Chapter 10. Not-So-Lucky Day.

The next day, Kyoko found herself in a car with Ruriko and her secretary. They were driving to the set where Ruriko's next shoot was held. It was in the middle of nowhere and the drive was more than an hour long. Kyoko was supposed to help but she still didn't know, in what way. She wanted to ask Ruriko but she seemed down so Kyoko decided not to disturb her.

Ruriko sighed "I really don't want to be working on this project. If I stay out in the sun for too long, my career will be completely ruined." She said sadly to no one in particular.

"What do you mean, it will ruin your career?" Kyoko asked out of curiosity. "I don't get it. Are you allergic to UV rays or do you just get a bad sunburn?"

Ruriko didn't reply. Kyoko turned back to see that her eyes were closed. She is already asleep.

"That must be tough for Ruriko. She hates the sun and has to shoot outside." Kyoko muttered to the secretary who was driving beside her.

"Yes, exactly. It's a problem. Just a short time outside and she feels sick. It's difficult to get her outdoors," she replied.

Wow, Kyoko thought. Skin as white as snow, delicate as a flower and she have to stay inside. She's like a princess from my childhood storybooks.

Kyoko gazed at the beautiful girl sitting behind her with wonderstruck eyes. She looks even more pretty when asleep. I worshipped princesses since I was little and now there is one in front of me. She smiled happily.

"So you see, Ms Mogami, Ruriko would like you to personally protect her from the sun. That is your job if you are willing."

"Of course. I'd gladly do that for the princess." Kyoko exclaimed. Her mind was in fairytale mode. She was not a Love Me girl anymore. She was a brave knight with a duty to protect the princess.

The car suddenly stopped. Kyoko peeked outside but saw that there was no set. Only the greenery surrounded them. They were on an empty road in the middle of nowhere.

"Why did you stop? We're not there yet." Kyoko said.

"I didn't. I think the car broke down."

"WHAT?!" Ruriko shouted.

"Ruriko, you'll have to walk to the set. It's not that far," the secretary got out of the car and gave Ruriko sunglasses and a hat. She also gave Kyoko a really heavy parasol in order to shade Ruriko.

"No! I am not walking anywhere. Look how sunny it is." Ruriko whined.

"Everyone is waiting. We have already delayed the shoot by one day because the anti UV parasol wasn't ready."

"That's not my fault."

No, it isn't, sunlight is like poison to poor Ruriko's body, Kyoko thought. She could shrivel up and die.

"We can't delay any further. Mr Tsuruga is waiting for you as well."

"Ren Tsuruga?" Kyoko asked shockingly. Oh crap! If I had known then I would've found somebody else to work with.

"Yeah, Ren Tsuruga. He should be rushing to where I am, not the other way around." Ruriko said but her actions betrayed her words as she stepped out and put on the sunglasses and the hat. "Fine, whatever."

What? She doesn't budge when everyone else is waiting but the minute she hears Ren Tsuruga is there she changes her mind. Ren Tsuruga is a stupid costar in a stupid movie. I want to go back, Kyoko thought.

She held the parasol above Ruriko to shade her. She stood with her chest sticking out like a knight. She imagined herself in a silver armor carrying a sword instead of a parasol.

"Mogami, it's not too heavy, is it?" The secretary turned to Kyoko. "Can you handle it?"

"I swear on my life, the princess shall be protected." She replied in a deep made-up voice.

"I really appreciate it."

They started walking. The parasol felt heavier than it was because of the intense heat. It had been barely five minutes but Kyoko already felt tired and dehydrated. She wanted to get to the set as soon as possible, but the fact that Ren Tsuruga will be there killed all her excitement of being on a real set for the first time.

She kept walking, she wasn't going to give up. After all, she swore to protect Ruriko on her honor as a knight.

Ruriko stopped all of a sudden and sat down in the middle of the road. "That's it. My legs are killing me. No more walking." She said between heavy breaths.

"We've been walking for like five minutes" Kyoko argued.

"I know. But ever since I was little, I can't handle strenuous exercise." She replied sadly.

As much as Kyoko hated the idea, she had no other choice. She carried Ruriko on her back, held the parasol in her hands, and continued walking. The road kept getting steeper. Every step was harder than the last. She felt like she was being crushed by the overwhelming weight. Her legs were as heavy as stones.

My arms hurt, my legs are shaking, my back aches and I feel like I am gonna break in half but I have to work through it. I have to protect Ruriko because she is a princess.

So she kept moving. Until one of her legs twisted badly and she came crashing down on the floor.

With Ruriko and the parasol on top of her, she literally felt like she was going to suffocate.

"Hey!" Ruriko got up and picked up the parasol from Kyoko. "Precious cargo here! What if I had gotten hurt?"

"I am sorry but I can't get back up." Kyoko tried to move her bad leg but the action only sent a jolt of pain. She bit her tongue to stop herself from crying out loud.

"Fine, thanks for nothing." Ruriko sighed and rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll have to walk the rest of the way myself."

"What? But you're sick. You said it yourself. Strenuous exercise will hurt your heart."

"When did you hear me say that I was sick? And I never said that I had a bad heart. Just wait here, I'll send someone to get you when I get there."

"Ruriko, I'm sorry."

Ruriko didn't say anything. She just left her in the middle of the deserted road, alone.

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Kyoko lay on her stomach on the burning hard ground. Her breathing was heavy. She was tired and sleepy and thirsty and worst of all, she was so hot.

It had been almost an hour since Ruriko left her there, but no one had shown up to help yet. I don't understand, she should have been there by now, so why didn't anyone come to help me?

The sun kept emitting the hot summer rays mercilessly on Kyoko's back. She was being cooked alive.

She tried to drag herself to the shade but excruciating pain shot up her leg and left her unable to move.

She started hating the Love Me Division and the stupid job and LME. But most of all, she hated Sho, because of him she was stuck in this mess in the first place.

When she was helping Ruriko, she felt like her old self again. She had gained back what she lost. Putting Ruriko's needs above her, helping her at the cost of her own suffering, she thought that she was healed. Deep down, she wanted to be healed. To gain that emotion back. Even if she would never admit it to anyone or herself. She wanted to feel love again.

She heard footsteps. She looked up and saw the silhouette of a tall man getting closer and closer, "there you are, Love Me girl. What happened here? You like to nap on the road or did you just fall down and hurt yourself?"

She didn't see his face, but she recognised that sensuous and appealing voice immediately. Why am I so unlucky? Why did it have to be him of all people."

"Yep, you definitely fall down," Ren said.

"Hey wait! did Ruriko tell you that I was here?" But why would she send him, the lead actor? More importantly, why would he come? It doesn't make any sense.

"No, she didn't say anything. I just wanted to get out and get some fresh air. So I decided to leave the set and take a walk."

Why didn't she say anything? Maybe she forgot.

"Let me guess, Ruriko hired you for this gig?"

"Yeah and so what? I am just doing my job."

Ren's eyes danced around her and fixated on her swollen ankle. He sat down on his knee and rolled her to get a better look at her injury.

Kyoko felt the pain of a thousand needles pricking her ankle and gave a piercing cry at the top of her lungs. She started punching the ground to distract herself from the pain.

"I think you broke your ankle. It should be painful." He said after examining her leg.

"What? No way! It can't be broken," she said in a hoarse voice.

"I'll take you back. We need to get you to a doctor." He said with a poker face, so she couldn't tell if he was joking.

Without warning, he scooped her up in his arms. "Bear with me for a while."

"Wha-whoa..." Kyoko's head started spinning. What's going on? Don't tell me this is actually happening to me?

A minute later they were at the set. There was a large and very old, traditional building. More than a dozen people were surrounding it and were busy in preparations of the shoot.

"Put me down, this is embarrassing. I am fine." She didn't want those people to see her like this. But it was too late, everyone stopped and turned to look at them.

"Accept that you are not fine, right about now, a slow turtle would leave you in the dust." He said casually, not feigned even a little by the sets of eyes on them.

She struggled to get free but it was in vain. "Stop struggling. this is the fastest way to get somebody to look at that ankle. Just try and relax."

"Why are you being nice to me? I know you've got some evil plan. You better tell me what it is, right now, then PUT ME DOWN!"

"Nope."

One of the men who were looking at them chuckled, "wow, did you take a look at that? I guess even a perfect gentleman like Ren can have trouble with a lady." He muttered to his coworkers, who all chuckled in reply.

Kyoko groaned aloud in frustration. "I don't want your help or your charity so you better put me down this instant," Kyoko yelled. It came out harsher than she intended.

"Fine, as you wish." They were at the threshold of the building. Ren put her down on a stair. "I'll be on my way then." He said a little coldly and joined two other men who were standing together in a lively conversation.

Is he mad? I shouldn't have yelled. She looked down.

Wait, why the heck am I the one feeling all guilty about this? That stupid jerk was mean to me when we first met and he started this whole thing!

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She got the princess carry from him! Ruriko groaned angrily. She slammed shut the window. It was too much for her to bear. She had walked here to be on time because of Ren and he vanished the minute she arrived. He was the one who requested her to costar with him. But now that she was here, he didn't pay any attention to her at all.

He ignored her but he carried that hyena girl here in his arms. Ruriko hated her. She didn't know what was wrong with President Takarada to pick up some stray girl and let her enter. It bothered her a lot that she was in the same agency as her. She only brought her here in order to scare her away, to make her realise that she didn't belong here.

Ruriko got the perfect chance when Kyoko fell down and hurt herself. She thought that if she would spend a day outside in the heat, and no one would come to get her then she would never return.

Instead, she got the princess carry from Ren Tsuruga. Ruriko wanted nothing else than to choke her. That Love Me trash is playing the victim to kiss up to Ren. She'll pay for this. Oh, she'll pay.

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One of the men, whom Ren had joined earlier, came over to Kyoko with a first aid kit. He was in his mid-twenties, had brown straight hair and specs covering his brown eyes.

He gave her a warm smile and asked to look at her leg. He examined it, applied medicine on it, and patched it up for her. "There. It's a short time fix but..."

"Thank you so much, um, Mr..."

"My name is Yashiro. I am Ren's manager." He introduced himself. "So you can be genuinely thankful after all." He said jokingly.

"I can. Maybe if he wasn't so mean to me all the time, I would be." She humphed.

"You mean Ren? That's kinda surprising. The Ren I know is friendly almost to a fault. It's not like him to be mean to anybody." He said rubbing his chin.

"Sure, whatever." She replied sarcastically.

"There is one thing I should tell you. When it comes to his work, I have never met anyone more hard on himself than Ren. And on others as well." He stretched out his hand to her, "come on, let's get you to a hospital."

"Do we have to? It's so far away. I am really okay. Besides, I can't leave when there's so much to do. I need to look after Ruriko."

"I wouldn't recommend it, but if that's what you say."

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Ruriko was finally ready. Now she had to get Ren to notice her. She went to the large living room where the shoot was about to start. It had a sofa set in the middle. The room was as clean as new and brightly lit. There were stools and cameras and a lot of people preparing things before the shoot.

She looked around and found Ren in the corner. He was fixing the collar of his shirt. She walked over to him and smiled. Her role was of a young, beautiful heiress from a rich, prominent family, so she was dressed up in a silk, traditional kimono. She also had a black straight-haired wig on her head and makeup perfecting her already captivating countenance. She looked exquisite.

She flashed a smile to Ren, expecting a compliment.

"Ruriko," he smiled back. "You are finally here."

"Yeah." She bit her lip in a flirting manner.

"I was so tired of waiting," he said casually.

Her smile faulted. That comment hit her like a slap. So brutally honest! Couldn't he be a little considerate? She looked at him distastefully and left the room, even though the shoot was about to start.

It's all her fault. If that Love Me trash would have carried me all the way, I wouldn't have been late. It all came back to Kyoko, she really hated her.

"Ruriko, hey!" Ruriko heard a familiar bubbly voice behind her. She turned and stared daggers at Kyoko, who was standing on her good leg and with a pole in her hand to support herself.

"What?" She said irritatedly.

Why does it look like Ruriko hates me? Does she? Nah, she is a princess, she can't hate anyone, thought Kyoko.

"I hate you!" Ruriko yelled at her. "I hated the Love Me division since it was born. Every single thing it stands for makes me sick. You think you can make it big with extra hard work and love. Don't make me laugh. Without real talent, you are just another pathetic wannabe, who will never make it."

Kyoko didn't know what to say. She looked shocked. It felt like Sho all over again. Ruriko's words hurt her but she didn't let her emotions loose.

"Why don't you try honing a sense of craft instead of begging people to like you? Ruriko snapped.

"I don't. I am not like that all."

"Don't pretend that your piggyback ride was not for your selfish need of points."

"I only did that because I wanted to be helpful."

"You liar. You are not gonna get a single point from me. From the moment I met you, I wanted nothing more than to crush you."

Kyoko finally lost it. She felt the same anger, the same hysterical rage which she felt at Sho. Her face showed that intense hate again. The temperature dropped because of her cold aura.

"You know you should quit LME and become my full-time assistant because that's as close as you'll ever get to the spotlight."

Kyoko wanted to hit her. She probably would have, but she contained her anger. She had already lost her 'love'. She didn't want to be possessed by hatered too. So she just turned and went back in.

After yelling at Kyoko, Ruriko felt a lot better. She went in as well. She was surprised to see that the set was ready and everyone was sitting idly. Someone saw her enter and informed the Director that she was back.

"Wonderful," the Director got up. "Now we can finally begin."

What is happening? I was gone for so long and not a single person came looking for me. Something was definitely fishy. She felt like she was being ignored. Not just by Ren, but by everyone. What's going on?

"Welcome back! Let's start, everyone." They all got up and went to their position.