?” Mayu bowed a little and had one hand behind while the other offering out to Yuki.

“Absolutely.” Yuki grabbed onto Mayu’s hand and they made their way to the dancing floor.

Jurina too looked over to Rena and held out one of her hand. “Dance?”

Rena smiled and took her hand and smiled brightly. “Why not?”

As they made their way to the dance floor, Jurina reminded Rena another time. “Do you remember the steps we learnt the other day?”

Rena winked. “Dance and you’ll find out. For now, hold me tight and don’t let go.”

A smirk crawled up into Jurina’s face. “Perfect.”

Everyone started dancing elegantly with their respective partners. Yuki with Mayu. Rena with Jurina. Haruna with Mariko. Atsuko with Minami. Milky with Sayanee. Yui with Paru.  It was definitely a long night for all the couples who attended the ball. But it will be an especially long night for Yuki, Mayu, Rena and Jurina. A really really long and uncomfortable night.....


Chapter 15
END

*A huge argument will happen in the next chapter.. How huge? Huge enough to mess up at least one relationship. So, Stay tuned~!