[Multi Chap] Dreaming For Reality (Jun x OC) Chapter 4
Title: Dreaming For Reality
Chapter: 4
Pairing: Jun x OC
Rating: PG (G for now)
Saesha watched her father rotating from one table to another, making new acquaintances, and rediscovering old ones.
Halfway through the welcome dinner, Uncle Akira made a majestic entrance and was master of the whole evening, never leaving his old time partner and best friend.
A beautiful young woman had followed behind Uncle Akira and seemed to be looking for someone. Saesha wondered who she was looking for as she neared the woman, heading for the cocktail.
“Excuse me,” she said to the tall woman blocking her path.
The tall woman spun around, stunning Saesha. The only thing missing from this woman was a diamond tiara.
“…. Saesha?” The tall woman asked tentatively.
“Hai….?” She asked, distracted by the brilliance of the woman.
“Saesha chan? It’s me! Rei! Of course you wouldn’t remember me,” she laughed gracefully, “I’m Matsumoto Akira’s daughter.” She held out a hand, waiting for Saesha to shake it.
Mentally shaking herself, Saesha shook the woman’s hand, an admiring smile growing on her face.
*******
“Ah Rei! I see you’ve found Saesha! Good girl!” Uncle Akira was getting slightly drunk and was making his courtesy calls around the room with Papa in tow. Saesha realised with a start that her father was drunk too. She had never seen him drunk before.
Well, for the next year, it’s only going to be the two of us, I’ll be seeing a lot more of him than I’ve seen in the past 26 years, she smiled to herself.
“Sorry?” she turned back to Rei who had asked her a question. She was quite interesting, this Rei person. They had met only a half hour, and already Saesha was beginning to feel like she was being interviewed for a job. She liked the friendly woman. It was the beauty and sharpness of her features that attracted Saesha in the beginning, but she soon fell in love with her ease of manner and graceful attentiveness.
********
“Tou san, tou san!” Rei tapped her father’s shoulder.
“Rei!” he said out loudly and happily, draping an arm around her slim shoulders, “come, come, I
neglected you the whole evening, have a glass, here!” he handed her his empty glass of whisky.
“Tou san, they’re both asleep.” She said, taking her father’s glass.
“Eh? Who?”
Rei turned her father’s face towards Sudesh who was sleeping soundly beside him, loosely holding an empty glass.
“Asleep already?!” he roared, “It’s barely 11!”
“I could remember a time when Sudesh could out drink all of us…. What’s happened to him now?” a co-worker spoke up in a slurred voice from beside them.
“You know better than that,” Rei chided her father’s coworkers.
“They had a long fli-”
“Yeah! Stop looking down on Sudesh! You mfmghfbh….” He mumbled and slipped his hand of Rei’s shoulder and fell down next to his friend, joining him in slumber.
Rei sighed and looked towards the meeting room doorway, seeing both Tsumabaki san and Goro san, her father’s designated driver, signalled them to help her transport both men home.
Once both men were safely assisted into Matsumoto jii san’s car, Rei came back into the still lively party and found Saesha exactly where she had left her, in a quiet corner and out of the way.
Thankfully Saesha was just asleep and not drunk, so Rei had less trouble getting her into her car. With that, the two cars drove off towards Rei’s father’s house.
*******
Saesha woke up the next morning feeling extremely heavy. She found herself in a dark room with the curtains drawn. Procrastinating, she turned her face back to the thick crocheted quilt. A light masculine smell emanated from it. Feeling disturbed, she was finally awake enough to get out of bed. Her bag was at the foot of the low single bed, and she was still attired in her jeans and shirt she had on the previous day. Only her shoes had been removed. What did I do yesterday? She thought to herself as she tried to remember how she came to be in this place.
Well, it doesn’t seem very strange and sinister, she looked around the room now that she had the curtains opened and light filtered beautifully into the room. It certainly was a boys room, the colours of the furniture and fittings were strong and plain. Faded Michael Jackson posters adorned the wall. The room seemed too big and empty, as if the previous occupant had cleared out completely.
Having cleaned herself up, Saesha ventured out the door and found a wide hallway empty of people, things, and voices. Telling herself that there was nothing to be afraid of, and that this was most probably just Uncle Akira’s house, she found her way down the stairs, where she thankfully heard the sound of voices.
“Saesha!” Papa beamed as she walked in to the kitchen and went right up to him.
“Say hello to Aunty Hiroko,” Papa gestured to a woman busying herself at the stove.
“Hello Aunty Hiroko” Saesha smiled from behind her father.
The woman gasped when she finally turned around to acknowledge the girl.
“Sudesh, she looks exactly like you!” she gushed as Papa pushed Saesha forward.
********
“Is scrambled eggs okay for you dear?”
Saesha sat down at the table and her stomach grumbled. Her face turned red and she smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry, I didn’t get to eat much last night…”
Aunty Hiroko stopped in motion when she was about to place a plate full of fluffy scrambled eggs for Saesha’s father and gave it to Saesha instead.
“Hey! That’s my - ” Saesha’s father started protesting, but was cut off when Saesha’s stomach grumbled again.
He conceded then, and she dug in, wolfing down the eggs. She ate so fast that she started hiccupping. Her father could only chuckle and handed her a glass of water. A few moments later, Saesha was done with her eggs and was content with her full stomach.
Uncle Akira walked in, smelling like hot water and soap, clearly just out of a shower.
“Sudesh! What is this?! Eggs for breakfast?! You’re in Japan now, we’re having soba! Come on!” he said, pulling Sudesh out of his chair and away from his wife who was holding a hot plate of freshly scrambled eggs. Saesha ran after her father.
*******
“Akira, you old fool! It’s not open yet!” Sudesh mumbled angrily to Uncle Akira who laughed, his face pink and excited.
“It’s only another hour, it’ll be open in no time! I’m telling you Sudesh, it’s the best soba shop ever!”
Saesha snuggled in between the two men as they sat on the cold wooden bench outside the soba shop. It was 10 degrees out and nobody brought coats, since they had rushed out of the house.
Seeing the shivering girl, Uncle Akira sobered up a little.
“It’s a cold, huh?” he asked after a while, and earned a glare from Sudesh as an answer.
Looking away guiltily, he checked his watch and peered into the shop again. No sign of life. He sighed and went back to the bench, taking out his phone.
“Would he be up? I wonder if he’s working today….” He mumbled to himself as the phone on the other end started ringing.
“Hello?” Jun mumbled sleepily, his eyes still closed.
“Ah Jun!” came his father’s loud, jovial voice, causing Jun to wince and hold the phone away from his ear a distance.
“Jun kun! Remember I told you about Sudesh jii san? He’s here now! We’re at Taka san’s soba shop.”
“Mmm…” Jun mumbled lazily in response.
“Listen Jun kun, we don’t have any coats with us, and it’s really cold, can we come borrow a couple from you?”
“Mmm…”
“Okay great! See you in 5 minutes!” Jun’s father ended the call on a high note.
“Mmm…” Jun mumbled into the phone again, not noticing that a dial tone had come up in his receiver.
“Come on, let’s go to Jun kun’s place!” Uncle Akira started walking down the walkway with his two guests trailing after him.