❝𝕄𝕠𝕞𝕠𝕜𝕠 𝕚𝕟 𝕋𝕠𝕜𝕪𝕠❞✔️ (1)

❤︎Chapter Twenty-Three❤︎

A cacophony so irritating it makes me want to scream yanks me out of my deep sleep and glorious dream. It had been the same dream I had ever since I spent my first night in my apartment -- the blurry image of a man that made my chest ache who smiled ... totally unaware of my feelings. His naivety and careless grin almost cruel.

I had no idea what the heck the dream was about, or why I kept having it. I noticed only very minor changes in it each time it occurred. This time, I had tried desperately to get my words out, but nothing came. Instead, I grasped desperately onto his shirt and shouted silently.

..But the noise just outside my apartment woke me abruptly, more detestable than any of the alarms that used to wake me up for school. I opened my eyes and looked longingly up at the ceiling, asking God why I couldn't sleep in for just ONE day.

Where's that coming from?

It sounded like an amusement park had been built all around my apartment complex!

Right on time, my phone comes alive with the ringtone I had set for when Yuji called. I reach over slowly, my head throbbing a little from drinking too much wine at dinner last night. I rub the sleep from my eyes and squint through the harshness of the sparkling morning light to find the green button on my touch screen.

As soon as I see it, I reach over weakly and tap it, groaning a hello into the phone.

"MOMOKOOOOOO!"

Yuji's energetic response told me that he had been awake for hours already. He sounded awfully frantic, like a small child shouting amidst a crowd trying to find his parents in a sea of people.

"Whaaaat."

"Whatever you do, don't run outside in your underwear!"

I sit up glaring at my cellphone, "Hey! That's not some kind of bad habit you know! It happened only one time!"

"There's a massive crowd of paparazzi surrounding your apartment complex. I'm sending my bodyguards down there to break them up."

"Eh?!" I stand up, holding my phone as I make my way to my front door. I can already see figures moving behind the curtains near the door.

"What are they doing here?! Am I a celebrity now?"

😤"No, you goof. Someone snapped some photos of us eating dinner last night and assumed we were an item. It's all over the media right now."

😭"But it wasn't a date~" I whined, looking out of the peephole. All I see are a bunch of flashing cameras and nosy reporters trying to look back at me through the other end.

🙄"Try telling them that..."

"Okay!"

"Anyway, don't open the door. Wait! What? Momoko!"

Without a second thought, I unlocked my door, swung it open and shut my eyes to avoid the bright morning sunlight and the flashing lights in my face. Everyone quieted down and I peeked at them to see them shove their microphones in my face.

"IT WASN'T A DATE, YOU FOOLS!"

There's a low rumble of applause and this idiot reporter turns to shout into his microphone next to the camera, "DID YOU HEAR THAT! SHE CALLED US FOOLS! ALSO, SHE'S DEFINITELY DATING YUJI OSHIRO."