Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“WAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!” Inoue Mao screamed as she jerked up from her bed, her hair so tousled it looked like a comb wouldn’t be able to go through it. She was late for work. Again. Cursing under her breath, she quickly threw her blanket off and in her haste, lost her footing and fell off from the bed.

She winced as her knee was smarting but quickly stood up and went to her closet. As always, she had a limited wardrobe so she just grabbed a baby tee and put it on. Luckily, she showered last night, she thought, as she raced around her small apartment, zipping up her jeans.

Rushing out of the bathroom while brushing her teeth, she looked around for her things for work which she haphazardly threw around in irritation the night before. After brushing her teeth, collecting her things and tying her hair into a bun, which she didn’t bother to comb, she prepared to get out only to realize she was still wearing her slippers.

“Great,” she muttered as she quickly went to get some socks. Precious minutes were slowly ticking away. As luck would have it, one of her socks had a hole in it. She stared at it for a second and then quickly slipped her sneakers on. No one’s going to see it anyway.

Grabbing a jacket, she ran out of her apartment, looking forward to finally be on her way to running towards the subway station. As she softly closed the door behind her, she hoped against hope that would be the case. She walked briskly towards the stairs when suddenly the door to her right opened and out stepped Nishikido Ryo, stopping her in her tracks.

“Here we go,” she sighed as Ryo stood there with a lopsided grin, shirtless.

Nishikido Ryo was the resident playboy. Though he could be sweet-talking the girls, in reality others would always be the victims of his acid tongue. His no-nonsense attitude and his frankness intimidates everyone and he enjoys it. Enjoys seeing everyone squirm. Cracking insults is no stranger to him, and he seems to especially enjoy it when it comes to Mao. He never really did care what others would think. Mao never really liked him for this at first. But for some weird reason, he’s the closest to her.

“Late again, are we?” he said, yawning.

“No,” Mao said, being defensive.

“I heard you screaming again. What are you wearing?” he suddenly asked, looking her up and down.

“We call these clothes,” Mao said, crossing her arms in front of her.

Ryo snickered. “Yeah, right. You’re not that pretty already so you should dress up better. You can’t go around looking like this. That’s why you can never get a boyfriend.”

Mao kicked him in the shin, making him wince.

“Can’t you put a shirt on? I haven’t eaten breakfast yet,” she said, changing the all too familiar topic.

“Admit it. You like seeing my body,” Ryo teased, grinning.

Mao made gagging noises as Ryo laughed. She saw something move inside Ryo’s door.

“You should go back to your date,” she said, smirking.

Ryo reached out to close the door, feigning innocence.

“Another one of your conquests? Where’d you pick her up this time?” she continued, wiggling her eyebrows.

Before Ryo could come up with a scathing remark, the door across his room suddenly opened.

“Mao! Are you going to work already?” Tegoshi Yuya asked, his bright smile ever present even this early in the morning. Ryo rolled his eyes.

Mao, who felt she really looked like crap standing next to him, nodded. How can anyone be this cheery and together in the morning? “You coming with?”

Tegoshi Yuya, Tego to them, was the prettiest of pretty boys. Heck, sometimes Mao herself would feel he was even prettier than her, which really isn’t a good sign. He was a model and often worked with the magazine Mao was currently working in. It was there they got to know each other. Tego was looking for a place to live in and Mao told him about her aunt’s apartment complex.

“Well, I’m telling you it really isn’t much – ,” Mao started to explain.

Tego vigorously shook his head. “No, I’m not picky. When can I go see it?”

“Well, if you want, you can go home with me and-,” she started again.

Tego’s face lit up. “You live there too?”

Mao was dumbfounded for a second. “Uh… yeah… I just told you that…”

“This is great!” Tego exclaimed, grabbing Mao’s arms. And then realizing what he’s done, he immediately let go.

“Sorry about that,” he said, turning shy all of a sudden.

Mao started getting a bit wary. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“So, I’ll see you later then?” Tego said, all smiles.

“Uh… yeah… Later. I should get back to work,” she said and walked off.

“Later!” Tego called after her again.

Mao turned her head and Tego broke into another giddy smile, waving. She broke into an awkward smile. Well, he suddenly got all weird; totally different from when he’s working. But he turned out pretty okay, despite the occasional perkiness.

“I’d love to go with you but I have to meet up with my agent later,” Tego said. “Oh, here. I wanted to give you this. You might not have had breakfast yet.”

He shyly gave her an onigiri. He was always a very sweet and thoughtful person. Though he may look like a child with his big bright smile, he knew how to take care of the others. His innocent aura charms everyone. And he also has a huge crush on Mao.

Mao’s eye shined. “Thanks! I’ve been craving for one of these!”

Mao jumped and down a bit with Tego smiling widely. Ryo didn’t look amused. It was so lame. Apparently, Tego wasn’t charming everyone.

“Aren’t you late already?” Ryo then said.

“Shoot!”

Mao felt like kicking herself. This always happened! All of them would distract her like this every morning. She ran towards the stairs when Koyama Keichiro came out of the room beside Tego’s and pulled her back.

“Hey, Mao! Can you listen to this piece I prepared for my DJ audition?” he asked, oblivious to Mao’s death stare.

“I’m already late, Kei-chan!” Mao said, exasperated.

Koyama Keichiro was the big mouth of the bunch. You can never really stop him from talking. He could even talk to a wall. That was why he thought of becoming a DJ. To be able to share his wisdom with his non-existent fans. Everyone would groan the moment he starts his speech about that. But even though he was like that, he was sort of their father-figure. Responsible and making sure everyone gets along and is doing okay. He is also always the one coming up with thing that they can do. But right now, he wasn’t any of those things.

“Look, look. This is the joke I came up with,” he continued as Mao tried to pull away from his grip.

“Kei-chan!”

“What joke is that?” Masuda Takahisa suddenly came up, biting into a sandwich.

Masu loves his food. He would always be munching on something. Good thing about it was he knows how to share but depending on his mood. He was the most carefree and laid-back of the group. As long as his friends and food are beside him, he was happy.

“Oooh, onigiri! Can I have that?” he asked Mao, flashing her his best cute smile, completely forgetting about Kei-chan.

Mao hugged the onigiri to her.

“Hey! That’s Mao’s breakfast! You can’t have it,” Tego exclaimed quickly.

“Geez!” Ryo said, giving Tego a what-are-you-an-idiot-look as he went inside his room.

Everyone was all talking at the same time as Mao tried to get away. Suddenly the sound of a door closing behind them made them stop. They turned their heads toward Sakurai Sho.

He was the one tenant they have never ever talked to. They’ve never even heard him speak. Keeping mostly to himself, everyone was curious and a bit apprehensive about his real background. Kei-chan had a theory he was a serial killer and kept his victims inside his room. They know it was really absurd but Sho’s intimidating and brooding aura kept them at a distance.

Sho’s gaze went to them and they automatically all took a step back. He didn’t acknowledge them and went down the stairs. Everyone’s eyes followed the back of his leather jacket.

And while everyone got distracted, Mao quickly pulled free and ran down the stairs yelling goodbye. She could hear Kei-chan still calling her. She then ran out of the building turned right and ran like lightning. This was just another normal day in her life.

Inoue Mao was just an ordinary girl. She doesn’t have perfect hair. Perfect clothes. Or the perfect everything. Not like the girls you see in dramas or movies. She wasn’t poised; really clumsy, in fact. There wasn’t a day she doesn’t bump or bang into something. She curses. She sometimes snorts when she laughs. She sometimes forgets and burps out loud. She gets food stuck between her teeth which have led to a fair amount of embarrassing moments she would rather forget. She had left her fly open more than once. She had tripped in front of many people. Her skirt had flown up when a strong gust of wind came. Whatever she eats always ends up on her clothes. These small but embarrassing things just keep happening to her making her feel like a fool.

She’s stuck in a job she doesn’t like. She still doesn’t know what she wants in life. And… she has never been in love.

As she ran through the large throng of people, thoughts of wanting to find love surfaces in her mind. Let’s face it, every girl wants to find her prince. Even in this jaded and superficial world. She has never had a boyfriend, as Ryo would always point out. What was wrong with not ever having one? Who needs them anyway?... But as much as she hated to admit it, she wanted to experience having one. To have someone who’ll love her for all that she is. Flaws and all. Although sometimes she would think she didn’t need a man to make her feel special… other times she would wonder… Especially when she sees couples outside, their happy faces glowing just at the thought of them being together… I wonder how that feels like, she thought, as she squeezed through the crowd.

She has had her fair share of crushes. But those were just one-sided. And no one really wanted to be her boyfriend or showed interest in her as embarrassing and sad as that may sound. Making her feel like something was really wrong with her. Maybe she’s not pretty enough… Maybe she’s not tall enough… Maybe…

The light was red and she stopped to catch her breath. As she stood there watching cars pass by, she gulped in a fresh breath of air as more people stood with her.

Maybe love was just overrated, she thought, her cynical side surfacing. Having a boyfriend would also bring emotional trauma and it really wasn’t worth it. It was better to focus on herself for now. But still… she missed that tingling in her body that appears when she sees the person she likes… It would be nice to know that someone would always be thinking of her… would always care for her… She sighed loudly, causing the person beside her to look at her.

She looked up at the light. It turned green. She stepped onto the road to cross the street. Maybe her “prince” will find her. Maybe she’ll find the one soo-

SCREEEEECCCCHHHHHHH… the deafening squeal of tires rang through the air…

**

“Ouch!” Yamashita Tomohisa exclaimed. His head hit the back of the passenger seat, making him drop his cellphone. “And I was about to beat my high score!”

As he rubbed his forehead, his eyes went to the front of the car. A girl stood there with a deer-in-headlights look, hugging her bag tightly to her. Her hair was in disarray and her mouth was slightly hanging open. He tried to stifle a laugh as the situation really wasn’t funny. But the look on the girl’s face…

His driver was just staring out at the girl. So was his assistant Kato Shigeaki.

“S-Sorry about this, sir,” he said to him, still staring at the girl.

Just then the girl recovered from her shock and an angry scowl appeared on her face. She then used her bag and kept hitting the hood of the car shouting, “You could have killed me, you stupid idiot!”

The driver and Shige jolted from her actions. Shige was about to open the door to tell her to stop when Tomohisa stopped him.

“Don’t worry about it. She has every right to be upset,” he said.

The girl hit the car one last time and then quickly ran away. The three were left dumbfounded for a minute. Tomohisa’s lips cracked into an amused smile.

“I’m sorry, sir. I-,” the driver stammered.

“No worries. You really didn’t have to hurry. I can handle the board of directors,” Tomohisa said with a comforting smile, as he reached down for his cellphone.

“It sounded as if she had bricks in her bag. The damage could…,” Shige started saying.

Tomohisa’s mind was somewhere else though. He wasn’t hearing a thing Shige was saying. He turned his head towards the window and he caught one last glimpse of the girl scampering away and disappearing into the crowd.

“Interesting,” he thought, as a boyish grin appeared on his lips. “Really interesting.”