51 Is she ready or not?

"Aw! Aw! Aw! Aw! Aw! Aw! Help!" he felt his ear go numb as she pinched the skin of his ear with all her might and fury.

His brother contorted his face in shared agony with him but he couldn't bring to help him as his fiancee is only seeing red right now.

"It's alright that you ate our dinner for tonight. It's alright if you chewed on my ring. And it's just alright that you acted as an extra for your brother's proposal. It's just really alright." she's so furious no one dared to stop her so he just pitifully endured.

When she had vented out her anger, she went back beside her now fiance who's also scared out of his wits and pulled him out of the room.

"We'll eat outside so you better cleanup the dishes." She smiled sweetly as she turned to him.

He sat on the grassy floor in silence for a couple of minutes before he heard incoming footsteps. Whoever came also immediately left after they threw something his way.

When he opened the package, he saw an ice pack and pain reliever inside. There's also a small piece of paper with his brother's handwriting on it.

You won't die from that but if you really want to get it checked, just call up Kris.

Mayu rolled on the floor while holding her tummy as she laughed to her heart's content. Chryxso's face is fully contorted as he recalls the same scene.

He held the same ear that got pinched before and cringed in pain as if it just happened. Some memories need not be visited.

"Yes, I'm a jerk I know." he lamented but also feels happy to hear the lady beside him laugh. I made her laugh.

"Serves you right!" she laughed heartily again.

"I never knew that she has Goliath's strength with her small frame.

"That was all your fault anyway. Who told you to ruin her most romantic day? You turned it into a feast. Did you not even thought for a second that the spread is for someone else?"

"Well, they know that I'm arriving that day. They should have told me that the setup was for the proposal." she flicked his ear when she heard his stupid reasoning.

"Stop giving me that kind of reason. If that had been me, I could have punch you until you passed out."

"But she's really nice. Like a sister I really never had. Apart from that silly incident, I have no complaints. I'm happy for my brother."

"How are they today?"

"I haven't check with them yet. Probably still in their honeymoon. We last spoke on the day of their wedding. I got too occupied liquefying my assets abroad so I can finally settle here. Gramps told me that they got involved in some kind of an accident few months ago but I guess they're doing fine now. I'll visit them when I regain my sight. I'll bring you over of course!"

"What? Why would I go?"

"So I can brag about you. They always taunt my solitary lovelife."

"Stop counting your profits mister. We're not even dating." he smiled sheepishly at her.

"Who knows."

She got stumped by his shamelessness. Maybe we'll look good together.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She heard the rain starting to fall and since they had some part of the roof opened, rain started pouring in.

"Let's go." she guided him back inside as the rain continued pouring.

After she helped the guy to bed, she immediately dialed her brother's number.

"Mmm." she heard him murmur.

"Are you sick?" she noticed that his voice sounded weak.

"No, I just woke up." he replied.

"Don't overwork yourself."

"Mmm. Are you in bed now?"

"Yeah. Something good happened today but I can't tell you the details yet."

"Tell me."

"Well, I met someone." she giddily went on her story not noticing that the other line has gone silent while listening intently to her.

She did not share everything to him but gave her brother a gist of her current status now. Since her friend Yumi's disappearance, she had no one to share her woes and happiness anymore. Her brother took over that role and became her new bestfriend.

When she did not hear any response anymore, she just assumed that he slept over so she ended the call.

Over on the other line, the old Optina's face has the look of shock as he looked at Kristoff.

"What is that girl talking about just now? She has a what?"

Kristoff got up from the hospital bed and greeted the old man but he did not look like he was in a good mood as well.

"Call Airi! Call Airi right now!"

Kristoff pinched the skin in between his eyebrows and looked at the old man.

"Airi is acting as vice president for Chryxso's company at the moment."

"She still directly reports to us. Her main role is to look after Mayu. Her condition is very unstable right now. We can't have her getting any more confusion. Call her." the old man urged as he spoke again.

"What happened?" their guest, the old Aresta, came over when he heard their conversation. The old Optina turned to him and slouched his shoulders.

"Mayu went wandering around again and she met some people." he said.

"I did not know she left home. I thought Chryxso can keep her there for awhile. I'll call home."

"No, don't make them panic." Kristoff finally found his voice and spoke. When the two old men looked at him, he smiled gently.

"She won't put herself in trouble. I trust her. She's under too much stress right now so just let her be carefree." both elders just resigned to his decision.

"I still want you to call Airi." the old Optina pleaded. Kristoff heaved a sigh and dialed his phone for another call.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

They heard a click before they heard the dial tone. He tried again.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

'Click'

They heard the same dial tone.

"She's probably busy right now. I'll call again tomorrow." he obliged to get the elders to go to home and sleep.

Mayu, what are to trying to do again? He supported his head from the throbbing headache and slowly walked towards his office.

When he found a comfortable position to lay, he brought out his phone and dialed another number. It just took a couple of rings before the other line picked up.

"Is she ready now?" the other line responded after a moment of silence. Kristoff closed his eyes when he heard the response.

"Try to adjust the therapy. They may need to meet earlier that we planned." he then ended the call and dialed another number.

He got the same response. It rings for awhile then goes to dial tone. What happened to this one, too? Will she be another headache?

He dialed again and while it rang, he picked up a photo from the table. Two ladies are smiling sweetly at the camera. One of them is Mayu.