Oliver looked down at the small brunette asleep in his arms with soft eyes, a small smile tugging on his lips. It was their two year anniversary, and after a nice dinner at a quiet Italian resteraunt, the couple had retired home to watch a movie.
Mai however had drifted off only ten minutes into the film, not that Oliver was complaining. One of his favourite past times was watching her sleep, not that she knew that of course. In the mornings, he often woke before her and took much pleasure in watching her as she slept, watching the strands of hair that lay across her face rhythmically rise and fall.
Their bed was strategically located opposite the bedroom window, so the soft morning light fell over the couple when the sun rose, and so they could watch the birds that nested in the cherry blossom tree in their back yard.
He noticed her breathing become irregular, and looked down to see her eyes flutter open and eventually focus on him.
"If you thought the movie was boring, you should have just said," he said to her jokingly.
"How long have a been asleep?"she replied, feeling guilty. "You should have woken me up."
"I thought you could use the sleep," he said, frowning at the purple bags beneath her eyes. He'd noticed her energy levels had been lacking recently. The usually bubbly girl had seemed slightly subdued for the past few weeks, and he didn't know why.
"Are you feeling okay at the moment? You've seemed tired lately." He searched her eyes for any sort of response. He'd learned how to tell when she was lying to him in the year they'd been living together.
She smiled back at him. "I'm just trying to get caught up on a few projects from college that I missed when we were away on the last case." This was true, but she didn't mention just how much work that actually was. She usually ended working through her lunch break at a quiet spot in the back of the library where nobody would disturb her.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and sighed. "Okay, but promise you'll tell me if you start to feel worse," his forehead creased in concern.
Mai was studying Psychology at Tokyo University, and although she loved it, ghost hunting would always take top priority. The university didn't mind when she took a week off every now and then for a case, as she was self supporting and hard working. This did mean however that she had to work twice as hard when she got back to catch up on the content that she'd missed.
He kissed her forhead, making her blush and smile shyly. "Come on," he said as he stood up, pulling her up with him. "Lets go to bed."
He put his arms around her neck, pulling her closer to him.
"But it's only 9:30," she replied. She put her hands on his waist and looked up at him as he ran his fingers through her soft brown hair.
"Well, I'm sure we could find something to do for the next few hours." His silky voice sent shivers down Mai's spine. She rose up onto her toes and kissed him softly on the lips.
"And what do you have in mind?" she whispered seductively into his ear. He lifted her of the ground so their faces were level, making Mai giggle.
"Well, there's some laundry that needs doing, and we still need to take the trash ou-" he was interrupted as Mai kissed him, a soft chuckle vibrating through her lips.
"Oliver Davis, I love you," she said as a warm feeling spread through her chest.
"And I love you, Mai Taniyama."
Neither of the two had ever been this happy. He lead her by the hand to their bedroom, the door slamming shut behind them.
It was Saturday, which was chore day. Naru always offered to help out, but Mai had always enjoyed the idea of being a housewife and so took it upon her self to make sure all the chores were taken care of by herself. They took turns cooking dinner, but that's as much as Mai would allow Naru to help out around the house.
She stood at the top of the stairs in their modest two story suburban house, leaning against the wall catching her breath. When did walking up the stairs get so difficult?, she thought to her self.
Oliver had left for the office early this morning without waking her. When she finally woke up, she noticed the sun was further across the room that it usually was in the morning. She fumbled about for her phone on the bedside table, eyes widening when she saw the time. 2 pm?! I've never slept till this late in my life!
She sprung out of bed, but stumbled at black dots appeared in her vision. She lost her balance, catching her right thigh painfully on the sharp corner of the night stand, before steadying herself against the wall.
She closed her eyes for a few moments, willing the room to stop spinning. She blinked a few times to try and clear her vision and sat back down on the edge of the bed, waiting for the ringing in her ears to stop.
I must just be hungry, the thought to her self. She was too busy studying the day before to have a proper meal. She grabbed a pack of rice crackers around 4 pm but only had time to eat half before meeting with her project group to prepare for a presentation coming up the following week. She arrived home at around 9 pm, too tired to do anything but go to straight to bed. She told Naru she'd already eaten so he wouldn't make a fuss, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
At 9:30, Oliver quietly opened the bedroom door and peered inside at his sleeping girlfriend, noticing that she hadn't even bothered to change her clothes before going to bed. She lay on top of the covers on her side, facing away from the door.
Half an hour later he joined her in bed, gently laying a thick blanket over Mai's sleeping form. He slid into the covers, the bed creeking slightly as he lay down. He softly brushed her hair out of her face, unable to push back the wave of concern that washed over him. He knew something wasn't right with her, and he was determined to find out what it was.
When Oliver returned from work on Saturday evening, he was greeted with a kiss and told that dinner would be ready in 5 minutes. He put his brief case down on the kitchen table and undid a few buttons on his black fitted shirt. Mai was in the kitchen washing some dishes, facing away from him.
He slowly walked up to her, putting one hand around her waist and using the other to brush her shoulder length hair away from her neck. She moaned gently as Oliver kissed her just below the ear where she liked it, making her shiver.
"How was your day?" he whispered into her ear, as the hand that was previously around her waist moved down to her thigh, gently brushing against the sensitive skin.
"It was good. I finished the laundry and dusted," she replied breathlessly. She turned around so she was facing him, and gave him a soft kiss. His hand continued to travel down her thigh, but stopped when she took a sudden intake of breath and her face scrunched up in pain.
"What is it? Whats wrong?" Oliver asked, feeling over protective of the petite girl stood before him.
"It's nothing, really. I just fell today and hurt my leg a bit." Naru looked down at her thigh and lifted her skirt slightly to reveal an angry purple bruise, around the size of a fist on her right thigh. His eyes narrowed as he knelt down to look more closely.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asked, as he stood up and looked her over, checking for other injuries. She took his hands in hers and held them to her chest, her big brown eyes staring up at him reassuringly.
"Oliver, I'm fine. I promise," she smiled. He was still suspicious.
"How did you fall?" He noted that she averted her gaze away from his.
"I slipped in the shower."
"You're lying," he immediatley replied. How does he always know when I'm lying?! Mai thought to her self. "Tell me what really happened?"
"I...uh, felt really dizzy when I got out of bed this afternoon and fell against the bedside table." He looked away, trying to control his anger.
"Why didn't you call me? I've told you to call me if anything ever happens," he replied, frustrated. "What if it had happened again while you were going down the stairs and you'd seriously hurt your self?" He took her face in his hands. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I need you to stay safe."
Mai's eyes glistened with unshed tears and she tried to control the growing lump in her throat. She hated it when he got angry with her.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice wavering. "I just didn't eat enough yesterday, so I thought I'd be okay once I ate something. I've been fine since then so I didn't want to bother you at work and make you worry."
He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "What am I going to do with you?" His eyes locked with hers, an apologetic smile on Mai's face.
"Well I think you should definitley forgive me, considering dinner is nearly ready and I want to talk to you about your day," she said grinning. "I made your favourite..." How could he resist?
"You have nothing to apologise for. I just worry about you; you're a danger magnet." He kissed her forhead and walked over to the stove. "Smells amazing. I'll just change before dinner."
As Mai's exams grew closer, the more intensely she studied. She was attending college on a full scholarship due to her circumstances, so she always put 110% into studying. She knew that Oliver could pay for her tuition if she wanted, and he had offered many times, but she wanted to do it on her own. She was proud of how far she had come on her own, and didn't want to rely on anybody else for her success.
She woke up at 6 am every morning for the two weeks leading up to her exams (except for Sundays, when she slept till whenever she woke naturally), and studied till at least 10 pm on most evenings. Oliver had taken to cooking dinner every night, and Mai had even agreed to let him help around the house while she studied.
Oliver loved Mai's figure. She was naturally slim, yet her hips had a slight curve leading down to a pair of toned legs. Recently however he had noticed that she had started to lose weight. Not a lot by any means, but her wrists looked pale and fragile, and her hip bones had begun to show more than they used to.
He doubted the weight loss was intentional, as Mai had never expressed any displeasure about her looks, but this along with her chronic fatigue made him very concernd about his girlfriend. Whevener he questioned her about it, she brushed off his comments and changed the subject. He knew she didn't like him to worry, but sometimes his worry was warranted.
It was the following Friday, after Mai's final exam. Naru had returned from the office early to surprise Mai. He was going to take her for a walk in the park, and then for dinner at their favourite Italian resteraunt, where he would present her with a beautiful yet modest diamond necklace.
They were returning from lunch a few weeks before, when something caught Mai's eye in the window of an expensive looking jewellery shop. She stopped for a moment to look at it, but said it was nothing when Naru asked her what was wrong. He'd returned to buy the necklace the next day, price not being an issue, and had been waiting for the right time to give it to her.
He heard the door open and then close, meaning Mai was home. He stood in front of the dining room table waiting for her to exit the hall way, but after a few seconds there was no sign of her. He heard a soft clink as a set of keys fell onto the wooden floor of the western style house.
Concern growing in his stomach, he proceeded to the hallway where he found Mai supporting her self with a hand on the wall next to her. Her eyes were closed and she was pale, her breathing irregular. Oliver rushed towards her, when he saw her waver and her knees collapse from beneath her. He made it just in time to catch her as she fell, but not before her head cracked against the side of the wooden cabinet beside them.
"Shit," he cursed. "Mai. Mai wake up." He said forcefully as he held her in his arms, one hand cradling her head and the other supporting her lower back. He put two fingers to her neck, feeling for a pulse. He let out a sigh of relief as he found her pulse, but it was beatung much too fast. He then noticed the hand supporting Mai's head felt warm and wet. Blood. Head wounds were never good. Maybe she has a concussion.
He gently lay her on the ground before reaching for his phone and dialing for Lin, praying that what ever was wrong with his girlfriend wasn't life threatening.
Everything was fuzzy. There was a bright white light behind her eyes, which increased the intensity of her headache. There was a soft pressure on her left hand, and something was tickeling her arm. Her eyelids felt heavy and stiff, so it took her a good few minutes before she could fully open her eyes and take in her surroundings.
Why am I in the hospital? She thought to herself. Her heart rate rose as she began to panic, not being able to remember what had happened to her. This in turn caused the beeping of her heart rate monitor to increase in speed. Something beside her stirred and moved, as she noticed Oliver's sleeping form next to hers. He was holding her hand in his, and his head was resting against her arm on the hospital bed. His position overall looked very uncomfortable, and she guessed he would have a sore neck when he woke up.
His head rose, and his tired eyes met hers. "Mai?" he said groggily.
"Hey," she said, trying her best to smile for him. "What happened? Why am I in the hospital?" she said softly, as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
"You passed out and hit your head. You have a concussion. You've been asleep for a long time, nearly two days." Mai noticed Oliver's clothes were creased, and his eyes were bloodshot. His hair was a mess, which was very unusual for Oliver, and there was an aray of empty takeaway coffee cups on the table next to him, along side a few bunches of flowers.
He took her hand and pressed in to the side of his face. "I was so worried. Please don't ever do that to me again." He sighed and stretched his neck out, wincing in pain.
"What's wrong with me?
36 hours earlier
Oliver nervously paced in the hospital waiting room, glancing at his watch every 5 minutes. "What's taking them so long?"
"I'm sure everything is fine Noll. They're just running some tests, and they said she needed a CT scan. She's going to be okay." Lin replied to a frustrated Oliver from an uncomfortable plastic chair across the room.
At that moment, a tall doctor in a white coat entered the waiting room. "Family of Mai Taniyama?"
"Yes," Oliver replied quickly. "How is she?"
"She has a mild concussion and her head wound required six stitches, but she's going to be okay. However, we ran some blood tests and found her to be moderatley anemic and malnourished. Have you noticed any behavourial changes recently that could explain how this has happened?"
Oliver sat back on one of the plastic chairs and put his head in his hands. Everything makes sense now.
"She's been studying for her college exams. She probably hasn't been eating properly throughout the day, and she often comes home late and goes straight to bed without eating." Oliver sighed, cursing him self internally. How did I not notice? I'm tecnhically a Doctor for crying out loud!"
Lin approached the doctor and thanked him for informing them of the diagnosis. "Is she awake?" Lin asked quietly.
"Not yet I'm afraid. She's probably going to be asleep for a while with the state her body is in. She needs all the sleep she can get. You're free to visit her as you please. If you'd both like to follow me?" The doctor opened the door to the waiting room and gestured for the two men to follow.
Two days after Mai had been released from the hospital, Naru was forcing Mai to stay in bed until she was feeling better.
"But Naaruu, I feel so much better! All I want to do is go for a walk in the sun. Bed rest is so boring," she said, pouting at Naru with her arms folded across her chest.
"The doctor said you need to take it easy for at least a week, plus you still look so pale," he said as he handed her a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup and the left the room to do the dishes. He returned ten minutes later when Mai was done eating and lay down next to her on their bed, on his side, so he was looking at her. Mai slid over towards him and he took her into his arms.
"I need you to get better as fast as possible, so we can go back to normal," he said softly while stroking her hair.
"I know," she replied into his chest. She fell asleep five minutes later, and Naru followed not long after. He had given her the necklace as soon as she was released from the hospital, and she hadn't taken it off since.