“hi mizumi. Sorry…I was gonna tell you but you left. Taeyang gave me noriko’s number. I wanted to come visit you guys.” He looked at the girls with cups of wine. “but I guess they started without me.” he laughed at them. mizumi stared at the girls and tried to relax. She laughed nervously. “I guess it can’t be helped.” She went inside and made way for him. “please do come in.” seungri went inside and sat next to akira who was pouring a drink for him.
Mizumi went to her room to put her things away. “okaeri.” Said Rin and Yori behind her. “tadaima.” She said turning around smiling. “so?” said rin smiling. Mizumi laughed. “he’s not here for me. he’s here for his own thing.” Said mizumi. “right right…considering how you were acting around him when we were in korea.” Mizumi blushed remembering. “W..was not! Besides…he’s only a friend in the entertainment industry. Nothing more.” Rin giggled. “ if you say so. It’d be nice if you could give guys another chance. Every date akira and norko set you up with you denied them all.” “isn’t that suppose to be good?” said mizumi. “Yori seems to think so.”
Yori looked at her then at rin. “oh no….don’t get me involved. I have no say in this. that was before i…” “hm?” said mizumi. “before what?” yori was hesitant to say it. “it was before aiba and I got together.” The call from earlier that day came back to her. “sorry. I think I forgot some work to do in my room. You girls have fun.” Yori turned back towards her room. Mizumi stuck her head out of her room and watched her leave. “what’s with her?” mizumi asked. Rin shook her head. “I don’t know. I assume something happened between her and aiba..” mizumi nodded.
“so?” said mizumi changing the topic. “how about you and Mr. fashionista?” mizumi raised an eyebrow at rin’s new blouse. “you haven’t been shopping lately, so …” rin tried to hid her smiled. “he…he said it looked like it suited me, so he bought it and sent it to me as a gift.” “awww how sweet is that.” said Mizumi. Rin nodded. “though…it doesn’t feel right at the same time. I mean going behind johnny’s back and seeing each other everything. If something happens again, I really don’t know what will happen to us.” As leader, she was really concerned. Sho and Noriko was getting intimate again. akira and Ohno were finally dating, and her and jun was being back to what they were.
“just…becareful.” Said mizumi. “I’m sure we all learned from our mistakes. “ “MIZZUUUMIII” Yelled out noriko. “mizuuumiii come here!” mizumi frowned. “now what?” she said coming out. Rin followed. Rin , akira, and seungri were laughing together. Noriko motioned mizumi to come sit in between her and seungri. She did as noriko said. She sat between them and looked at each of them. seungri lifted up his glass at her and smiled kindly drinking it. Noriko gave her a cup. “drink” she said. “noriko I hope you didn’t have too much.” said mizumi taking a sip of the wine. It was red wine. Very good. “naah. I’m good…I’m good.” she said a bit slurred. “besides. I wanted this.” she got up and took out a camera taking a picture of mizumi and seungri. Noriko smiled at the picture.
“noriko! Don’t take pictures here! Give it to me!” mizumi got up to take the camera away, but noriko escaped her and ran to her room laughing. The rest of the girls and seungri was laughing at the situation. “it’ll be okay.” he said to mizumi who looked annoyed. “just come drink some more and relax.” He patted the seat next to him. she gave him a kind smile and did as he said continuing to sip her wine along with akira who was still likely sober. “how are the other guys?” Akira asked him. “good. doing solo work. They tell me they missed you all dearly.” Akira smiled. “awww how sweet. Well we miss them too. Working with you all really helped us in our own careers.” Mizumi nodded remembering their high in their careers. Rin and akira suddenly got a call. “oh…” they said simultaneously. “sorry..i need to go now. Have a nice night.” Rin rushed to her room. “same here.” Akira got up. “I got to go as well. Don’t stay up too late kids!” she winked at them and skipped away to her room where noriko was at.
Mizumi rolled her eyes. “they would.” She said mumbling. She didn’t want to be alone with him. “I think I better go too then.” He said a bit awkward. “I got to shooting tomorrow. Maybe we can schedule lunch tomorrow?” he asked her.” “um..” mizumi thought for a while. “we’ll see. I don’t know if my schedule is clear during lunch time.” Seungri made a dissappoining face. “oh okay. that’s alright then. Maybe some other time.” He kindly smiled at her making her smile looking away. ‘shit he’s doing it again.’ she said to herself. Just his presence makes her uncomfortable.” “well?” he said. “oh…oh right. The door.” she said laughing awkwardly. She opened the door for him. it was almost midnight now. “Would you like me to drop you off? I can take Noriko’s car.”
Seungri shook his head. “it’s quiet alright. I’ll catch a cab. I’m sure you’re tired today.” “oh…well okay.” said mizumi. They waved goodbye and mizumi went back inside. she closed the door and leaned against it feeling relieved. She dodged his invitation to go out to lunch. The truth was she was free and was having lunch with her coworkers. “that was dangerous.” She said to herself. She cleaned up the room and went to her room.
The following Monday mizumi finally gave the report on the latest Korean group Daikoku Danji. She also reported on the private party event that she was able to attend. She smiled at the screen reading the script that she wrote. The girls were at home watching her. “aaahh she’s good.” said akira. “just like sho.” Said Norinko smiling. On her phone, she was also watching News Zero. The girls kept on watching until it had ended. They all stretched. “alright. Get ready. The car will be here soon.” Said yori tapping away at her phone. “hmm? Who’s that you’re texting?” said Noriko looking over her shoulder. “NO ONE!” said yori defensively. It’s just…my parents.” She stumbled the words out of her mouth. Noriko gave her a weird look. “okay.” she said nonchanlently. If you say so.” She went to her room to grab her bags. “tell maa-kun I say hi!” she yelled out.
Yori blushed. “damn her.” and looked at her phone. Ever since that call, she’s been relunctant to respond. He text her a few days before but couldn’t text him back. She finally decided earlier that Monday to give him another chance. It’s dangerous, but she missed him too.” “ne manager why do we have to leave so early?” said Akira coming out with her hat and sunglasses on. She was dressed in a jacket, tennis shoes and a work out suit. “because the shooting location is 2 hours away. Johnny is spending a lot on you gals, so stop whining.” She put her phone away. The 3 girls were ready to leave.
Mizumi entered the green room to her co-workers. “otsukaresama deshita!” she said to everyone. They all said it back to her. as she went to her seat she found some flowers. She looked around to see who it was from. she read the card it was from sho. She laughed. “what the....is he crazy sending me flowers instead of noriko….”She put the card and flowers aside to look at her phone. She had a missed call from a number she didin’t know. She called the number to hear a familiar voice. “moshi mosh.” Said the voice. “moshi moshi anoo..i’m sorry, I received a call and I don’t know who this is.”
On the other line, mika was surprised to hear her call back. He was already lying in bed reading after watching her give her live report. “ah…it’s mika..” he said getting up quickly but not disturbing hyumin who was studying his Japanese. Mizumi smiled but suddenly frowned. “how did you get my number?” mika chuckled. “you left your card with our manager. I just managed to get it so I can call you. You were great today on the news.” Mizumi smiled really wide. “thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed my report, even though you knew what I was going to say already.”
Mika chuckled. “everyone else even our manager though you were great too.” Mizumi was very flattered by his comments. “are you at home?” she asked. “un..i am.” He said getting out of bed to the living room. He didn’t want to disturb hyumin any longer. “ah…I’m sorry. am I keeping you up? You can go to sleep if you want.” Mizumi felt a bit guilty now. She knew she shouldn’t have called so late. What was she thinking?
“no no it’s fine.” He said quickly. “I was hoping you would call back…” he said quietly and then gasping at what he just said. “gomen…for what I just said…I uh…what I mean was..” he couldn’t find the words. He was slightly blushing. Mizumi laughed at his shyness. “well I’m glad I called.” She said confidently. It was silent over the phone for a few minutes.. “ne…akimoto-san…” said mika. Mizumi was just sitting at her seat staring at her things laid out in front of her. “hmm?” she asked. Right before mika was about to speak, he heard someone call her name. “mizumi~~! Otsukare! Oh you got the flowers. Great!”
“flowers?” said mika quietly. It was a male’s voice for sure, but he couldn’t recognize it. mizumi spoke. “gomen ne mika-san. I have to go. My friend wants me to take me out to go drink. You should go to sleep okay? have a good night.” Mika smiled “un. Oyasumi. Be safe.” Mizumi nodded. “I will. Mata ne!” she hung up on him. mika felt some what disappointed that the talk was short. He didn’t have the chance to get to say what he wanted to say. He sighed and walked back to bed where hyumin was probably snoring by now.
“you!” mizumi said a bit pissed. “You know it’s weird sending me flowers right? Even though you got noriko to talk to?” sho laughed scared. “calm down calm down. The only reason I sent it was because you seemed stressed out lately. I send it because I wanted your week to start out good. anyways, I was here for some few minutes. Who was that you were talking to? It sounded like you were really into the conversation.” He smiled at mizumi. “it…it was no one. Just a client.” She held her phone in her hands. “a client that can make you smile the way ohno made you smile?”
Mizumi didn’ t say anything. “lets…just go. I bet you’re lonely with out noriko right? Since she has shooting all day long?” sho put on a sad face and cried like a children. “I miss her! I want her to come back!” mizumi laughed. “lets go you baby. Where did you want to go to drink? Oh and senpai, it’s your treat okay?”
Mizumi and sho arrived at the bar. They ordered their drinks and chatted. They chatted about what was reported that morning on each of their news channel. “interesting! So you and your team reported on that too?” mizumi ate some of the bar snacks she orderd. “yup! I was amazed at aimi’s report. She’s so diligent. I’m always amazed at her reports. So full of facts.” They were quiet for a while. “so…I see that ohno is talking to akira now.” “yeah.” mizumi said quietly. “in all honesty, I’m happy for them.” “but is he happy?” sho asked. Mizumi looked at him and saw that his eyes were serious. “well….of course ohno is! I mean…I don’t like him anymore, so why should he stick around me? besides. I already…” “already what? Found another?” sho said out clearly but soft.
Mizumi bit her lips. She dind’t say anything but leaned on the table and started at her drink. “I don’t know.” She said quietly. Sho can tell she wasn’t going to say anymore so he changed the subject. “alright. Anyways, how is it? working just a regular job instead of being an idol?” mizumi felt relieved that he changed the topic. “it’s different. Very different. But I can’t imagine it must be ten times harder as an idol to right?” she smiled at sho. ‘ah…so she probably did meet someone just like noriko said.’ He said to himself. Her attitude changed once he changed the subject.
Sho laughed. “but you forget I only work on Monday nights so it’s not that bad.” Mizumi’s hype went away. “oh yeah. I forgot. “ she ordered more snacks “oi oi oi! Don’t order so much. I won’t have enough to pay for all of this!” mizumi smirked and stuck her tongue out. “too bad senpai. After what happened tonight, I feel like eating.” She drank her drink and ate the snacks. Sho just looked at her frowning sadly.
The next morning was her day off. seungri had called her to go out for lunch again. she had no choice but to say yes since saying no wasn’t an option for her. he didn’t want to make him feel sad again. the girls were not back yet. It turned out they won’t be home until Friday because the shooting was in various places at where they were at. She had the house to herself. She went into the kitchen to cook some breakfast. She put toast in the toaster while pouring some orange juice. while sipping she was looking at her phone.
She saw mika’s number and remember that he was about to say something before sho interrupted her. ‘I wonder if he’s not busy at the moment…’ she said to herself. She decided to call. She can feel her adrenaline running making her feel anxious. Her heart beating a little faster. it went to voice mail and she breathed out not realizing she was holding her breath. Her toast popped out making her jump. “stupid toaster…” she mumbled angrily. She carefully took out the toast onto a plate and grabbed some jam from the fridge. As she was spreading the jam, her phone rang. It was text from mika.
“sorry I couldn’t answer. I’m recording right now. What’s up?” She decided to text back. “not much. just wanted to say good morning and I have a question.” She pressed send. Some seconds passed. The phone rang again. “good morning! And yes what question?” he asked.She breathed the clicked away. “it sounded like you were going to say something to me. what did you want to say?” she clicked send. She waited a few moments.
“that’s something I would like to tell you in person. But I too have some questions from yesterday, but I’ll wait. Would you like to talk about it over dinner?” mizumi giggled at his text.
“are you asking me out to dinner?” she clicked send. He texted back with a blushing face. “sorry…i thought that would be a better impression than the one at the trainstation."