That's What I Like
Mar. 31st, 2017 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yun_miyakeTitle: That’s What I like
Pairing: Ohmiya
Length: One shot
Genre: Office Romance
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They are not mine, I just lend their name for this story
Summary: It was always the same dream on Friday morning, an hour before Nino woke up. The plot was always the same…
Warning: A little bit ‘Kimi no na wa’ scene, bad English and non-sense plot
a.n: I was in the middle of the training when this silly idea crossed my mind and started writing this during my free time which I should have used to finish my assignment.
It was always the same dream on Friday morning, an hour before Nino woke up. The plot was always the same, he had sex with somebody, a man he didn’t know in a hotel bedroom. The dream was vivid at the beginning, but recently, Nino could remember it perfectly. He was in a suit hotel room in Tokyo, wearing the hotel pajama and waited on the bed for the mysterious man who was taking a shower. The weird part of the dream was Nino couldn’t recall the details of the sex, but it didn’t prevent him from having an unconscious orgasm which woke him up with wet pants.
It was the fifth Friday when he woke up, panted rather hardly after the orgasm. ‘Damn’, he thought annoyedly as he realized that his pants were wet, his cement seemed to burst stronger today. Nino lazily climbed down the bed and walked towards the bathroom. He yawned widely while checking his reflection in the mirror; he was lack of sleep, his eyes were bloodshot and he had a little headache. He tried to recall what he did the night before, but the memory won’t come out, so he stopped.
He closed his eyes for a while and collected his thoughts. The man’s face was a little bit clearer in his dream; he wasn’t a type of a person to whom people would look twice at. His appearance was just ordinary, yet he was so good at sex that he even could make Nino come in his dream. Nino shook his head, it wasn’t the right time to think about dirty things. He got to be hurry for work and he needed to focus today; there would be a meeting with his supervisor and all staffs and he didn’t want to be scolded in front of his colleagues for spacing out.
Nino pedaled his bicycle, trying to erase the man’s face from his memory and concentrating on his way instead. Today was cloudy with soft wind, but at least the air was getting warmer as May came. He should have taken a train, but he wasn’t in the mood to 've mistaken in a rush-hour train and he needed some sport after a lazy week.
Nino finally recalled what he did the night before, he had a drink with his friend, Aiba. They went to a bar and talked about Aiba’s ex-boyfriend, Aiba’s boss, and random topics that Nino couldn’t remember. They drank too much, got drunk and got home by taxi. He had told Aiba about his strange dream, but he didn’t get a respond that he expected.
Nino worked in Stay Gold Hotel in reservation department. His supervisor was the most annoying man this earth could have, Matsumoto Jun. Maybe he wasn’t that annoying if only he didn’t work like a maniac. He was too obsessed with work as if this world would end if he made a tiny mistake – well – maybe it would end in some ways, but as a part of human being, Nino wished Jun could treat his staffs better.
“Good morning,” Nino greeted the security at the front door. He walked across the lobby and greeted some people on his way.
“Morning, Ninomiya,” a voice greeted him when he entered the elevator. Nino turned to his right side and saw Jun with his super tidy suit and a shiny black briefcase.
“Morning,” Nino answered, trying to hide his worn-out rucksack from Jun’s sight. His suit was far from the word ‘tidy’ and he always wore the same tie for the whole week which was enough to irritate Jun. He knew he should dress better, but he just didn’t have any willingness to do that, not mentioning that his work required him to do so. However, he never had any problem with any of the hotel guests related to his lack sense in fashion.
“We got a temporary manager for the next three months, so make sure that you comb your hair,” Jun said with stiff tone before stepping out from the elevator. Nino walked behind him, brushing his hair with his fingers; he just remembered that recently he rarely used any shampoo, he simply grabbed his shower gel and applied it to his hair and body.
Most of the Reservation Department staffs had presented; they looked somehow nervous. Nino put his stuff inside his locker and changed his shoes before walking to the pantry to make a cup of coffee.
“Nino, haven’t you read our message on LINE group? A substitute manager would come today,” one of his colleagues, Fukushi joined him in the pantry.
“No,” Nino shook his head. He rarely checked his phone, Aiba always scolded him for that, but he wasn’t into social media and he hated group chats very much.
“Everybody is expected to dress properly today, Matsumoto san doesn’t want us to look stupid in front of that manager,” Fukushi whispered seriously.
Nino shrugged, he wouldn’t care if all of them looked stupid, besides, he didn’t think that people would look smarter by changing their clothes. “I have a good reputation, it’s hard to find my replacement, so I don’t think Jun would fire me because of my clothes,” Nino said, smiling.
Nino was the only one who called Jun by his first name; the supervisor wasn’t happy at the beginning, but then he got used to it. Nino was informed that their manager would take a leave for three months for a family matter and for the time being, Jun was in charge. The president seemed to have another thought that he finally sent a substitute manager to their unit.
Nino came back to his cubicle with a cup of coffee in his right hand. The first thing he did was checking the emails; there were a few new emails from their customers. Most of them were government officials who needed their hotel service to provide a ball room for a high-level meeting. Nino clicked them open one by one and read them quickly.
“Guys, I need you to stop working for a while and gather at the meeting room, our manager would be coming shortly,” Jun announced, nodding bitterly to them before stepping towards the meeting room.
Nino lazily left his desk and followed the others; he wondered what kind of person would come that he could make everyone so tense, even Jun who never showed any nervousness, looked a little bit pale today.
The clock pointed to 10 am when the meeting room door opened. It revealed a man with dark blue suits and a green tie. He was short and rather skinny, but he had a nice figure. His dark hair was sticking out, he wore thick-framed eyeglasses which seemed to hide his slanted eyes. He walked to the center of the room and gave Jun a slight smile as the latter approached him to give him a hand-shake.
“Welcome, Ohno san, we hope you had a nice flight yesterday,” Jun said.
“Thank you,” Ohno said, spreading his sights around the room and nodded.
Nino felt that he had just entered a room with no air; not that just the man was familiar, but he was the one he dreamt about – the weekly dream which made him his pants wet. This man’s appearance was as ordinary as he saw in his dream, but he had something particular which made his heart beat faster.
He never believed in Deja Vu or fortune teller or something related to them. The dreams he had were just random events, something which had no correlation with reality. He didn’t want to be involved in a personal relationship with his boss, especially this guy who seemed already intimidate everyone on his first arrival.
“Nino, it’s your turn,” Fukushi whispered from his left side.
“Heh?”
“Introduce yourself,” Fukushi said.
“Oh, er-,” Nino tried to push away his thoughts about Ohno in his dreams, “I’m Ninomiya Kazunari, I’m responsible for the ball rooms for official meeting and sometimes for the wedding, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he bowed slightly.
Ohno nodded and looked at him right in the eye which was enough to make Nino’s nervousness came to the surface; he recalled the movie he watched last weekend, about someone who can read somebody else’s mind. What if Ohno knew that Nino was dreaming about him frequently and they were dirty ones.
Nino avoided Ohno’s gaze by looking down on his feet, trying not to look guilty. But he didn’t do anything wrong, there was nothing bad about seeing someone in the dreams, isn’t it?
The introduction section was over, Ohno gave a brief remark and dismissed them. Everyone left the meeting room except Jun who stayed to explain some stuff to Ohno. Nino glanced at them and felt a weird sensation build inside his chest. It was the strangest day in his entire life; he hoped that by meeting the real person he would stop dreaming about Ohno, but it seemed that his suffering had just begun.
***
“Nino, can you come to my office room for a second?” Jun called him through the internal phone when he had just arrived on his desk.
Worrying, that he might be making some mistake by accident, he walked reluctantly towards Jun’s office room which was avoided by most of the employees. Jun’s face looked a little bit unhappy, he frowned as he gestured Nino to sit down on the chair across from his desk.
“Did someone die?” Nino asked.
Jun inhaled a deep breath, glaring at Nino as if telling him not to him a stupid joke. He clicked something on his laptop screen and closed its monitor before facing Nino.
“You will be moved to the decoration supervision team,” Jun said, still frowning.
Nino needed a few seconds to digest Jun’s words and when he did, all he could say was, ‘Why?”
“Ohno san ordered to do so,” Jun answered. “I’ve told him that you’re so good at your jobone-nightand it would be improper to move you to another section, but it’s obvious that he wants you to be in the decoration team. He didn’t explain why,” Jun ended and formed an emphatic expression, even though he looked like having a toothache.
“So, when will I start?” Nino asked, trying to act cool. He would confront Ohno later on and he would make surethat the new manager would put him back to his current position.
“Today. Ohno san is expecting you in his office at 10.00,” Jun said, glancing at the clock on the wall which pointed to 09.30.
Nino sighed deeply; it seemed that his dreams were leading him into an unpleasant thing. Come to think of iton taking didn’t want to have sex with Ohno, even if the other man asked him to (what kind of stupid person would do that anyway?). First of all, Ohno was his new boss, secondly, he wasn’t the type of man that Nino liked.
It had been three and a half years since he broke up with his date and ever since, he never tried to have another relationship because he thought that it was too troublesome to deal with someone. If he wanted to have sex, he could go to the bar and looked for a one night stand partner, but for the past three months, he was kind of losing desire. He locked himself all the time in his apartment.
He wondered whether a twist of fate would connect him with Ohno in a strange way, even though Nino hoped that his dreams were just the random events and there was nothing to do with romantic things.
Nino left Jun’s office and waited on his desk; when the clock pointed to 10.00 o’clock, he headed towards Ohno’s office which located in a separate wing of the building. He had been there a few times when the old manager was still in charge; the office had a nice few to the city and Tokyo Bay. The old manager loved to enjoy the scene while working and always told Nino that it was important to have this kind of scene to lessen the stress of work.
He knocked the door and pushed it open. Ohno was busy with his laptop when Nino entered; he gave a code to Nino to sit down on one of the sofas. Nino waited and tried not to think of what might be coming; he personally didn’t like the decoration section, he wasn’t into details and he wasn’t an artistic person, what did Ohno expect from him?
“Ninomiya kun,” Ohno said from behind of his laptop.
“Yes, Ohno san.”
“I’m sorry that my decision might be a surprise for you, it’s just a temporary,” Ohno said, standing up from his chair and joined Nino to sit down on the sofa.
“I’m sorry to ask, but why me?” Nino asked.
“The client asked for a young man who has some interesting ideas and something different. I think you can fulfill their request,” Ohno said, smiling at Nino. The latter felt that his face had stiffened, not only that Ohno’s smile was sincere, but it also had some kind of meaning behind it.
Nino almost spilled out some excuses and denial that he was far away from the candidate that Ohno expected him to be, but he remained silent. On the opposite, he did as Ohno said and waited for the manager at the ballroom on the following day when his first work started.
***
The work at the decoration section was tiring. It was way harder than dealing with some government officials. Nino had to focus to three different halls where the wedding would take place and even though none of the decorations was his idea, it seemed that Ohno wanted him to give comments or improvement.
Nino couldn’t push out the thoughts that Ohno did it just to keep him close, but on what purpose? It was creepy and some kind of power harassment. Ohno was there, supervising the works by himself. He didn’t wear any suits, just a simple light blue shirt above a pair of black trousers. His appearance reminded Nino of one of his dreams; the thought made him blush all of a sudden.
“Ninomiya kun, is everything alright?” Ohno asked, approaching him.
“Yes, there is no problem at all,” Nino answered, averting his gaze away from the man.
“The man who would be getting married is my friend,” Ohno said. “He’s the son of a government official, his bride is an announcer, maybe you’ve heard of him?”
Nino searched in the back of his memory piles; he had received emails from a couple a few months ago, but the project was taken by one of his colleagues.
“It’s Sakurai Sho, if I’m not mistaken,” Nino said.
“Yes,” Ohno beamed, “He told me that he had read your review about the hotel and he liked your fresh ideas.”
Nino almost forgot that he had written something on the hotel weekly tabloid; it was a long time ago. He got the idea from the rival hotel when he was there for a seminar. But, Jun also helped him in writing that small column and he never expected that someone would have read it seriously and considered it as a good idea.
“That was just a small column,” Nino mumbled, but Ohno pretended not to hear it.
Seeing Ohno from this close distance made Nino uncomfortable; he stepped behind and busied himself with the planner, even though he had nothing to write anymore. Ohno invited him for a drink at the end of the day, but Nino declined because he needed to go back to the office for some stuff. He knew it was an improper thing to decline the invitation, but he didn’t want to be alone with Ohno. He didn’t want his dream to be a reality – it was too creepy.
***
The wedding would take place on weekend. For the first time in his life, Nino dressed properly with the help of a stylish (who happened to be Jun’s friend). He would substitute Ohno on behalf of the hotel to meet the groom and the bride before the wedding because Ohno himself was there as a guest.
Nino stared at his reflection in the mirror; the stylish had made his hair a little bit curly which made him looked like a different person. He inhaled deeply and nodded at himself before heading the hotel ballroom.
Ohno had given him a note regarding the bride and the groom, not mentioning that Nino didn’t really need it. He headed the bride’s room first and greeted her and her family. The woman looked nervous, but it didn’t prevent her to greet Nino with a sincere and excited smile. She was a type of a rare beauty, Nino could tell that she was smart from her appearance. She thanked Nino for the great preparation for the wedding and promised him that she would definitely promote the hotel to her friends.
The groom in the other room was a handsome man in his mid-thirties; he welcomed Nino with a happy smile while shaking Nino’s hand in a tight grip.
“You must be Ninomiya san,” he said, smiling widely. “Nice to meet you, it’s really an honor to befriend someone like Ohno san with a great subordinate like you.”
Nino offered a grateful smile; he wondered whether all of Ohno’s friends were exaggerating like this Sakurai or because he would be getting married that his happiness level was above average. Ohno was sitting on the chair beside Sakurai’s and gave a little smile at Nino.
“Nice to meet you, Sakurai san and congratulations on your wedding,” Nino said, trying to be heard sincere and happy for the guy.
“You’ll stay for the party, right?” Sakurai asked, glancing at Ohno.
“I’m afraid I can’t, but thank you,” Nino answered. He wanted to go home, drank beer and played the game. It was Ohno’s fault that he had to spend his Saturday evening in the hotel ballroom, attending the wedding of the couple he didn’t know.
Ohno gave him a meaningful look, but he didn’t say anything. Nino congratulated Sakurai once again and left the room. He was glad that Ohno didn’t interfere by saying that it was worth to stay for the party.
Nino was relieved that his dreams about Ohno had disappeared as he met the man for real, but then he asked himself once again, was he really relieve? Deep down inside, he wished he could see those dirty dreams again. Ohno seemed not to show any interest in him after his sudden appointment as the decoration team supervisor; somehow it disappointed him.
The wedding was going smoothly and everyone enjoyed the party; Nino took that chance to go home. He headed towards the back entrance through the dim corridor and he almost reached the automatic door when someone pulled him by the elbow. He turned behind and saw Ohno, the man was smiling innocently at him.
“It’s too early to go home,” he said.
“My duty is over,” Nino shrugged.
“Do you have any urgent matter?” Ohno asked.
“No,” Nino answered shortly. “I just need to be at home now.”
Ohno loosened his grip and looked into his eyes, “Those dreams, did you see them?”
“What…dreams?” Nino pretended to look innocent and confused, but he couldn’t control his heart from beating fast. It must be a kind of joke; it could not happen in the real world, it was supposed to be only in anime, he thought.
“I felt that I’ve known you before,” Ohno said, letting Nino absorb his words.
Were those dreams enough for justification? It didn’t mean that they had to find each other and fell in love like Taki and Mitsuha in ‘Kimi no na wa’.
“Maybe you’ve mistaken me. I’m sorry Ohno san, I have to go now,” Nino said, turning around and walked further from Ohno as fast as he could. He still couldn’t analyze his feeling for Ohno; the man was his boss after all, it was inappropriate to have some kind of affair with him. Besides, they were almost strangers; their only encounters were through those illicit dreams.
“Damn it,” Nino cursed the air. He didn’t like this, he wished Ohno was lying about the dreams – they were not the best way to know someone – not in the most respectable way.
He caught the cab and mentioned his address to the driver; the night was still young; the street was still smeared with couples. The scene somehow brought some agony to his heart, but Nino wiped it away quickly, he had no time to think of useless stuff. He sank deeper into the passenger chair and closed his eyes; he wasn’t surprised when his brain showed him Ohno’s face.
***
Nino avoided Ohno as much as he could on the next Monday when they were in the hotel ballroom for an event. He had talked to Jun and requested him to move him back to the marketing section, but the guy shook his head and told him that it was up to the manager to put who on what section. Irritated to the whole stupid system, Nino did his job half-heartedly, hoping that Ohno would consider it as a protest, but it seemed that his tactic wasn’t working at all.
The dream had come again the night before; much to Nino’s relieved, they didn’t have sex. Ohno was standing in the middle of the huge ballroom, a thick book was in his right hand and he was waiting for Nino to read it together. The latter had no intention to read that book, but the carpet below Nino’s feet was moving like a conveyor and it brought him closer to Ohno.
The book was the compilation of music bars, they were classic ones. Ohno handed the book to Nino and told him to play it with the grand piano which suddenly appeared beside them. That was when he woke up. It was still four in the morning, but after seeing such dream, Nino couldn’t go back to sleep. He thought about Ohno, the manager had charming point in some ways, only that he didn’t want to admit it.
However, imagining the scene where he and Ohno become a date was the weirdest thing of all. Nino shook his head and decided to make a cup of coffee, not mentioning that it was too early for breakfast. He enjoyed the coffee while browsing something on his phone, trying to push Ohno away out of his head.
***
Nino knew he couldn’t avoid Ohno forever, they would be having a meeting that day and the seating arrangement brought him right beside the manager – for the very odd reason and perhaps it was Ohno himself who ordered it. The meeting was for the decoration team and Ohno was there to give them some supervision, they would continue with lunch which meant there was no way out for Nino to escape the situation.
“Hi, how are you?” Ohno greeted him as Nino took a seat beside him.
“I’m fine, thank you Ohno san,” Nino flashed a smile to the manager who replied with the usual mysterious expression.
“Can you play a piano?” Ohno asked all of a sudden.
Nino who was about to turn on his laptop paused his movement, he turned his head to the manager and looked into the man’s eyes. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds as if trying to read each other’s mind. Nino averted his gaze away and nodded slightly.
“Great,” Ohno said, but he said nothing further.
They finished the meeting and lunch; Nino collected his stuff, inserted them to his briefcase and was ready to leave the venue when Ohno approached him.
“Would you like to have dinner with me?” Ohno asked. “I swear it’s not a date,” he continued.
Nino looked at his boss and he knew it was time to give up on his theory about the relationship between boss and subordinate.
“Alright,” he answered. “But no sea shells, I’m allergic to them.”
Ohno chuckled and nodded, “We’ll having traditional Japanese menu.”
It was awkward at the beginning, but with the help of alcohol and relax atmosphere at the restaurant, they finally could talk with less formality in their language. Ohno told Nino that he began his career in this hotel when he was 22, right after his graduation from university. He was accepted as a receptionist back then and worked from one hotel to another.
“Have you dated someone from this hotel before?” Ohno asked.
“No,” Nino shook his head, he finished the beer in his glass and looked at Ohno. “It’s not healthy to date a colleague.”
Ohno nodded, “But those dreams, do you believe in them?”
“I don’t know,” Nino shrugged. “I mean, they were real and both of us seeing the same dreams, it’s more than just a coincidence.”
“Do you think that we should give a try?”
“For what?” Nino asked, almost choked.
“You know, having some sort of relationship,” Ohno said, grinning at him.
“I can’t answer to that, I mean, we’re almost strangers and…”
“We’re not strangers in our dreams,” Ohno said, taking Nino’s hand to his lap and gripped it softly. “It’s a familiar touch, don’t you think?”
Nino couldn’t pull his hand away from Ohno’s, even when he wanted to. Ohno was right that the touch was familiar, they had experienced it in their dreams.
“I need time,” Nino said.
Ohno smiled as he heard it, he nodded and loosened his grip on Nino’s hand.
“If that’s what you need, I’ll be patient.”
“When will you depart to your original office?” Nino asked.
“I can arrange that, if I want to stay here, then the management will do something about it,” Ohno said, winking at Nino as if it was the easiest thing to do.
“You have that privilege?”
“Sort of,” Ohno said.
They finished the dinner and went for a drink at the bar nearby and finally headed home around midnight. Ohno insisted on taking Nino by his car, but the latter refused. He didn’t want the manager to see how messy his apartment was, besides, if they would end up dating, sooner or later, Ohno would get to see his room.
“Good night, Nino,” Ohno waved good bye at him, his smile was wide and sincere. Nino finally admitted that Ohno had a sweet innocent smile.
“Good night, Ohno san.”
***
“Nino, come here,” Jun summoned him on the first day he got back to the main office after a month wandering from ballroom to ballroom.
“Now what?” Nino asked, sitting down in the chair across from Jun.
“Ohno san put you back on your position here, safe and sound at the office,” Jun said, crossing his fingers in front of his face.
“Oh, why?”
“I don’t know,” Jun shrugged. “He’s a weird guy after all, even though it’s better not to have you here at the office.”
“Hey, that’s rude,” Nino said, frowning.
“If you finally decide to wear proper clothes to work, I’ll take back my words.”
Nino rolled his eyes and left Jun towards his own cubicle; he drew his phone from his pocket and typed a message to Ohno.
‘Why did you return me to the reservation section?’
“It’s your passion, besides, you’ll get bored if you see me all day long’
Nino sighed as he read Ohno’s reply. He was right that this section was his passion, but Ohno was wrong about getting bored because he already missed the guy right now – of course he didn’t say it out loud to Ohno.
He sat down and started working by opening the emails, he smiled at himself remembering the dream last night. Maybe Ohno had seen it too, but he didn’t want to talk about it during working hours, they could wait until tonight.
The end
Pairing: Ohmiya
Length: One shot
Genre: Office Romance
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They are not mine, I just lend their name for this story
Summary: It was always the same dream on Friday morning, an hour before Nino woke up. The plot was always the same…
Warning: A little bit ‘Kimi no na wa’ scene, bad English and non-sense plot
a.n: I was in the middle of the training when this silly idea crossed my mind and started writing this during my free time which I should have used to finish my assignment.
It was always the same dream on Friday morning, an hour before Nino woke up. The plot was always the same, he had sex with somebody, a man he didn’t know in a hotel bedroom. The dream was vivid at the beginning, but recently, Nino could remember it perfectly. He was in a suit hotel room in Tokyo, wearing the hotel pajama and waited on the bed for the mysterious man who was taking a shower. The weird part of the dream was Nino couldn’t recall the details of the sex, but it didn’t prevent him from having an unconscious orgasm which woke him up with wet pants.
It was the fifth Friday when he woke up, panted rather hardly after the orgasm. ‘Damn’, he thought annoyedly as he realized that his pants were wet, his cement seemed to burst stronger today. Nino lazily climbed down the bed and walked towards the bathroom. He yawned widely while checking his reflection in the mirror; he was lack of sleep, his eyes were bloodshot and he had a little headache. He tried to recall what he did the night before, but the memory won’t come out, so he stopped.
He closed his eyes for a while and collected his thoughts. The man’s face was a little bit clearer in his dream; he wasn’t a type of a person to whom people would look twice at. His appearance was just ordinary, yet he was so good at sex that he even could make Nino come in his dream. Nino shook his head, it wasn’t the right time to think about dirty things. He got to be hurry for work and he needed to focus today; there would be a meeting with his supervisor and all staffs and he didn’t want to be scolded in front of his colleagues for spacing out.
Nino pedaled his bicycle, trying to erase the man’s face from his memory and concentrating on his way instead. Today was cloudy with soft wind, but at least the air was getting warmer as May came. He should have taken a train, but he wasn’t in the mood to 've mistaken in a rush-hour train and he needed some sport after a lazy week.
Nino finally recalled what he did the night before, he had a drink with his friend, Aiba. They went to a bar and talked about Aiba’s ex-boyfriend, Aiba’s boss, and random topics that Nino couldn’t remember. They drank too much, got drunk and got home by taxi. He had told Aiba about his strange dream, but he didn’t get a respond that he expected.
Nino worked in Stay Gold Hotel in reservation department. His supervisor was the most annoying man this earth could have, Matsumoto Jun. Maybe he wasn’t that annoying if only he didn’t work like a maniac. He was too obsessed with work as if this world would end if he made a tiny mistake – well – maybe it would end in some ways, but as a part of human being, Nino wished Jun could treat his staffs better.
“Good morning,” Nino greeted the security at the front door. He walked across the lobby and greeted some people on his way.
“Morning, Ninomiya,” a voice greeted him when he entered the elevator. Nino turned to his right side and saw Jun with his super tidy suit and a shiny black briefcase.
“Morning,” Nino answered, trying to hide his worn-out rucksack from Jun’s sight. His suit was far from the word ‘tidy’ and he always wore the same tie for the whole week which was enough to irritate Jun. He knew he should dress better, but he just didn’t have any willingness to do that, not mentioning that his work required him to do so. However, he never had any problem with any of the hotel guests related to his lack sense in fashion.
“We got a temporary manager for the next three months, so make sure that you comb your hair,” Jun said with stiff tone before stepping out from the elevator. Nino walked behind him, brushing his hair with his fingers; he just remembered that recently he rarely used any shampoo, he simply grabbed his shower gel and applied it to his hair and body.
Most of the Reservation Department staffs had presented; they looked somehow nervous. Nino put his stuff inside his locker and changed his shoes before walking to the pantry to make a cup of coffee.
“Nino, haven’t you read our message on LINE group? A substitute manager would come today,” one of his colleagues, Fukushi joined him in the pantry.
“No,” Nino shook his head. He rarely checked his phone, Aiba always scolded him for that, but he wasn’t into social media and he hated group chats very much.
“Everybody is expected to dress properly today, Matsumoto san doesn’t want us to look stupid in front of that manager,” Fukushi whispered seriously.
Nino shrugged, he wouldn’t care if all of them looked stupid, besides, he didn’t think that people would look smarter by changing their clothes. “I have a good reputation, it’s hard to find my replacement, so I don’t think Jun would fire me because of my clothes,” Nino said, smiling.
Nino was the only one who called Jun by his first name; the supervisor wasn’t happy at the beginning, but then he got used to it. Nino was informed that their manager would take a leave for three months for a family matter and for the time being, Jun was in charge. The president seemed to have another thought that he finally sent a substitute manager to their unit.
Nino came back to his cubicle with a cup of coffee in his right hand. The first thing he did was checking the emails; there were a few new emails from their customers. Most of them were government officials who needed their hotel service to provide a ball room for a high-level meeting. Nino clicked them open one by one and read them quickly.
“Guys, I need you to stop working for a while and gather at the meeting room, our manager would be coming shortly,” Jun announced, nodding bitterly to them before stepping towards the meeting room.
Nino lazily left his desk and followed the others; he wondered what kind of person would come that he could make everyone so tense, even Jun who never showed any nervousness, looked a little bit pale today.
The clock pointed to 10 am when the meeting room door opened. It revealed a man with dark blue suits and a green tie. He was short and rather skinny, but he had a nice figure. His dark hair was sticking out, he wore thick-framed eyeglasses which seemed to hide his slanted eyes. He walked to the center of the room and gave Jun a slight smile as the latter approached him to give him a hand-shake.
“Welcome, Ohno san, we hope you had a nice flight yesterday,” Jun said.
“Thank you,” Ohno said, spreading his sights around the room and nodded.
Nino felt that he had just entered a room with no air; not that just the man was familiar, but he was the one he dreamt about – the weekly dream which made him his pants wet. This man’s appearance was as ordinary as he saw in his dream, but he had something particular which made his heart beat faster.
He never believed in Deja Vu or fortune teller or something related to them. The dreams he had were just random events, something which had no correlation with reality. He didn’t want to be involved in a personal relationship with his boss, especially this guy who seemed already intimidate everyone on his first arrival.
“Nino, it’s your turn,” Fukushi whispered from his left side.
“Heh?”
“Introduce yourself,” Fukushi said.
“Oh, er-,” Nino tried to push away his thoughts about Ohno in his dreams, “I’m Ninomiya Kazunari, I’m responsible for the ball rooms for official meeting and sometimes for the wedding, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he bowed slightly.
Ohno nodded and looked at him right in the eye which was enough to make Nino’s nervousness came to the surface; he recalled the movie he watched last weekend, about someone who can read somebody else’s mind. What if Ohno knew that Nino was dreaming about him frequently and they were dirty ones.
Nino avoided Ohno’s gaze by looking down on his feet, trying not to look guilty. But he didn’t do anything wrong, there was nothing bad about seeing someone in the dreams, isn’t it?
The introduction section was over, Ohno gave a brief remark and dismissed them. Everyone left the meeting room except Jun who stayed to explain some stuff to Ohno. Nino glanced at them and felt a weird sensation build inside his chest. It was the strangest day in his entire life; he hoped that by meeting the real person he would stop dreaming about Ohno, but it seemed that his suffering had just begun.
***
“Nino, can you come to my office room for a second?” Jun called him through the internal phone when he had just arrived on his desk.
Worrying, that he might be making some mistake by accident, he walked reluctantly towards Jun’s office room which was avoided by most of the employees. Jun’s face looked a little bit unhappy, he frowned as he gestured Nino to sit down on the chair across from his desk.
“Did someone die?” Nino asked.
Jun inhaled a deep breath, glaring at Nino as if telling him not to him a stupid joke. He clicked something on his laptop screen and closed its monitor before facing Nino.
“You will be moved to the decoration supervision team,” Jun said, still frowning.
Nino needed a few seconds to digest Jun’s words and when he did, all he could say was, ‘Why?”
“Ohno san ordered to do so,” Jun answered. “I’ve told him that you’re so good at your jobone-nightand it would be improper to move you to another section, but it’s obvious that he wants you to be in the decoration team. He didn’t explain why,” Jun ended and formed an emphatic expression, even though he looked like having a toothache.
“So, when will I start?” Nino asked, trying to act cool. He would confront Ohno later on and he would make surethat the new manager would put him back to his current position.
“Today. Ohno san is expecting you in his office at 10.00,” Jun said, glancing at the clock on the wall which pointed to 09.30.
Nino sighed deeply; it seemed that his dreams were leading him into an unpleasant thing. Come to think of iton taking didn’t want to have sex with Ohno, even if the other man asked him to (what kind of stupid person would do that anyway?). First of all, Ohno was his new boss, secondly, he wasn’t the type of man that Nino liked.
It had been three and a half years since he broke up with his date and ever since, he never tried to have another relationship because he thought that it was too troublesome to deal with someone. If he wanted to have sex, he could go to the bar and looked for a one night stand partner, but for the past three months, he was kind of losing desire. He locked himself all the time in his apartment.
He wondered whether a twist of fate would connect him with Ohno in a strange way, even though Nino hoped that his dreams were just the random events and there was nothing to do with romantic things.
Nino left Jun’s office and waited on his desk; when the clock pointed to 10.00 o’clock, he headed towards Ohno’s office which located in a separate wing of the building. He had been there a few times when the old manager was still in charge; the office had a nice few to the city and Tokyo Bay. The old manager loved to enjoy the scene while working and always told Nino that it was important to have this kind of scene to lessen the stress of work.
He knocked the door and pushed it open. Ohno was busy with his laptop when Nino entered; he gave a code to Nino to sit down on one of the sofas. Nino waited and tried not to think of what might be coming; he personally didn’t like the decoration section, he wasn’t into details and he wasn’t an artistic person, what did Ohno expect from him?
“Ninomiya kun,” Ohno said from behind of his laptop.
“Yes, Ohno san.”
“I’m sorry that my decision might be a surprise for you, it’s just a temporary,” Ohno said, standing up from his chair and joined Nino to sit down on the sofa.
“I’m sorry to ask, but why me?” Nino asked.
“The client asked for a young man who has some interesting ideas and something different. I think you can fulfill their request,” Ohno said, smiling at Nino. The latter felt that his face had stiffened, not only that Ohno’s smile was sincere, but it also had some kind of meaning behind it.
Nino almost spilled out some excuses and denial that he was far away from the candidate that Ohno expected him to be, but he remained silent. On the opposite, he did as Ohno said and waited for the manager at the ballroom on the following day when his first work started.
***
The work at the decoration section was tiring. It was way harder than dealing with some government officials. Nino had to focus to three different halls where the wedding would take place and even though none of the decorations was his idea, it seemed that Ohno wanted him to give comments or improvement.
Nino couldn’t push out the thoughts that Ohno did it just to keep him close, but on what purpose? It was creepy and some kind of power harassment. Ohno was there, supervising the works by himself. He didn’t wear any suits, just a simple light blue shirt above a pair of black trousers. His appearance reminded Nino of one of his dreams; the thought made him blush all of a sudden.
“Ninomiya kun, is everything alright?” Ohno asked, approaching him.
“Yes, there is no problem at all,” Nino answered, averting his gaze away from the man.
“The man who would be getting married is my friend,” Ohno said. “He’s the son of a government official, his bride is an announcer, maybe you’ve heard of him?”
Nino searched in the back of his memory piles; he had received emails from a couple a few months ago, but the project was taken by one of his colleagues.
“It’s Sakurai Sho, if I’m not mistaken,” Nino said.
“Yes,” Ohno beamed, “He told me that he had read your review about the hotel and he liked your fresh ideas.”
Nino almost forgot that he had written something on the hotel weekly tabloid; it was a long time ago. He got the idea from the rival hotel when he was there for a seminar. But, Jun also helped him in writing that small column and he never expected that someone would have read it seriously and considered it as a good idea.
“That was just a small column,” Nino mumbled, but Ohno pretended not to hear it.
Seeing Ohno from this close distance made Nino uncomfortable; he stepped behind and busied himself with the planner, even though he had nothing to write anymore. Ohno invited him for a drink at the end of the day, but Nino declined because he needed to go back to the office for some stuff. He knew it was an improper thing to decline the invitation, but he didn’t want to be alone with Ohno. He didn’t want his dream to be a reality – it was too creepy.
***
The wedding would take place on weekend. For the first time in his life, Nino dressed properly with the help of a stylish (who happened to be Jun’s friend). He would substitute Ohno on behalf of the hotel to meet the groom and the bride before the wedding because Ohno himself was there as a guest.
Nino stared at his reflection in the mirror; the stylish had made his hair a little bit curly which made him looked like a different person. He inhaled deeply and nodded at himself before heading the hotel ballroom.
Ohno had given him a note regarding the bride and the groom, not mentioning that Nino didn’t really need it. He headed the bride’s room first and greeted her and her family. The woman looked nervous, but it didn’t prevent her to greet Nino with a sincere and excited smile. She was a type of a rare beauty, Nino could tell that she was smart from her appearance. She thanked Nino for the great preparation for the wedding and promised him that she would definitely promote the hotel to her friends.
The groom in the other room was a handsome man in his mid-thirties; he welcomed Nino with a happy smile while shaking Nino’s hand in a tight grip.
“You must be Ninomiya san,” he said, smiling widely. “Nice to meet you, it’s really an honor to befriend someone like Ohno san with a great subordinate like you.”
Nino offered a grateful smile; he wondered whether all of Ohno’s friends were exaggerating like this Sakurai or because he would be getting married that his happiness level was above average. Ohno was sitting on the chair beside Sakurai’s and gave a little smile at Nino.
“Nice to meet you, Sakurai san and congratulations on your wedding,” Nino said, trying to be heard sincere and happy for the guy.
“You’ll stay for the party, right?” Sakurai asked, glancing at Ohno.
“I’m afraid I can’t, but thank you,” Nino answered. He wanted to go home, drank beer and played the game. It was Ohno’s fault that he had to spend his Saturday evening in the hotel ballroom, attending the wedding of the couple he didn’t know.
Ohno gave him a meaningful look, but he didn’t say anything. Nino congratulated Sakurai once again and left the room. He was glad that Ohno didn’t interfere by saying that it was worth to stay for the party.
Nino was relieved that his dreams about Ohno had disappeared as he met the man for real, but then he asked himself once again, was he really relieve? Deep down inside, he wished he could see those dirty dreams again. Ohno seemed not to show any interest in him after his sudden appointment as the decoration team supervisor; somehow it disappointed him.
The wedding was going smoothly and everyone enjoyed the party; Nino took that chance to go home. He headed towards the back entrance through the dim corridor and he almost reached the automatic door when someone pulled him by the elbow. He turned behind and saw Ohno, the man was smiling innocently at him.
“It’s too early to go home,” he said.
“My duty is over,” Nino shrugged.
“Do you have any urgent matter?” Ohno asked.
“No,” Nino answered shortly. “I just need to be at home now.”
Ohno loosened his grip and looked into his eyes, “Those dreams, did you see them?”
“What…dreams?” Nino pretended to look innocent and confused, but he couldn’t control his heart from beating fast. It must be a kind of joke; it could not happen in the real world, it was supposed to be only in anime, he thought.
“I felt that I’ve known you before,” Ohno said, letting Nino absorb his words.
Were those dreams enough for justification? It didn’t mean that they had to find each other and fell in love like Taki and Mitsuha in ‘Kimi no na wa’.
“Maybe you’ve mistaken me. I’m sorry Ohno san, I have to go now,” Nino said, turning around and walked further from Ohno as fast as he could. He still couldn’t analyze his feeling for Ohno; the man was his boss after all, it was inappropriate to have some kind of affair with him. Besides, they were almost strangers; their only encounters were through those illicit dreams.
“Damn it,” Nino cursed the air. He didn’t like this, he wished Ohno was lying about the dreams – they were not the best way to know someone – not in the most respectable way.
He caught the cab and mentioned his address to the driver; the night was still young; the street was still smeared with couples. The scene somehow brought some agony to his heart, but Nino wiped it away quickly, he had no time to think of useless stuff. He sank deeper into the passenger chair and closed his eyes; he wasn’t surprised when his brain showed him Ohno’s face.
***
Nino avoided Ohno as much as he could on the next Monday when they were in the hotel ballroom for an event. He had talked to Jun and requested him to move him back to the marketing section, but the guy shook his head and told him that it was up to the manager to put who on what section. Irritated to the whole stupid system, Nino did his job half-heartedly, hoping that Ohno would consider it as a protest, but it seemed that his tactic wasn’t working at all.
The dream had come again the night before; much to Nino’s relieved, they didn’t have sex. Ohno was standing in the middle of the huge ballroom, a thick book was in his right hand and he was waiting for Nino to read it together. The latter had no intention to read that book, but the carpet below Nino’s feet was moving like a conveyor and it brought him closer to Ohno.
The book was the compilation of music bars, they were classic ones. Ohno handed the book to Nino and told him to play it with the grand piano which suddenly appeared beside them. That was when he woke up. It was still four in the morning, but after seeing such dream, Nino couldn’t go back to sleep. He thought about Ohno, the manager had charming point in some ways, only that he didn’t want to admit it.
However, imagining the scene where he and Ohno become a date was the weirdest thing of all. Nino shook his head and decided to make a cup of coffee, not mentioning that it was too early for breakfast. He enjoyed the coffee while browsing something on his phone, trying to push Ohno away out of his head.
***
Nino knew he couldn’t avoid Ohno forever, they would be having a meeting that day and the seating arrangement brought him right beside the manager – for the very odd reason and perhaps it was Ohno himself who ordered it. The meeting was for the decoration team and Ohno was there to give them some supervision, they would continue with lunch which meant there was no way out for Nino to escape the situation.
“Hi, how are you?” Ohno greeted him as Nino took a seat beside him.
“I’m fine, thank you Ohno san,” Nino flashed a smile to the manager who replied with the usual mysterious expression.
“Can you play a piano?” Ohno asked all of a sudden.
Nino who was about to turn on his laptop paused his movement, he turned his head to the manager and looked into the man’s eyes. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds as if trying to read each other’s mind. Nino averted his gaze away and nodded slightly.
“Great,” Ohno said, but he said nothing further.
They finished the meeting and lunch; Nino collected his stuff, inserted them to his briefcase and was ready to leave the venue when Ohno approached him.
“Would you like to have dinner with me?” Ohno asked. “I swear it’s not a date,” he continued.
Nino looked at his boss and he knew it was time to give up on his theory about the relationship between boss and subordinate.
“Alright,” he answered. “But no sea shells, I’m allergic to them.”
Ohno chuckled and nodded, “We’ll having traditional Japanese menu.”
It was awkward at the beginning, but with the help of alcohol and relax atmosphere at the restaurant, they finally could talk with less formality in their language. Ohno told Nino that he began his career in this hotel when he was 22, right after his graduation from university. He was accepted as a receptionist back then and worked from one hotel to another.
“Have you dated someone from this hotel before?” Ohno asked.
“No,” Nino shook his head, he finished the beer in his glass and looked at Ohno. “It’s not healthy to date a colleague.”
Ohno nodded, “But those dreams, do you believe in them?”
“I don’t know,” Nino shrugged. “I mean, they were real and both of us seeing the same dreams, it’s more than just a coincidence.”
“Do you think that we should give a try?”
“For what?” Nino asked, almost choked.
“You know, having some sort of relationship,” Ohno said, grinning at him.
“I can’t answer to that, I mean, we’re almost strangers and…”
“We’re not strangers in our dreams,” Ohno said, taking Nino’s hand to his lap and gripped it softly. “It’s a familiar touch, don’t you think?”
Nino couldn’t pull his hand away from Ohno’s, even when he wanted to. Ohno was right that the touch was familiar, they had experienced it in their dreams.
“I need time,” Nino said.
Ohno smiled as he heard it, he nodded and loosened his grip on Nino’s hand.
“If that’s what you need, I’ll be patient.”
“When will you depart to your original office?” Nino asked.
“I can arrange that, if I want to stay here, then the management will do something about it,” Ohno said, winking at Nino as if it was the easiest thing to do.
“You have that privilege?”
“Sort of,” Ohno said.
They finished the dinner and went for a drink at the bar nearby and finally headed home around midnight. Ohno insisted on taking Nino by his car, but the latter refused. He didn’t want the manager to see how messy his apartment was, besides, if they would end up dating, sooner or later, Ohno would get to see his room.
“Good night, Nino,” Ohno waved good bye at him, his smile was wide and sincere. Nino finally admitted that Ohno had a sweet innocent smile.
“Good night, Ohno san.”
***
“Nino, come here,” Jun summoned him on the first day he got back to the main office after a month wandering from ballroom to ballroom.
“Now what?” Nino asked, sitting down in the chair across from Jun.
“Ohno san put you back on your position here, safe and sound at the office,” Jun said, crossing his fingers in front of his face.
“Oh, why?”
“I don’t know,” Jun shrugged. “He’s a weird guy after all, even though it’s better not to have you here at the office.”
“Hey, that’s rude,” Nino said, frowning.
“If you finally decide to wear proper clothes to work, I’ll take back my words.”
Nino rolled his eyes and left Jun towards his own cubicle; he drew his phone from his pocket and typed a message to Ohno.
‘Why did you return me to the reservation section?’
“It’s your passion, besides, you’ll get bored if you see me all day long’
Nino sighed as he read Ohno’s reply. He was right that this section was his passion, but Ohno was wrong about getting bored because he already missed the guy right now – of course he didn’t say it out loud to Ohno.
He sat down and started working by opening the emails, he smiled at himself remembering the dream last night. Maybe Ohno had seen it too, but he didn’t want to talk about it during working hours, they could wait until tonight.
The end
