CHAPTER 16


“Phew.. That was some dancing..” Mayu let out a loud breath as four of them had a walk outside the garden after the ball.

“Not bad, Rena. You could actually keep up with the flow quite well..” Jurina complimented on Rena’s dancing skills.

“All thanks to you, Jurina. You’re the one who thought me how to dance.” Rena smiled sweetly back at Jurina and looked up into the sky. “The sky is full of stars”

“Well... I can’t see anything.” Jurina shrugged.

“Such a romantic sight..” Yuki smiled at the sky full of stars.

“You know, Yuki... There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out.. But if I don’t say it out now, I’m afraid I’ll regret it..” Mayu looked at Yuki lovingly before looking down on the ground for a moment. All of a sudden, Mayu got on one knee.

“Oh my god... Oh my god...” Yuki clasped both her hands on .

“My shoe is untied.” Mayu started tying her shoes

“Jesus Christ!” Yuki laughed and smacked Mayu on her shoulder. “Stop playing with my feelings like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Hey... I didn’t say I was gonna propose.. Not yet, at least.” Mayu shot a wink at Mayu as she finished tying her shoes.

“Yeah, so what were you gonna say that’s so important?”

“I noticed that this dress was actually a little too tight for you. I think you gained some weight. You should lose some.” Mayu started laughing.

“Oh, how dare you!” Yuki continuously hit Mayu playfully as the shorter girl started flinching to every hit. “Forget it. I’m going to the washroom.”

“To take a dump to lose some weight?” Mayu joked once again.

“Yeah. I’m gonna take a dump. A huge one.” Yuki showed her tongue at Mayu playfully.

“Eww.... You’re gross, Yuki.” Mayu flinched a little from Yuki’s answer. “I never thought you’d actually say that.”

“I’ve gained some sense of humor.” Yui joked.

“From who, I wonder?” Mayu shot a wide grin at Yuki.

“Not gonna say.” Yuki giggled before turning over to Rena. “Rena, you wanna come along? To freshen up?”

“Of course. You both stay here. Don’t fight, ok?” Rena caressed Jurina’s face before leaving to the washroom with Yuki.

“Mayu, come here.” As soon as Yuki and Rena were out of sight, Jurina gestured Mayu to come over.

“Uhm.. Okay?” and Mayu did.

“You should stop playing with Yuki like that.”

“Wow, I don’t know what’s with the random blurt from you so suddenly. And I’m not sure if I understood what you’re talking about now.”

“The way you’re treating Yuki.. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t see her unhappy though. She’s been smiling and laughing at all my jokes.”

“Using marriage as a joke is a little overboard, don’t you think?”

Mayu was a little speechless. Maybe Jurina was right. Eventhough Yuki new Mayu was joking, marriage isn’t something you should joke about. “Come on, don’t be like this.” Mayu tried to put an arm over Jurina’s shoulder just as a sign of joke.

Instead of receiving it, Jurina dodged it and smacked Mayu’s hand out of the way. “I’m serious here. Yuki is a very important person to me. It would hurt me to see her sad. Didn’t you see the look on her face everytime you joked about getting married and proposing?”

“Hey, calm down. Why are you getting so worked up for?” Mayu started getting confused. “We even performed earlier together, right?”

“You forced yourself onto me. Everything is a joke to you. You think everyone can put up with all your jokes and your annoying behaviour. Well, guess what? You’re wrong.” Jurina started getting really worked up.

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you don’t know what a joke is.”

“So you’re saying that I’m the problem here? You’re blaming me for lacking in sense of humor?”

“Wait, what’re we talking about again?” Mayu got confused al over again.

“You should not treat Yuki like that. She’s not your toy. You’re treating her as someone that has no pride.”

“Once again, I’m not toying with Yuki. I’m joking with her. She knows it. She accepts all my jokes at least. Unlike you, taking everything seriously and lose your over petty stuff like this. My relationship with Yuki is going pretty well and I don’t need YOU to teach me how to manage the relationship, alright?”

“You managing the relationship well? You have a long way to go till you understand the meaning of management. Mark my words, you and Yuki will never work out.”

This time, Mayu was the one who started getting worked up. “Why do you always treat me so badly, huh?”

“Don’t even start, Mayu.” Jurina pointed at Mayu’s face and warned.

“Why not? You wanted an argument, I’ll give you an argument. You do not like me. You think I didn’t notice it? Ever since the day Yuki and I were together, you haven’t been treating me nicely. Every little thing I do, you’ll make a fuss over it and start scolding me over small mistakes I make. You even scolded me like a dog just because I misplaced a stapler? Are you kidding?”

“Look. W-”

Mayu started raising her voice. “I’m not done! You keep giving me reasons to keep me in my seat so that I won’t get to meet up with Yuki often. Why would you wanna mix up working life with personal life? How UNPROFESSIONAL of the so-called-CEO of one of the best hotels in the world. BOOHOO! You’re by far one of the worst CEO I’ve ever seen!”

“That’s enough!” Jurina raised her voice as well.

“Why do you dislike us being together so much, huh? You don’t see me hating on you for being with Rena.”

“That’s because you know I was able to lead a relationship so much better than you did. You just want to play. You just want to have fun with Yuki. In the end, she’ll be the one who will get hurt. Yuki is my best friend. Seeing her getting hurt is the last thing I wanna do.”

“Yeah? ”

“That’s enough. All I want to tell you is that you should not play with Yuki’s feelings. If you want the best of Yuki, I suggest you best stop playing with her or better yet, stay away from her.”

This statement surprised Mayu. “Excuse me? With your attitude like this, it’ll be best for Rena if you left her too. Please look at yourself in the mirror before you judge others.”

“I’m different than you. You know it..”

“Oh, yeah. You’re right. I’m not a hot pot who doesn’t understand jokes. Being as you are, if you don’t start opening up and start accepting jokes, it’s YOUR relationship with Rena that will never last long!”

“You are the one who needs change! Don’t teach me what to do!” Jurina growled.

“Yuki loves me the way I am right now. The problem here is YOU! Just because you have daddy problems, you lash everything out on me!? Give me a break!” 

Jurina’s ears twitched a little. “Daddy.....problems..” Hearing this from Mayu made Jurina burst. All her concealed anger exploded just from a single sentence. In the blink of an eye, Jurina had both her hands on Mayu’s collar and pushed her all the way to the wall, causing a loud thud on Mayu’s back. Jurina’s anger caused her hands to tremble as she glared right into Mayu’s eyes from up close. Word by word escaped slowly from Jurina’s mouth but very much imbued with anger. “WHERE.DID.YOU.HEAR.THIS.FROM.”

Mayu was shaken and mostly confused from Jurina’s physical action towards her. “H-Huh? H-Hear what? Calm down please.. I don’t know what I said but I’m sorry! Just calm down, ok?”

Right at that time, Rena and Yuki came back from the toilet and saw the scene of Jurina holding Mayu by the collar against the wall. They immediately intercepted them. Rena pulled Jurina back with all her strength while Yuki pried Jurina’s arms off Mayu’s collar. Yuki then corrected Mayu’s collar before questioning them. “What the hell is going on here??”

Jurina still have not cut eye contact with Mayu. As soon as Rena appeared beside her, she shot a small glare at Rena. Seemingly confused of the situation, Rena asked. “Jurina? What happened?”

Jurina let out a loud sigh and turned around, back facing them. “I need to speak to Rena alone. Leave us, Mayu.. You too, Yuki.”

“If you say so....” Yuki walked over towards Mayu and looked back.

“Uhm.. You both can head home first. We’ll catch up soon.” Rena stated.

“Are you sure?” Mayu gave a last glance at Jurina.

“Leave now.” Jurina repeated once again, without looking at Mayu’s face. She knew that she would lose it if she comes in eye contact with Mayu again.

“We should go, Mayu..” Yuki tugged on Mayu’s arm.

“Look.. I don’t know what I said that made you so upset, ok? Even if I did, you have to learn to take things calmer. You have a serious problem, Jurina. You better fix up that attitude of yours or you’ll regret it someday.” Mayu warned Jurina.

“I said LEAVE US!” This time, Jurina shouted, causing Yuki to be stunned as well.

“You don’t have to shout at Mayu, Jurina! What’s wrong with you!?” Yuki got mad as well.

Jurina turned around again and confronted Yuki. She stood right in front of Yuki, face inches away from one another. With a tone filled with anger, Jurina uttered. “You don’t know what happened, so I suggest you take her away from here before I lose my temper on you too, Yuki.”

“....” Yuki blinked a few times, dumbfounded at Jurina’s behaviour. Jurina had never talked to Yuki like this before. She wondered again and again, what could have made Jurina treat her like this. “Mayu’s right.. You have issues, Jurina... You never speak in that tone with me before.. Let’s leave, Mayu.” And they were gone, leaving Rena and Jurina alone at the garden.

“Why did you fight with Mayu?” Rena confronted Jurina.

“She was playing with Yuki’s feelings.”

“They’re adults, Jurina. They can solve their relationship themselves.”

“No! You don’t understand, Rena. Yuki was my first friend. The only friend whom pass through many hardships with me. I can’t afford to see her get hurt in the end.”

“Mayu may be playful at times, but when it comes to being in a relationship, she’s serious about it. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I highly doubt it. Sooner or later she’s going to dump Yuki after she’s done playing.” Jurina hissed.

Rena got shocked. “Hey! I don’t allow you to speak about Mayu like that! She’s my best friend!”

“Alright then. Let’s not talk about her. Let’s talk about YOU.” Jurina looked right at Rena’s eyes with a cold expression and raised her voice. “Why did you tell Mayu about my dad!?”

“What??” Rena was confused.

“Don’t give me that look. You did tell her, didn’t you?”

“Huh-What? I didn’t! I swear!”

“Don’t lie to me! She told me straight to my face that I have daddy problems! The only one who knows about this is you. It has to be you who told her!”

“Listen to me, Jurina. I really kept it a secret. I didn’t tell anybody! You have to believe me!” Rena begged.

It was actually a misunderstanding. Mayu didn’t know anything about Jurina’s dad. Mayu’s statement about Jurina having daddy problems was actually a spontaneous sentence thought up by her on the spot. Let’s just say Mayu thought of the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. Which was why Mayu was so confused when Jurina started acting up on her.

“Liar!!” Jurina shouted right in front of Rena’s face. “You’re the same as my dad.. You never keep to your words.”

“But Jurina, I-”

“Leave! I don’t want to see you anymore!”

“Please listen to me, Jurina. I didn’t tell it to anybody.” Rena begged again for Jurina to listen to her explanation.

Knowing Jurina’s character, she decided not to believe this fact and instead actually believed that Rena told Mayu everything. Jurina started losing her mind and started blurting some things that weren’t supposed to be said out. “I don’t want to listen! You’re the same with him! You’re the same with HIM! You’re all the same! You’re a fraud! There’s no way I can be with a fraud like you!”

Those last few words uttered from Jurina stabbed right into Rena’s heart. Rena slowly shook her head as tears rolled down her face. She just couldn’t take it anymore. Her crushed feelings started pouring out in the form of tears. Rena sniffed. “I don’t even know you anymore... You’re not Jurina...”

That statement striked Jurina hard. At that point only did she realize that she had said something really wrong. “Rena.. I..I’m really sor-”

“DON’T--!!" Her sudden blurt from her heart caused Jurina to stumble back. She could see Rena shaking and her voice is cracked too. There's no need for words to tell Jurina how much Rena is infuriated and sorrow. "Don’t you dare...apologize after you say those words to me."

"..." At this point, Jurina knew she could never go back on her words anymore. It was already too late.

“There are some words that can’t be taken back once it’s said..” Rena said with her heavy heart and eyes welled in tears.

“Rena..”

“You don’t want to see me anymore? Fine. I’ll stay as far away from you as I can. You won’t have to see me anymore.... You think there’s no way for you to be with a fraud like me?” Rena bit her lip for a moment as her eyes started welling up with tears once again. As she let out a huge breath, her sadness exploded. “FINE! We’ll break up then. You’ll never be happy with a fraud anyway.”

“...”

“Have a nice day.” Without another word,

And at that exact moment, a thunder began crackling and it started raining heavily out of the blue. Every raindrop that landed on Jurina’s face slowly made her regret everything she said today. It was such a calm night as well, and it just had to rain heavily so suddenly. Maybe some things were just meant to happen. Or maybe the rain was just signifying her very own feelings right now and definitely Rena’s feelings as well. As she held out her hand to feel the rain splashing on her palms, it felt as if those were Rena’s tears and how much of a depressed state she must be in right now. Jurina let out a deep breath. “What have I done....”

Mayu heard the front door closed and immediately rushed downstairs. “Rena?”

As Mayu reached the bottom, she got shocked from the sight of Rena soaking wet, still wearing her ballroom dress. Her make up were completely smeared from the heavy rain. Rena wasn’t doing anything. She just stood there, staring at the ground like someone from an asylum.

“Oh gosh, Rena!? What happened!?” Mayu immediately attended to Rena and stood in front of her, guiding her towards a chair and sat her down. Even after sitting down, 

“Rena? Hello there?” Mayu snapped her fingers. “Don’t scare me, Rena. What happened?”

“Mayu...?” Rena slowly looked up at Mayu’s face.

“I’m right here, Rena. Tell me what happened.” Mayu looked more and more worried.

“Do you think I’m a fraud?” There were tears in Rena’s eyes when she asked this question. The scary thing was that Rena had her eyes wide open. She seemed like someone who had just lost her mind.

“No, you’re not a fraud, Rena.”

“Then why did Jurina call me a fraud? Why did she call me a liar??” Rena’s voice was completely monotonous.

“Wha- Why did she call you that??” Mayu was surprised.

“I’m very sad, Mayu..and angry at the same time... I don’t know what to do.” Rena looked like she was suffering a lot from inside her heart. She didn’t know how to react to the shock she had earlier. “I don’t know if I should scream or cry...”

Judging from everything Rena said, Mayu knew something really bad must have happened between Rena and Jurina. So, Mayu decided not to question about the matter for now. “It’s alright, Mayu. You can cry and scream all you want. Just let everything out.”

And she did. The whole house was filled with cries of help and suffering. It was loud, and Rena was crying uncontrollably. Good thing Mayu was there to accompany her. It lasted for about fifteen whole minutes and Rena finally settled down. First, Rena told Mayu the story about Jurina’s dad and what happened at the garden earlier.

“Wait, Jurina actually had problems with her father? I didn’t know! I swear! It just came out of my mouth spontaneously. I just didn’t expect that she actually had problems with her father..”

“Nothing matters now, anyway...” Rena sobbed.

“I’m really sorry, Rena.. I didn’t mean to ruin your relationship like this..”

“No.. It’s not your fault, Mayu.. It’s Jurina’s. How could she just blame me for it without a second thought? She doesn’t even trust me, her very own girlfriend. She actually compared me to her father who abandoned her! How would you expect me to be with her like this?”

“I’m sorry to hear this, Rena...”

“I’m really tired, Mayu... I just want to take a warm shower and go to sleep right now..”

“Alright. Just come in my room if you have anything to talk about, ok?” Mayu said.

“I will.” Rena nodded and the night ended right there as they got back to their respective rooms.

Mayu yawned as her alarm clock rang. The first thing she did was to check on Rena. As she was creeping up towards Rena’s room, she heard some loud music coming from Rena’s room. “Hey that’s weird. That sounded like Dance Dance Revolution.” Not only that, Mayu heard some laughters as well coming from the room. 

Mayu slowly opened the door to Rena’s room and saw Rena jumping and dancing around to the game. Mayu’s mouth was literally pried open from the shock of a cheerful Rena.

Rena noticed her friend standing by her door and greeted her cheerfully. “Hey, Mayu! What’s up!!” 

“Uhh...” Mayu squinted her eye a little from the cheerful Rena. Something feels wrong.

“Wanna play some Dance Dance Revolution with me?”

“Aren’t you.....?”

“What?”

“Uhhh......” Mayu was still confused.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot, Mayu. If you’re not gonna play then I’m just going to start a new game.”

Mayu thought that maybe Rena actually wants to forget about unhappy thoughts once and for all, so she joined in the fray as well. For the sake of her best friend. “OI OI! Don’t leave me out on this!”

After hours and hours of laughing, cursing, cheating and pushing around, they finally finished the whole game. They both sat on the couch, tired from all the dancing. Silence engulfed the room for a short moment as they panted from their extreme dancing routines. Rena suddenly initiated a conversation. “Hey Mayu.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to work tomorrow?”

Uh-oh.. Rena’s talking about work. What’s she gonna say now, Mayu thought. “Uhm.. Sure. Why?”

Rena took out a letter “Pass this letter to Jurina for me.”

“Is this what I think it is?” Mayu held the letter up.

“I plan on quitting the job, Mayu. Not because of my relationship with Jurina. I’ve decided that I have a lot more to learn in the outside world rather than just work inside a box.”

“Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that lie, Rena? That’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.”

“Alright, fine! Partially because of the relationship, ok? But it’s also true that I want to see the world more. I’ve to move on in my life someday and I guess now’s the best time. I can’t let something like ‘Jurina and I broke up because she has some daddy issues and I’m feeling sad about it’ hold me back. You get me?” Rena explained.

After a short moment of silence, Mayu nodded. “Yeah, I get you.”

“So.... Is there anything you want me to tell her?” Mayu asked.

“Oh, you don’t have to say anything. You just have to help me do something.. As a parting gift.”

“Hmm?”



The next day, AKB Hotel lounge


Mayu arrived earlier than expected. The first thing Mayu did when she arrived was to look for Jurina. All of a sudden...

“Mayu!” A voice called out for her. A voice that belongs to whom she wanted to meet.

Mayu turned around and noticed Jurina walking towards her.

“I was looking for you.” Jurina started the conversation.

“Coincidence.. I was looking for you too.”

“You wanna go first?” For some reason, Jurina was being really nice to Mayu.

“No, no. Please. Go ahead.” Mayu insisted on Jurina speaking out first.

After letting out a deep breath, Jurina started. “I wanna apologize to you for what happened the other day.. You were right about me. I was a fool.”

“Hell right, you are. I’ve warned you before, right? That you’ll regret it someday. Never thought you’ll regret on the day itself. And one more thing. The stuff about your daddy? Rena never did told me anything. I was actually completely clueless about it. I know I may have said the wrong thing at the wrong time, but despite that, you actually chose NOT to believe in Rena, your very own girlfriend. Just...wow.”

Jurina looked down a little in shame. She then looked around and noticed that Rena wasn’t there. “Where’s Rena?”

“She’s alive if that’s what you wanna know. Why bother asking? You didn’t want to see her anyway. So, you’ll get what you wish for.”

“...”

“Here, Rena has something for you.” Mayu took an envelope out of her bag and handed it over to Jurina. “This is her resignation letter. She’s quitting her job as a receptionist.”

Jurina took the letter from Mayu’s hand and questioned her. “Why didn’t she pass this to me herself?”

Mayu shook her head. “Oho.... That’ll be too convenient for you, don’t you think so? It’s too late for regret, Jurina. She’s not gonna see you anymore. Oh, before I forget.. Rena have a parting gift for you.”

“What is it?”

“This.” Mayu immediately landed a punch across Jurina’s face. A punch so hard that it made her topple onto the ground. Everyone who was there, staff and guests alike, stood up in shock at the scene. “Yup. This punch was from Rena for saying hurtful words to her and breaking her heart.”

“...” No words came from Jurina. Maybe she knew that she actually do deserve the punch.

“Second, this.” Mayu took out another letter from her bag and tossed it at Jurina. “I’m quitting too. If Rena’s not working here with me anymore, then I have no reason to stay as well. I’ve already talked to Yuki about this. She understands me.”

“....” Still no words from Jurina. She just kept quiet.

“You can sue me for all I care. As long as you stay away from Rena from now on. Hope you have a pleasant stay here, miss.” After saying everything she had to say, Mayu walked out the main entrance and headed back home.

Yuki who was standing by the side the whole time finally walked over towards Jurina and helped her up. “You alright, Jurina?”

“Yeah... You saw the whole thing?” Jurina questioned in a depressed tone.

“As a matter of fact, I did. And I’ve to tell you this, I actually felt relieved when Mayu gave you that punch.” Yuki said.

“Gee.. Thanks a lot. I bet you’re all happy that I finally get paid for my bad temper.”

“I know you lost your temper the other night because you were trying to protect me. You care about me a lot. I understand. But you too have to understand now, Jurina. You don’t have to protect me forever. I have Mayu to do the job for you now. She’s doing a really good job.” Yuki smiled. “Sometimes, you gotta fall for you to get back up. As for you, maybe you needed a little physical to get you back on the right track. Just look at how you spoke with Mayu earlier. How polite and humble.. I’m impressed, actually. I’ve never actually seen you speaking to Mayu so politely before.”

“Are you teaching me how to speak with people now?”

“Yes I am, Jurina. I am teaching you how to speak with people. Just like the first time we met. Remember?”

“Yeah, I do.. Speaking 101, right? Step one, approach a stranger. Step two, introduce yourself. Step three, initiate a comfortable conversation and make sure to speak humbly and politely. The first three basic steps that brought us this far..”

“Exactly..” Yuki giggled. “Come on, let’s get you fixed up.” Yuki patted the dust off Jurina’s pants and walked with Jurina back to her room.

On the way, Jurina did think about something else. “Do you think.....”

“That Rena will forgive you?” Yuki was smart enough to finish off Jurina’s statement. “Well, you did say some hurtful things to her, so I must say as of now, definitely not. Just give her some time to chill, alright?”

“Given enough time to her, do you think she’ll ever forgive me?” Jurina asked again.

Yuki sighed. “I don’t know, Jurina. I really can’t answer you. Only time will tell.”


Chapter 16
END

P.S : Once again, this is the second last chapter for this fic already~ Next chapter will be the final chapter then I'm off with the new fic~ See you then~