Say "I Love You" - Kimi Ni Todoke

4

Sawako's eyes fluttered open to see darkness except a small stream of light breaking through a break in the curtains. She thought that she was back at her apartment and had temporarily forgotten what had happened the night before. She was about to lift herself off of the bed when she suddenly became conscious that someone was holding her hand. She was just about to scream when she looked down at her hand and finally notice a sleeping Shota. His sleeping face made him look 10 years younger than he actually was. It seemed as though he was at peace so she swallowed her screams and decided not to wake him up.

She carefully climbed out of the bed and placed her soft feet upon the cold, laminated wooden floor, sending chills up her spine. She then proceeded to look around for her clothes in case any of them had been taken off because, in one of the magazines that she had read, it stated that he would pick up random girls from the street and do sexual acts with them in order to get rid of some steam. But seeing as there were no marks on her body and none of her clothes had been removed, the rumours that she heard must have been just rumours that had been fabricated by the media in order to give Shota a bad reputation.

She continued to wonder around Shota's apartment, taking in every little detail. For a wealthy person, his home was very plain and had barely any decorations at all. The walls were white and the ceiling was coloured a dark grey which contrasted against all of the lightly coloured cream furniture Although there was furniture, there wasn't an awful lot. Normally, rooms would be decorated with lamps and coffee tables but the only furniture in the whole apartment were two couches, a desk, a coffee table, a dining table and three chairs. All of which were the exact same crème colour. This made the overall look of the whole apartment colourless apart from the dark grey ceiling and the chocolate coloured wooden glazed floor. The bathroom was another story. Everything was either blue, white or black. The bathtub was large enough to be a pool and the overall room was roughly the same size as his bedroom. In addition, there was a large shower cubicle next to the bathtub rather than both the bathtub and the shower being combined into one. It was almost expected for Shota to have such an extravagant living space. After all, he was the heir to one of the biggest corporations in the whole country.

She slowly walked over to the curtains and opened them slightly. The view was spectacular, but she didn't expect anything less from a penthouse apartment. The city of Seoul lay beneath Shota's apartment building, as bustling and as busy as ever. From the apartment, Sawako spotted that her smaller apartment was only a few blocks away. This was completely new to her. How could she live so close to the heir of Kazehaya Corporation? The idea had never made itself present in her mind before, but was surely there now. Rather than letting herself wonder through every nook and corner of her brain, she focused her eyes towards the city. The lights seemed like sparkling diamond stars that she could easily grasp a hold of if she chose to do so. The cars were like little ants that were making their way home to their nests. Everything seemed so different through the view of the penthouse apartment. While she was in her own apartment, she felt so closed off from the rest of society, but now, she felt like a queen ruling over her subjects and deciding what fate everyone should have. As the night sky grew darker and darker, she decided that it was the perfect time for her to head back home. A pile of lined paper and a biro lay on the desk so she chose to leave a note upon the pillow of Shota's bed so that he would know where she was when he woke up. When she was finally finished with writing the note, she lay it upon the soft pillow and headed out of the apartment with the aim of returning home.

Shota had awoken a few moments later, woken by the sound of the door closing behind Sawako. The first thing that he noticed was how cold the bed was and how there was no one lying in it. Immediately he ran towards the door and ran all the way down to the entrance but Sawako was nowhere to be seen. He felt like an important person had just left him, all alone and in the dark about everything that was happening. He slowly trudged towards the elevator which arrived as soon as he pressed the button. By the time he had found himself in front of his apartment door, he was worried to death about where Sawako had disappeared to and upset at the fact that she didn't tell him where she was going.

As he entered his apartment, he noticed a folded piece of paper that he was sure that he hadn't noticed before. He thought that it may have been written by Sawako and immediately went to unfold it to see if there was anything written on the paper. The note read:

'Thanks for looking after me. If you hadn't found me when you did, then I fear that something bad may have happened to me. It must have been hard for you to carry me from that pub all the way to your apartment. I'm sorry for being such a burden to you.

I knew from the moment that I saw you that you were different to how the tabloids and magazines presented you.

As you can already tell, I am no longer present in your apartment. I decided that I had overstayed my welcome and by the time you read this, I will already be back home at my own apartment. If you go to your window, then you will notice that I have drawn directions to my house on there. Don't worry though, I wrote it using a whiteboard pen so you should be able to remove it from the window with ease.

I would like to do something to thank you for looking after me while I was recovering from drinking so much alcohol. Please call me when you get the chance. My number will be at the bottom of this piece of paper. I'll be waiting for your call.

Kuronuma Sawako

+82 XX XXXX YYYY'