BETA worked by Hephaestus1923

"Stay"

"Action speaks louder than words." -Anonymous

Prologue: Flashback - Flashforward

Tainaka Ritsu's life has changed into something much better, as what her friends had thought. A certain girl was the reason to the change. At first, it seemed that Ritsu really had changed, but after a few months, it seemed that everything was back to how it was before Akiyama Mio came into her life.

Akiyama Mio was the only girl who had ever made Ritsu's heart skip a beat. People said, whenever you meet someone that makes your heart skip a beat, it means that you're in love. The brunette started to believe those words when she had met her match. Ritsu has been hiding her feelings towards Mio, because the girl seemed to have no interest in her. But what she didn't know was, Mio actually felt the same thing towards her. And Mio wanted to show it, rather than type it, because to her, action speaks louder than words.

The news about Ritsu's newfound girlfriend spread so fast, that it had reached Ritsu's parents' ears, which are still going overseas. Her father didn't seem to be happy about the news of his only daughter dating another girl. But her mother had warned him to never separate the two lovebirds from each other. Ritsu doesn't care when she heard that her father didn't feel happy about the fact of her having a girlfriend, instead of a boyfriend.

What's important to her for now is that, she already knows what she is going to ask her father when her parents get back to Tokyo. Back then, Ritsu had made a deal with her father, and that was that she will take care of the big company while he's away. The reward for all her hard work is her father having to grant anything that Ritsu wishes.

It's true that Akiyama Mio is Ritsu's real girlfriend and she does love her. Out of Ritsu's knowledge, Mio started doubting when she started feeling a weird distance between them.

Ritsu doesn't notice a thing about her relationship and that's because she has been busy with her work. It is like ninety-five percent of her life. Mio knows that she just have to deal with this, especially that the end of the year is nearing and that the exams are coming in like a few more weeks. She can't lie that she's always busy with college, but her being busy is just ten percent compared to Ritsu's. The two rarely call each other, unlike what they used to, they, too, rarely talk to each other. They don't even meet each other very often, even though they live in the same apartment and sleep in the same bed together every night. Maybe Mio is just a very patient person, but she's still a human and her patience has its limit and Mio just know that she just reached that limit.

One night, Mio started thinking to move into her own living place. She said she'll find a way to live there all alone. And somehow, she will manage everything on her own, without any help from Ritsu. That night, Ritsu got home past midnight as usual. She found Mio's bag and inside were Mio's clothes. She frowned and waited for the other girl to wake up from her sleep. Once Mio woke up, Ritsu stroked Mio's hair ever so gently and soothed her name three times. Ritsu's actions made Mio frown. She asked Ritsu, "Why?" She didn't even know why she asked her 'why?'

Thank God, that Ritsu knew what was going on in Mio's mind. "I'm sorry, okay? I know, I've been really busy and we rarely talk... I shouldn't have ignored you. I should've called you every time I'm comin' back over midnight... I'm so sorry, but please... don't leave me, Mio..."

"No, you're not ignoring me, and you shouldn't call me because I know how busy you are, and it's just... I don't want to blame you... but it hurts to realize that our distance is just getting farther..."

"I'll make it up to you... maybe not now...but, just a bit more time, okay?" Ritsu leaned closer and stopped Mio from saying anything.

It's just like that, and Mio has forgotten all her plans of moving and leaving Ritsu. She knows that she'll never be strong enough to do that, because Ritsu is the only one that she has. To leave Ritsu, means to leave something that she is living for. Mio looks tougher than before, but she still thinks that she'll look tougher with Ritsu by her side.

That night when Ritsu had promised Mio that she'll make it up to her, Mio started to have that feeling again. She hated it, she always hated the feeling of doubting Ritsu's words. It just gets harder and harder to believe whenever it takes a lot of time for Ritsu to prove her promise.

Kotobuki Tsumugi is one of Ritsu's close friends, she has a lot of knowledge when it comes to girl-to-girl relationships. Even though Mio has already shared it to Mugi, she still can't get quite enough.

Mio's glad that Ritsu's friends are very supportive to her; they all said that Mio has been a very patient girl to deal with the busy Tainaka Ritsu. Mio herself doesn't know if she has to take that as a compliment or not, because waiting was never been an easy thing to do. It's also hard for Ritsu, because she's been working very hard for the past few months. She is doing this, so that she could take at least three-weeks off from work to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve.

However, she never paid any attention to her health.

One time, when she's having a meeting at her office, Ritsu suddenly collapsed in the middle of the meeting.

"Tainaka-san!" One of the executives said, as they all gathered around the collapsed Tainaka.

Some of her private guards came in and lifted Ritsu to her limo and took her back to the apartment. No one knew that Ritsu has been... sick for the past one and a half years.

A/N: Big thanks to Hephaestus1923 for being my BETA! You're awesome!