Urgency, urgency. Still, that sense of urgency. I was never more afraid of the future, never more afraid of the present slipping through my fingers. I would do anything to ensnare time, halt it in its tracks right now, because the distrust didn't dissipate with the summer heat; it was merely obstructed behind the falling leaves of autumn until finally they began to be whisked away. Another month, gone. Another month closer.

"I have this sense of urgency," Luka told me one day. She had remained ever vigilant in coming to our weekly meetings, and for the first time in a while, she arrived without the dreamy smile or clouded eyes. "I feel like something bad is going to happen."

"Why do you think that?" I asked, brushing back a strand of hair behind my ear. I had been wearing it down more recently. Len had really seemed to like it.

"Our sins will catch up to us in the end. I know this to be true," she replied, for once not sprawled over the seat like it was a lounge chair but sitting stiff as a board. Watching me with sharpened eyes.

"What sins, Megurine-san?"

"Unforgivable but unavoidable. Should I be punished for what destiny has written for me? If it is inevitable, can we really be blamed?"

"I don't quite know what you are talking about." But I did, somehow. Restlessly, I got up and started heating up a kettle of tea. Luka seemed tired all of a sudden and finally let her back rest against the pillows. Before I could stop myself, I picked up that picture of all of us that had been sitting on my shelf for several months now. I placed it in front of Luka and pointed to Gumi, slightly smiling with her boyfriend's arm wrapped around her. "This might be strange to ask, but do you recognize her?"

"I told you. I recognize all of them, all except for your boyfriend." She tapped Ki's face.

"He hasn't been my boyfriend for a while," I said quietly.

A smile lit up her face. "Really? Thank goodness! Then again, I knew this was going to happen. It was what I was saying earlier. You can't fight fate."

"Was it fate that broke us up?" I asked skeptically.

"No, but it is fate that you are with…" She scanned across all the faces of the group until finding Len. "That guy, right? I bet it's him. Your new boyfriend."

I looked at her silently, wondering briefly if she was right, if the answers to all my questions was simply that destiny foretold it. Every scientific molecule of my mind rejected it, but could everything really be solved with just psychology and biology?

"I'm right, aren't I?" she inquired.

My phone beeped. Time was up. Clearing my throat, I said, "See you next week, then."

She looked disappointed, jilted in some way by one of her kindred spirits. "Alright. See you then, Hidari-san."

As she opened the door, another figure was there, fist poised to knock. I craned my neck to see who it was and couldn't help but smile. Len stood there. In his other hand was a red rose.

"Um," he said awkwardly, taking a few steps back to let Luka out. He looked at me. "Sorry, I thought the session was already over."

"We just finished. It's no problem!" I replied.

Luka stared at him as she sauntered by. "I was right, then?" she asked no one in particular, floating down the hallway and out of sight.

Her heavy presence took a second to leave the air. "Come on in," I said, smiling at my wonderful boyfriend and trying to shake off the strange conversation I had with Luka.

Len smiled in return and made his grand reentrance, offering me the rose with a nervousness I had grown accustomed to. "This is for you."

"And here I thought you brought it for my client," I teased, gently taking the flower and giving Len a quick kiss. A vase which housed a frail and dying carnation sat on my desk, longing for a new tenant. I pulled out the deceased and threw it in the trash, replacing it with the most beautiful rose I had ever seen. Maybe it was so pretty because Len brought it… "Thank you. It's wonderful."

"I'm glad you like it."

"How did you get off work so early?"

"We just finished a large project, so my manager let us all go."

"Will it be a big hit, you think? I hope it will be. I'm out of good mystery novels."

"I'll ask around for some recommendations."

"You seem tired."

"I've been thinking a lot."

I waited to hear what he was thinking about, but he didn't elaborate. We sat down in the only chairs in the room besides my desk. I made a mental note to invest in a couple more for personal use, because this felt too much like I was Len's therapist. His last statement still hung in the air.

"Hey, you never talk about your family," I said lightly.

He straightened up, and I immediately regretted my prying. "Well, um."

"Never mind. You don't have to tell me. I was just curious."

"N-No, it's fine. It's just that… I have a sister and two parents who are still alive."

"A sister?" I grinned. "Yeah, I can see you with a sister. Is she older or younger?"

"We're twins, actually."

"Twins?" I tried to imagine it. "Oh, my God. She must be so pretty!"

Len's laugh was tinged with melancholy. "From what I remember, she was. We haven't talked since I left for college. Same with my parents."

"Ah, I see. You said you grew up here in the city. Do you think they still live here?"

"Probably." He shrugged. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something."

"Really? What is it?"

Len was avoiding eye contact again, another habit I had grown accustomed to. Honestly, I thought it was cute, his anxiousness. It made him genuine. However, the suspense was killing me a little. "Well," he said, quickly losing his nerve. He spoke in an increasingly halting manner with every passing sentence. "I really love you, you know that?"

"I love you, too," I replied, a bit surprised at the direction of conversation. "Yeah, I know that. Was that the question?"

"No! That was just a lead-up question to the question, I guess. You see, I love you more than I thought was possible. I've never been in love before. Kaito always was trying to set me up with girls, but none of them felt right. So, when I met you, I didn't know what to do with myself, and when I found out you had a boyfriend… I thought I would never find anyone else who I could fall in love with. Now I know I wouldn't be able to find anyone else." I was blushing like a madwoman at this point. "There's this sense of urgency I have. It's weird, but there's always this urgency. I feel like something is going to happen, something horrible. There isn't much time."

My embarrassment subsided when I heard those words. "Urgency, yes. I feel it, too. I haven't stopped feeling it since the beginning of the summer."

"I don't want to lose this, Mayu. I've never been happier in my entire life. I really don't want to lose this."

I could vaguely feel the tears running down my cheeks. "Me neither."

"So, um. The question, the question." Len pulled out something small from his pocket. With a trembling hand, he held out to me a silver ring, a small white stone perched on its band like a bird balancing on a tree branch. "Would you marry me, Mayu?"

I was shocked in place. Marriage? Was the universe telling me that I could spend the rest of my life with this man right here? Was such happiness possible? I certainly had never seen such a thing. I waited anxiously for my dream to end and for me to wake up in my bedroom alone. Yet, I was still there. "Is that even a question?" I gasped out. "Of course! What, I mean, what? Yes!"

An incandescent smile spread across his face, and all of a sudden I felt myself being swept up into his arms. At some point, he had placed the ring on my finger, but my mind was so clouded by disbelief and joy, I could hardly keep myself grounded in reality.