Ryo used the bathroom after her. She knew how Ryo hated being near her and experience taught her that sleeping beside each other tonight is definitely out of the question, so she acted fast. She pulled the quilt off the bed, folded into three and laid it down on the floor.
'See this Ryo, aren't I the best wife preparing your bed for you?' she said as she neatly arranged the quilt and his pillow near below the bed.
Lightning suddenly struck followed by thunder and just like that it was suddenly raining outside.
"Oh no, Kuma-chi!" Sachi said as she ran out of the room to go to the kitchen on the first floor to get her dog.
Ryo found the room empty when he went out of the bathroom, but he saw that his 'bed' has already been neatly made on the floor. He sat on the swivel chair next to his desk while wiping his wet hair when the door suddenly opened and in came his wife with her dog.
"He's sleeping with me," she quickly announced and walked towards the bed.
"Do whatever you want, just make sure mother doesn't find out about it," Ryo said.
"Does your family really hate dogs so much that you guys can't bear to let one dog inside one of your many bedrooms?" Sachi asked.
'What's her problem, trying to pick a fight?' Ryo was taken aback, because if she was, this was a first.
"Don't you get it, the main reason my mother suggested for the dog to sleep in the kitchen is because she doesn't want anything to disturb our 'baby making process'," he hated that he had to spell this out for her, it made his ears turn red.
'What the hell, Ryo, what are you blushing for? You're not some virginal teenager,' Ryo cursed himself.
"Oh," Sachi said. "Good to know then." After that, she and her dog were already beneath the blanket.
Ryo just clicked his tongue and let out a huge sigh.
'I'm already this exhausted, and this is only day one,' he agonized to himself.
But, something bothered him even more than that, he was right, something has definitely changed in his 'wife'. It was like, for the first time in a long time, she was finally rebelling.
Everybody was busy the next day preparing for Ryo's father's death anniversary. They were expecting relatives and friends to visit tomorrow, too.
Sachi was quite glad that it took Sanada's attention off the baby making business she has been sprouting about ever since day one of their marriage.
'If you only knew the truth, Sanada,' Sachi thought to herself and let out a sigh. At that moment, Sachi wondered if her mother-in-law knew about Ryo's allegations about her family, too. On face value, doesn't seem like it, after all, according to Ryo, this was only on his father's side of the family, plus, her mother-in-law was always genuinely nice to her.
"I wonder," Sachi did not realize that she said it out loud.
"You wonder about what?" she was surprised to find Aki standing beside her in the living room.
"Aki?" she blurted out in surprise.
"Hmm?" Aki asked with a smile. "You were saying?"
"Oh, that," Sachi said with a smile, she was now struggling to find an excuse. "I was wondering if there are apples in the town market."
"Apples? In town?" Aki asked, confused.
"Yes," Sachi said. "You see, I was thinking about making an apple pie for tomorrow, you know."
"Oh that, of course. But, don't they have apples here? Wait here and let me ask Aunt,--"
"Ah! They do, but it won't be enough. I'll be needing more," Sachi said right away before he could call Sanada or Ryo, or any of their staff.
"Right," Aki said. "Sorry, I don't really know anything about cooking or baking even if it saves me."
"I can understand and that's perfectly fine," Sachi said.
"So, how about it then?" Aki asked her.
Sachi just blinked in confusion at him.
"Why don't you let me drive you into town and let's buy the ingredients that you'll be needing?" Aki said with a huge smile on his face.
"Ahhh," Sachi was now scratching her head searching for another excuse, but before she could even find one, Aki grabbed her arm and was already grabbing her outside to his car.
They bumped into his older brother, Sano, outside.
"What are you doing?" Sano asked his brother suspiciously.
Aki just scoffed. "I'm just getting to know our new cousin since Ryo is so stingy always having her to himself."
"True that. But, are you guys going somewhere?" Sano asked them. Aki already let Sachi go from his hold.
"To town, to buy apples. Sachi will bake apple pie for tomorrow. Want to come with?" Aki asked his brother with a smile.
"Sounds like fun," Sano said and he was the first one inside the car, he comfortably settled on the passenger's seat.
Aki opened the door at the back for Sachi, gently pushed her inside and shut the door behind her. Aki knew that his cousin, Ryo was looking down at them from the front facing balcony. So he looked up at him with a huge smile.
"We'll be taking your wife with us for now," and with that, he shut the car door to the driver seat and drove off.
"Those brats. Why are they stealing someone else's wife?" Ryo did not notice that his mother was already beside him.
Although he was surprised, he did not say a word, after all, Aki has always been bugging him about not letting them befriend 'his' Sachi.
"Seeing that you're just a lonely husband whose wife has just been kidnapped, here, make yourself useful, take this baby and walk him around," Sanada said and shoved Kuma-chi into his arms. She then went back inside the house mumbling about how spineless of a husband her son was.
Ryo let out a deep sigh.
"Looks like I won't really be getting any peace around here, huh?" he asked his wife's dog who just looked at him in curiosity. "Come on, let's go." He put the dog down who was already wearing a harness.
Sachi's instincts were right. Sano and Aki were quite a handful, especially Aki who probably had a gazillion of questions prepared for her.
'No wonder he's a lawyer,' Sachi thought, mentally exhausted. On the way back from town, she pretended to have fallen asleep at the back so she can avoid another set of his interrogation.
Thanks to them they bought all the ingredients needed to bake a lot of apple pie. She decided she will make it later after dinner. But, thanks to that, she won't be spending another suffocating time tonight with Ryo in their 'love nest', as his mother fondly calls it. The only problem is, the two brothers have volunteered to help her bake them later that night, too.
"How considerate, but I can manage really," Sachi said when they unanimously decided and announced this at dinner.
"Oh come on, Sachi-chan," Aki said with a smile. "After all, we helped you buy all the ingredients."
'Who are you calling Sachi-chan?' Sachi wanted to ask him but could not say it out loud of course.
'Sachi-chan?' Ryo was confused, he shot his cousin a questioning look but Aki was not paying him any attention.
"Yeah, Sachi-chan. My brother is right," Sano seconded, he was also smiling.
"The more the merrier," Sachi said and flashed them with a fake smile.
Sanada did not know what her nephews deal were but she could not believe that his son was not offering to join in on the fun, too.
"Yes, the more the merrier. So Sachi, please teach my son and nephews how to bake an apple pie," Sanada could not help herself from butting in.
Ryo shot his mother a sharp look.
'Oh great, him too?' Sachi thought to herself. 'We'll both be grilled by Attorney Nuisance over here, that's for sure.'
And, she was right. Aki was asking them questions about their relationship right off the bat. Things like, how did Ryo know she was the one? Or, when did they realize that they love each other? Sano even had more embarrassing questions that he threw at them, like, "When and where was the first kiss? How was their first time together? And, were they each other's first?"
Both Ryo and Sachi tried their best not to answer any of them, they just want to disappear off the face off the earth. By the time they were done with their apple pie making project, and the moment the couple shut the bedroom behind them after enduring the brothers' teasing and sexual innuendos about their lovemaking tonight, they both flopped down the bed. They just lie there, face down, silent.
After a while, after realizing what an exhausting yet enjoyable day she had, Sachi started laughing that Ryo thought she was crying. He was surprised to see that it was the opposite.
"Boy, your cousins sure are something," she said after a fit of laughter. She was sitting down at the edge of the bed now.
"Tell me about it," Ryo said, he too, was sitting at the foot of the bed.
"How was our first time together?" Sachi started laughing again until her stomach hurt. Ryo watched her carefully and then after a while he joined in the laughter, too.
"My girlfriends wouldn't even ask me those questions, really," she said after a good laugh. "Only the president will."
Ryo noted that she has a habit of referring to Sano as the 'President', probably because he was their club president both in high school and in college.
"Oh, Kuma-chi," Sachi suddenly remembered and got up.
"He's right there," Ryo said, he pointed to the beagle who was sound asleep on a bed made out of blankets right beside the desk. "I walked him earlier and also instructed one of our staff to bring him here after being fed."
Sachi ran to where her pet was lying and patted the dog.
"Thank you," she said looking at him with a smile.
Their eyes met for a brief moment, and Ryo just nodded his head in reply to her 'thanks'.
"I'll use the bathroom first," Ryo said breaking the moment and rushed inside.
'Get a grip, Sachi, you should be working on getting over him not falling for him all over again,' she told herself and this thought almost brought her to tears as she continued patting her dog.
"Kuma-chi, did To-chan really look after you today while Ka-chan was away?" a single tear dropped from her eye and Sachi quickly wiped it before Ryo sees her in such a state. For the past two years, Sachi has been an expert in hiding her feelings, not just from him but from everyone.
***