11 You Will Marry Me Bonus: Birthday 4

"Aki..." I mumbled as I walked up to him after finding him drinking some coffee in this convenience store. I guess it was his lunch break too, but even then he was still on his laptop typing away. "Are you alone today?" I asked, taking the seat across from him. He broke his gaze away from his screen to look at me, crossing his legs as he leaned forward intimidatingly.

"I am." He said in a monotone voice. "And you?"

"I am too..." I answered, looking down as I felt a chill run up my spine from his stare. I had to calm down, find a way to make this conversation comfortable for me to speak my mind. "So, what are you doing?"

He just stared at me for a few seconds, the tension rising in the silence before he broke it. "Catching up with all the assignments I've missed. Thank you by the way." He said, returning his attention to his laptop; he didn't continue his work, he just packed up and started heading toward the door. "If you have nothing else to say, then leave me alone. I'm very busy." He said, putting emphasis on the last few words as he passed me.

I stood up, grabbing hold of his wrist to keep him in place. "But I do have something to say. Please, listen to me." I said, pleading silently to myself that he'd give me a chance. I watched as he looked at the clock in the room, raising up two fingers before sitting down.

"Two minutes." I let out a sigh of relief. I might not have been able to say everything in that time, but I wanted him to know as much as I can. He stared at me, waiting for me to talk. "Go on."

"Aki, I'm sorry. I was selfish, really selfish. I just wanted you to be happy for the weekend. You've been under a lot of stress and I thought that a break would help you out." I said, wearing my heart on my sleeve as I kept trying to organize my thoughts. "I was really worried about you. And I wanted you to have fun."

"Is that all?" He asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. I nodded and he let out a sigh, standing up, taking his things and putting them in his bag. He finished the last of his coffee, throwing the cup away as I stood up.

"Aki... are you still mad?" I asked as I followed him to the door.

"Yes." He said as he pushed the door open. "I can't forgive you, I just can't. I don't trust you, Tano. You've set me back by so much. I just can't forgive you that easily."

"But you do want to forgive me, right?" I asked as he remained silent, leaving to go back to his university. I let out a sigh, clutching at my chest as I felt something bubbling up inside me. What did he want from me? I still didn't know. I grabbed some food and went over to the cashier, my mind still weighed down by what just happened.

I returned to work, finishing off the day and arriving at an empty home yet again. This time, I just lied on the sofa in the living room. What should I have said to him? Could I have told him anything that would've made him forgive me? I nearly pulled my hair out as I tried to think about anything else I could've said.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked myself. Then I remembered the address that he gave me; it was nearby. I had thought about going there immediately, but I still didn't know what I had to say. "I'm stumped." I groaned, getting up from the sofa and walking around the house absentmindedly. I played with our video games in the living room, looked at some old photos in our bedroom, and that's when something clicked in my head. Something was off, nothing felt right without him here. I scrambled to get myself ready, running out, and hailing a taxi to take me to the address. When I arrived, I knocked on the door and asked for him.

"Tano?" He asked, groggily rubbing his eyes as he checked the time on his phone. "It's so late, why are you-"

"Aki, please come back..." I asked, looking him in the eyes. "Nothing feels the same without you, I'm not the same without you..." I said, hearing the door slowly close in front of me.

"If that's all you're going to say, then-"

"All my life, you've been there, watching over me." I blurted out, getting him to stop. "When we were kids, you fixed my bad grades; in high school, you got me started on my dream job. Aki, I need you... please, don't leave me." My words made him roll his eyes and start closing the door again. "I was so scared. University was taking so much of your time. I was scared that I was going to lose you... that you'd leave me once you were done with your studies and go and live your own life. So I tried to take control, to force you to stay with me. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Aki, please, I'm so scared of being alone again." I said as I heard the tumblers of the lock click into place, the door shutting in my face as I took in a deep breath in a futile attempt to stop myself from crying.

I shakily walked to the road to call another taxi, weeping quietly to myself on the ride home. I quickly ran to the bedroom, wailing into the pillow until my lungs couldn't take any more. I felt the tears keep flowing down my face as I fell asleep. Waking up the next day, my body felt heavier than normal. I kept hugging a pillow for god knows how long until my phone started buzzing. I hurriedly picked it up, hoping that it was from him; it was just my manager. I let out a sigh, answering the call, and telling her that I'd like to take a break.

She gave me until Sunday to sort myself out, which I was grateful for. I had the rest of the week for myself, I had the rest of the week to think of what I could do to make it up to him. Maybe I could take him to places, or make him something. I let out a sigh, shutting my eyes again. "I'll think about it when I wake up..." I muttered to myself. Over and over I muttered those words to myself, unable to will myself out of the house. I just felt too exhausted, and it felt like I was powerless. "I'm such an idiot!" I said to myself, falling asleep on Friday night as the rain poured outside.

Saturday came with the weather still slightly drizzling, and my phone was lit up with notifications from a number I didn't recognize. I looked at what they were: texts, and there were over twenty that were sent around midnight of last night. Reading through them, I felt my heart start beating faster and faster as my eyes passed over each word.

"Aki!" I jumped out of bed, quickly dialing up the number of the police as I ran down the stairs and headed for the front door. "Hello? Yes, I'd like to report a missing pers..." I held my breath as I swung the door open and tripped over something on my way out of the house. "Ouch..."

"Huh? Oh, Tano..." Aki rubbed his eye with one hand and his back with the other. "Good morning..." He said, looking at me with much gentler eyes than before.

"Nevermind... I found him." I said over the phone, ending the call. I picked myself up from the ground as he got to his feet. "Aki, umm... I..."

"I know..." He said, pulling me closer to him without warning. He was soaking wet, and cold to the touch. "Let's go inside."

"I... what? Do you forgive me?" I asked, managing to speak my mind without stumbling over myself. "Why? I didn't even do anything? There's no way you could've for-"

"I haven't yet... but I'm giving you another chance." He said with a cheeky smile that I haven't seen in a while. But something still didn't feel right.

"This is too easy. I don't deserve this. Why?"

Chuckling to himself, he started heading up the stairs toward the bathroom. "There are some things that are out of your control. My choosing to give you this chance after calming down and thinking things over is one of them. Don't waste it." He said teasingly, but something told me that he was being serious about it. "I won't tell you why though, not yet." With that, he entered the bathroom and left me with my thoughts.

What should I do? He's giving me a chance, and I sure as hell wouldn't waste it. I could take him to a nice restaurant, or watch a movie, or... "No..." I slapped myself in the face, taking a few deep breaths. "What would he want to do?" I pondered as I paced around the house, finding myself in the living room where our consoles were. I browsed around our game collection, finding something I remembered him liking. I heard his footsteps slowly approaching the room as I looked over my shoulder at him.

"So?"

"You like this game, right?" I asked, holding up a relaxing farming game that made him smile and shut his eyes. He took a seat beside me, taking the controller and starting up the game as I sat and watched him. I rested my head on his lap, feeling his breathing as he looked down and stroked my head with his hand. After a few minutes, I decided to move closer, cuddling up to him with a bit more of my body as he paused the game to hug me back. "Why... why did you give me another chance?"

"I've had time to think about everything. A lot of time. Do you remember why I even enrolled in this course in the first place?" He asked. I looked him in the eye, not wanting to speak. "It was for you, remember. It was because I wanted to spend my life with you that I worked so hard on this."

"I'm so sorry. I can't say it enough." I mumbled, resting my head on his shoulder as I whispered into his ear. "I'm such a selfish girl, and all you've done is think about me. Are you really okay with how things are?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way. That's a part of what makes you, you, after all." He smiled, setting the controller down to hug me again. "But I do need some time to do things on my own sometimes."

"I... understand..." I said. I broke the hug. "Wait for me, I have something for you." I quickly made my way to the bedroom, getting the gift I planned to give him and running back to the living room. "Belated happy birthday..." I said, handing it to him. He unwrapped it immediately, revealing a photo album that was filled with my old childhood pictures that I got from my parents; he was in all of them. "I hope that we can go back to the way things were before everything started."

"I'd love that..." He smiled, flipping through the pages as I leaned on his shoulder again. "But that'd be impossible."

"Eh?"

"What you've done, and what I've done. We can't take back the things we said and did." He looked at a picture of the two of us from back when we were six. "But that doesn't mean that I still harbor those feelings. Those actions left permanent scars on our lives, but the feelings of anger and sadness we felt have faded with time. We'll always be able to forgive, but we don't control what we forget."

"I... why are you always like this?" I asked, letting out a quiet laugh. "Way to ruin the mood!" I teased him, pecking him on the cheek. "Come on, let's get you a cake. I still owe you one for all the shit I put you through last week." I said while hopping to my feet as he followed along.

"I'll take you up on that offer!" He grinned, taking my hand as the two of us went to the front door. "But why don't I teach you how to bake instead?

As he said, things never really went back to the way they were. After everything that happened, I felt like I grew up a little that week; I didn't keep forcing my desires on him, that's for sure. I hope you like this little story. I'm as good at telling stories as he is, so I hope it was good enough. I don't really know how to end this so...

"Mommy! Mommy! It looks so good!" Hana's calling me, I have to go. "Yay! Mommy's cake always tastes good!" Everyone, take care. I still have to decorate the cake with candles and sprinkles, so this is goodbye for now. I heard the door open as Aki came home from work. "Yay! Daddy, let's play!"

"Woah, Woah! Let me put down my things, darling. You can load up our save while I get changed. Happy birthday." This was my family, and I love every second we spend together like this. Goodbye, everyone! Have a great day! How does Aki end these?