Loveless (Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 22.

THE BATTLE OF THE COMMERCIAL.

The prepping time had already started but Moko was still in awe from her slick and compelling performance with Kyoko. I was able to get everything across with just one phrase from that girl, in only a few seconds, she wondered dreamily.

While the other girls strategized for the next scene with their respective partners, Moko played in her mind that one minute in which she acted with Kyoko. They were real like professionals. She was so pumped up for the next round, that all the nervousness and pressure of getting the part seemed to have vanished from her mind into thin air. At this point, all she wanted was to act again. The thrill of being in character and having an equally amazing costar left the adrenaline racing throughout her body.

I've never had such an intuitive partner before,. It felt like our minds were connected. She knew Kyoko was good, but today, her mind was blown when she got such an intuitive response from her. It almost felt like she snatched the words right out of her mind. She turned out to be a natural.

I gave myself only fifty-fifty odds to be honest. And yet, not only she managed to keep up with me but-

"So your performance didn't suck today, big deal" her thoughts were interrupted by the last person she wanted to see right now, or ever for the fact of the matter, Erika. "Too bad it was just a fluke and I think you know it." Her lips curled in a smirk.

"What?" Moko asked, since she wasn't listening because of her daydreaming.

"The next scene is about making up with each other and girl B takes the lead this time," Erika explained with a triumphant smile as if she had already won. "In other words, it's all on your dorky partner. Has your buddy even acted before? If she has, she's pretty hacky. In fact I bet she only started like today."

"Hey, back off and shut up," Moko jumped up to her feet and shouted angrily. "Let me tell you something. She's got more hidden-under-the-surface than any of us. And another thing, I have no clue what she is going to come up with. That's right, it's a complete mystery to me. All I do know for sure is that we are gonna beat you."

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Erika frowned. "I hurl insults at you and you say nothing. I say one word bad about her and you lose it."

That snuffed the anger out from Moko like a candle and it was replaced by surprise. She didn't even realise what she was doing until Erika spilled it out to her. Did she actually just stand up to Erika for the first time, and not even for her own sake but to defend Kyoko? She had no idea why she did that. It was not like she cared about her or anything, did she?

.

.

.

Making up, right? Kyoko crossed her arms and tapped her foot to and fro lightly on the ground while her brain ran a marathon while chasing for non-existent ideas. How would I make up with my best friend?

She waited for some words of wisdom to ring in her mind but unfortunately, nothing came. She started pacing the floor hoping that an idea might pop up in her head from somewhere.

But what did come to her mind was the performance with Moko again. She tried to focus on the task at hand but somehow the image of Moko looking so stunningly gorgeous with that soft expression and those bright tears falling from her beautiful, dark eyes, would crawl its way back into her mind. In that moment, even in a jumpsuit, Moko looked like a princess.

I just blurted 'I'm so sorry' without even thinking. I felt so pained to see her hurt that I couldn't help myself. She hissed out a sharp breath as a realisation hit her on the back of her head like a rock. Moko drew out that performance from me... just like Ren Tsuruga did during the tea ceremony? She gasped at her new discovery. She already knew that Moko was brilliant but to be able to draw performances out of people like Ren Tsuruga was on another level.