Tonight will be the third night since Sachi left their suite. Ryo decided to sleep in her room again. Not only did the bed smelled like her but he found that he could sleep better in hers than in his.
At around 12 AM, Sachi sneaked herself and Kuma-chi into her suite. Thanks to what her brother said to her earlier in the day, she felt guilty and dragged herself back to their home. She actually decided to go back on the night of the next day but her guilt was gnawing at her tonight, she became so restless and could not get a wink of sleep. So, here she is now, sneaking into their suite, trying her best not to make any noise as she made her way to her bedroom. She was carrying Kuma-chi on one arm and her other hand was gently covering the dog's mouth just in case it suddenly decided to make a sound.
She slowly opened the door to her bedroom, she entered the room, it was dark and her eyes were still trying to adjust. She shut the door behind her, she decided not to turn on any lights in case Ryo is outside and notices that the light in her room is on through the gap at the bottom of the door. She put Kuma-chi down and crept to her bed and sat on it.
She noticed that she seemed to have sat on something hard, not only that, but the bed seemed taller to, or she seemed taller sitting up on it. She felt around the bed and heard a moan. She felt around the bed again and this time she felt something or someone grabbed her by the wrist it made her shriek. Kuma-chi began barking. Sachi shrieked again and tried to move but it was useless because both of her hands were pinned down on top of her head and just now something covered her mouth, no sound would come out. Something or someone heavy was also on top of her further restraining her movements.
'Oh my gosh, am I going to get raped tonight or something?' was all she could think about.
"Sachi?" she heard a familiar voice say.
She tried to make a sound but it was muffled. She knew it was Ryo. He removed his hand from her mouth and from her hands. She felt him get off the bed and switched on the light.
"Sachi?" Ryo said again. "What are you--," but he was interrupted.
"I can ask you the same thing, what are you doing in my room?" Sachi said massaging her wrists. 'So, that's a guy's strength, huh?' she asked herself when she finally realized just how strong guys are, after all, she's never been pinned down before like that, except in jiu jitsu class, but even her instructor was much gentler than how Ryo tackled her.
"I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" Ryo panicked as he saw her rubbing her wrists.
"What do you think? You just grabbed me, pinned me down and put your entire weight on me!" Sachi said furiously.
"I didn't mean to do that. I'm really sorry," he was kneeling down in front of her now. Bumble has also calmed down after the short commotion. Without thinking he suddenly reached for her hands and examined it. "Oh, gosh, I really didn't mean to. I was just startled." He was now rubbing her hands with his.
Sachi, who isn't really used to physical contact with a man felt a kind of tingling sensation on the areas where Ryo's hand made contact with her skin. She noticed how large his hands were it could easily envelop hers, and it was so warm. And then, she suddenly came to her senses and retracted her hands from his.
"I'm fine now," she said avoiding his gaze.
"You're back?" he asked her with a smile that she's never seen before, and even the way he was looking at her right now, there was a tenderness that she did not see before.
'Just what is going on?! Why is he acting friendly like this?! Why is he looking at me with those puppy dog eyes?! Dammit!' she was internally screaming in confusion. This was not how she pictured her homecoming to be.
She looked down breaking their eye-to-eye contact and nodded in response to him. "For now," she said.
'For now? What the hell does that mean?' was what Ryo wanted to say but instead, he said, "Really?"
She heard him let out a deep sigh of relief. He was sitting cross-legged now on the floor.
"I really thought that I won't see you again. Welcome back," he was smiling and looking at her funny again.
Their moment was interrupted by Kuma-chi this time, as Kuma-chi sat and comfortably positioned himself on Ryo's legs. Ryo laughed and said, "Welcome back to you too, Kuma-chi."
Unknown to both of them but, their hearts were both in overdrive at this very moment.
"I was here because… I was just checking your room and did not notice that I fell asleep in here," Ryo lied.
"That's fine," Sachi replied, dismissing him.
"Also, Sachi, that night during our anniver--," Sachi but him off.
"Did you get my note?"
Now, Ryo looked down, like a kicked puppy. He managed to nod his head a few times.
"And the ring?" Sachi continued.
"Yes," Ryo said.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow," she said removing her jacket. "Let's just get some rest for tonight."
"Okay," Ryo said in a low voice. He got up, put Kuma-chi on the bed with Sachi and walked over to the door. He turned the knob and opened the door. "Good night," Ryo said before switching the lights off. "I missed you," and shut the door behind him.
'Did he just say he missed me?' Sachi asked herself. "No, no, impossible. I must have heard wrong. Come here, bud. Let's go to sleep."
The next day, Sachi was already up at around 6 AM and the first thing she did was text her family that she was safe and that she was back at home with Ryo. She then went outside of her room and the very first thing that she noticed was their large wedding picture hanging on the wall.
"What the," she exclaimed.
Ryo was just listening in his room, as soon as he heard the door on Sachi's room open and close, he opened his door, too and saw her looking at the new picture on their living room wall. He crept up from behind her.
"Like it?" he asked her.
He actually startled her in the process.
"Geez, you scared me," Sachi said jumping on her feet.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything," Ryo was quick to apologize.
Sachi sighed. "Why hang this anyway? And, where did you even get it?"
"We should have hung it here a long time ago," Ryo said with a sheepish smile. "That's a copy of the wedding picture I have of ours in my office."
"Seriously?" Sachi asked him in an icy tone. "You didn't have one when I went there. And, aren't you forgetting that we're going to get divorced now?"
Her statement sent a pang of pain in his heart.
"About that," he began. "Can we talk it over first?"
"I'm starving, let's talk about it later," Sachi told him as she headed for the door to eat in their hotel's dining hall.
"Okay," Ryo followed her.
However, they did not talk at all during breakfast, at the very least, they shared the same table. Upon going back to their suite, Sachi told him to go and get ready for work. He complied.
Sachi just finished feeding Kuma-chi his food in the kitchen when Ryo got out of his room and ready to leave for work. They awkwardly met in the living room. As Ryo was fixing his tie, Sachi noticed his wounded and bruised right hand.
"What happened to your hand?" she asked with worry.
"This? I-I just smacked it into something hard," Ryo said uneasily.
"What? Why would you do that?" Sachi asked, in a mix of anger and confusion.
Ryo just gave her a weak smile but did not answer.
Sachi closed her eyes and let out a short sigh. 'It's none of my business, none of my business,' she told herself.
"Anyway, I think you should go or you're going to be late for work," Sachi said brushing him off.
"Can I call you?" Ryo asked.
"Whatever," Sachi said with a shrug.
Ryo smiled it surprised her. He was headed for the door when he heard speak.
"Wait," Sachi said.
Ryo turned around to face her expectantly.
"Let's treat your hand first before you go," Sachi said. 'Idiot, idiot, idiot. You should just have left him alone.' She was screaming at herself inside her thoughts.
Ryo smiled at her and dropped his briefcase by the door.
"Wait there, I'll look for the first aid kit," Sachi said indicating for him to sit on the sofa.
Ryo nodded with a smile.
Sachi distinctly remembered that she put the kit in the cupboard in the communal bathroom. She went there to get it and found Ryo sitting down on the sofa. She gently placed the kit on the table. She sat down beside him, their knees touching.
"Hand," she said and Ryo happily obliged, he stretched his right hand out to her which she captured in hers. She placed his hand on her lap and got a cotton ball, alcohol, and some betadine out of the kit. She took his hand in hers again and held it near her.
He knew it was rude but he couldn't help but stare at her. They didn't really have that many opportunities before to stick this close next to each other, he took this chance to look closely at his wife. Her eyes, her nose, her ears, and finally his gaze stayed on her lips.
"Can you hold your hand like that for me please?" Sachi said.
"Okay," Ryo said, still staring at her.
All this time that Sachi was focused on cleaning and dressing his hand, Ryo had been staring at her without her knowledge that he will probably start to bore a hole on her face.
"Did you get it checked with your doctor yet?" she asked him.
"There's no need for that, it's perfectly fine. Look," Ryo said nonchalantly and tried to fold it into a knuckle. Pain shot through his hand and he grimaced from it.
"It hurts, right?" Sachi scoffed, she was the one smiling now. "Go see your doctor within the day just to make sure no bones are broken."
"Yes, ma'am," Ryo said and brightly smiled at her. But, Sachi did not return his smile.
"About what you said on the note--," this time Sachi cut him off.
"Let's talk about it later today," she told him.
He opened his mouth to speak but closed it back again. Instead, he continued to smile and nodded at her.
Sachi put the contents of the first aid kit back inside it. Ryo slowly got up, so did Sachi. He walked to the direction of the door while she was going for her bedroom.
"I'll see you later," Ryo said to her.
"Bye," she said and went inside her room.
Ryo let out a frustrated sigh and went out of the door.
At work, Ryo found it hard to concentrate. He was dreading the talk that he will have with her later when he gets home.
His plan to get Sachi back involves befriending her first, establishing respect and trust between them. He does not want to bombard her with his feelings of love yet and just want to patiently gain her trust. He will ask her a month to reconsider and think the divorce through. After a month, if she still wants to push through with the divorce, he'll agree to set her free. He doesn't even care about exacting his revenge anymore either to her or her family, getting his grandfather's business back is irrelevant now compared to saving his marriage.
He plans to go as far as taking a thirty day leave at work just so he can focus on getting her back, this time, he will properly court her. Before, he always thought it was ridiculous of his male friends to go into so much trouble for the girls they like. Probably because he's never had to do that himself, girls flock to him, after all.
But now, he finally understood their feelings. He wants to do all the things that couples do with Sachi or the things that guys do in order to get the girl of their dreams, like go on dates, give her gifts, heck, he even wants to write her a letter every day.
He wants to know everything about her and make a lot of memories with her from now on. Most importantly, he wants to spend the rest of his life with her and make their own family together.
If his old self sees his current self now, he will surely say that he's crazy. Seeing how he is now, he would agree, because that is exactly what's going on. He is crazy in love with Sachi.
"Just be sincere," he told himself as he stood by his window in his office.
He went to his desk and picked up his phone. It was already past noon and he has been wanting to call Sachi and ask her if she has already eaten her lunch. He was nervous for some strange reason. Before he changed his mind, he pressed the dial button.
"Hello?" just hearing her voice on the other line was enough to put not only a smile on his face but he seemed to have been healed from his weariness.
"It's me," he asked her, he can't believe that he was smiling like a lovesick teenager right now. Another first.
"Of course I know it was you," Sachi said.
Although he sensed the sarcasm in her statement, he still went on to say, "Really? How did you know it was me?"
"What do you mean how? You know that I've got your phone number saved on my phone," Sachi answered.
He sensed irritation in her voice now but he couldn't help but tease her. He now understood why some guys love teasing the girls they like. He always thought it was immature. Upon realizing this he laughed at himself.
Upon hearing him laugh on the other end, Sachi said to him in a furious tone, "Did you just call to make fun of me? Don't you have better things to do?"
"Of course not. Sorry. I was laughing at myself, not at you," Ryo said in a serious tone.
"Hmpf!" he heard Sachi. "So, why did you call?"
"I just wanted to ask if you've already had your lunch, besides a husband doesn't really need a reason to call his wife," Ryo answered.
"Did you lose a few screws in your head? Who was it who said not to call him at work unless it is absolutely important?" Sachi said losing it.
"I'm sorry," was all Ryo could say.
"For what?" Sachi asked.
"That, and everything else," Ryo said in a soft tone.
He heard Sachi let out a sigh.
"I've had my lunch, thank you for asking. I'm sure you're quite busy, so let's hang up now," Sachi said.
Ryo became silent. He is being haunted by the very things he used to do before.
"I'm hanging up now," Sachi said without even waiting for him to react.
"Aaaah, stupid! Stupid!" he shouted inside his office. Those words are for him. He's getting a taste of his own medicine. He finally understands how much he has hurt her over the past with his stupid actions.
***