She Wears Flowers in Her Hair
When his best man accredits his anxiety to pre-wedding jitters, Takao bites his tongue and forces himself to agree with his brother's assessment. The weeks that lead up to a wedding are a rather nerve-wracking experience even with the aid of a family as helpful as his. On that he cannot disagree however; the lawyer cannot bring himself to admit that lately he has been more concerned about the events that led up to the inevitable marriage to his fiancée. Second wedding if he wanted to get into the technicality of the matter.
Very few people know about the true origins of his relationship with her. As terrible as it sounded, they had begun as an arrangement made between strangers that was meant to last only a few days at most. On her death bed, he had only wanted to give his grandmother the very things that he thought would have made her happiest for him. His intentions had been pure and honest though he had resorted to less than pure methods of accomplishing his goals. Takao had done what he had done out of love.
By nature, the lawyer is a man of sacrifice. He has always found his happiness in the happiness of his loved ones. The reason he had chosen to follow the career path of a prosecutor in the first place had been because he had wanted to make a safer world for his family and friends alike. He is working for a country where his younger brothers can make a name for themselves, a neighborhood that his parents can grow happily grow old in together, a life in which his grandmother knew that he had found the woman of his dreams.
She, a distant niece to one of his closest friends, had agreed to the role of the woman of his dreams. When she had granted her consent to his proposal, he had felt a wave of relief wash over him. The perfect stranger that he had not met but an hour before, a woman that knew nothing of who he was or why he was doing what he was, had been willing to offer her aid to him because she placed her faith into Kunihiko, and Kunihiko trusted him even if he didn't necessarily agree with what Takao was doing.
The expression that had lit his grandmother's face when they had stepped into her room at the hospital had been well worth its price at the time. Doubts had begun to creep into his mind considering the faux relationship, warning him that his grandmother would be able to see right past the façade, but to see the adoration in her eyes had quelled his anxieties. The joy that had lined her face as she had interacted with her had done little to ease his guilt, but it was a burden he was willing to bear for her.
If their arrangement had ended at that point, they would have likely gone their separate ways. It would have been an easy and expected end to their connection however; when his parents had announced that they wanted to see her, Takao had seen no other choice at the time but to call upon her services a second time. He would not deny that he had felt guilty for continuing the deception, but he had been desperate to keep up the appearance. No one could know of his lies for the sake of his grandmother.
After the initial surprises and restructuring of their arrangement, the façade came to him with more ease. For the sake of appearances, she had moved in with him, and, while it had taken some readjustment, he had adapted well to sharing his life with her. Takao had grown up surrounded by the noise and ongoing activities of his family. It had felt unnatural to live in an empty home where the only sign of life present there was his. She brought back to him some of that life that he had missed having in his home.
It was when he began to develop feelings for her that his true struggles began. Looking back on it now, it seemed inevitable that he would fall in love with her. When she had agreed to prolong their arrangement, it had been an act of kindness. The guilt that she had suffered for their deception had evidenced her empathy for others. With a smile alone to greet him as he had walked through the door, he had felt his spirits uplift regardless of how bad his day may have been going; proof that her presence alone was good for him.
When he could no longer deny that he had fallen in love with her, Takao had felt his heart break into pieces. There was a certain mockery to be had over developing honest feelings for a woman that he had personally arranged to love only in name. They were meant to be strangers that would have never met if it hadn't been for his intricate web of deceptions. Their relationship did not have any substance to it. It was an awkward connection that had blossomed into a friendship of sorts between two strangers under unusual circumstances.
For her sake, Takao had bit his tongue and bottled his emotions tightly into his heart where she could not touch them. It was not in his rights to ask of her that she acknowledge his feelings for her when she had already done so much for him. When their arrangement came to an end, she would be free to go on her own way. After all, he had not been the reason that she had come to the city. Before he had dragged her into his troubles, she had been leading her own life with her own plans.
His silence would have held until the end of their arrangement if his deception hadn't led to a marriage ceremony arranged upon his grandmother's recovery. At that point, Takao could not have seen any way out of the situation. If they held their silence about the artificiality of their relationship, she would have been chained to him. In the future, when she fell in love, their marriage would stand in her way. He would have made her miserable. If he told the truth, he would reveal to his family his lies and deceptions. He would have broken his grandmother's heart.
Takao still believes that he had made the right decision in confessing the truth to his family. In doing so, he had set her free from her obligations to him. She was free to chase her dreams. As he had expected, his family had been upset with him, but it had been well worth it. In time, he would have atoned for his actions, and they would have forgiven him. Family would always be family, but if he had forced her hand in marriage because of his actions, he would never have forgiven himself. Sometimes love meant letting go.
At times, he still had trouble fathoming the events that had led to this day. When night had fallen and all was silent, he found himself marveling over a simple truth: she loves him. After she had left, depression had gotten the better of him. His house had felt empty without her. He had begun to avoid coming home in the evenings because her smile hadn't been there to greet him. He had done the right thing, but it had made him miserable. Then, when he had least expected it, she had confronted him and confessed her love.
Takao nervously readjusts his bowtie as he shifts impatiently from foot-to-foot. In less than five minutes, the wedding ceremony will begin. She will walk down the aisle in a dress of white that he has not been allowed to see until that moment. A veil will shield her face from view as she takes her place at his side. They will speak their vows to one another, and then, finally, he will be allowed to look his bride-to-be in the eye as he promises her an eternity together. These are both the shortest and longest moments of his life.
Their wedding is the perfect happy ending, but will their future be as blissful as this day? When they have children, will he have the courage to confess to his children that he fell in love with their mother through a lie? Takao's intentions had been pure, but he doesn't want his children to think that the only means of pleasing those that they love is through an idealistic deception. From his mistakes, he wishes for them to learn that they may not always get where they wanted to go in life, but he will love them regardless.
The story of their love is not the dream of a little girl. Unlike other couples, he cannot share the full story of how they met one another to his acquaintances. There is not a special moment in which he looked up from the bar only to meet the eyes of the woman that he will fall head over heels in love with. For them, there will be no regaling tale about a proposal so romantic that it took her breath away and brought tears to her eyes. To what extent will this past deception affect their lives?
Distracted as he is, Takao misses the hushed silence that falls over the crowd as the musical notes of a harp take up. A swift jab to the side from his best man nearly draws a noise of pain from him, but as he turns to scold his brother the entrance to the chapel opens to reveal the flower girl. She is bashful as she tosses rose petals down the aisle with a smile so big it's almost blinding. It is a heartwarming sight that calms his nerves, but then she steps into view and his breath leaves him.
Her dress is as white as freshly fallen snow; a color that must make her eyes all the more vibrant and colorful. Around her neck hangs a necklace of crystal and silver that glimmers in the light with every flowing step that she takes. She is like an angel that has fallen to Earth, and he cannot take his eyes off of her but it is not the beauty of her dress that enraptures him so much as it is the flowers she wears in her hair. It is a small detail, but one that leaves him speechless.
Keeping the gossamer fabric of her veil in place is a chain of flowers that he knows not by name, but by beauty. Lavender, snow white, amaranth; these are the soft colors that slip between the silken locks of her hair. They add a touch of natural beauty to her, a beauty that is far more similar to her own than the jewelry that hangs from her neck. To Takao, the flowers are what remind him that she is real and that she is there in this moment with him. She is there, and she is walking towards their future.
His hands are shaking as he slowly lifts the veil to reveal her face. There is a smile upon her face so sweet and beautiful that his knees nearly buckle. Tears hang on the edge of her lashes, but he has never seen anything nearly so lovely as the expression on her face at this very moment. Joy lines every edge of her face, love colors her voice when she speaks, happiness radiates in her eyes; Takao is a fool for even once doubting that their future as one could be troubled by their unusual past.
In this moment, the blissful ending Takao has been seeking is reflected in her eyes.