ᴀꜰꜰʟᴜᴇɴᴢᴀ | ᴍ. ᴜꜱᴜɪ

[ chapter 1 : rumors ]

the neon signboards glowed brightly in contrast to the night sky. the ginormous led billboards weren't showing advertisements for once. the hubbub of japan's busy streets was giving a certain vibe to the nightlife there. on the other side of the world, things were almost the same. skyscrapers stood tall in new york city as 9 to 5 workers hurried to catch the subway. there weren't ads on the tall buildings either, instead, there was news. 

recent news articles keep popping up at every click of the refresh button. even the crisp and still warm newspaper that the local paperboy delivers on suburban areas had their faces. it was all over the news, all over the world.

the news is, masumi usui; japan's most beloved, famous and favorite bachelor has proposed to [name] [last name]; hollywood's loved, favored and adored sweetheart yesterday night at what people would call "japan's met gala". 

this earned the interest of many, especially journalists writing for celebrity gossip sites. 

did [name] force masumi for his money? did masumi force [name] for her fame? is this another publicuty stunt?

rumors were spreading faster than wildfire but the man and woman of the hour have yet to say anything.

he sighed as he placed his phone down, on top of the coffee table. his work phone has been ringing nonstop too.

"so what now?" he asked.

the aforementioned boy above is masumi usui, age 23. at the age of 21, he was given the japanese branch of the usui's family business. at 22, despite already being the corporate heir, he climbed his way up and became the ceo of the company. at the age of 23, he already had made a name for himself not only in japan, but overseas too. 

rumor has it that the country's most eligible bachelor was a lovesick teenager that didn't want to get involved in the family business way before he took over the company. what changed his mind though? there were a few rumors saying that masumi had his heart broken at 20. it was that time when his first love, the director of the theater company he was in, married her childhood friend, sakyo furuichi. apparently, it was enough to fuel the fire in masumi's heart as he worked his ass off for the next years of his life.

unbeknowst to most, all of the rumors stated above were true. 

masumi was an adult by that time, that time when izumi married sakyo. masumi was heartbrkoen, he felt as if he couldn't breathe. how could he when his beloved director was in the arms of another man, someone who wasn't him? 

masumi lost to sakyo, his love rival.

the members of mankai company were worried, specially the spring troupe with the addition of muku sakisaka. muku has read enough yandere themed shoujo mangas to know where this would end. due to muku's worries, mankai company had to take extra precautions on the day of the wedding.

tsuzuru minagi had items on his pocket in case he needed to restraint the younger boy. autumn troupe were all watching masumi out of the corner of their eyes. last but not the least, sakyo furuichi still had his trusty handuff in his coat pocket in case things come down to that degree of masumi's acting out frenzy.

to their surprise, masumi didn't act out at all. he was calm. this made his troupemates more worried though. this wasn't like masumi at all. 

in reality, masumi wanted to retaliate. he wanted to fight sakyo for izumi's love yet he couldn't. it felt like the end of the world for masumi. he felt like everything was stripped off of him. he felt drained, like nothing was left.

in that moment, masumi promised himself that he would pour blood, sweat and tears into making himself a better man. someone who'd sweep izumi off her feet, where he'd pick her up and carry her away bridal style from sakyo, the man that was keeping her away from him. 

yet at the moment that masumi was given the position as the company's ceo by his father, izumi didn't come crawling to him. he was the finest man around yet he didn't have what he wanted. because of this, there was something he realized. he was being very childish, immature and selfish. 

if he truly loved izumi, why would he take her away from the man she loves? the one she wants to spend her life with? in his point of view, of course it would be better if izumi chose masumi but at this point he couldn't do anything. rather, he wouldn't want to do anything that could hurt her. maybe that what love really is. 

"oi ma-kun! are you even listening?!~" [name] sang in a cheerful tone with a sadistic grin on her face.

"don't space out when you're the one asking questions and looking for answer!! but i don't blame you though, maybe my voice has become really pleasant and it has out you in a trance! or maybe–" [name] added.

"shut up, you're too loud." masumi replied as he gave her a split-second glance. [name] could only wish she could deflate with her sighs.

[name] [last name], also 23 years of age was a child actor who debuted at hollywood at the age of 6. at 16, she flew back to japan for a year of studying high school. later on,  she flew back to america to continue her career as an actress, all the while studying. 

rumor has it that she forced her parents to pull some strings behind the scenes for her that resulted to her never fading place in the spotlight. some say she slept with powerful figures in the industry to get to the top. 

these, were in fact, false. 

[name] is the daughter of a well known owner of a record label and another well known personality. her dad owned the most successful record label of the decade. her mom was a singer signed under the same record company. they were the power couple of the music world.

for that reason, [name] wanted to defy the people's expectation of her. that's when she fell in love with this thing called acting. being a child actress was extremely tough on her, but with perseverance and hard work, all of the work she did paid off in the end. it didn't stop the nasty rumors from coming at her though. 

hollywood's sweetheart her ass. she felt like she wasn't truly hollywood's beloved when people who knew absolutely nothing, wouldn't stop coming at her.  

her woes, doubled down with the recent divorce of her parents and her father's death, it was making her feel like she'd go insane any minute now. she needed a breather, desperately, at this instant. 

"..."

another minute of silence, except for the ringing of the phone goes by.

"..."

"...so what do we do?" masumi asked.

"you're gonna listen for real now? i don't want to waste my time talking if you aren't gonna listen anyway." [name] said as she crossed hr arms.

"you waste your time everytime you talk." masumi responded without skipping a beat.

"wow, rude." [name] deadpanned.

"I know," came masumi's reply.

"just so you know, I graduated on top of my cl-" and there goes another phone, ringing of course, which interrupted [name].

[name] sighed for the umpteenth time tonight as she fell back into being sprawled on top of masumi's sofa while the latter was sitting on the arm chair beside the sofa.

"we're gonna plan the wedding, of course!" [name] said with a smirk as she pressed the post button of their engagement pictures.

soon followed a barrage of calls coming from every communication device in masumi's household.