“But I can’t drive!” said Richardis, as she and Angela, Chi and Coco watched two other Shiroryuu hostesses climb into shiny cars that were standing on an Asakusa main road.

“You won’t have to drive!” Angela assured her, “They are getting in on the passenger’s side, dummy!”

“Right, right,” said Richardis, remembering cars drove on the left side of the street in Japan and not on the right like in Germany.

They soon spotted Mama-san, who was standing near the trail of cars, conversing with a group of suits. When Mama-san spotted them, she bowed to the suits and came towards them.

“There you are! The task seems pretty obvious… this year we are endorsing cars for Subaru,” she pointed at the shiny row of cars, “And don’t complain to me that your break was short – Okubo-san over there will make it up to you. He organized this event and you’ll be both get the chance to meet some celebrities and do some good today. You see, every car will be driven by a celebrity, who volunteered and for each of them Subaru will be donating money for a good course. Isn’t that nice. And remember, this might be a chance to recruit some new high-end customers!”

The girls looked at each other excitedly. Their break had been short, but this endorsing deal didn’t sound too bad. A broad man in a suit joined them and introduced himself as Okubo Shinichi.

“Very, very beautiful,” he said, sending them all a broad radiating businessman-like smile, before turning to Mama-san. “Kojima-san, your girls look absolutely stunning. They will be perfect.”

Richardis and the other hostesses all smiled and bowed in gratitude.

“I will briefly explain how this works,” Okubo-san continued, “As Kojima-san likely already told you, you will get the chance to meet some famous people today, while you take a brief luxury ride in the new Subaru Night Chaser. While you’re in the car, you will be filmed. This film will later be published on our website, but don’t worry; there won’t be any audio recording. All you have to do is enjoy the ride and show the camera an enchanting smile. Do we have an understanding?”

“Yes!” the hostesses replied in unison.

Okubo-san gave them another one of his broad smiles and vanished, while Mama-san began ushering them one by one towards a car. Richardis had to wait until her senior hostesses had been seated, before Mama-san finally turned to her and pointed towards the last car.

“It’s open,” she said, “Just climb in – carefully, so that nothing happens to your Kimono and wait. Your male counterparts will be here any moment. And remember – strike up a nice conversation and give him a flyer later if you get the chance!”

Richardis nodded nervously and climbed into the shiny white Subaru that stood last in the row of cars.

“I don’t know whether that’s a good idea,” said Yamaa-san skeptically.

“Why not?” asked Junsu, “It’s an extension of the charity concert. I’m not getting paid for it or anything.”

“I’m not sure that with your current public status it’s the right time to endorse products,” argued Yamaa-san.

“My current public status didn’t keep people from enjoying my concert. If the public were still upset, I don’t think my performance would have drawn that many enthusiastic spectators,” Junsu countered.

Yamaa-san grumbled something unintelligible, but did not directly reply.

Junsu and his manager were waiting for Okubo Shinichi outside the Asakusa temple by a large empty street. Junsu took of the cap, sunglasses and scarf, which he had been wearing as a disguise. Yamaa-san looked around nervously to make sure no one saw them, when a young man in a suit came around the temple building and approached them.

“I’m Okubo-san’s assistant. Please follow me,” the man said with a bow.

Junsu and Yamaa-san follow the assistant – Yamaa-san slightly hesitant – who lead them through a small empty byroad, until they found themselves by row of shiny cars.

“The streets in the area are entirely cleared,” said Okubo Shinichi, who had turned up out of nowhere. “I think you will enjoy the ride.”

Junsu introduced his manager to the Subaru representative and they exchanged a few pleasantries.

“Now without further ado I’d like to introduce the new Subaru Night Chaser to you,” Okubo Shinichi said opening the door to a fancy white car that stood by the road. “Thank you again very much for your volunteering. Please give it a try.”

When the driver’s side door opened, Richardis quickly rearranged her face into a smile and expectantly turned her head. Outside she heard Okubo Shinichi speak in his generally polite, yet slightly boastful tone and then a man climbed into the driver’s seat next to her and closed the car door.

It took her a few moments to recognize him. In the past days her brain had done such a magnificent job of banishing that face from her thoughts that she had to rummage through her memory for a moment before she had a name. Her counterpart had apparently recognized her, too, and was staring in shock. Richardis quietly cursed in German.

“Scheiße…”

“What did you say?” asked Kim Junsu perplexed. He had spoken Korean by reflex.

“Nothing,” she replied.

The surprised expression on his handsome face was replaced by an angry one.

“Is this some kind of prank? Does your boss have it in for me?” he asked.

Richardis frowned.

“Could you relax for a moment? The world does not revolve around you. My establishment asked me to endorse for Subaru. I had no idea you’d be here. End of story,” she explained.

“That seems like quite the coincidence thought,” Junsu replied, eyeing her with mistrust.

Richardis wondered whether she could just climb out the car and exchange seats with another hostess. All she wanted to do was leave. But Kim Junsu knew a number of the other hostesses, too. There was no way she could get out of the situation without inconveniencing a lot of people and embarrassing herself. But she couldn’t be in a commercial video with Kim Junsu. Absolutely not.

Before she could make a decision, Okubo Shinichi’s voice rang over a speaker inside the car telling them politely to start driving.

Junsu was about to shout something at the hostess, when Okubo Shinichi’s voice politely asked them not to chat, but to get driving, which reminded him that they were being filmed. He looked at the car keys that were waiting for him to turn them. He turned his head to look at Rie-chan. She looked just as infuriated and trapped as he felt - a small tangle of curls having come undone from her up-do, that was vibrating ever so slightly by her speedy yet silent breaths.

It was the first time that he had to admit to himself that she looked pretty. In his time he had encountered his fair share of foreigners, including people from all continents and colors, yet Caucasian faces still often seemed inaccessible and mysterious to him. But right now he felt like he was looking into a mirror. Maybe this wasn’t a hoax. Maybe it really was a coincidence and she wanted to be here as little as he did.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said in Korean and started the car.

 Rie-chan’s large eyes became even larger, as she stared in surprise, but did not protest. Junsu slowly started driving, following the trail of cars before them and adjusting himself to the unknown vehicle.

“We’re being filmed,” he reminded Rie-chan, attempting to take control of the situation, “Let’s just smile and in 10 minutes we’ll get to part and never see each other again.”

“Hopefully it works this time around,” Rie-chan said with a mechanical smile.

As the car started gathering speed, Richardis turned her head and looked outside the window, a fake smile still plastered on her face. She could see her own forcibly smiling reflection in the car window and decided to roll it down.

“What are you doing?” said Kim Junsu, the forced smile he was putting on audible in his voice.

“Pretending to enjoy the ride,” Richardis replied through her teeth, turning her head to give the camera an encouraging smile.

“Close the window!” Kim Junsu said quite harshly. “The wind’s messing up your hair!”

He actually attempted to reach over and fix Richardis’s hair, but she slapped his hand away.

“Don’t touch me!”

“We’re being filmed for god’s sake!”

“Exactly! Behave yourself!”

“You behave yourself! And close the damn window!”

Feeling her face going red from anger, Richardis rolled up her car window. Her cheeks were starting to hurt, as she was forcing her lips to form into a smile again.

“We can’t make it seem like were arguing,” Kim Junsu said, staring ahead and avoiding her gaze.

Although she felt like doing the exact opposite, Richardis remained calm and beamed like she was having the time of her life. Both went quiet, with smiles plastered on their faces, while the car picked up more speed.

Junsu’s nerves were strained: There had been trouble at the charity concert already and now this. It didn’t matter apparently how long you were in the business, disaster could meet you anyway. Could be sitting on your passenger’s seat anytime. His mind was racing, wondering whether people would recognize Rie-chan. She had been caught on camera by the news team back at the Shiroryuu. Admittedly she had only been visible in the background and her hair had looked different, but someone who was out to get him… might put two and two together.

No one said anything for a while and the smooth movement of the car let Junsu’s nerves calm a little. He wondered how mad she was at him. Not that it really mattered. A few more blocks and the drive would be over. They would never see each other again.

When he felt he could take it again, he turned his head to look at Rie-chan. In response she turned her head at him, too, outright beaming. It was the oddest thing to smile at one another like this – both smiles fake, both aware that their own and the opposite smile were fake. Yet if he wanted to he could make himself believe that the smile on the young woman’s face was genuine, was real. It was very odd how he could do that. For a second Junsu wondered what it would be like to receive that very smile from that very girl – not because she had to smile, but because she wanted to. He wondered whether things would have been different, if they had met under different circumstances.

And then the shiny white Subaru Night Chaser crashed into a solid lamp post.

Don’t worry! This is not the end of the story! I’m not that lazy that I would kill my protagonists to end the story!

Also sorry, that this chapter is so short – next one will be longer!

I have been gone for a while since school doesn’t finish itself and neither does university start without A LOT of paperwork and whatnot. I’m not 100% sure where the story is going, I only got a general idea, but I wanna keep writing! I’m also working on other fanfics on the side though, so updates will take more time. Hope you’ll keep reading anyways.

If you are interested, these are my 2 new fanfics, which I’m working on updating soon, too:

Foxgloves

Yongguk and Dara are a young rebellious couple out on a romantic holiday, when all of Korea is sent on lockdown due to a deadly viral epidemic. Unable to leave their inn by the sea they struggle for survival - as supplies run out and allies vanish - and are confronted with the mistakes of their past. They are about to give up hope, when Junhong turns up out of the blue, telling stories of survivor camps. But are they too good to be true?

Exorcise Me: The Beauty of a Ghost Town

In a world quite unlike our own, humans share their living space with all sorts of spirits, demons and deities. Living together isn’t always easy, so benevolent spirits and humans have created police forces that maintain order in densely populated areas. In hope of overcoming his fear of spirits, Huang Zhitao joins the police force of Ghost City, a place for spirit refugees. His first mission under Commissar Wu already fails terribly, but at least he meets Niu, an ambitious village girl, who wishes to escape marriage and also join the police force of Ghost City.

Thank you to anyone whose kept reading this far :)

〜Hyucham〜