"Why is that idiot calling for no reason? He used to hate being bothered at work. Just why is he doing this? He is starting to confuse me!" Sachi shouted in her room it startled Kuma-chi who was busy playing with his toy on the floor. She can feel herself have a headache.
He also often says sorry to her now. She did not even know that he was capable of doing that, asking for an apology. Not to mention, he apologized for everything.
"Kuma-chi, what does that mean, huh?" she asked her dog who was busy playing with his toy. "You're driving me crazy, Ryo Sugimoto!"
Sachi decided to wait for Ryo in the living room to have their 'talk'. He texted her at around 5 PM that an urgent business came up at work and so he will probably go home later tonight, and so she should just have her dinner without him.
She was pretending to watch the evening news when he came in. He smiled at her when their eyes met, unsure of how to react, whether to smile back or not, Sachi awkwardly avoided his gaze by shifting her attention back to the TV.
"Have you…" she hesitated. She was about to ask if he already had his dinner out of habit when she suddenly remembered that she no longer have to do such things.
"Hmm?" Ryo said as he made his way to her. He sat on the sofa just a foot away from her and let out a big sigh.
Sachi awkwardly stole a glance at Ryo, he was now leaning back on the sofa, eyes closed with his head facing up.
'He looks like he had a tough time at work,' she thought to herself. 'You can't pity him now,' she told herself when she remembered that she shouldn't feel any needless feelings towards him anymore.
"Did you eat already?" he suddenly opened his eye and looked at her, it startled Sachi who immediately shifted her attention back to the TV.
Sachi nodded in reply.
"Good. I just had dinner myself," he said shifting his attention to the TV as well.
It did not seem like he caught her staring at him so Sachi breathed a sigh of relief.
"You go ahead and change. After that, we can have our talk," Sachi said to him, finally meeting his eyes.
His expression and disposition suddenly became gloomy. He nodded in response and got up to go to his room.
"It'll take a bit 'cause I'm going to take a quick shower first," he said to her pausing at the door.
"Okay," Sachi said. Although she said that, Sachi remembered her powers are weak against a freshly showered Ryo. "Shit."
Ryo always looks dashing in a suit but Sachi's favorite look of him is casual. She's not sure if other women feel the same way towards their boyfriends/husband, but whenever she sees Ryo wearing cotton jogging pants coupled with a white cotton T-shirt, a round neck shirt is fine but V-necks are definitely sexy, she can't explain the feeling, but she suddenly gets the urge to tie him to a bed and do whatever she wants with him. She especially loves his broad shoulders, and it is very much pronounced when he's only wearing a T-shirt compared to say, a suit.
She had once seen him wearing pants and an unbuttoned white button-down shirt before, and it almost drove her crazy. The man was so sexy that, that night she had thought about tearing his bedroom door down to violate him. These, of course, are just some of her impure thoughts about her husband. No matter how she hates him sometimes, it still doesn't erase the fact that the man is so fine, she can hear her egg cells practically screaming his name down under.
"We want Ryo's baby!" said one egg cell.
And then another one would say, "Let's make a baby with Ryo!"
"We want his baby, Sachi!" the eggs would all say in unison.
She would often imagine her egg cells saying this to her among other things.
"Calm down. Inner peace, inner peace," she recited her favorite mantra. "Wait, did I brush my teeth?" she asked herself in confusion. She consciously smelled her breath by breathing into her hand and then smelling it.
Since she was so preoccupied she did not notice Ryo just came out of his room.
"What are you doing?" he asked when he saw her. Sachi was startled that she faked coughing.
"Are you okay?" Ryo said and was now walking towards her. She saw he was wearing his grey cotton jogging pants and a white cotton V-neck shirt. He probably smelled of soap, shampoo, fabric conditioner and everything nice, too. On top of that, his hair was still wet and he was casually wiping it with a towel on one hand. In her eyes, he was moving in slow motion, too. Sachi unconsciously bit her lower lip.
'Good lord,' was the first thought that came to her mind. And at that moment she heard her egg cells down there chanting, "Let's get pregnant! Let's get pregnant! Let's get pregnant tonight, Sachi!"
"Don't come close," she blurted out to him without thinking.
This made Ryo stop on his track. He looked at her, unblinking.
"I mean, you sit there, I sit here. Let's do it that way," Sachi said indicating the sofa parallel to the one she was sitting on.
Ryo looked sad but followed her orders. He was still wiping his wet hair with the towel.
'What do I do? He looks so sexy?' Sachi asked herself forcing her attention to the TV. 'Keep it together. Keep it together.' She took one deep breath and turned the TV off. 'This is it!'
Because of her preoccupation, she failed to see that Ryo's eyes were on her the whole time.
Neither one of them spoke for what seemed like a century. Sachi was still avoiding his gaze while his eyes did not leave her face. He couldn't read her expression. Ryo broke the silence first.
"About the divorce," he started.
"I have decided," Sachi suddenly interrupted him. "I will meet your revenge plan head on."
Ryo frowned.
"I don't know if I can still help you take away whatever has been taken from your family. But, I figured, my family and I could at least pay that in money," Sachi said.
Ryo was about to open his mouth to protest but she gestured for him to stop and let her finish first.
"We'll pay you back, for as long as it takes. For as long as I'm alive, I'll pay it back. Just tell me how much I need to pay you every year, quarterly, or monthly. I'll do my best to meet it," Sachi said.
"Sachi, listen--," he wanted to tell her that he doesn't care about that anymore but she continued.
"I'm not ready to tell my family about this right now but I can assure you I will make that happen," Sachi said looking him straight in the eye. "Just let me deal with my family. Furthermore, I have decided to support your love."
"What?" Ryo asked, confused by what she had just said.
'Dammit, is he really going to make me spell it out for him to understand the obvious?' Sachi thought to herself in anger. "You and Melissa," she hesitated.
Ryo suddenly stood up. 'How the hell does she know about that?'
"There's nothing between us. We're just friends," Ryo pleaded.
"Well, it's not just Melissa but I'm sure there are others, too," Sachi said suddenly avoiding his eyes again. "Didn't you said you can sleep with anyone you like during our marriage?"
"I know that but I've never actually done that after marrying you," Ryo said.
"Don't care and doesn't matter," Sachi replied. She let out a sigh. "Don't you get it? If we get divorced you're free to love or be with anyone you like. Not like this, stuck in a loveless marriage with me. Besides, I'm already going to settle that matter concerning your grandfather's company."
"But--," Ryo interrupted but was cut off again.
"Just what will satisfy you Ryo, huh?" Sachi asked him, now with tears in her eyes. "If you wanted to hurt me and punish me, I'm telling you now that you've done more than enough of that already. This past few years being in this prison that we call marriage with you, has scarred me beyond your imagination. I'll pay you for the rest of my life but please don't involve my family in this and let's stop this now. I know, I'm not in any situation to bargain with you given what my family has done to yours, if indeed that's the truth, but please, I'm begging you, let's end this. Now. I mean, don't you want to be happy?"
"You're my happiness," Ryo said to her.
Sachi scoffed, although she was still crying. "Really, Ryo, just how low can you get? I can't believe you're that crass, trying to appeal to my feelings just to take your revenge. Haven't you had enough?"
"Sachi, allow me to make it up to you," Ryo said as he ran and dropped to his knees in front of her. He even took her hands in his.
"Unbelievable," Sachi scoffed. "What's next, are you going to tell me that you love me now?"
"If I say yes, would you believe me?" Ryo said.
"You've never actually given me a reason to believe you," Sachi paused and removed her hands from his. "Who was it who said he'll never let himself fall in love with the granddaughter of a thief?"
Ryo was just silent.
"And on our wedding night no less," Sachi added.
"That's why, let's start over again. Allow me to show you that I've changed," Ryo said.
"You see, I'm not really sure if I want that," Sachi told him.
"Please," Ryo said holding on to her hands again. "Just give me thirty days to show you that I've changed."
"Why should I believe you? Why should I agree to that?!" Sachi snapped.
"If after thirty days you finally decide that you really don't want to be with me anymore despite all of my efforts, I will sign the divorce papers. I'll leave your family alone and," Ryo paused. "You'll never see me again."
This time, Sachi's lips broke into a smile. "It's really true what they say about you."
Ryo threw her a questioning look.
"Oh, you know. That, you really have a knack for such stuff. They say your negotiation skills are top notch," Sachi said pulling her hands away from him. She stood up and walked over to her bedroom door. She stopped at the door.
"Thirty days. You have thirty days to have your lawyer prepare our divorce papers, no more, understand?" she said and immediately closed the door behind her so as not to give him any room to argue or negotiate with her anymore about the matter. After all, she was already crazy enough to have agreed.
***