Love Me Again ➳ three

♦ C H A P T E R T W O ♦

The next few weeks were hell to her. More and more interviews and shows to promote her new album. She felt like she doesn't need to promote it. People don't have to be forced to hear her music. She wanted people to like her music naturally, like love at first sight. 

She never liked any of those talk shows and stuff since they always tried to interrogate her privacy. She likes to keep her private life as private as possible. She never understood those idols who likes to make scandals of themselves to be famous. In the end, you will pay the consequences by being known as a troublemaker and have a bad reputation. 

After several weeks of torture, she was given a day off. She decided to spend the day at home and talking with Natsume and her friends. She missed them deeply, especially Natsume. Every time they video-chatted, the gang would meet up at the same place and called her with one of their phones. It was hilarious to see their silly behaviors. They would always update her with the craziest news, like how Koko finally proposed to Sumire, Anna who finally expanded her cafe, Ruka finally owning his very own pet cafe with the help of Yuu. 

Koko showed the video when he proposed to Sumire, Sumire first thought he was only joking and got mad at him, but after seeing the ring and how sincere Koko was she finally accepted the proposal. Making Koko jumping around like a crazy bunny and hugging Sumire. The couple decided to get married several days after Mikan returned to Japan. It's been decided that she will sing for their wedding. 

Natsume informed her of his job at his father's company. He said that he got promoted again because of his hard work. Mikan laughed when she saw the look he was giving her, like a puppy wanting to be praised. Mikan also told them about the prophet and they were all worried about her. But Mikan being Mikan doesn't want to make them worry and waste money to come to her place.

Her day off went by so fast with talking with her friends. She didn't even notice the sky turning dark. When she ended the call, It was already night time. She didn't even hear her stomach calling her to eat. She decided to call for pizza delivery and ordered a jumbo-sized pizza. The day ended with her in bed smiling at the thought of coming back to her friends. 

It was so lonely, she doesn't know if she could hold on until next year. Her only friends were Suzy and Jae-Ho. They were also very busy. Suzy decided to give up on Jae-Ho, seeing her chances are slim on getting the said man to fall for her. Every day felt like hell for her. Mikan is a social person. She wanted to be friends with other idols but they were too fake and can't be trusted. They wanted to be friends with her because of her popularity, not... her. 

She expected idol life to be like this, she underestimated this. She thought everything could go well but certainly not.  No one could be trusted. She could only trust her crews. That's why she is always seen with her background dancer and crew. Sure, she had some "friends" but she kept her formality with them. She didn't want any of her secrets being leaked. 

Anyway, she is currently attending an awards show. She was sitting in her car with her driver, Michael driving. Jae-Ho is sitting beside her and checking her schedules. "Mikan, make sure you get to know all of the artists there. Make sure to be friends with some of them. Especially idols with high reputations and actors as well." Mikan was frustrated to hear this. Why does she have to put a fake facade to be friends with them? She hoped they weren't as scary as she thought. 

Oh, how wrong was she.

When she arrived there, many were already trying to start a conversation with her. Remembering Jae-Ho's order, she greeted them back and talked with them. They were praising her and talking about the newest trend whereas Mikan was busy trying to understand what they were discussing. The ones talking to her right now is very young and is currently gaining popularity. She decided to end the conversation in a nice way and search for her place to sit. 

She was directed to a table filled with people of the same age as hers. She recognized some of them, like Richard who she met some time ago, Anna who is one of her few friends in the idol industry. She went over to Anna's side and greeted her. Anna looked at her and greeted her back. 

The two began to chat about some things while others began to fill the place. Soon enough, the hall was filled with artists and producers and such. She looked beside her and saw an actor with a quite handsome face, not as handsome as Natsume of course. The person noticed her staring at smiled at her. "Hello there, Miss Season. I reckon we never met before?" Mikan blushed and nodded. "My name is Gyles. Nice to meet you"

We continued to talk and Mikan dug some information. He is a top class actor and he has a wife. He views the art industry the same way as she does. He is currently in his twenties. The two quickly became friends because of the same interests. Soon, Anna joined their talk and the three became friends. However, Mikan didn't notice that someone was staring at her with hatred filled in their eyes.

The awards came to an end with Mikan bringing home one trophy for her W - S album as the best selling album of the year. Her album was quick to sold out in a day. Richard came to talk to her after the show was over and a couple of rookie artists as well to congratulate her, well... sort of. Deep inside, she could see their burning jealousy in their eyes. 

Mikan was about to head out when she heard some rookie idol saying something out loud. "Look, Isn't that the attention-seeker? Who was it? Season? Saying she wanted to quit the music industry after 2 years. For what? Her boyfriend?"  "I saw her talking with Gyles earlier too! What a slut!" The other one snickered. Mikan glanced at the two and saw that they were the ones from earlier who congratulated her. They were wearing very tight mini dresses, face caked with make-up. Mikan had heard about them before. They went viral last year because of some dating and break up stuff with some rich CEO. 

"Mikan? What's wrong?" Jae-Ho asked. "Oh, nothing. I just heard some clowns talking about how they were jealous of my life. It's funny how they say I'm the slut when clearly they were the ones wearing very minimal and tight dresses. I'd say they were out of fabric while making those dresses. Look at their faces as well, caked with make-up. They look exactly like a clown to me." Mikan said out loud. The two girls gasped and launched at her. One attempted to claw her nails at her. 

Jae-Ho was about to protect Mikan when the brunette grabbed the girl's arm. "Oops, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" She said with a fake 'sorry' tone. "Watch your attitude little missy and don't bother making a scandal out of this, saying you were the one who got attacked.  There are many witnesses here." Mikan whispered.

She lets go of the girl and walks away from the lobby to her car. When she got home, she opens her phone and sees her friends congratulating her for the award. This brings a smile to her face. What she didn't know is, someone saw what happened earlier and they want to destroy her.