1 CHAPTER 1 : LOVESTRUCK

"Good morrrrnig Tokyo! The time is 7 AM and it's a beautiful sunny Saturday! You're listening to DJ dazzle starting up your morning with some upbeat grooves!"

Marley sat up and turned her alarm off. She had already been awake for a couple of hours, just laying there in her bed waiting to watch the sunrise through her window. She picked up her phone and scrolled through her notifications as if expecting someone in particular to message her.

It had been a week since Marley had finally made the tough decision of ending her 2 month toxic relationship. She had received a lot of opinions on the matter from a lot of people, but she wasn't the kind of girl to drag things along. 'It's only been two months don't you think you should try and work it out', 'try to give it the benefit of the doubt' , 'you're going to end up alone if you're going to be so picky'. To Marley that was all a load of crap. She knew what holding on to people who aren't good for you could do. She'd experienced it first hand and promised herself she'd never compromise her happiness for the sake of a relationship ever again.

The sound of her phone buzzing snapped the girl back to reality from her half asleep daydreaming. She picked up the phone and saw an all too familiar name flicker on her screen.

Incoming call: Cherlynn

"Hey good morning Lynn" Marley spoke into the phone with a sleepy voice

"Don't tell me you're still asleep!" Cherlynn protested from the other side of the line. "Are you gonna spend your whole life in your apartment feeling sorry for yourself over a two week old relationship?!"

Marley chuckled. It's funny how Cherlynn could switch from 'aww you guys are so cute together' to 'you were too good for him anyway'.

"It's actually two months"

"Two weeks, two months who cares!" Cherlynn responded, "okay listen up. It's Saturday and I want us to go out and have some fun. Just you and me, what do you

say?"

Marley wasn't the kind of person who fancied going out, she preferred nice quiet days watching anime , writing or reading books. But a day out with someone she was fond of seemed like the perfect way to get over this post breakup phase she was experiencing. "Sounds good" Marley responded, "where are we going?"

"We're going out to eat and take cute pictures" Cherlynn replied excitedly, " I'll be there in two hours, make sure you look pretty. Bye! I love you!"

"Bye"

Marley looked at her phone and smiled. Cherlynn always did have a way of making her feel better, which wasn't surprising considering the fact that they'd been best friends since they were five.

She got up and walked over to her closet, inspecting her options, "look pretty huh?"

The funny thing about breakups is even though things end on a good note, everyone wants to seem like they're doing better without the other person in their life. It's very shallow and extremely petty but apparently it's a necessary phase you have to go through to get over the dead relationship.

And that's exactly what Marley was going to do. Dress up pretty, have fun and take pictures of every 'I'm over us' moment.

Two and half hours later Marley and Cherlynn walked into a fancy restaurant. It was no surprise that the girls got a few guys turning their heads, they'd put in two hours of dressing up and makeup.

The pair sat at a window table at the back of the restaurant. The lighting was perfect and it was the perfect spot to hide from prying eyes.

"Your menus ladies" a waiter spoke as he handed them the overly decorated lists of food and drinks, "I will be back in five minutes to take your orders" the waiter added on.

"Oh thank you" Marley responded and began to run through the menu.

"It's a great place right?" Cherlynn spoke with a cocky tone in her voice. "It just opened last month. It took me a week to get a reservation here."

"Yeah it's nice" Marley responded, "you've really outdone yourself this time. Made sure to pick a place only the richest guys in town can afford. Perfect little scheme to bag yourself one of these mini blessers"

Cherlynn held her chest with her palm as if hurt by what Marley had said, yet in truth that was precisely her plan. Cherlynn had had her fair share of shitty relationships over the years, so after the last failed attempt she decided to shove love aside and find herself a man to support her financially. I mean, it's easier to nurse a broken heart on a yacht than in an old pick up truck.

"Come on Marley there's nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy my life a little" Cherlynn spoke as she sipped on the complementary champagne a waiter had placed on their table.

"Enjoy your life with someone else's credit card?" Marley shot back with a smirk

Cherlynn put down her glass and nodded, making Marley chuckle and almost choke on her champagne.

Across the room, amidst a group of young men drinking, was a tall gentleman, with golden hair and golden brown eyes who had been staring at the two girls from the moment they walked in. He observed every little detail, how she laughed, how she sipped her champagne and how she wrinkled her nose immediately after, indicating that taking alcohol was not her forte. It was almost like he was enchanted by her.

The two girls finished up their meals and started looking over the dessert menu.

"Anything catch your fancy ladies?" The waiter asked.

"Everything looks so good" Marley responded, "but the prices are insane!"

"I agree" Cherlynn responded, "these are way over our budget."

"Oh no need to worry about the price ladies" the waiter spoke, "a secret admirer is going to cover your bill for tonight, so you can order anything you want."

"Well in that case!" Cherlynn exclaimed practically drooling, "I'll have the sultan's golden cake please. Extra edible gold."

"A fine choice ma'am." The waiter responded as he penned down Lynn's order.

"Cherlynn wait!" Marley interrupted the girl who was about to add another dessert to her order. Marley then turned to the waiter with questioning eyes, "whose this secret admirer? Does he have a name?"

"I'm sorry mademoiselle but he specifically requested that his identity be kept a secret" the waiter responded, "will you be ordering anything.?"

"Umm no thank you I'm alright" Marley responded.

"You're not getting any of my cake you know" Cherlynn spoke to her best friend, "you had your chance to order and you blew it."

"Don't you find it strange that someone is willing to spend all of this money on some random women they don't know and doesn't want their identity figured out?" Marley questioned.

"Nope" Cherlynn responded as she stuffed her face with the thousand dollar dessert the waiter had set in front of her.

"What if he's some creepy stalker or a serial killer?" Marley explained. "What if the food is poisoned."

Cherlynn put down her fork and crossed her arms. "You sure know how to ruin a girl's mood Marley"

"Cherlynn I think we should get out of here. I'm suddenly not so comfortable"

Cherlynn sighed, grabbed her purse and stood up. "Fine you party popper"

As the girls approached the door three tall well built guys wearing bouncer attires, who could pass off as bodyguards blocked their path.

"You ladies leaving already?"

Marley held her purse tightly and grabbed Cherlynn's hand.

"We don't mean any harm" one of the men assured the girls, "our good friends back there were just wondering if you'd like to join them for a drink or two?"

Marley's paranoia was off the charts at this point, but she knew not to let it get the best of her in front of some random men. She breathed in, looked up at one of the men and smiled.

"Thank you, but we're actually rushing somewhere" she responded.

"Oh okay" the man responded, "maybe I could get one of your numbers and we can do it another time"

Damn! How was she going to get out of this one. If she refused to give him a number it would come off as rude. And assuming whoever it was they were talking about payed for their dinner and Cherlynn's gold covered cake, being rude was out of the question.

"Sure thing you can have mine" Cherlynn offered, knowing that Marley was not a fan of giving out her number. She dialed in her digits and handed the phone back to the man. She then grabbed Marley's hand and started heading towards the door.

"Call me any time and thank you for dinner" Cherlynn yelled as they left the restaurant.