one chance update!!!
TITLE: One Chance (Falling...)
CHARACTERS: Matsumoto Jun, Ikuta Toma, Inoue Mao, Horikita Maki, Toda Erika, Mizushima Hiro, Nishikido Ryo, Takaki Yuya, Sakamoto Masayuki (please proceed to cast list for more of the cast)
GENRE: AU
RATINGS: Pg
DISCLAIMER: The only thing i own in this story is the plot...
SUMMARY: She was waiting for a guy to sweep her off her feet. He was waiting for that girl he could sweep off hers... And then a new guy came to change the story... This is a story of falling in love, and realizing that you've fallen in love... Typical isn't it? Maybe... Maybe not...
Prologue, Chapter1, Chapter2, Chapter3, Chapter4, Chapter5, Chapter6, Chapter7, Chapter8, Chapter 9, Chapter10, Chapter11, Chapter12, Chapter13, Chapter14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter17,Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter20, Chapter21, Chapter22
Chapter 23: Rival
“Kuroki Meisa-san, huh?” Jun heard Nanako mutter the moment he joined the woman by the pool.
Dinner had already finished with Meisa surviving with flying colors. And while she had sent out all the signs and signals that she would love to head home, Masayuki insisted that she stay a bit more for coffee. Jun almost wanted to chuckle. It seems that Meisa had captured the interest of all the Matsumoto men, Yuya, in particular, who seems to be quite smitten by her. Jun isn’t surprised though, he does have something in common with all the men in his family.
And he also isn’t that surprised that Nanako doesn’t look that fond of the woman. After all, even the devoted Hiro looked quite a bit interested.
“You don’t like her,” he simply told the woman.
“I don’t hate her if that’s what you’re worried about,” she replied dismissively. When Jun simply chuckled his disbelief, she added “I am, however, annoyed at you.”
“Me?!” Jun exclaimed. “How did I enter into the picture?! Dad was the one who summoned her home!”
“I’m not annoyed at you for her being here,” Nanako shook her head. “I am annoyed at you because of playing with Inoue Mao-chan when she’s already in your life!” she exclaimed, gesturing towards Meisa.“Actually, not just annoyed, I’m a tad bit angry and a whole lot disappointed in you.”
“Wait! What?!” Jun exclaimed in disbelief before he ended up shaking his head and chuckling. “It’s not what you think! Meisa and I aren’t together!”
Nanako snorted as she raised an eyebrow. “And I’m supposed to believe that because?”
“Because it’s true,” Jun replied. “Nothing’s going on between us, never was, and never will be.”
“Oh really?”Nanako exclaimed in disbelief. “Nothing ever happened between the two of you ever before?”
Jun had opened his mouth but stopped short and closed it again.
He wouldn’t be lying if he said that there could never be anything but friendship between him and Meisa. But he would be lying if he says that nothing ever happened between the two of them before.
-----
When Jun first started in London, it was difficult, difficult in the sense that it was in a whole new country, in a whole new place with a very different culture. He didn’t really know anyone there except the company correspondents and he didn’t know where else to go except his place and the London branch’s office.
But other than that though, it was relatively easy for him. His transition to the life at the London office was, after all, a lot easier than how it would have been if he wasn’t a son of the boss. The people there were a lot friendlier to him even though most of them were English.
Early on though, he had found out that he wasn’t the only Japanese in the building, that there are two of them actually. And unlike him, her transition to the London office was a little bit harder.
Her. A woman
And he had heard early on too that this woman, this Kuroki Meisa, is very attractive.
It didn’t take long before the two of them met actually. In his second week, he finally met the famed Kuroki Meisa who was so fierce that even the English men around them who were fancying her couldn’t make a move despite the fact that she should be quite vulnerable being a foreigner and a woman in the office. And when they did finally meet, Jun realized that the two of them had quite a lot in common other than being Japanese.
Meisa, it turns out was sent to London too by her own father, one of Masayuki’s friends and a stockholder of the Matsumoto Group, when she was just a teen. It was supposed to be in punishment for her rebellious ways when she was still in Japan and that she just never returned home, even after her father died a couple of years earlier. She was hard-headed too but is actually quite timid underneath the strong exterior and is actually quite affected by being treated differently just because she’s a Japanese woman.
The two of them immediately clicked and became actually good friends, especially with culture coming into play. But their friendship was given another color especially when the two of them ended up always together, whether in the office or out, and with them being the only Japanese there.
That’s where their running joke “the only Japanese within a five-mile radius” started.
“So, what do you think?” Jun suddenly started as soon as the two of them stumbled laughing into his office room
It was Thanksgiving and the London branch was having a little party. They already had a few drinks but they weren’t drunk yet, not even tipsy. They just had to exit for a bit because things were starting to heat up with a few men getting a bit drunk and starting their advances on Meisa, something Jun wouldn’t allow of course. He had, after all, become Meisa’s protector, after feeling responsible for the only Japanese woman there, not that the woman needed that much of protecting, with the others interpreting it as something else entirely.
They even call their duo the power couple.
And even as they exited the party, they heard some of the others chuckling, cheering, and referring to them as such.
“About what?”Meisa asked as they crashed onto the sofa.
“Let’s give it a shot,” Jun simply shrugged. When Meisa looked at him in confusion, he simply nudged his head towards the direction of the party.
“You want us to try becoming a couple?” Meisa chuckled.
“Why not?” Jun shrugged. “I’m just curious. Why, aren’t you?”
Meisa simply raised an eyebrow at Jun for a moment and after seeing that he wasn’t joking or drunk, she shrugged.
“Maybe a bit,” she admitted.
“Come on, let’s give it a try,” Jun said as he turned around to face her.
Meisa’s eyes narrowed for a bit before she closed it completely. It gave Jun the sign that she was saying yes.
Jun simply let his eyes take in all of her face and he couldn’t help but shake his head. The woman really is attractive. But it didn’t take long before he slowly lowered his head and captured her lips.
The kiss didn’t take long but it wasn’t just a smack either. They were both good kissers after all. They both still had their eyes closed when their lips separated and they opened them almost at the same time so they ended up looking at the other’s eyes.
A split second later, they both narrowed their eyes. And then…
“No…”
“Nada…”
They almost simultaneously exclaimed before they both ended up chuckling. Jun could feel that there’s nothing in the kiss. And despite the fact that the woman is really very attractive, he couldn’t feel anything else into the kiss, not attraction, not even lust.
“Yeah, there nothing is there,” he heard her say and he couldn’t agree more to that statement as they both rested back on the coach, both of them still laughing.
“I felt like I just kissed my brother!” Meisa exclaimed after a while.
Jun sat up straight in surprise and looked at her. “You have a brother?”
“No,” Meisa straightly replied. “I think you are. You could be at least.”
“Yeah,” Jun nodded and grinned before putting a handover Meisa’s shoulder. “My little sister,” he called her.
Meisa snorted. “You’re the little one!” she grinned.
“See!” Nanako exclaimed in annoyance in Jun’s silence.
“No!” Jun said immediately. “Meisa’s just a friend. A sister, much like you are to me.”
Nanako simply narrowed her eyes and looked probingly at Jun and then she huffed. “Better make sure Matsumoto Jun. You better make sure. If you hurt either woman, you’re going to answer to me.”
Jun grinned. “So, you’re okay with Meisa now?”
Nanako didn’t answer immediately as she let her eyes go back to where Meisa, Masayuki, Yuya and Hiro were at, Yuri having gone straight in front of the TV the moment dinner ended. Right at that moment, Hiro had turned towards Jun’s and Nanako’s direction and winked at his wife, making Nanako blush and smile.
“I always wanted a sister,” she ended up saying with a smile. “With her and Mao-chan, I’m now having two!”
-----
“Well, that was fun,” Meisa exclaimed midway through their journey to her hotel. Masayuki had finally allowed her to go when Hiro told Masayuki that he and his family would have to leave already, Yuri’s eyes were almost dropping after all.
“See, I told you it was going to be a piece of cake,” Jun exclaimed with a grin.
“No you didn’t,” Meisa replied. “But I did say earlier that there is a woman and from what I’ve sensed earlier, I was right! There is a woman! Masayuki-san was actually worried you were cheating on me with someone here!” she added with a chuckle.
Jun could only shake his head and laugh. While he was telling Nanako his and Meisa’s back story, it turns out that Masayuki was telling Meisa another story.
“When are you going to introduce her to me?” Meisa continued interestedly.
Jun smiled. “You’ll meet her soon. Really, really soon.”
“It better be,” Meisa grinned.
-----
“Is it true then?” Maki asked, turning to Aiba who had just joined her, Erika, Mao and Becky by Mao’s workstation.
The girls, except Becky, had just finished their snack when they stopped by Mao’s station and saw Becky waiting for Mao there. It turns out that the woman would be meeting with Aiba and Director Mabo for their next batch of shoots but was a bit too early. And as conversations floated and flowed, it turned to a whisper circulating the many floors of MSMT.
“What is?” Aiba asked in surprise.
“The rumors,” Erika replied. “People are saying that Matsumoto Jun-san’s frequent absences here in MSMT is because he’s going to leave us really soon. That Shun-kun is going to be the general manager.”
“Wow! The rumors do fly fast,” Aiba chuckled.
“So it’s true then?” Maki asked. “He’s going to leave?”
“I’m not sure,” Aiba shrugged. “He hadn’t told us anything yet. Although there had been rumors floating from ever since he returned. After all, he only came back because of the CEO’s request. I don’t think he’s even relieved of the post he left in London.”
“So he’s leaving MSMT?!” Erika exclaimed.
“It’s possible,” Mao suddenly said, much to everyone’s surprise. “If I remember it correctly, he did say something of that sort.”
“Did he say why?” Maki asked.
“I don’t remember him saying anything,” Mao admitted and for the first time in the last two weeks, her heart was suddenly filled with worry and a weird sort of sadness that has nothing to do with Toma or what happened to her best friend.
“I don’t get it!” Erika ended up exclaiming.
No one could follow up anything to that though because right at that moment, the elevator door opened and in came to topic of their conversation. But Jun wasn’t alone and he wasn’t with Shun either. He was with a woman none of them had ever seen before but no one could insult as per her stature or looks. She was stunning, even to the women there.
And everyone held his or her breathe as Jun led the woman towards their direction.
“Hello everyone!” Jun greeted with a smile. “This is Kuroki Meisa-chan of the Matsumoto Group-London branch,” he started before promptly introducing everyone to the woman, starting with Aiba who, of course, is familiar with her, followed by Becky who, Jun was surprised but pleased to see.
“And this is Inoue Mao-chan,” Jun finished off after introducing Erika and Maki as he turned to Mao with a soft smile. “She’s part of Aiba-kun’s department.”
“Hello!” Meisa greeted, turning to Mao finally and offering her hand. Even as she took it, Mao could feel her heart crumbling bit by bit. The woman is even more stunning up close.
“Welcome to Japan, Kuroki-san,” Mao forced herself to smile and greet.
“Thank you!” Meisa replied with a smile.
For what felt like an eternity to Mao, Jun cleared his throat and excused the two of them. He said there’s still someone he had to introduce Meisa to, with all of them knowing that it was Shun.
The moment Jun and Meisa were out of earshot though, all eyes turned inquiringly at Aiba.
“What do you know about her?”
“Well…” Aiba started as he narrowed his eyes in concentration. “I know her father was a director here before he died and that he was a friend of Matsumoto Masayuki-san. They own around 8% of the company’s stocks. Hmmmm…. What else? Oh, and yeah, she was already in London when Jun-kun was sent there and the two of them are pretty close.”
“Is that so,” Erika said. “There’s something about her I don’t like.”
“Yeah,” Maki agreed. “Me too,” she added as the two women threw furtive glances at Mao who simply remained quiet the whole time and was looking quite lost with every word Aiba said. She didn’t even notice that her two best friends are being loyal to her as they exclaimed their dislike for the woman with Jun.
“I think I like her,” Becky suddenly said, catching everyone’s attention. Everyone but Mao, that is. “No, I just don’t think I like her, I really do like her.”
“What?!”
------
and there goes a bit of Jun and Meisa's backstory!
next chapter... a Mao-Meisa one!
how was it?
enjoyed it or not???
comments are really, really appreciated!!!
CHARACTERS: Matsumoto Jun, Ikuta Toma, Inoue Mao, Horikita Maki, Toda Erika, Mizushima Hiro, Nishikido Ryo, Takaki Yuya, Sakamoto Masayuki (please proceed to cast list for more of the cast)
GENRE: AU
RATINGS: Pg
DISCLAIMER: The only thing i own in this story is the plot...
SUMMARY: She was waiting for a guy to sweep her off her feet. He was waiting for that girl he could sweep off hers... And then a new guy came to change the story... This is a story of falling in love, and realizing that you've fallen in love... Typical isn't it? Maybe... Maybe not...
Prologue, Chapter1, Chapter2, Chapter3, Chapter4, Chapter5, Chapter6, Chapter7, Chapter8, Chapter 9, Chapter10, Chapter11, Chapter12, Chapter13, Chapter14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter17,Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter20, Chapter21, Chapter22
Chapter 23: Rival
“Kuroki Meisa-san, huh?” Jun heard Nanako mutter the moment he joined the woman by the pool.
Dinner had already finished with Meisa surviving with flying colors. And while she had sent out all the signs and signals that she would love to head home, Masayuki insisted that she stay a bit more for coffee. Jun almost wanted to chuckle. It seems that Meisa had captured the interest of all the Matsumoto men, Yuya, in particular, who seems to be quite smitten by her. Jun isn’t surprised though, he does have something in common with all the men in his family.
And he also isn’t that surprised that Nanako doesn’t look that fond of the woman. After all, even the devoted Hiro looked quite a bit interested.
“You don’t like her,” he simply told the woman.
“I don’t hate her if that’s what you’re worried about,” she replied dismissively. When Jun simply chuckled his disbelief, she added “I am, however, annoyed at you.”
“Me?!” Jun exclaimed. “How did I enter into the picture?! Dad was the one who summoned her home!”
“I’m not annoyed at you for her being here,” Nanako shook her head. “I am annoyed at you because of playing with Inoue Mao-chan when she’s already in your life!” she exclaimed, gesturing towards Meisa.“Actually, not just annoyed, I’m a tad bit angry and a whole lot disappointed in you.”
“Wait! What?!” Jun exclaimed in disbelief before he ended up shaking his head and chuckling. “It’s not what you think! Meisa and I aren’t together!”
Nanako snorted as she raised an eyebrow. “And I’m supposed to believe that because?”
“Because it’s true,” Jun replied. “Nothing’s going on between us, never was, and never will be.”
“Oh really?”Nanako exclaimed in disbelief. “Nothing ever happened between the two of you ever before?”
Jun had opened his mouth but stopped short and closed it again.
He wouldn’t be lying if he said that there could never be anything but friendship between him and Meisa. But he would be lying if he says that nothing ever happened between the two of them before.
-----
When Jun first started in London, it was difficult, difficult in the sense that it was in a whole new country, in a whole new place with a very different culture. He didn’t really know anyone there except the company correspondents and he didn’t know where else to go except his place and the London branch’s office.
But other than that though, it was relatively easy for him. His transition to the life at the London office was, after all, a lot easier than how it would have been if he wasn’t a son of the boss. The people there were a lot friendlier to him even though most of them were English.
Early on though, he had found out that he wasn’t the only Japanese in the building, that there are two of them actually. And unlike him, her transition to the London office was a little bit harder.
Her. A woman
And he had heard early on too that this woman, this Kuroki Meisa, is very attractive.
It didn’t take long before the two of them met actually. In his second week, he finally met the famed Kuroki Meisa who was so fierce that even the English men around them who were fancying her couldn’t make a move despite the fact that she should be quite vulnerable being a foreigner and a woman in the office. And when they did finally meet, Jun realized that the two of them had quite a lot in common other than being Japanese.
Meisa, it turns out was sent to London too by her own father, one of Masayuki’s friends and a stockholder of the Matsumoto Group, when she was just a teen. It was supposed to be in punishment for her rebellious ways when she was still in Japan and that she just never returned home, even after her father died a couple of years earlier. She was hard-headed too but is actually quite timid underneath the strong exterior and is actually quite affected by being treated differently just because she’s a Japanese woman.
The two of them immediately clicked and became actually good friends, especially with culture coming into play. But their friendship was given another color especially when the two of them ended up always together, whether in the office or out, and with them being the only Japanese there.
That’s where their running joke “the only Japanese within a five-mile radius” started.
“So, what do you think?” Jun suddenly started as soon as the two of them stumbled laughing into his office room
It was Thanksgiving and the London branch was having a little party. They already had a few drinks but they weren’t drunk yet, not even tipsy. They just had to exit for a bit because things were starting to heat up with a few men getting a bit drunk and starting their advances on Meisa, something Jun wouldn’t allow of course. He had, after all, become Meisa’s protector, after feeling responsible for the only Japanese woman there, not that the woman needed that much of protecting, with the others interpreting it as something else entirely.
They even call their duo the power couple.
And even as they exited the party, they heard some of the others chuckling, cheering, and referring to them as such.
“About what?”Meisa asked as they crashed onto the sofa.
“Let’s give it a shot,” Jun simply shrugged. When Meisa looked at him in confusion, he simply nudged his head towards the direction of the party.
“You want us to try becoming a couple?” Meisa chuckled.
“Why not?” Jun shrugged. “I’m just curious. Why, aren’t you?”
Meisa simply raised an eyebrow at Jun for a moment and after seeing that he wasn’t joking or drunk, she shrugged.
“Maybe a bit,” she admitted.
“Come on, let’s give it a try,” Jun said as he turned around to face her.
Meisa’s eyes narrowed for a bit before she closed it completely. It gave Jun the sign that she was saying yes.
Jun simply let his eyes take in all of her face and he couldn’t help but shake his head. The woman really is attractive. But it didn’t take long before he slowly lowered his head and captured her lips.
The kiss didn’t take long but it wasn’t just a smack either. They were both good kissers after all. They both still had their eyes closed when their lips separated and they opened them almost at the same time so they ended up looking at the other’s eyes.
A split second later, they both narrowed their eyes. And then…
“No…”
“Nada…”
They almost simultaneously exclaimed before they both ended up chuckling. Jun could feel that there’s nothing in the kiss. And despite the fact that the woman is really very attractive, he couldn’t feel anything else into the kiss, not attraction, not even lust.
“Yeah, there nothing is there,” he heard her say and he couldn’t agree more to that statement as they both rested back on the coach, both of them still laughing.
“I felt like I just kissed my brother!” Meisa exclaimed after a while.
Jun sat up straight in surprise and looked at her. “You have a brother?”
“No,” Meisa straightly replied. “I think you are. You could be at least.”
“Yeah,” Jun nodded and grinned before putting a handover Meisa’s shoulder. “My little sister,” he called her.
Meisa snorted. “You’re the little one!” she grinned.
“See!” Nanako exclaimed in annoyance in Jun’s silence.
“No!” Jun said immediately. “Meisa’s just a friend. A sister, much like you are to me.”
Nanako simply narrowed her eyes and looked probingly at Jun and then she huffed. “Better make sure Matsumoto Jun. You better make sure. If you hurt either woman, you’re going to answer to me.”
Jun grinned. “So, you’re okay with Meisa now?”
Nanako didn’t answer immediately as she let her eyes go back to where Meisa, Masayuki, Yuya and Hiro were at, Yuri having gone straight in front of the TV the moment dinner ended. Right at that moment, Hiro had turned towards Jun’s and Nanako’s direction and winked at his wife, making Nanako blush and smile.
“I always wanted a sister,” she ended up saying with a smile. “With her and Mao-chan, I’m now having two!”
-----
“Well, that was fun,” Meisa exclaimed midway through their journey to her hotel. Masayuki had finally allowed her to go when Hiro told Masayuki that he and his family would have to leave already, Yuri’s eyes were almost dropping after all.
“See, I told you it was going to be a piece of cake,” Jun exclaimed with a grin.
“No you didn’t,” Meisa replied. “But I did say earlier that there is a woman and from what I’ve sensed earlier, I was right! There is a woman! Masayuki-san was actually worried you were cheating on me with someone here!” she added with a chuckle.
Jun could only shake his head and laugh. While he was telling Nanako his and Meisa’s back story, it turns out that Masayuki was telling Meisa another story.
“When are you going to introduce her to me?” Meisa continued interestedly.
Jun smiled. “You’ll meet her soon. Really, really soon.”
“It better be,” Meisa grinned.
-----
“Is it true then?” Maki asked, turning to Aiba who had just joined her, Erika, Mao and Becky by Mao’s workstation.
The girls, except Becky, had just finished their snack when they stopped by Mao’s station and saw Becky waiting for Mao there. It turns out that the woman would be meeting with Aiba and Director Mabo for their next batch of shoots but was a bit too early. And as conversations floated and flowed, it turned to a whisper circulating the many floors of MSMT.
“What is?” Aiba asked in surprise.
“The rumors,” Erika replied. “People are saying that Matsumoto Jun-san’s frequent absences here in MSMT is because he’s going to leave us really soon. That Shun-kun is going to be the general manager.”
“Wow! The rumors do fly fast,” Aiba chuckled.
“So it’s true then?” Maki asked. “He’s going to leave?”
“I’m not sure,” Aiba shrugged. “He hadn’t told us anything yet. Although there had been rumors floating from ever since he returned. After all, he only came back because of the CEO’s request. I don’t think he’s even relieved of the post he left in London.”
“So he’s leaving MSMT?!” Erika exclaimed.
“It’s possible,” Mao suddenly said, much to everyone’s surprise. “If I remember it correctly, he did say something of that sort.”
“Did he say why?” Maki asked.
“I don’t remember him saying anything,” Mao admitted and for the first time in the last two weeks, her heart was suddenly filled with worry and a weird sort of sadness that has nothing to do with Toma or what happened to her best friend.
“I don’t get it!” Erika ended up exclaiming.
No one could follow up anything to that though because right at that moment, the elevator door opened and in came to topic of their conversation. But Jun wasn’t alone and he wasn’t with Shun either. He was with a woman none of them had ever seen before but no one could insult as per her stature or looks. She was stunning, even to the women there.
And everyone held his or her breathe as Jun led the woman towards their direction.
“Hello everyone!” Jun greeted with a smile. “This is Kuroki Meisa-chan of the Matsumoto Group-London branch,” he started before promptly introducing everyone to the woman, starting with Aiba who, of course, is familiar with her, followed by Becky who, Jun was surprised but pleased to see.
“And this is Inoue Mao-chan,” Jun finished off after introducing Erika and Maki as he turned to Mao with a soft smile. “She’s part of Aiba-kun’s department.”
“Hello!” Meisa greeted, turning to Mao finally and offering her hand. Even as she took it, Mao could feel her heart crumbling bit by bit. The woman is even more stunning up close.
“Welcome to Japan, Kuroki-san,” Mao forced herself to smile and greet.
“Thank you!” Meisa replied with a smile.
For what felt like an eternity to Mao, Jun cleared his throat and excused the two of them. He said there’s still someone he had to introduce Meisa to, with all of them knowing that it was Shun.
The moment Jun and Meisa were out of earshot though, all eyes turned inquiringly at Aiba.
“What do you know about her?”
“Well…” Aiba started as he narrowed his eyes in concentration. “I know her father was a director here before he died and that he was a friend of Matsumoto Masayuki-san. They own around 8% of the company’s stocks. Hmmmm…. What else? Oh, and yeah, she was already in London when Jun-kun was sent there and the two of them are pretty close.”
“Is that so,” Erika said. “There’s something about her I don’t like.”
“Yeah,” Maki agreed. “Me too,” she added as the two women threw furtive glances at Mao who simply remained quiet the whole time and was looking quite lost with every word Aiba said. She didn’t even notice that her two best friends are being loyal to her as they exclaimed their dislike for the woman with Jun.
“I think I like her,” Becky suddenly said, catching everyone’s attention. Everyone but Mao, that is. “No, I just don’t think I like her, I really do like her.”
“What?!”
------
and there goes a bit of Jun and Meisa's backstory!
next chapter... a Mao-Meisa one!
how was it?
enjoyed it or not???
comments are really, really appreciated!!!