When I opened my eyes again, I found Shigure sitting, leaning back on a black couch with me on his lap. The two of us silently stared into each other's eyes, enjoying this moment of quiet stillness.
The couch was vaguely familiar, but looking into Shigure's loving eyes was so much more interesting than figuring out where we were now.
"Shigure? Kim?" exclaimed a sharp voice with a plummy whiff, waking us up.
We turned our heads in unison, blurting out, "Director?"
We were in the Director's office?
Sitting in front of her desk and looking exasperated, was a middle aged man with glasses.
"Ah. This must be the couple I was sent for. You needn't worry anymore, Director," the man said smoothly. "The papers and everything are ready."
"Shigure, Kim, what are the two of you doing here? How did you suddenly appear on my couch? Have one of you woken a teleporting talent?"
"The Creator sent us," we answered in unison and glanced at each other with amusement that we would say exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Our newly deepened link was really keeping us in sync. "Director, we're here to get married."
"So you two are why this wedding celebrant has appeared and insisted that someone has informed him that there's a couple in the office requiring his services. Wait," Director Worth stood up suddenly and pointed at us, realisation belatedly dawning. "Have you two already… Shigure! I thought you said that you'd… You two," Director Worth started a few unfinished sentences, but seemed unable to finish them before the next sentence erupted from her. "should I congratulate you or scold you? What are you doing back here? Why are you still giving me more work when you shouldn't be here?"
"Calm down, Director," Shigure and I said in unison. We glanced at each other again and the Director closed her mouth with a strange expression on her face.
Shigure put a hand on my head and through our link asked me not to speak. He slid me off his lap and onto the couch, so that I could recline there and watch.
"Let me do the talking, Uki-chan," he said, standing up to sit in the other chair opposite to the Director.
"Uh, before any of you start talking about anything important," the celebrant raised his hand, "please allow me to do my job and then go. I don't need to hear anything I shouldn't hear. I'm just here to do my job. I have a very important meeting to get to outside the city and I have to catch the plane tonight. I need to go very soon."
"Tonight?" Shigure and I sat upright and exchanged another glance. After a beat, I realised that my hand on my head was mirroring Shigure's.
"Something has happened to the two of you," the Director announced, looking between us.
Shigure looked between the celebrant and the Director and I saw what he did. Both had the glowing light of someone who knew the Creator, meaning Shigure could speak frankly.
"Let's get the marriage done first," Shigure said. "The Creator has instructed that the first thing Uki-chan and I do when we arrive is to get married with your assistance and blessing, Director."
"Oh. Ok. If the Creator has commanded it. This is a bit rushed though," the Director frowned. "I'll have to think up an excuse for the general public though. You two really did it, huh? That's why you're so in tune with each other now?"
Shigure and I blushed.
"You realise that there's a rule that partners aren't allowed to become romantically involved?" the Director scowled at us. "It's a good thing Shigure already had you both resign before you left the city, otherwise…"
"I - we resigned?" my eyes shot over to Shigure, eyebrows raised and eyes wide.
"Yes," Shigure confirmed.
"Why didn't I know about this?" I asked with a pout.
"Because you were unconscious at the time," Shigure told me with a smile.
"Ahem," coughed the celebrant. "If you all don't mind. I have a plane to catch."
"I'll just tell people that Kim was pregnant and needed my assistance for a rushed wedding," the Director mused, rubbing her chin and then noticed the way Shigure and I were looking at each other. "No way. It's true? How long ago did you do the deed? Shigure, you kept something so important from me?"
"Uh, calm down, Director," I wiped the sweat from my forehead. "What's the date?"
"It's the fifteenth," Director Worth replied with mild confusion.
Shigure and I raised an eyebrow. It was still the same day as the battle with the lizards. Had we gone back in time?
"No, sorry," the Director glanced at her calendar, "I lied. It's the sixteenth."
Shigure and I both released a breath.
"Last night," Shigure said, his ears glowing red. "Last night was the first night."
"Well, well," the Director wiggled her eyebrows at us. "Congratulations."
"Don't," Shigure raised a hand to stop her. "Please don't congratulate us until after the marriage. It was a mistake and one we're going to have to pay the price for. We were locked in a cave tunnel system by a lizard as big as a four wheeled drive and somehow drugged by it with an odourless gas."
"It wasn't completely odourless," I piped up from the couch. "Besides, you smelled it later on when it was more concentrated. It's there in your memory."
"You took advantage of me," Shigure growled.
"You took advantage of me," I retorted. "I was already in a bad state and injured…" remembering I had been naked in the tunnel, I glanced down at myself to find that I was wearing clothes now. It looked like my own clothes, only more comfortable.
*"Thank you, Creator Father,"* I sent silently, realising He must have clothed me when He had pulled us aside to talk to the four of us at the garden table.
*"You're welcome,"* I heard the reply. *"I hope you like them?"*
*"Very much,"* I said. "They're super comfortable."*
*"Wonderful."*
"Ahem," coughed the celebrant again. "Plane. Need to go. Please? If you give me too much more information, I will be bound by my duty to advise the couple to rethink their purpose of marriage and reschedule to another date, but I do not believe I will be returning to this city in the near future. However, since you have mentioned the Creator, I will assume it is safe for me to do proceed. I was informed to facilitate the marriage of the happy couple immediately. The moment I found them. As in, please sign the forms now."
The celebrant spread out the documents on the table and passed one to the Director.
"Director, you sign this one here and here," he said, pointing. "Please use the excuse you thought up just now. Although they have just done the deed, the Creator advised me that the child has indeed been conceived and so we are not lying. Also, Director, we need at least two or three witnesses. If you could please…"
"Ah," Director Worth nodded. She had been about to say something but changed her mind. Instead, she pressed a button on her phone and switched it to the loudspeaker. "Ena, call Howie and Big Brother to my room immediately. It doesn't matter what they're doing, I want them here in two minutes. You can enter with them at that time as well. I'll be needing all three of you."
"Yes, Director. I'm on it," Ena's reply came from the phone and the Director pressed another button to end the call. Picking up a pen, she started writing.
"As for the happy couple, I am going to ask you a series of questions. I would like you both to answer me verbally, individually and truthfully," the celebrant said. "I am also going to give you a little informative speech, which you are both required to verbally acknowledge that you understand. If you don't understand, please raise your hand to stop me."
And then the celebrant read a speech about marriage and its sanctity, what it was, involved and how serious a matter it was. He read out the related laws concerning marriage and divorce or separation at breakneck speed without tripping over his words, making me internally applaud at this demonstration of proficiency and experience. There was no way he wouldn't be able to speak at such a speed if he wasn't beyond familiar with all this material.
I wondered what his name was. A man this smart and dextrous in speech was surely a man worth remembering. Shigure glanced at me when I thought this and frowned at me. Oops. I think he heard me thinking.
"Young lady," said the celebrant, stopping suddenly in the middle of his speech. "I say, the Creator would like you to pay close attention and not let your mind wander. This is all very important information. Also, I apologise for not introducing myself earlier. My name is James Poulter. Pleased to meet you all. Please excuse me. I'm in a hurry."
And then he continued his speech.
When he was done, Shigure and I both nodded and gave our verbal assent, stating we understood.
Then the celebrant asked us questions individually to which we answered, "I do" and confirmed we were entering this marriage of our own volition and that it was not forced in any way.
When that section was done and while the celebrant was taking a moment to catch his breath, Shigure turned to the Director. The Director was watching and listening with a beam.
"Director, do you still have those…" Shigure began and the Director opened her drawer, taking out three little jewelry cases, placing them all on her table.
"Surprised? Touched? Consider it my wedding gift for both of you," the Director grinned.
"Even though I paid for them?" Shigure scowled.
"I organised and had them designed according to your wishes," the Director said with a smile. "I had a feeling you would need them one day."
"By the way, the cost for today's service will amount to one thousand mollars," James Poulter, the celebrant said. "You are receiving a discount as this is my last job in this city. You may pay at the end of the ceremony."
"I'll pay," Shigure smiled at me, while I had been freaking out over how much one thousand mollars were. I didn't think I even had that much in my bank account. Though upon second thoughts, the pay ought to have accumulated during the time I was unwell on sick leave. Although the Organisation paid my medical fees, I should still be receiving a small amount. Come to think of it, it had been a very long time since I had last checked my bank account. More than two years or something.
More than two years. That was a really long time. I had been sick for so long before that as well and…
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," Director Worth called.
The door opened and Ena led Mr Holt and Big Brother into the room. With a gesture from the Director, the room door was shut.
All three looked taken aback to find Shigure and myself here. And then seeing how I was reclining on the couch, obviously not very well, Big Brother rushed over to me.
"Kim, you've been hurt again," he said in a pained tone and glared at Shigure.
"Director, what's going on?" Mr Holt nodded at Shigure who returned the nod and waved at me when I waved to him.
"I called the three of you here to witness the marriage of Shigure and Kim," the Director cleared her throat, holding a hand out to Big Brother to silence his protests. Meanwhile, Mr Holt and Ena's eyes lit up. "The two have already decided on this and as some of their closest friends, I thought you would like to witness this moment. Big Brother, if you can't do it, I'll call on someone else."
Big Brother held both my hands in a crushing grip, grinding his teeth.
Shigure walked over, feeling my pain through our link as well as how reluctant I was to stop him, because Big Brother's emotions were so intense.
"Big Brother, let go of my wife's hands," Shigure stood over us, speaking in a mild tone.
Big Brother stood up in a hurry, throwing an angry punch at Shigure who easily sidestepped the blow and with a catch and twist of Big Brother's arm, had him kneeling on the ground with his arm twisted behind his back. Big Brother slapped the ground with a low and angry roar. And then he was silent. Tears dripped from his face onto the carpet.
"I'm so sorry, Big Brother," I said, wanting to pay him on the shoulder but Shigure pushed my hand away, glaring at me. Whoa. Someone was a bit jealous there. Maybe even a bit possessive. "I know you wanted to wait for me, but to be honest, I still only see you as a big brother senior agent. I didn't and may never have any feelings for you. With Shigure, things sort of just happened. So I'm sorry, but I belong with Shigure now."
"If you can't do it, you can leave," Director Worth told Big Brother in a cold voice. "This is Kim's decision. Accept it."
Big Brother took several breaths, took a few steps to the door and then paused with his hand on the handle. He seemed to fight with himself there for a long moment.
"Two witnesses are sufficient," James said into the silence. "If you don't mind, we will now continue the ceremony. Groom, you may take the rings. I believe there is something you would like to say to the bride before we exchange the wedding vows?"
Shigure's nostrils flared for a split second and then he spun on his heel to pick up one of the jewelry boxes, opening and closing them until he found the right one.