"Fine then. Have it your way. I don't care." A slam of the door, A broken vase shattering, A sigh, and sobbing. All of these were what took place in his apartment today.
She wanted to pack up all her things and leave, and so, she decided she will. Mai opened the drawers where she kept her belongings, but as she grabbed the first shirt, she found herself unable to control her tears.
Could she possibly just leave? Could she possibly walk out the door and go back to how it was before? Could she possibly just leave him like that?
She thought about that. They were having fights more often than not. There wasn't much cuddling, kissing, hugging, or even much physical contact. Rather, they (but more she) had tumultuous raised voices, slammed doors, and more broken pieces of china or vases (all by him)…
but was that enough reason to leave? To stop loving him?
Love has always been pictured as flowers and sweetness. At 16, thats what she knew. When she met Naru, that's when her view of it changed. At 17, the time when she first was rejected, She realized, Love wasn't perfect.
The Naru in her dreams was flowers and sweetness, something of a perfect love story. At that time she couldn't answer because she was confused, was she really drawn to the dream Naru. Did she really want the ideal of love like that?
It took her until she was 18 to finally understand that love was not flowers and sweetness. It wasn't always cuddles and cuteness. She realized, it wasn't the times that she saw Gene smile which caused her heart to jump, it was the times that Naru was just there. Sure Gene ignited her attraction for him, but Gene's smile and kindness isn't what drew her to his brother. What drew her in was how he was teasing her, how he was always saving her and heck, even their fights, grew her to love him.
And when she realized all of that, all she could do is regret. She could have answered, she could have proved him wrong but the past can never be changed. It's already written… but who says she couldn't write the future?
While she was working off to buy her ticket to England, He had come back. She was thrilled but she realized, how was this gonna pan out?
'Should I justs go to him and confess?' She thought. 'But it's too early.' Another voice in her head said. In the end, she ended up working for him again and was still thinking about what to do with her affection towards him.
It took a while to confess. It took a while for him to digest her confession. It took a while for him to ask her out. It took a while for them to officially begin the girlfriend-boyfriend thing.
It took a while for them to get to the point they were now.
She was now 23, and she was living with him. The first days they were living together, they got only into petty arguments, they kissed, they cuddled and they had a sort of flowers and sweetness kind of relationship but time went by.
Time went by and they both began to raise their voices at each other. It'd usually start with a normal conversation, then one thing is said, and it goes horribly wrong. Then she began slamming the doors at him and in turn, his pk would slip, just a little bit, and something would break.
Today was just like those.
"Mai, don't come to the office today. Go there when I tell you to." He said as he was about to leave.
"Why can't I come?" Mai asked crossing her arms at him.
"Just… Don't come yet." He knew where this was going.
"Naru, the office is where I work, Don't you think I am entitled the right to enter my workplace?" She frowned.
"Since you work there, and I am the boss there, Your boss is telling you to don't come until I tell you so." He told her sternly.
"Naru, You don't order me around, I'm not just your assistant! I'm also your girlfriend!" She raised her voice a little this time. "I worry about you. I want to check up on you. Aren't I entitled to that?" She could feel her tears well up.
"Mai…" He sighed.
"You've been telling me not to go there for a while now! Is there something you're keeping from me?!" Her tears were streaming. Why can't he just tell her? She'd understand. 'I thought we were over keeping secrets from each other.' She thought bitterly.
"Mai, It'll be over in a while. You can come to the office soon." He said. He was trying so hard not to snap at her and lose it, he didn't want to hurt her. "I do not want to have this argument. Let's just drop it."
"DAMN IT, NARU! WE WOULD NOT BE HAVING THIS FRICKING ARGUMENT IF YOU JUST TELL ME WHY!" Her anger was full force now.
They were both stubborn and no one was willing to give up. They had exchanged harsh words to each other during the argument and no one was willing to back down.
In the end, Mai couldn't take it so she gave in and like the end of every argument she'd slam the door and she could faintly hear the sound of another broken porcelain.
She never asked for a perfect relationship. She knew from the very beginning that they would fight, they would ignore each other and that it wouldn't be easy. When she chose to confess, She knew what she was getting into.
Naru wasn't perfect. He was broken, he couldn't always be affectionate, and he wouldn't always know what to do or say when it came to matters of the heart. The day she confessed, she knew that she had to be patient.
She was stubborn. She will always stick it out till the end and she'd always stick to her reasoning. Her reasoning when she confessed was to be patient, and if she were to pack up all her things and leave, then she wasn't sticking to her decision.
Naru had entered the room to see Mai was still holding the shirt and the cabbinet where they kept travel bags, opened. Mai turned to look at him eyes wide as he drew closer and grabbed her hands, letting the shirt fall to the floor.
"Don't leave." Naru said. If a person that didn't know him were to hear him, he'd sound insincere but to Mai could hear very well how pained he was when he thought he saw her packing.
"I wasn't. It would feel like giving up, If I did." Mai said. "The very moment, I confessed to you, I knew I have to be patient, that I am going to stick through this till the end." Mai held his hands tighter.
"But Naru, It's still unfair that you're not telling me anything." Mai said looking down at both of their hands. She stroked the back of his palm with her hands.
"It's finished, earlier than expected. I'm sorry we had to argue about this but It can't be a surprise if I told you." Naru smirked as Mai looked up.
"Surprise?" Mai looked curiously at Naru who only gave a small nervous smile. He held her hand as they both headed for his car.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAI-CHAN!" Everybody from SPR and Naru's parents said simultaneously. They had planned her birthday, which she forgot about due to Naru and her arguments that was all to cover this surprise. "You should've just lied about it. Say there was a construction or something." Mai said through happy tears as she playfully hit Naru's shoulder.
"You would have stalked me here and it would ruin the surprise." He gave a knowing smirk.
"Of course, I would... but arguing with you isn't really my favorite thing to do." Mai pouted.
"It isn't mine either." He sighed and gripped her hand tightly.
Mai felt Naru was edgy. There was something obviously bothering him, she was about to ask when she was whisked away by Naru's mother and Ayako.
When the party was over and they were finally back home and alone. Mai was more than eager to ask him what was putting him on edge him.
She placed her hands on either sides of his face. "What's wrong?"
He placed a hand on top of hers. "My mother talked to me about when do I plan to marry you."
"Oh…" She said hoping it sounded like an understanding 'oh' rather than a surprised 'oh'.
"She says we've been together for a long time now and it's time to step things up." He sighed. Mai looked confused.
"Don't get me wrong, Mai, I would love to marry you." That was enough to make his girlfriend blush. "but I wanted to know, if you would like to after what we did."
"What do you mean 'what we did?'" Mai asked.
"We argued a lot the past few weeks, Not only because of the surprise. We argue about a lot of stuff…" He trailed off.
"Naru." Mai sighed. They did argue a lot, raised voices, slammed doors, and broke porcelain but they didn't love each other any less.
"You know every time we argue, I felt relieved." Mai said, only to be replied by Naru's raised eyebrow. "It's not easy when we argue, but when you think about it, every time we do we learn. The was a time when we argued, I learned why you didn't like sweets, and you learned that I have a massive sweet tooth and we compromised, that we would moderate sweets." She giggled and he gave a small smile.
"From the very beginning, Naru, We could not avoid arguing. I am stubborn, You are stubborn and none of us is willing to give up but you know, we aren't perfect. No relationship is perfect. It's normal to argue. There might be times I felt like giving up when we did but then I remember you, and how much I love you that I can't just give up. Now, More than ever, I'll never give you up… no matter how much you tease me, or argue with me because I realized no matter how many times we argue, I'm indestructible." Mai smiled. "And if you're as indestructible to our arguments as I am, then, I'm sure."
"I'm indestructible to our arguments, but when I saw you holding that shirt… I…"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Mai, I can't promise not hurting you, This is not something I am good at but all I know is if you left, I'll crumble."
"Naru, I'll never leave, I already told you that." She stroked his face with his thumbs. He grabbed her hands gently and made them let go of his face.
"Then would it be okay if I asked you to be my wife?" He got down on one knee and revealed a small box from his back pocket. Mai felt the tears in her eyes.
"It might be a bit of a storm. We will argue but you are indestructible to that." He said, his hands were shaking and Mai kneeled down with him and grabbed his hands with the box in between their hands.
"'People can become stronger when they know about love'" She said as tears slowly blurred her line of sight. "My father told me that once." She smiled at the memory. "I know I love you enough for me to get through that storm."
"What about you?" Mai asked, as she blinked, the tears streaked down her face.
"As long as it's with you, I'm indestructible." He said as he withdrew his hands and the box from her hands and opened the box. He pulled out the ring.
Mai held out her hand and slid the ring on her ring finger.