Chapter Three
After a long, final day in Okinawa, we'd had yet to hear from Mari or Takumi. It was strange, I thought, since they were only down the hall. I was thankful for it nonetheless. As Kotoko and I prepped for our last evening here, she hummed to herself.
"I'm kind of sad this is our last night here, but I'm happy to be going home." She said.
"Are you almost ready?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer me, but was interrupted by banging on the door.
"Naoki-san!" I heard Takumi from the other side. Kotoko came out of the bathroom and I opened the door. Takumi was frantic and panting.
"What happened?" I said as he caught his breath.
"Mari… it's Mari! You've got to help her." He ushered me out the door, Kotoko tagging along.
"What's wrong with Mari?"
"I don't know, she just curled up on the bed and started crying about being in pain. You were the first person I thought of. Hurry, hurry!" We turned the corner and he threw open his door with a shaky hand. High-pitched, strained cries filled the air.
"Mari…" Takumi sat on the bed beside her, seeming unsure of what to do.
"It hurts," she whined as she clutched her stomach, "It hurts so much."
"I don't know what to do. What could be wrong?" Takumi said.
"Why don't you take her to the hospital?" Kotoko said, eyeing Mari as she squirmed on the bed.
"She won't let me because she doesn't want to make this serious."
"Maybe it'll get better if I just keep… lying down." Mari said faintly and then she yowled in pain again.
"Can't you do anything?" Takumi said to me, only becoming more worried.
"He's only aspiring to be a doctor…" Kotoko said. I could see and hear that she wanted to leave, but things like this could be serious.
"I'll take a look." I said, running over her symptoms and trying to put together what she could have, going from what I'd studied so far.
"Does she have nausea or fever?" I asked as I made for the bed.
"No, not either."
"Where does it hurt?" I said to Mari, "Let me see your stomach." She rolled over.
"I think we should call an ambulance." Kotoko stood by the door uneasily.
"That depends on her." I said.
"What about dinner?"
"This isn't the time for that." I leaned over and felt around Mari's stomach. I searched for tension or lumps, but I found nothing abnormal. Still, she wriggled and her knuckles whitened from clamping her fists together. Her eyes squeezed shut.
"Don't!" Kotoko rang out, "Stop touching her! Don't touch another woman!" She looked like she wanted to cry, but this was not something to be jealous over. This was a woman in pain who needed help. Not only that, but I couldn't find anything wrong with her.
"That's enough!" My words seemed to strike Kotoko, "You married a guy who wants to be a doctor. Are you going to be that way every time I see a patient? It's pathetic, and if that's the way it's going to be, then maybe you shouldn't have married me."
I don't mean that…
"Naoki-san, you're going too far." Takumi said, although it could have gone without saying that I'd gone too far.
Kotoko's lip quivered. Tears welled in her eyes as she dashed out the door. I couldn't imagine what I would have to do to make up for that.
"Shouldn't you go after her?" Takumi said, peering out the door.
"I assume Mari has mild food poisoning. The pharmacy is still open, so if you get her some stomach medicine, that should do the trick." I said.
"Thank you very much."
"Takumi… go buy me some." Mari said, back to clutching her stomach and rolling around on the bed.
"Yeah, of course. I'll be right back," He stopped short of running to tell me, "You really should go find your wife."
"Takumi, hurry!" Mari cried at him and he sped out the door.
"So, I'm off." I said, making my way to the door and figuring I ought to find Kotoko before she ends up lost. I was stopped by a familiar pair of claws that dug into my arm.
Mari sat up, suddenly relieved of her extreme pain, "Naoki-san, you really are cold, aren't you? I guess it can't be helped with Kotoko-san as your wife. Perhaps, you don't actually love her after all." She gave me a malicious smile and laughed, as if she'd won me as a prize. But nothing she'd said up until now could have angered me more than this.
"I thought you had a stomach ache." I said, glaring down at her.
"I made it up," She smiled, proud of her schemes, proud that she'd disrupted our night again, "I wanted to be alone with you. I mean… I heard you guys haven't done anything sexual yet, and I think it's understandable. You don't even want to touch her, do you?"
My body went rigid and my nerves set themselves on fire as she went on, "I fell in love with you at first sight. I wish I would have met you first so we wouldn't have both married the wrong person," I suppose she thought my silence was acceptance as she came in closer, "It's not too late." She whispered.
I ripped my arm out of her hands and sent her back onto the bed, "Shut up." I said, not mentally capable of hearing another word out of her mouth.
"What?" She said, and actually looked shocked.
"Even if I met you one hundred times, I would ignore you. Don't compare yourself with Kotoko." Her mouth hung open as I went back out the way I'd come. That woman had no remorse, did she? Did she feel nothing for Takumi at all? How pitiful.
Down the hallway, I paced myself quickly. Knowing Kotoko, she would get lost and being as naive as she was wouldn't help the situation either.
Outside the hotel, the streets were near empty and she was nowhere to be found. I took off down the sidewalk in the hopes that I would come across her as I went. Ten minutes became half an hour and the longer I couldn't find her, the more regret I felt. I couldn't place why I'd said what I said, but I knew I never wanted to say something like that to her again.
My walking led me out of the main part of town and the sidewalk became a narrow street lined with small, beaten-down homes and shops.
What if I couldn't find her, and what if she got hurt? Was I even near where she was? I stopped walking for a moment and massaged my head, trying to get a grip on where she might be.
A shop closed down for the night to my left and I checked my watch to find that it was later than I'd thought. Ten o'clock at night. I sighed.
That was when I heard a scream, if only a faint one. My head shot up and I listened. More screams.
"Kotoko!" I ran in the direction I thought I heard them coming from and they got louder.
"I don't want a Narita divorce!" It was her alright.
When I found her, she was struggling with a man twice her size and who was speaking in English.
"Wait a minute," he said, "Let me help you."
"Somebody help me!" Kotoko said.
"Is something wrong here?" I said. Kotoko turned her tear-stained face to me and sprung into a hug.
"Irie-kun! I thought I'd never see you again." She cried into my shoulder.
"It's okay now," I said, "So, what happened here?" I asked the man.
"I thought she was a lost elementary student. I was trying to help her." He said. I let out a laugh.
"She's my wife." I said in English. The man started laughing.
"Your wife? Man, I'm sorry. My mistake." He laughed harder.
"It's no problem."
Kotoko looked to me with questions, "He thought you were a lost elementary school student and tried to help you."
"Who, me? He's not a bad guy?" She said.
"No. You should apologize."
She looked over at the man and bowed, "I'm sorry." She said in her garbled English.
"It's alright, it's alright," he said as he continued to laugh, "You guys are nice. Good luck in your marriage."
"Thank you!" Kotoko waved him goodbye.
"You guys have a good night."
On the walk back to the hotel, neither of us had anything to say. But at the entrance to the hotel, Kotoko broke the silence.
"Why don't we go to the beach?" She said. We walked around the side of the hotel and came to the back where the beach had been deserted for the night. Kotoko walked out to the water's edge and stared out at the ocean, the moon high in the sky. I joined her there.
"Thank you for coming to get me." She said.
"Your screams were real loud," I laughed again, "Narita divorce… how classic. But technically, it would be a Haneda divorce, wouldn't it be?"
She peered at me in embarrassment, "I'm sorry about earlier. I was being so stupid, and jealous-"
"You really worried me, you know." I brought her into a kiss and all of my tension released.
Without another word, we let ourselves in through the patio door and she squeezed my hand tight as I led her into the room. Her face red, she brought me down onto the bed with her.
"It took us a while to get here." I said, remembering the countless times we'd been interrupted by Mari.
"I know, but it's okay."
"Not with me." I kissed her again and let my lips trail down her neck. She melted into me and clung to me. I kissed her forehead, her eyes, her nose. I felt goosebumps rise on her skin as she cuddled into my shoulder.
Kotoko reached her hands under my shirt and traced along my skin with her fingertips. She smiled softly as I too got goosebumps. After that, these tender moments became even more so as we became so much more than just together.
And as she slept beside me and I lied awake, I couldn't help but pull her closer.
A/N: Ok, the real question here is how far do y'all want me to go into those moments? Cuz I could go just a little farther than that, but I ain't about that lemon life, ya feel. (edit - ending has been updated)
