Dream Star

"Plenty, how about you?" Haruka asked, a sly smile formed on the corner of his lips.

Her cheeks turned redder at his words, "I don"t know," she genuinely didn"t.

"I love you so much," Haruka murmured.

.....
2 hours later

"I"ve heard about it. But this is the first time I"ve been a victim," Miu explained. In the end, Haruka had to drop her off since Miu had already gone ahead for the next job.

"S--sorry, like um I didn"t mean to stand you up," Lila stuttered. She was catching her breath since she ran, Miu only had 15 minutes left till this next job ended. Lila wanted to catch up with her before she went to the next place.

Miu laughed, "Don"t mind, don"t mind. I mean, it"s refres.h.i.+ng in a way."

"Refres.h.i.+ng?"

"Because before you were the one lecturing me about commitments and punctuality."

Lila turned red, embarra.s.sed, "That was.."

Her friend patted her shoulder, "It makes you more human; there is nothing wrong with that."

"Miu-chan were ready for you."

"Yes," Miu called out, "I"ll be right back, Lila."

Lila nodded.

"I see," Lila thought to herself when Miu left. What she thought is strange behavior is actually normal. Now that Miu mentioned it, in the past she would take commitments very seriously and be punctual to everything. Especially when it concerned anything music related. But it"s not like that now; now she could quickly drop her work just to be with the man she loves. It felt genuinely unusual, but...her thoughts broke off when she hears a vibrating sound in her pocket. Lila fished out her phone, and her eyes lit up.

From: Haruka
I forgot to tell you earlier
I bought you some new clothes
Try them on when you get back

Lila raised her eyebrows when she read this message, new clothes? She doesn"t care for those things. What she wants is more time with him, so Haruka rearranging her schedule would sound a lot better to her.

From: Lila
Ah-huh, so when can you bring me news
that you changed your schedule for me?

Unlike Kiryu, Haruka isn"t willing to change his schedule for her sake. Lila understood that Kiryu doing that was strange from the beginning. Haruka isn"t willing to mix up private affairs with work affairs. In the past, she would have been the same; she would maintain a professional stance on everything. But since she started dating Haruka, she"s changed a lot.

From: Haruka
That"s what you want?
Not any presents but me to change my schedule?

From: Lila
What I want is for us two, to spend more time together. So if you change it...

There is a pause and for a split second Lila is worried that she went over the top. Haruka can be very stingy when it comes to work and professionalism. Lila, however, didn"t have to worry since her phone suddenly beeped, on the screen, it showed she had an incoming call from Haruka. Her eyes lit up at this, and she immediately picked up, "h.e.l.lo, Haruka?!!"

Haruka laughed, "Why do you sound so excited? I only parted from you only a few minutes ago."

"S--sorry, but," it"s scarce of him to call her. Rather, they"ve never had a decent conversation over the phone before. Or rather, realization dawned on her. Haruka has never called her before. Sure they"ve exchanged text messages, but that"s as far as it got. Then again, there was never any need. The two of them aren"t away for each other for long. "For some reason, I"m very nervous."

"Yeah, me too."

"Really?" she questioned. Why would Haruka have to be nervous?

"Well, we"ve never spoken like this on the phone, right? I think this is the first time I"ve used your number."

Lila blushed, "they were thinking the same," that"s embarra.s.sing. Lila took a deep breath, "Um, are you still in the car?"

"No, I"ve already arrived. It"s quite close since there is no traffic."

"Haruka, um, the people your with..."

"Sorry they are noisy. Wait, I"ll step out," Haruka apologized. Haruka said a few words before she hears the sound of a door opening. After a few minutes, she hears Haruka"s voice again, "Yeah,

"Um, so where are you?" Didn"t he have meetings? Or maybe she read his schedule wrong.

"At Scarlett"s."

Ah?!! "But your work."

"The meeting got canceled. So I decided to kill some time here before the next one," Haruka explained.

So he"s at a woman"s place. But wait, it sounds like they are having a party there, so it"s not like he is alone. However, Lila felt anxious about him being in a place where she wasn"t, Haruka must have sensed her anxiety since he said, "Turn your camera on, let me see your pretty face."

Lila looked around and found a quiet spot in the corner; she made her way over and pulled up a stool before she switched her camera on, "Haruka?"

He looked the same as when she last saw him moments ago. It relieved her to know he hadn"t been drinking, but, "Are you alone?" she couldn"t be too sure about this since she could only see half his body.

Haruka smiled, "Eager to see everything of me, huh?"

"D--don"t make it sound strange, just rotate your phone."

"Yes yes," Haruka did as she commanded and sure enough there was n.o.body there.

Lila wondered what she expected to see, evidence of cheating?

"Done looking at me?"

"Haruka, I miss you," Lila murmured.

"Weren"t you the one who said you wanted to observe Tachibana today? You"re the one who decided this."

Lila looked over at where Miu was doing her work. In contrast to Miu"s bubbly personality from before, there is a degree of seriousness in the girl"s eyes now, "I wonder if there was any need. Even I can tell how much Miu has changed from a glance."

"It"s better to see it for yourself though, see with your own eyes how much things have changed. The people who care about you are still around, and the deep feelings they have for you haven"t changed."

Ah, "You"re saying wise words now."

Another chuckle, "Dearest Lila, do you know why I"m telling you this now?" Lila shook her head, "It"s because you"ve changed since you started dating me. You"re no longer the same naive girl you once were."

"I was that naive to you?"

"It was more like, "what do I do with this girl that looks like she came out of a painting,"" Haruka"s smirks, "But well, it seems like I didn"t have to think about what to do," Ahh! He"s teasing her. While it"s true that she did go along with the flow of the moment at the start, it"s not like she neglected her job. Despite getting caught up in the flow, Lila observed him silently.

"I was serious then, when I said I"d help you," she muttered, "But, I wonder if you took me seriously."

"I told you already; you"ve helped me in many ways. You don"t have to do any more than this," Haruka said.

"Helped him in many ways," Lila knew immediately what he was talking about, "I like it when you touch me. But Haruka, I want to be helpful in other areas too, like your lifestyle and um, um," Lila paused. "your friends" Lila wanted to help him in this area too. Haruka is very popular, and loads of people fling themselves to him every single day. But his social relations.h.i.+ps are awful; there isn"t a single good person around him.

"If you want to be helpful, hurry up and finish your observation so we can spend some time together."

"Eh? Really?"

Haruka smiled, "Yeah, I actually have the afternoon off, and well I don"t work night times now because of you," he paused, "I thought you could show me around?"

"Y--yes?!!" Woaahhh, a date! They"re going on a date. After that home time date failed, Lila wanted to make it up to him, "Where um, are we meeting? And do I have time to do my hair and makeup?" she unknowingly said the last part out loud since Haruka burst into laughter again.

"D--don"t laugh," she murmured.

"I understand that your so excited, but don"t make such a cute face when I"m not around."

"Idiot," Lila shyly played with a strand of her hair, "Where do we meet?"

"Tachibana has a live performance at the park today, right? We can go from there."

Her eyes brightened at his words; they can really go on that date. But, "Haruka, you have to be there for Miu"s show too."

Haruka sighed deeply, "Your the only one who values my opinion, do you think your friends would care about what I say?"

"Yes," Lila replied right away. She does because Haruka plays a more crucial role in the Entertainment Industry than he thinks.