บท 29: Ch 28: Day & Night
Minami was positive that she had dropped her phone somewhere in the office, but after two days of searching with the help of staff, it was still unaccounted for. On the third day, she reluctantly purchased a new phone.
However, even after the incident with Naoto at the office, she was still being bombarded with messages from him.
BZZ! BZZ!
[Naoto] So you're sleeping with him to get ahead?
[Naoto] Seriously, you owe me an explanation!
[Naoto] What was that guy doing coming out your apartment?!
[Naoto] Why didn't you tell them that you knew me?!
[Naoto] Really, after everything we've been through, this is how you're treating me?!
Minami sighed as she sat in the back of the vehicle staring at the messages appear over and over at the top of her screen.
"You must be pretty popular huh?" the male driving the car chuckled. He glanced up, into the rear-view mirror for a split second before returning his eyes to the road.
"Unfortunately…" Minami muttered under her breath as she sighed once more.
"Well, you should get used to it. Hopefully, it'll only get worse from here." He chuckled again, completely unaware of the actual situation Minami was facing.
It took a moment, but Minami caught on that he must've thought she was receiving notifications from fans.
"Right! I hope so too! It's just so new to me right now is all." She didn't want to alarm him or rehash what had happened so many days ago. In truth, she'd rather forget the entire thing.
He chuckled for a third time and nodded his head, not giving any other response.
The remainder of the car ride was quiet, with the exception of Minami's phone going off.
She could feel the driver glancing back at her every so-often to try and gauge what the situation was.
'I should have changed my number too when I got my new phone…this is really annoying.'
At least she could mute the social media notifications if they ever got this extreme. Naoto wasn't even respecting her boundaries. At this point, she'd already told him three times to stop messaging her. He only ignored her and continued.
It was even more irritating that today was her single's jacket photoshoot.
She was on her way to a fantasy type of amusement park with a forest magic theme called Wonderful Gardens. It was a whimsical place that looked like it was taken straight out of a fairy tale. She could've only dreamed of doing a photoshoot here before. It should be an exciting moment, and yet, her mind and body were filled with stress from the situation with Naoto.
Not just this time either! When she recorded the single as well. These were moments when she should've been over the moon, in dream land, and yet, he was absolutely ruining them. Is this how it was going to be from here on out? Him ruining her exciting and dreamy moments? She didn't want that.
Finally, they pulled up to the park.
Minami flashed a badge provided by the company at the entrance for free entry as the driver drove off.
She followed the directions to the area of the shoot that were provided to her through her phone. Luckily, they'd be able to get permissions from the park to shoot there, as well as to block off the area for a few hours to complete the shoot.
The portion they would be using was indoors and was part of an easy-going river ride. The queue area was filled with large trees and fairy-esque décor. Most of the plants were overgrown to give a mysterious, hidden world type of feeling that really amped up the fairy theme.
Staff for the shoot had set up a make-shift changing room and had the costumes on racks sitting just outside it.
Once Minami had announced her arrival, she was immediately brought to hair and makeup.
Earlier in the week she was told she would be going to a salon first for hair and makeup but it was switched to on location last minute, which was evident by the sad chair and cheap looking makeup station.
The makeup artist and hair stylist constantly muttered under their breaths about the lack of professionalism and how inconvenienced she was by the setup as they worked on Minami.
After finishing getting ready with her first outfit, she took to taking photos for her blog with a staff's phone while on stand-by. Luckily, she'd gotten permission to take photos before-hand so she didn't have a photo-less debacle like last time.
Her first outfit was a strapless blue and black ballgown with white lace and blue plaid trim. Her hair was curled and was decorated with pearls and stars that had been placed on in various places which, in turn, matched her jewelry and other accessories, bringing the whole look together.
The heels she wore were glittering black and despite the height, were surprisingly easy to walk around it.
Memories of Naoto and the stress of him attacking her with messages had completely melted away and she found that her cheeks were hurting from smiling so much.
How could she not be completely absorbed in this moment, when she looked like such a princess and was about to play in a fairy garden?
Finally, her name was called to start the shoot. They changed the lighting in the building to look like night-time, one of the features of this area of the park.
With the assistance of one of the staff members, she climbed over the cartoon-ish looking wooden fence into the garden. Surprisingly the planets were real.
'They must spend a fortune on gardeners…' she thought as she got into position in the middle of the garden.
She placed her hands behind her back and swung out her hip as a look of wonder appeared over her face. Next, she looked up toward the air and placed her hand out, carefully touching a fake fairy in the sky.
"Good! Good!" The photographer shouted as he moved around her flashing photos.
She continued changing her poses and working with the camera, just like the countless videos she'd watched of 5year and Ri doing before changing into her second look.
The staff members had already changed the area's lighting to the day-time lighting by the time she finished with hair and makeup and got out of the changing room.
Her second costume was a blue and white cotton candy looking strapless ballgown with a glitter bustier. The paired heels were a white, a contrast to the previous black pair, and her accessories' theme was clouds. Her hair remained curled, and she wore only a headband with a cloud on it.
This time, she was instructed to sit on the swing attached to the tree.
"Are you sure this is okay? It seems a little unstable…" Minami noted as she approached the swing.
It didn't look like it was actually intended for anyone to sit on it. The thick ivy that held it onto the tree branch was practically just glued onto fishing wire and the wooden plank in which to sit seemed much too thin to support someone's weight.
"It's fine, just sit on it!" the photographer urged.
Not wanting to seem unprofessional, she slowly sat down on it, not putting all her weight down and carefully wrapped her fingers around the fake ivy.
She was so nervous about snapping it, that her poses felt much more unnatural.
"Swing! I want you to put one leg out and one leg behind as you swing!" the photographer urged her again.
"I-I think it will snap if I do that…I also think there's not much for me to grab onto." Minami pursed her lips, and lifted herself off the seat a little.
"It's fine, just do it!"
She gulped and slowly put her weight down onto the seat. The board felt like it would snap in half.
She swung and did her legs just as he instructed, with a wide smile on her face.
CRACK!
Minami jumped up and examined the swing, tears filling her eyes.
"What happened?!" one of the staff member's shouted out.
"I heard a crack!" Minami looked over at them with teary eyes.
"Oh that's perfect! Minami look at the camera!"
Minami stared at the camera, not understanding what he was asking, when numerous flashes went off.
"Yes! That was so genuine, so real! We got the shot!"
Everyone started clapping and Minami followed suit.
She then placed her hands up to her mouth, creating a makeshift megaphone, blinking rapidly with surprise, "Thank you everyone for your hard work today!!"
★ ★ ★
Once Minami returned home, she checked her phone and saw continual messages from Naoto.
[Naoto] You have to talk to me.
[Naoto] It's really not fair what you're doing.
[Naoto] Do you seriously not care about me at all?
[Naoto] You're really going to regret this….
She rolled her eyes.
'No, I don't care.' She thought as she ignored the messages.
She went directly to share the photos from the shoot with Akina. She wouldn't be able to post them on her blog until the single dropped, but she could trust these precious images with her best friend.
[Akina] Oh my god you look so pretty! I'm going to buy 1million copies!!!!
Minami smiled, this was the kind of person she needed in her life, not someone like Naoto.
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Thalia_Ilace
Thalia_Ilace Dear readers, please let me know how you're liking this! If you don't tell me, I'll think you don't like it and then I'll fade away into dust. So you have to let me know okay?
- Thalia
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