| Fan Fiction |
by biniBningPunkista
I was ecstatic to hear such news that I automatically dialed Toma’s number to share this. When I realized I was calling him, which really felt rather stupid because I have been deliberately ignoring his calls, steered away from his apartment and passed up the chance to meet with him, in short I was avoiding him at all cost and now the other end of the line was already ringing. I hung up abruptly then hugged my brand new cell phone to my chest.
“Baka. Baka baka baka!!!” I scolded my self then shook my head and started to dial Erika’s number instead.
“Mosh mosh? Hey!!!! Don’t put it there, baka! That’s for the stew. You! Bring it over here, that’s not for the dessert. Are you trying to poison my costumers?!? Gome ne, who’s this?” Erika’s voice answered with lots of other people talking and shouting in the back ground, which was telling me it was a busy time in her restaurant.
“If I was someone else, I would have thought I called the wrong number and was talking to a psycho instead.” I chuckled at her not bothering to tell my name.
“Mao…” She said recognizing me instantly.
“Sorry about that, it’s a really full house right now due to some fat assed rich reservation. So I have to work my butt double hard just to make sure everything turns out ok. So how are you doing sweetie? Are you over the Toma-crush-syndrome now?” she asked without even thinking. Sometimes this girl could have the head of a cow.
“God, why do you have to bring that up? Where’s the sensitivity there? Erika, it was not something I could easily forget! I felt something back there. It’s not like that kiss and goodbye thing I had with Shota.” I told her irritated, when I realized that was something I wasn’t supposed to say. Shit!
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!” Erika yelled at me on the phone which almost shattered my eardrums and then amazingly a moment’s silence came in at the other end of the line except for the sound of something sizzling. Then she started to whisper back to the phone and the noise in the background resumed.
“What the hell did you just say?!?” She asked this time in a whisper but it still sounded harsh. Ouch. My fault!
“That was a long time ago, Erika.” I told her exasperatedly while heaving a sigh.
“You! You don’t heave a sigh at a time like this, and you do not have the right to be exasperated. That’s supposed to be me! Me! It was my boyfriend who got kissed by you!” By now she was starting to sound hysterical.
“Calm down Erika. Seriously you got to get your head checked. When I said that was a long time ago, it means that it happened before the ERIKA-SHOTA saga. I even thought he was gay, that was way before he met you, and he had to convince me he was not gay so he kissed me… but that was nothing, because the moment he saw you I was already Mao, the non-existent girl in Shota’s world. So believe me, it was nothing special. And I also called not to argue, ok? I called because I got signed up for another art gallery show. I thought you should be the first one to know since you’re my special person.” I was talking too fast so as not to give Erika the chance to bark at me. I heard a deep sigh but I could also imagine a smile in that voice, knowing Erika, she could never really get mad at me for something as trivial as that.
“Alright… as long as I’m invited and I’m going to cater it, I’m not getting mad.”
“Hai!!! It’s all accounted for ma’am! You are the top priority and my caterer.” I exclaimed at her trying to sound like a cadet who was just ordered by her commander in chief.
“Mao, I honestly miss you. I haven’t seen you for days… are you doing alright? Are you even eating?” A more concerned voice asked me this time.
“I’m ok Erika. Thanks for asking. I’m going to hang up now. Bye!” I hung up on her immediately trying to avoid the drama. It was one thing to bring up Toma at once in our conversation, but it was another to go all motherly on me the next after getting hysterical because of an incident I had with her boyfriend. I swear my best friend could be the mule sometimes.
My phone vibrated and rang all of a sudden that I accidentally pressed the answer button without checking who was calling.
“Mao? Are you there? Hello?? MAO???” It was Toma’s voice. God how I missed that voice! Then again, I was avoiding him aren’t I? Fuck! Nice way to accidentally answer the phone. I looked at the caller ID to check if it was really him, YOUR HEARTACHE, was registered on the caller ID. Yep, it was him.
I slowly brought up the phone to my ear, as if it could kill me anytime soon like in the movie of “One Missed Call.”
“Yeah… it’s me. Why did you call?” I asked timidly.
“You called first. I was wondering why.” He chuckled.
“I did not call. Why would I even call you?” I lied to him bluntly.
“Oh yeah… you just called, unless you have a friend over there who wants to have phone sex and started picking random guy phone numbers from your phone. You called. It’s registered here, 7 minutes ago. I tried calling back as soon as I saw it, but you’re line was busy I was kept on hold.”
Busted! I smacked my forehead for not thinking he also had a caller ID. Baka, I’m getting more and more stupid by the hour.
“I was talking to Erika. I’m going to have another gallery show. So if you’re interested to come, you’re invited.”
“You’re inviting me just like that? No invitation letters of some kind?” He asked doubtfully.
“It’s not like the last time… it’s going to be an informal opening for the gallery show. No letters this time.”
“Oh… souka.” He muttered, then awkward silence.
“Mao…”
“Yeah…?” I squeaked in response. I sounded like an eager teenager. Not cute.
“We need to talk. I have tried to call you several times, but it seems that you’ve been busy and not answering my calls. The kiss we had that night…” His voice trailed off with uncertainty.
“Toma… there’s honestly nothing to talk about. Do you mean that kiss during the fashion show?” I asked him.
“Yes. I’ve been thinking…”
“That kiss was nothing.” I interrupted him immediately.
“You mean… it was just nothing?” Toma asked with a tinge of boyishness in his voice.
“Yeah… it was JUST nothing. I mean, it was JUST A KISS Toma! We always kissed for fun didn’t we?” I asked him for assurance. I didn’t want to change my decision of letting go.
“Actually we don’t Mao. We don’t kiss LIKE THAT.” He answered back quietly.
“Oh… really? I though we did, but I’ve been kissing you so much that I didn’t even know if there was a difference.” I tried to laugh while saying this but instead it came out as a choking sound.
The lies I kept on saying were being knifed into my heart that it ached so much. I didn’t notice that my eyes where starting to pool with tears.
“So how’s Saeko doing? Aren’t you guys still going out? You actually look perfect together. You’re like a match made in heaven. You should take care of her, she’s a major keeper.” I kept on babbling and changed the subject, but the thought of him being with Saeko hurts more than the thought of lying that the kiss meant nothing.
“She’s doing well. She’s starting her own business and quit her company and asked me to help her on the feasibility study. We’re going to meet tomorrow for lunch. You can meet with us too if you want.” He asked hopefully.
“Thanks. But no thanks, I’m a busy girl now. I guess things are going great between the two of you, ne?” I asked trying so hard not to sob on the phone and was biting my lip to hide the fact that I was already crying. I so wanted to smack Toma in the head to even suggest a thing like that, I might just puke over at the two love birds seeing them removing stray food from their faces and kissing each other… oh wait. I’ve seen that already.
“Mao… we are...”
“Toma, I got to go. Someone’s at the door. Bye.” I cut him off and lied once again to avoid information overload from my guy best friend, whom I’ve fallen deeply in love with. My tears were dripping on my phone but I didn’t bother to wipe them.
Such irony in life… I’ve just hung up on my two best friends. Which I never do… it has always been the other way around. My life’s getting twisted than ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So what theme are you going to use for this gallery show child?” Mr. Toshima asked me as I looked at the place we’ll be using for the show. Mr. Toshima was the old man whom I met at the first night of my first gallery show and asked for a business card, he was with his wife during that time. Unfortunately Mrs. Toshima, who loved art as much as he did, passed away a few weeks ago with the hopes of seeing my newest artworks. This encouraged Mr. Toshima to sponsor me and show my works to other people, not just the art enthusiast but to common people as well.
“I was thinking about Friendship and Love.” I smiled at him while looking at the place. It would be perfect with this open space.
“That would be a nice theme Mao-chan. I have one question though, why put friendship first instead of love? Usually people say it, LOVE and FRIENDSHIP.” The old man asked curiously.
“Ah… because I feel that Friendship is a much stronger word than Love.” I smiled mysteriously at him.
“Child, I may never understand the way you think, but I think I would if I see your accomplished works.” He smiled kindly at me.
“Thank you Mr. Toshima, your wife would have loved to see it.” I said feeling sad that she’s not here anymore to appreciate it.
“Oh, she would see it.” He nodded knowingly at me as he looked up to the open sky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Opening day, and once again a lot of people came but without the glamour that my first gallery show had. No more Tux and Gowns. It was opened in broad day light, all kinds of people came, from kids to old folks and they seemed to enjoy themselves and Erika’s buffet table.
I was looking over at one side of my open air gallery with a smile pasted on my face. This was something unexpected once again. All of my gallery shows have always been a surprise. Making different concepts was good for me and my show. Thanks to my manager Tamaki-sempai who’s now going around and distributing my business card.
“Mao, what’s with that silly grin on your face?” Erika asked me as went over to check out how I was doing.
“I just can’t get over the fact that I am having fun. I never thought I would love the site of families looking over to see my stuff. As you know I hated noisy kids, but today… it enlightens me.”
“Are you even Mao? What came over you?” Erika asked as she placed her hand on my forehead to check out my temperature. I shoved her hand away from my face.
“Cut it out! I’m serious. My sponsor, that old man over there looking at that painting I never sold to anyone, lost his wife. His wife for 56 years, then in an instant, she’s gone. I just got a new perspective in life. Live by the moment.” I looked at Erika and gave her a small smile.
“You’ve always lived by the moment Mao, you just never noticed it. That’s why I partly envy you, but then again, I’m the hot-successful chef. So there’s nothing more to envy.” We both giggled like idiots after she mentioned the hot-successful part.
“About that painting… I’m really curious. Why are you not selling it to anyone? It’s a really good looking piece of art, and besides I heard that a lot of people have been offering you big bucks for it. Why hold on to it?” She curiously looked at me with her head tilted side ways.
“Ah… well, that painting is us. The three of us, Me, Toma and you… if you remember the time we went in Okinawa during junior high school and Toma took a bath with us in the girl’s bathroom? Bare-naked? It’s really incredible how memories can inspire a person. That painting… I will only give it up when something REALLY important happens in our life. “
“Souka… I wonder what that important thing would happen? Speaking of Toma… have you seen him around?” she suddenly asked while looking around the place to look for him.
“He said he was coming. He would probably bring Saeko along with him. I told you about the phone conversation right? I’m letting go. This is me being mature and letting go.” I waved my hand forward like I was doing a tai-chi move where you let your hand swiftly move away in front of you like waving off bad vibes.
“Are you sure you did the right choice?” Erika looked at me with worried eyes. I just shrugged my shoulders at her and went back to my paintings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The show was over and Toma’s shadow didn’t even appear. It was getting late and I had to pack a number of stuff. I was done ordering my call-boys who’s also known as the lifters, I know it sounds weird, but I can’t help naming them like that because they do all the things I say. Like for example when I call and them to carry a certain this and that, they do it and I’m secretly enjoying it. I was like, I am Queen Mao, follow my orders.
Soon after ordering the boys around, I was sprawled on the floor with a duffle bag opened in front of me and I just shoved things in mercilessly when I heard footsteps behind me.
“There’s nothing to pick up in here anymore, please check up on Tamaki-sempai if there are still some painting to load on the truck.” I told my call-boy with out looking at him and continued what I was doing.
“Sorry I’m late. Something came up that’s why I wasn’t able to come earlier. I’m planning on bringing you to a really good restaurant where they serve the best Yakitori as an apology for being really late.”
My head swiftly turned around to look back as soon as I heard the sound of Toma’s voice. By now I was squatting in front of him and he was holding a painting in his hand. It was my latest work, entitled “The KISS”. I silently wanted to smack my head for including that piece. It was a water color painting with a smudged effect of pastel on the edges which makes the man and woman in the picture blurry, but the lips that touched each other was as clear as the blue sky when there are no clouds. I colored it pink and soft red to match the feeling of a real kiss. It was my best masterpiece by far and here was Toma, holding it in front of me.
“Are you mocking me?” I asked him.
“Huh?” He looked confused. Then I pointed at the painting.
“Do you want me to say sorry for kissing you? Ok. Here it is. I’M SORRY. Is that enough?” I looked at him wryly then went back to stuffing up the duffel bag. He looked at the painting then laughed quietly.
“Oh, I saw this on my way here, and I felt this was special. You didn’t have to say you’re sorry, because I wasn’t. ” He said seriously this time, then laid the painting down carefully and squatted in front of me.
I zipped up the duffel bag noisily that I didn’t catch what he just said. Then I noticed he was inching towards me which caught me off guard that I suddenly crabbed-walk away from him while dragging the bag with me.
“What are you doing?” He laughed at the sight of me using my hands and feet to crawl backward.
“Nothing.” I told him innocently. Then he duck walked closer to me but I resumed my crab walk away from him.
“Stop it. Alright… I’ll stay here. Just stop doing that.” He looked earnestly in my eyes and I just nodded, stayed put and looked back at the duffel bag.
“Mao, I wasn’t sorry that you kissed me. I kissed you back and I wasn’t sorry I did. Initially I thought if we kissed like that, it was going to be like kissing a sister. That would be gross, but it wasn’t like that at all. You made me feel like a man. A whole lot of a man than I was, combined with all the women I’ve been with. I’ve been thinking a lot about this Mao. About us...” Toma looked like he rehearsed this line just for me, that I couldn’t help but smile.
“When you avoided me…”
“I did not avoid you!” I raised my voice at him and was about to give him a million reasons but he shushed me up by raising a finger in front of him.
“Shhh… let me talk. No matter how many reasons you tell me, I know you’ve been avoiding me like I’m the plague or something. I know you Mao. I’ve known you for so long that when you started to avoid me I felt empty. Like the fridge in your apartment, empty with a rotted apple inside that I still couldn’t figure out how to remove.”
No wonder he’s my best friend, he even knew my fridge’s content.
“You’re the kind of girl who goes to my apartment, shower on my bathroom, sleep on my bed, use my clothes, eat all my left over food, bug me at my office for no apparent reason, kiss me in public and you’re not even my girl friend! You’re noisy, you can be a bitch, a brat and I spoil you. Erika and I spoil you a lot. We don’t know how you get away with it but you do. You’re a big pain in the ass Mao…” his voice trailed off and he looked at me.
I was so ready to give him a real pain in the ass. I wanted to knee him right then and there. Does he think he’s wooing me with this dialogue?
“…but you’re my pain in the ass. As what you have said a few months ago. YOU ARE THE PAIN IN MY ASS. I would rather have you as my pain in the ass than some other woman. You’re the one, who would enter my room while I am reading a book, then you would open the lamp light, and it would make me see things clearer. It would make me think, why have I not opened the light earlier? But instead, you came and did it for me. I could see things better because of you. Then of course you would switch the lamp light off, then on, then off again just to annoy the hell out of me… but that’s ok! Because it’s you Mao!!! You’re the only person who can do that. You’re the only person who can be bratty, spoiled and a pain in the ass and it wouldn’t really bother me. You’re the one I can share my insights with even if it’s all those nonsensical things. You’re the one who makes my life more exciting, unpredictable and fun. Mao, I never understood why it never really worked out with other women, why I got jealous with all the guys you’ve been with… the answer is I started to like you without even realizing it. It made me look at you differently and knowing this now... I want you to stay with me.” After saying all this heartfelt things he gazed at me with yearning eyes.
My heart was beating so fast I didn’t know what to say. It was like all a dream but my big mouth just had to open up and ruin the moment.
“What about Saeko? Aren’t the two of you still together?” I asked, silently swearing inside my head.
“We broke up. A couple of weeks ago, it was rather painless. It was mutual and we both knew it wouldn’t work out. What about you and Abe-sempai?”
“It was straightforward. No plates crashing or bashing on each other… we both knew it was coming that we had to let go.” I said while shrugging my shoulders at him and looked at my feet.
“So… we’re going out?” He asked with a silly grin on his face.
“Ok. Your treat right? I really want to try that Yakitori you were talking about.” I prepared to stand up and picked up the duffel bag as he picked up my painting.
“But Mao, I want to haul you to my apartment right now... let’s scarf off my left over food instead.” He looked at me hopefully as he put his arms on my shoulder and hugged me to him.
“Tomaaaaa! I’m hungreeeee…I want that Yakitori! You promised.” I nudged him trying to get away from his arm incase he was really going to haul me into his car and go straight to his apartment.
“Ok, Ok!!! But after the Yakitori, will you stay with me?” He asked more seriously this time and hugged me closer to him.
“I’ll definitely stay with you.” I whispered as I looked at him and hugged him back.
We walked away from the park and headed for Toma’s car as he held “The KISS” in his hand.
~The End~
This is purely a fan-fiction.
Please COMMENT. For non-xanga users you can comment by just clicking: add comment ->choose identity as ANONYMOUS -> type your name (email and website if you like) -> then post your comment.
Words from me: I have finally finished my story for stay with me. I hope you guys liked it. It’s been hard getting an internet connection lately because I’ve been everywhere, and I don’t have a personal computer or a laptop where I could let my ideas run wild and let it out. But finally!!! Here it is! I had so much fun making this story in Mao’s perspective. Hopefully I could make things as colorful as this one on Toma’s perspective for my next fan-fic on the two of them. Please tell me your insights and what you think about this fan-fic so far.
To the readers: Your comments really meant a lot for me. It gave me ideas and insights that helped me out to continue every chapter. Special thanks to Kat, Lillith, Kytana, Jo, Lil Daisy, sasha, hoshixx, hannah, mako, xxing… for all your comments. It was heart whelming and deeply appreciated that you guys took the time to type and post your thoughts about the fan-fic. For that, I’m eternally grateful.
Arigatou gozaimasu minna san!!!! Watch out for the next sequel-Stay With Me For Better or For Worse. Ja ne!
-biniBningPunkista