Pop Rock Love (22 page)

“Oh? Yuki? Hmm...The Fire Boys
should be filming their variety show at the broadcasting station. They start
quite late though in order to fit in all their schedules. They may start
shooting only at ten. I’m sure you’ll be able to find them there now, but you
still need a security pass to enter the building.”

Mimi glanced at her watch. It
was now eight. She hurriedly said, “Thank you for your help, Yamada, and I am
sorry I cannot chat now. I promise to visit you soon!”

“Sure, good luck Mimi. But
remember, not everyone can get in the radio station without any prior
appointment.”

“Okay,” Mimi said as she
started running. The broadcasting station wasn’t too far from Shibuya and the
only thing running through her mind was that she had to see Yuki. As Yamada
predicted, the main entrance of the broadcasting station was heavily guarded by
security and even though Mimi was a singer, she wasn’t able to enter without
any reason. She walked towards the parking lot and saw some middle-aged women
running towards a black car. Maybe someone was coming, she thought, joining
them and trying to see who was inside the black vehicle. The person sitting at
the driver’s seat rolled down the window and peered at her. The middle-aged
ladies let out high pitched shrieks and cried, “Jiro! Jiro!”
 

Jiro opened the door and yelled
at Mimi. “Make-up artist, why are you so late. Sorry ladies, my make-up artiste
got a little lost. Hurry up and get in the car!” Mimi looked apologetically at
the fans, who were glaring daggers at her. She quickly ran over to the
passenger’s side and opened the door, while Jiro waved brightly at the adoring
crowd before driving off. He drove past security checks at the carpark situated
in the broadcast building and parked his car. He turned and looked at her. “I
guess you heard the news.”

“So it’s true?”

“Yes, it is. But all of us only
found out about it not too long ago. I mean, we always knew that Yuki had to
leave for the shoot, but it wasn’t scheduled till two months later. But now
they are saying that he is going to leave next week.”

“It’s because of me, isn’t it?”
she said, looking at Jiro. The brown-haired boy placed his hand lightly on
hers. “Mimi, let him go. If he comes back to you, then he’s meant to be yours
forever.” It was as if those words shot a bullet through her heart. A tear
dropped ran down her cheek as she smiled sadly. “I understand.”

“I’m sorry Mimi, but it’s for
the best.”

She opened the door and got out
of his car. More tears threatened to stream down her cheeks, but she tried her
best to hold them back. She needed a place to gather her thoughts. Mimi got
into the elevator and pressed the button to the highest floor.
 
She wanted to go to the building’s
rooftop.

Jiro wondered if he had said
too much. He got out of his car and walked towards the elevator. He noticed that
the lift had gone to the highest floor. Jiro made his way to the Fire Boys’
dressing room. From a distance, he could hear Yuki’s exasperated voice. Jiro
shook his head and sighed. He entered the dressing room to see Yuki and Naoki
seated on the sofa. Yuki was waving his hands around, clearly agitated.
  

“Does it make sense that I know
about this through a news report? Why do reporters know that I’m leaving for
America next week when I wasn’t even aware that I’ve passed the audition?!”

“Yuki, calm down,” said Naoki,
placing his hand on Yuki’s shoulder.

“I mean, Naoki, think about it.
Does Kon communicate to us through the media now?! Are we not even worth his
attention that he can’t tell us directly? This is ridiculous!!” he yelled.

“Look, I understand why you are
angry and you have a right to be. But you need to think about the bigger
picture here,” said Naoki.

“But I don’t want to leave. I
don’t want to leave her and I don’t want to leave the Fire Boys either.”

“If you don’t go, you may end
up losing the both of us,” said Jiro softly. Yuki looked at Jiro. The
brown-haired boy looked as if he was going to cry and Yuki felt all his anger
melt away.

Jiro continued, looking at Yuki
almost angrily, “You think we want you to leave? Of course not! But if you are
serious about her, then shine as brightly as you can – for her, for us
and for yourself. Just go.”

“Jiro...”

“And there’s someone waiting
for you at the rooftop,” said Jiro. At those words, Yuki immediately dashed out
of the room. He ran towards the fire escape and climbed up three flights of
stairs to the top.

Mimi was standing there,
looking at the night view in the distance, her eyes puffy from crying. Yuki ran
towards her and flung his arms around her, hugging her tightly. Mimi gasped in
surprise, before holding on him too. She wished they could stay this way
forever. Something, quite slowly, quite tiny and white, fell from the sky. It
floated down gracefully as if dancing in the air, and finally landed on Mimi’s
nose.

“Yuki, it’s snowing.”

“It’s your first time seeing
it, isn’t it?” he asked, not letting her go.

“Yes, it’s beautiful.” However,
she felt extremely sad. She added softly,
 
“Yuki, do you remember that day at Odaiba, I said if there ever came a
day when I become more important than your dream, then that will be the day we
have to part?”

“Are you saying that today is
the day?” Yuki asked, closing his eyes. Snowflakes continued to float down from
the sky. Mimi thought that it was so unfair that they had to part on such a beautiful
night. She replied, holding on to him tightly, “When a star falls from the sky,
its light dies. I don’t want to be the reason for you to stop shining.”

“Could you hold me till
midnight then?” asked Yuki.

“We might freeze to death.”

“I don’t care,” he said.

“Yuki...” she loosened her hold
on him and looked into his eyes. He looked back unblinkingly and placed his
hands on her shoulders. Letting go is going to be so hard, thought Mimi.

“You’re dumping me, aren’t you.
But I guess it’s only fair after all I’ve put you through,” he said, with a
deep sigh.

“Goodbye Yuki,” said Mimi. She
turned and walked away. “Don’t look back, don’t look back,” she muttered
furiously at herself. And she didn’t. If she did, he would have seen her tear
stricken face.

“Goodbye Mimi,” he whispered at
the retreating figure.

Track #20

Not too far away on that same
snowy night, Sato was sitting alone at his favourite steak restaurant, drowning
himself in champagne, waiting for an old friend. Soon after, Hiroki arrived at his
table and sat down opposite Sato. “And for what do I owe this honour?” asked
Hiroki, lighting a cigarette.

“I have a favour to ask,” said
Sato, placing a champagne glass at Hiroki's side, and poured him a glass.

“A favour?” He raised his
eyebrows. Sato was behaving strangely. Maybe he had too much to drink, he
thought.

Sato leaned towards him and
whispered, “Everyone in the industry knows how close you are to Kon. Can you
keep me in the loop if you hear anything about how he is going to deal with Mimi?”

Hiroto smirked and said, “You
want me to betray my boss?”

“You know how he is. Please?”

“Are you begging me?” he asked,
narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“Yes.”

Hiroki was taken aback by his
answer. This was the same man who after walking out of the doors of Fame
Factory, had never lowered his head down for anyone. He shook his head in
disbelief. “The girl who caused the great Sato to beg. I thought I would never
see this day.”

“Can you do that for me?” Sato
asked.

Hiroki took another puff of his
cigarette and thought for a moment. He replied, “Sure. But answer my question,
if you love her that much, why aren't you fighting for her?”

Sato gulped down Hiroki's glass
of champagne and leaned back against his chair. The effects of the alcohol was
taking its toll on him. He closed his eyes and said, “Because I can't afford to
lose her. I will die if she ever stops appearing infront of me.”

Hiroki looked at the already
passed out figure before him and pitied him greatly. “You're cruel Sato. You
are cruel to yourself. You never allow yourself to be happy.”

On the day of Yuki's departure,
Mimi was preparing herself for a
Music Stage
broadcast. Her single,
“Maybe” had moved up two spots on the music charts and the week has been
jam-packed with fashion shoots and interviews. She had not seen Yuki or
contacted him since that day on the rooftop and she was determined to stay
focused on her music career. She was already dressed in her performance outfit
(black and white polka-dotted dress by Yohji Yamamoto, which was short in front
but had cascading frilly triers at the back of the dress) and sat down at the
dressing table with her make-up artiste by her side. Ayaka was busy applying
blush on her cheeks with a big make-up brush. Kenta was sitting down on the
sofa behind Mimi, looking at the artiste line-up for the day's broadcast. She
was going to perform the B-side of her single today, “Farewell”.How appropiate,
she thought. Although he would most probably be on the plane during her
performance. Mimi was starting to feel teary again when she saw Sato enter the
waiting room. Kenta stood up and bowed politely, “Sato, I didn't know you were
coming.”

“I had to come by to make sure
someone did not mess up my song,” he answered, glancing over at Mimi. She
responded by rolling her eyes. Ayaka looked at Mimi's reflection in the mirror
and nodded. “You're done!” she cried.

“Can I be alone with Mimi for a
moment?” he asked, looking at Kenta.
 
Kenta and Ayaka hurriedly scurried out of the room. Mimi stood up and
faced him, with her arms crossed. Was he going to pick up a fight, right before
her performance? She glared at him.

To her surprise, Sato took a
step towards her and cupped her face with his hands.

“I know you are hurting inside,
but you can do this. I believe in you.”

Mimi lips quivered as she tried
to hold her tears back. “Thank you,” she whispered. Someone knocked on the door
and Sato retreated. The production assistant entered and said, “Mimi, you are
going to be on stage in ten minutes. Please be ready.”

She took a deep breath and
smiled at the producer, “I won't let you down.”

He smiled back, “Knock them
dead.”

For tonight's performance, she
didn't have her full band with her. It was just purely vocals with Kamaki
accompanying on piano. A slight mistake by either one would be glaringly
obvious. She stood on stage and felt the television cameras on her. This time,
a single spotlight was on her and Kamaki started to play the piano. Mimi closed
her eyes as she listened to the soft tinkling of the piano. The inevitable has
happened. He has left her, or to put it more accurately, she has left him. The
only thing she could do now is to shine as brightly as she could. Even though
she was finding it hard to even breathe...Mimi opened her eyes and placed her hands
on the microphone stand. Even though her heart was breaking...She had to sing.

Sato was backstage, carefully
observing Mimi's performance. She had placed every once of emotion into the
hauntingly tragic melody. Listening to her voice, he felt his own heart hurt.
“You're a professional now,” he said, as she finished her song flawlessly.

*

Six months later, Mimi was
finally able to take a week off. She had finished her promotions for her second
single, “Galaxy”, and it was the opening theme song for a High School drama.
Her second single sold more copies than her first single and her life became a
series of busy schedules. She was thankful Niji Music was able to grant her a
week-long break. She missed Singapore and her brother. The first thing she did
once her leave was approved was to book the first flight to Singapore.

It was the month of August, the
first thing she noticed when she touched down in Singapore was the intense heat
of the city. It was morning and Roy was in school for classes, although he knew
that she was coming. After unloading her luggage at their apartment, Mimi
walked over to Sakura. Roy had handed over the operational aspects of Sakura to
her old band member, a drummer named Sam. Her old band still performed every
Wednesday with a new vocalist, and Mimi wondered if she could jam with them
later tonight.

She opened the doors of the pub
and turned on the lights. It looked exactly the same as she rembered it, save
for that corner behind the bar which had turned into a mini “Mimi shrine”. It
had her poster, albums and some magazine clippings which featured her. She
walked over to the stage and stood by the microphone stand. How nostalgic, she
thought. I was standing at this exact spot when we first saw each other. She
smiled sadly when suddenly the lights blacked out. She looked around
bewildered. Was it a blackout?

Suddenly out of nowhere, a male
voice started to sing,

“The way you shone when I first
saw you.

I should have known you were a
star.

Love music pain.

Two manic stars creating a
cosmic creation across the universe.

We may not know what may happen
tomorrow,

But it was a beautiful meteor
shower.”

Mimi clasped her hands over her
mouth. She knew that voice. But it was impossible. She squinted her eyes
towards the voice. He was walking towards her with a cordless microphone. She
was soon standing face to face with Yuki. The lights of the pub came back on.
Mimi couldn't believe her eyes. The wavy-haired boy smiled at her. “How did you
know...” she mumbled.

Yuki nodded towards the control
panel. “Roy told me.”Mimi looked towards control panel to see Roy behind it,
controlling the lights. He gave his sister a wink. Mimi was too shocked to
react.

“But...Aren't you supposed to
be in America? Why...How?” she asked. He reached out and held her hands in his.
“I finished filming and made a detour. Other than Roy, no one knew that I was
coming here.”

Mimi looked at him. “So why are
you here?” He was still holding on to her hands.

“Every day in those six months,
I couldn't shake off this thought. I couldn't live with the thought that I
didn't have your arms to run to at the end of the day.” He let go of her hands
and handed her a black velvet ring box. Mimi glanced at him, puzzled before
opening the box. Inside, there was a pink solitaire diamond ring.

“Yuki, it's beautiful,” she
said, although she still wondered where he was going with this.

“Seven years from now, let's
get married. During these seven years, we can rise as high as we can as stars,
work as hard as we can until we reach a point in the sky where no one can touch
us. During these seven years we may spend more time apart than together but I
cannot imagine my future without you. On this day, seven years later, it will
be our wedding day. Mimi, will you marry me?” He got down on one knee and held
out the ring to her.

Tears were streamming down her
cheeks as she listened to her words. Admist her tears, she smiled and nodded,
“Yes, of course.” He got up and flung his arms tightly around her. Roy cheered
loudly in the background. Mimi looked over at her brother and smiled. Yuki
loosened his grasp on her and slipped the ring on her finger. He leaned towards
her and kissed her softly on her lips. She wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He leaned over
and kissed her again.