DRAWN (23 page)

It makes me wish I can pretend I don’t speak English.
Wo ai ni, wo shi Katerina Chariot,
I’d say, and the editors would look at me funny before asking if they can just read my pitch. Those words mean “I love you, I’m Katerina Chariot”, by the way. It’s all I know of Mandarin, but I’m counting on editors not to know that.

          Sitting across Jace, I kick off my bedroom slippers and childishly, sulkily tuck my legs under me on the seat. The silence at Jace’s end grates on me, and I’ve this insane urge to suddenly stand on my chair and start screaming. I want to do something
bad
so I’ll stop worrying about whether I should take Jace’s advice and do his so-called “seven-seven”. Unfortunately, nice-girl habits are hard to break and the most I can do is to sit like a three-year-old at the breakfast table. Go, mature me.

          Staring at Jace, I scowl at how he takes the time to make a beautiful dainty cut of his pancake before piercing it with his fork. Misery loves company, and my evil twin’s hoping it’s the heartbroken Jace across me instead.

          “Shelley?” he asks.

          “Hung over.”
Like you should be,
my evil twin silently adds.

Shelley and I share the same room, and I think she got in around five in the morning. It’s my first time to see her wasted. I’m totally holding that over her head if I need a trump card because I’m still in my smart-girl phase.

          Or maybe it’s a sign of things to come and I’m the kind to turn nasty if I have stupid, silly problems that can’t be solved with mathematical formulas.

          Jace raises a brow. “Woke up bad side of the bed, didn’t you?”

          “Made up with Liz, didn’t you?”

          “Actually, no.”

         
Katerina Chariot, you shameful evil witch
. Wishing I can just sink into the floor and disappear, I apologize right away. “I’m sorry, Jace. I’m just nervous about pitching.” Feeling like I owe him the truth after being such the B-word to him, I add in a rush, “I’m also kinda hurt because Yuki hasn’t contacted me even once yesterday.” I’m red-faced by the time I finish, but what’s new, right?

          “He must have had his reasons,” Jace says while patting his mouth with a napkin.

          Hooray, well-mannered Jace is back. Swallowing back the snarky comments that are begging to be said, I stab my hash, imagining it’s someone else’s heart I’m stabbing. Yeah, I know, that’s a very unoriginal thought for a
mangaka
, but I’m
hurt.

         
Reasons, my arse. Like what? Like he’s too busy being comforted by Ameli-‘ho? Or maybe he’s gone and done another sex video with his mystery girl. The thought alone has me going for my sunny side-up. I jab it in the middle ferociously, and it bleeds exactly how Yuki’s heart would, extracting the sweetest revenge by squirting yellow liquid on my face.

          “Bloody, bloody, bloody---” My eyes are shut closed as liquid yolk streams down my face. I try to wipe it away with my napkin, but I only seem to succeed in spreading it like some kind of stupid face cream.

          Jace is gasping.

          “If you dare laugh…if you just bloody dare laugh,” I mutter even as I continue rubbing, but it just feels like it’s my skin and not the yolk that’s coming off. 

Yeeargh!

          This is all Yuki bloody Himura’s fault!

          Jace snatches the napkin from my hands and seconds later, I feel the icy touch of the napkin on my skin.

          “Right,” I mumble ungratefully. “Forgot to dip it in water.”

          “About Yuki,” Jace says as he continues wiping my face.

          “I don’t want to bloody talk about it.”

          “I know you’re hurt that he hasn’t called or texted---”

          “Mary had a little lamb, little lamb.” I go on singing so I don’t hear Jace.

“He must have had his reasons.” Jace stops wiping my face long enough to repeat himself.

Men do really stick together, I think nastily. Out loud, I ask in my best cynical tone, “Like what, Jace?”

“Like…he got busy yesterday so he could be here now?”

He wouldn’t say that just because, would he?

Would he?

He would. I mean, he wouldn’t. Oh, bloody hell, I’m confused what the right answer should be. All I know, all that matters, is that Yuki’s at the side of our table, holding the stained napkin in one hand.

Bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody---

He smirks.

A guy who’s in love wouldn’t have done that. If Yuki was in love with me, he’d have smiled gently, wiped my tears away, and he’d have said sorry for hurting me before sweeping me into his arms and walking away. That guy’s obviously
not
Yuki, but I don’t mind because that guy would probably bore me to death the way other guys I’ve fantasized had.

“Piss off,” I say feelingly, even though I’m having a hard time fighting off a smile from coming to my lips.

“Good morning to you, too,
senpai
.”

“You’re really here.” I have to say the words to test if what I’m really seeing is true.

He nods. Yuki isn’t looking his very best, not to the point that he’s unattractive, which is impossible for a god, but just enough for him to look a little more human
.
His hair is messy, his black shirt rumpled, and it’s only his tight-fitting, bum-emphasizing jeans that saves the day. He’s not looking too happy either, now that he’s done smirking. Bleary eyes, dark circles under his eyes, and a hint of irritation on his face when he glances at Jace – the symptoms are recognizable.

“So, I’m leaving you two lovebirds to catch up,” Jace says as he gets to his feet. He looks at me slyly. “Thanks for last night.”

“Jace,” I groan when I see Yuki freeze. Now is so not the time to mess with him.

“I’m kidding, man,” Jace says quickly. “We totally do not have anything romantic going on between us. To be honest, I just don’t get what you see in her. Just say the word and I can hook you up with chicks way better--”

I kick him in the shin.

When the pest-formerly-known-as-Jace finally leaves, it’s just Yuki and me.

“Why don’t you sit down first?” I ask nervously. Having Yuki loom over me like a god isn’t a good feeling at all.

Another disdainful glance, this time aimed at Jace’s seat.

“Yuki, it’s not like he’s got some kind of disease.”

He slowly sits down, every movement grudging. Then he looks at me, his baby blues worryingly inscrutable as he says, “What are your plans for the day,
senpai
?”

I tell him happily, feeling more than confident now about my chances of pitching. It’s funny how Yuki - even with his tortuous and devious ways - works like my very own living, breathable, gorgeous energy charger. 

“Tell your agent I will take you home,
senpai
.”

I frown, just so he won’t know how happy those words make me. “Shelley probably wouldn’t mind, but you have to meet her properly first. She’s not going to let me go just like that.”

“I understand,
senpai
.”

When I see more and more diners leaving, I say reluctantly, “I have to go as well. My first pitch is at eight-thirty.”

We walk back to my hotel, and he accompanies me all the way to my room. Yuki doesn’t seem to be in the mood to speak so I don’t either. I’m happy as it is.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come in?” I know he’s going to say no, but I still ask, a silly excuse to spend more time in his company. Yuki’s a very traditional Jap most times, so he definitely won’t feel comfortable entering a hotel room I share with someone he hasn’t met yet.

He shakes his head. “
Senpai
, good luck on your pitches.”

I beam. “Thanks, that’s sw---” Yuki’s glare belatedly reminds me of his verbal allergy to certain words so I say instead, “---that’s
super
of you.”

Yuki pauses.

“What?”

“I just want to say that you don’t need to worry,
senpai
. You’ll do good. You have your lucky charm.”

“I do?” I pat my pockets, wondering if he’s slipped something in while I wasn’t paying attention because he’s, you know, that word which must never be mentioned.

“Me,” he says before taking my lips in a kiss.

I barely have time to groan, just so he won’t know how my heart went
squee
at another one of his unexpected one-liners. His lips have covered mine in a deliciously rough kiss, so short that it’s over before I can even – terribly shameful, I know – manage to get his tongue inside my mouth.

He laughs at my frustrated look.

“Piss off.”

“But I was serious,
senpai
. I can give you a lucky charm.”

“Okay. I’ll bite.” I always do. “What is it?”

He bends down and whispers the blush-inducing key to his ‘lucky charm’. “Don’t wear your bra.”

In a way, Yuki was right. My braless existence has been driving me crazy, so much so that pitching became a total breeze. It’s preventing my body from reacting with serious headlights to the icy blast of the A/Cs that worries me the most.

          Yeeargh!

          This is all Yuki’s fault.

          Again.

          “Your Jap must be really good,” Jace says admiringly as we walk out of the room after my third pitch. Jace has already pitched before me. We’ve agreed that he should go first at all times. Well, okay, I had to twist his arm a little by telling him I’d ask my mom to put in a good word for him with Liz if he plays nice. She adores my mom because they move in the same “circles”. She doesn’t like me because I’m more of a square, if you know what I mean.

          “Yuki doesn’t have anything to do with this,” I say, a little offended. Those pitches are all me, lucky charm not considering.

          “You obviously found something to take care of your nerves because your pitches were perfect.”

          “Well,” I say, totally out of false modesty. I’m pretty shy about everything
except
when it comes to my work as a
mangaka
.

          “So I’m thinking,” Jace says very casually, which puts me in alert mode. “Did he go down on you or something---oww!” He scowls at me while rubbing his now-pinkish ear. I wish I could pull it some more, just for additional warning for similar future references.

          “That has nothing to do with my pitches, you arse!”

          “Oho, so he did---”

          I turn even redder. “He did not!”

I mean, really. Go down on me!

          Yuki, going down on me!

          Yuki, pushing me down on the bed, my legs dangling at the edge, while he unzips my jeans---

          No, no, no. I cannot fantasize. I cannot. I need to concentrate on my pitches.

          I glare at Jace. “No more words like that or I’ll…I’ll show Liz the video of you joining the burping contest.”

          Jace pales. “You’re awfully good at blackmailing for a religion teacher’s kid.”

          “Theology professor,” I correct him.

          “Whatever, spoilsport,” he mutters.

          The last pitch for the day is the most important since it’s for an editor from Kodansha, which mainly deals with translating original Japanese works to English and with Random House – one of publishing industry’s Big Six – as its official distributor. Being published or having your work distributed by one of the Big Six means a lot. It’s like the difference between being interviewed by your local school paper, with a circulation of 495, and by USA Today, which has a circulation with lots of zeros in it.

          Kodansha hasn’t yet produced any original English
manga,
but Shelley says it’s worth a shot anyway.

          As usual, Jace executes his pitch flawlessly and gives me a thumbs-up when we pass each other. Jace’s previous graphic novels had been published by small presses but since Shelley’s taken him on, he’s also concentrating on getting published by any of the Big 6.

Shifting restlessly on my feet in front of the editor, I do my best to ignore the gazillion of eyes behind me, waiting for me to sink or swim. Out of the blue, my throat clogs up, and I stare dizzily at the suddenly blurry face of the editor.

          Shite, shite, shite.

          I’m going to choke.

          Turning around almost wildly, I search for Shelley’s face but instead I catch a glimpse of a tall, lone figure silently slipping into the room.

          Oh.

          Be still, my ba-thumping heart.

          Yuki is wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt, rolled up to his elbows and left open to reveal a white undershirt, brown leather belt with its longer end left to hang out of the belt loops, tight, black jeans and loafers. It’s the exact outfit I’ve drawn for the first glimpse of my Yuki-lookalike
bishounen
character in my
manga
.