I'm currently witnessing an actual recording of the anime The Lover's Sun.
I can see Lucas is pouring his soul into his role.
Oh my goodness, the way he expresses his voice to his character is so good. Too bad I can't hear his voice as the control room and the recording booth of this studio has only the access to hear his voice.
My heart melts seeing him in voice acting mode. If only I can take a photo of him and record a clip while he's in action! Photo taking is not allowed so it's a shame!
He's currently inside the recording booth while I'm on the lounge area of the same studio. There's a big transparent glass that let you see the person inside the booth.
Apparently, the most key persons of the creation of the anime is on the other side of the studio, with all the controls and stuffs necessary for the recording. They are inside of the control room. The lounge and the control room is divided so people on the control room doesn't see us in the lounge room.
I am with Conrad and Naoya in the lounge room. The three of us chatted about Conrad's improvement of internalizing his role very well and how much the director likes his portrayal of his role.
Conrad's job for the day is done and was about to go home but he stayed to accompany me to wait for Lucas to finish for the recording. How nice of of him.
My primary role here is to greet Lucas so I can't let this opportunity to waste, thanks to Naoya!
"Did your sister already familiarize herself around the city?" I asked.
"Yes, she's familiar with the area now. She can go out on her own now without nagging me to go out with her." He said.
Maya, Conrad's sister, is living her life to the fullest before her first year in college starts on mid August.
The siblings are so close, how nice. I'm an only child and I want to experience how is it like to have or be a sibling.
We heard somebody opening the door. Lucas and his manager went inside of the lounge room.
I stood up from the sofa and I brightly smiled at him.
"I just wanted to drop and say hi!" I said.
"I'm sorry I cancelled our meeting! There was some mishap on the recording so I was suddenly called here."
I reassured him that it is alright and said that it's no biggie.
Lucas is walking towards me and suddenly pulled my wrist then my body just followed to the motion. I landed to his chest and hugged me.
I was shocked. My heart is pounding like crazy! As I am on his chest, I can smell his manly cologne. Oh no, I'm melting away!
"Lucas!" Annie, his manager, suddenly rebuked him.
Lucas ignored her and still hugging me.
"I'm sorry I stood you up. This is my apology."
He released me and we looked eye to eye.
I'm so blushing right now. It's so awkward to look at his eyes but I'm still eager to look at him.
"N-no. It's alright." I shyly said.
"Be careful about your actions! We're at work!" Annie scolded him.
Annie looked at me and apologized to me.
Lucas playfully laughed at Annie and said "I'm just apologizing. Don't be so critical about it."
She sighed and said "Thank her for the shirt she laundered for you. She went all the way here to give it to you. The shirt is in our van."
His eyes glistened and looked at me. He thanked me and he hugged me again but this time it's more tighter.
He released me then apologized to me again.
"I promise I'll make up to you. Just you wait and I'll call you when I'm free."
Annie linked her arm to his and pulled him away.
"Hey! You're making her uncomfortable! Anyways, go back to the recording! You're break will be over!" She said this angrily to Lucas.
"I know, I know. Well then, I'll call you. I want to meet with your pet cat the next time we meet!" He excitedly said this to me.
I'm still in the state of shock. I just nodded then both Lucas and Annie went outside of the room.
My golly! He hugged me twice in one day! I feel like I'm floating!
"Yoo hoo~ Are you still there?" Conrad called out my attention.
"She's in cloud nine." Naoya said.
I rotated my head towards the both if them.
Conrad was laughing at me and said
"Look at you! You're super red!"
Naoya was also laughing with Conrad.
I'm back on my senses and I saw them laughing real hard on me.
I got embarrassed and defensively said that I was surprised by Lucas.
"You're one lucky fan, aren't you?" Conrad said.
I asked Conrad if he's like that to other people. He said that Lucas is very friendly to his friends and he's a good guy.
He also told me that this is his first time seeing him being overly friendly with a girl, aside from his manager.
"If he made you uncomfortable, I can tell him to knock it off. I don't have the guts to randomly hug a girl, I would always ask if she wants to."
I told him that he doesn't need to tell him that.
"You're right, you did ask me that." I said.
Naoya suddenly looked suspicious at us with his teasing smile.
"Is there some sort of development that I don't know?" He cheekily said this.
Memories of Conrad hugging and comforting me suddenly popped in my head.
Suddenly, Conrad and I looked each other looking all embarrassed.
"Don't turn everything so scandalous!" Conrad said this to Naoya with Conrad's ears turning red.
"H-he was just comforted me after my outburst. It's a friendly hug." I said.
Naoya chuckled and said that he was just joking.
"A hug is nothing strange. You can hug basically everyone." Naoya added.
How careless of me, I shouldn't have said that. I made Conrad embarrassed. Thinking about what happened to us, no malice was between us when he comforted me but now it's embarrassing. It's weird that both of us got all embarrassed because maybe we were seen by his sister.
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It's another week of work. We're getting good feedback from the ad campaign of our new product. Thanks to Conrad, the new products are high in sales now. How amazing. His ad campaign was also uploaded in a video sharing platform and it garnered half a million views in just a few days. A little push and it may reach to a million views.
We're not too busy today so I got to use my phone a little bit. I tried to search for Conrad's name over the internet. There are people who become a fan of his after seeing the ad. There are already several images of himself appearing in the search engine.
Before, you could only see his face on his company website that can reflect on the search engine when you search for his name. Now, screenshots from the ad and magazine shoots are posted on the internet. Conrad can be popular as Lucas if projects continue to offer him.
Speaking of Lucas, I'm so tired of waiting for his call about when will we meet again. He said he wanted to meet Mikan and introduce me to his pet dog.
OMG. Are we levelling up?
Whenever I see Mikan, my mind is full of imagination of Lucas. I'm imagining what we'll do when we meet with our pets.
I'm so disgraceful for thinking this but is there a possibility that he likes me? He seems so interested to hangout with me. He even hugged me! I know a hug may mean nothing to other people but for me, who rarely hugged by guys, is something novel and can make me feel a little bit conscious.
Conrad said he's a friendly guy. If ever he sees me romantically, oh boy... I really want to have a romantic relationship with him!
I impulsively bowed down and hit my forehead hard on my desk.
It caused a loud sound in the office. Oops. I was intending to hide my excitement but my brain said to hit my head hard so that I could not be ahead of myself.
"What was that?" Reese asked with her surprised look.
"N-nothing. I just killed an ant."
Ouch. My forehead is so painful. I want to rub it but it will make it obvious.
"You killed an ant using your head?" Henry chuckled from behind me as his work area is just behind me. "Nice going, miss V!"
"That's a weird way of killing ants. Is that a talent of yours?" He added.
I swiveled my chair towards him and I just laughed at him.
"Maybe!"
I tried to get along with him so that I could not be called a person who takes everything seriously. I'll try to change something in me that maybe my colleague's attitude will also change.
"I may have a short circuit in my brain." I said.
"Yo! Your brain's capacity is so weak. It's not even the afternoon yet. You're getting rusty and old! Hahaha!"
I just smiled awkwardly at him. I really can't handle his remarks and I'm not used to being able to match their level of sarcasm or jokes.
"Go back to work, Henry!" Reese frowned at him and gave him a go away gesture.
Henry playfully saluted to Reese.
"Yes ma'am!" He cheekily smiled at Reese.
He sat down on his chair and started doing his work.
"Are you alright? Do you have a headache?" Reese asked.
"No, I don't. It's nothing to worry about, though my forehead pretty hurts a little." I said.
It really hurts, you know. I don't want her to worry for small little things. This is the result of my stupid imagination.
"Okay then." Reese continued typing on her computer.
Phew, that was close.
My attempt failed to get along with his rude words.
Anyways, I'm still screaming inside from excitement as their might be a chance that Lucas is interested in me romantically.
I stood up from my chair and decided to go to the comfort room to have a good look on my forehead privately. While walking on the hallway, I was rubbing my head to ease the pain.
That was a pretty bad move for hitting my forhead with my hard desk.
As I was about to go inside the ladies's comfort room, I saw Charles going outside the men's comfort room. We had a eye contact and he suddenly asked me about why I am rubbing my forehead.
I removed my hand from my forehead. He looked at my forehead looking concerned.
"I bumped my head on my table because I got a short circuit." I playfully said this to him.
He looked puzzled for a moment but hit a bullseye of what I'm trying to say.
He raised an eyebrow and smirked at me. "Imagined something you can't handle?"
He guessed it right. He's got nice perception of me. Am I that obvious?
"What were you imagining? I hope it's not something lewd."
I protested that I was not thinking like that.
He chuckled and apologized.
He apologized! I'm still not used to hear him saying sorry at me.
"I hope that imagination of yours could come true." He annoyingly smiled at me.
I suddenly remembered about hitting him so badly around his torso.
"Uhm... Are you alright now?" I asked.
"About what?"
I pointed his torso and he immediately got what I meant.
His face turned dull. I got worried all of the sudden.
"It's alright. I deserve that anyway."
I apologized him sincerely for hurting him. He looked at me seriously with piercing eyes.
"Did you even hear what I've told you before you ran off from the meeting room?" He asked.
I got nervous all of the sudden and my chest is pounding. I don't know what will I say to him.
"If yes, I want to hear your reply. If no, I'll repeat what I said to you last time."
Oh no, I'm in a tight spot. I don't want to talk about that!
"I-I need to go. I want to p-pee." I avoided his eye contact and started going inside the comfort room but he grabbed my wrist.
"So you heard it?"
He released his hand from my wrist and looked at him.
"N-no. I didn't hear it clearly."
He sighed. "I better not say it here. Can we meet after work? I just want to have a peace of mind."
I'm hesitant if I should agree with him.
"Can't you just agree with me this time? I'm not going to do something bad to you. I just want to talk to you properly." He's desperately looking at me.
I should give him a chance. I injured him so I should listen to him just this once. However, If I am to be honest of what I really heard from him last time, he said he loves me.
I should agree to meet with him for confirmation if he really said that he loves me.
"Alright. I'll go."
"Thank you." He sighed in relief.
I'll message you the place. Zilly might harrass you if she saw us leaving together.
I agreed and said to him that she's capable of doing that because she's crazy for him.
"Okay then. You can now do your business." He now started walking away.
I'm already anticipating what will happen to later. No matter happens, I should be honest to him.
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I went to the place where Charles wanted to talk properly. My jaw literally dropped because the place he wanted to talk is a high class restaurant that is known for distinguished guests. I heard that you have to book a reservation 2-3 months early because it is always jam packed.
He's a son of a distinguished family and got some connections. That's why he was able to secure a table immediately.
The waitress guided me to a private room and I can see Charles is already seated calmly waiting for me.
I sat in front of him. He said I can choose whatever I want from the menu but I said that I will order the cheapest one because the menu is really expensive. The prices are jaw dropping.
"Don't worry about the cost. I'll be the one who will pay anyway." He said.
I didn't change my mind and I chose the familiar and cheap meal because I'm not familiar with the luxurious sounding meals.
While waiting for our orders, Charles started the conversation.
"I know you've heard this before but I really known you way back when we were in high school. I was a senior and you were a freshman."
He stated that he attended the private school near to my public school. Apparently, he confirmed that I was the girl who he knew when he saw the name of my highschool on my bio data when I was accepted at Dolly's.
"I don't recall anyone named Charles Stein when I was in highschool. I don't even have guy friends in highschool." I said this with a flustered face.
"Did you have some sort of accident maybe? You know, like in movies when someone hit their head, they will lose their memories? I know it's so cliché but it might be the reason why you don't remember me."
I shook my head. "No, I don't even had some sort of accident that would hit my head. I hit my head hard on my desk but nothing flashed in my memories."
He chuckled at me. "Okay. I got it."
After several minutes, our food arrived while then we're talking about the things I don't know about him and the fact that he knows me.
"I really have no idea that you know me before." I'm twirling my fork on the pasta while saying this.
"I never expected that you'll be employed at the company. I was so mad that you didn't know me when I asked you during your mentorship. With that, I was so mean at you so that I could forget you."
I was surprised by his revelation. I feel furious because he made me feel miserable at work. He's so selfish that he used me for the sake of releasing his anger at me for not remembering him.
"I'm sorry for hurting and making you sad. I shouldn't have been so childish." He looked so regretful at me.
I put down my fork and looked at him seriously.
"You really made me miserable. It made me so sad. You don't know how a big blow it was on me."
My throat is starting to tighten and my eyes are beginning to tear up.
"I know I'm a type of person who is an easy target for teasing because of my introvert nature and to my so-called boring personality but it hurts when you guys try to pick on me just because I have that kind of nature and personality."
"I swear, It's not my intention to hurt you just because of your personality. If you think I hurt you because of who you are, I'll still apologize." He said.
He drank some of water from his glass then looked so determined at me.
"I don't care anymore if you're not the person I knew from before. I don't want the past to bind me, I'll think for the present now. Let me ask you, did you clearly heard what I said to you last time at the meeting room?"
I got nervous. He's actually saying it right now! I'm hoping that he would say he hates me.
"N-no."
He sighed. "You know, I have nothing against of you being like that. I like everything about you. I do love you."
Oh god. He loves me. He's the very first person to confess to me. My heart is pounding loudly. I don't know what I'm going to say.
"Before, I'm just concealing my real feelings. Right now, I want to say my real honest feelings."
"B-but why me? I think you d-deserve better..."
He placed his hand on his forehead with his arm propped against the table. After a few seconds, he looked at me again with his serious eyes.
"Do you like somebody else?" He asked.
I nodded at him.
"Who is it? Mr. Imonoyama?" He aggressively said this to me.
"No. It's not him." I said this reluctantly.
What is this? I suddenly felt that it's not what I wanted to say.
"Then who is it?"
It's as if I want to agree that I sorta like Conrad but that's not right. We're just friends that became a little bit closer lately.
I don't want to say it's Lucas because if I told that Lucas is the one I like, it will be troublesome. Charles might make fun of me for liking Lucas just because I'm a fan. I also don't want to share anything to him.
I bravely said "It's out of your concern. I don't need to tell you about the person I like."
He agreed and he said that he'll respect my decision for not telling him about the person I like.
"What is now you're take after hearing my confession to you?" He asked.
I bluntly said that I don't like him and I also told him I hate him for the things he did at me. I really suffered from his bad and nasty attitude towards me.
"I expect that from you anyways. Naturally, you would hate me for the things I've done at you. It was my goal to make you hate me so that I could forget you."
He showed me a painful smile for a short while and sighed with relief.
"That settles it. A whole load came off from my chest. Hearing you say you hate me will definitely make me forget my feelings for you."
He returned to his normal self and started eating his food again. We didn't talk until we went our separate ways to go home from the restaurant. You could here only the utensils making sounds when we were eating our food.
I tried to look at him while we were eating but he never looked sad or anything, he looked normal and composed.
I was expecting that he might go all depressed but he didn't. The awkward silence while we were eating was definitely his sign of disappointment.
It was flattering that he confessed his feelings for me but I don't like him because of all the things he did to me. I don't see him as a boyfriend material.
I now understood why Zilly was so mean to me also at a different level. Zilly knew Charles likes me so she would always say mean things to me because she's jealous at me.
Well, Zilly can now grab him freely. He's been rejected so it will be now easier for her.
»»»»»End of Chapter 30«««««