A/N: And here's the other chapter, as promised.
Point In Time: Opera-hen
Chapter 20: It just Happened
Like all things involving Nodame, everything he had carefully planned fell apart. From the moment he had woken up in that trash filled apartment, she had destroyed boundaries as if it was her purpose in life. Maybe it was, he was too afraid to ask just in case.
But still, as always what he did just happened.
He hadn't meant to propose to her that night right after his performance. He had bought the ring on a whim the day before, but had already decided that when he did propose, it would be proper.
He wanted to wait until they returned to France, preferably far away from both of their families. He was torn between doing it over dinner, maybe at their favorite cafe or on the bridge where they'd had that showdown back at the beginning of their relationship. Maybe he'd do it after a romantic night together, something he could pull off quite well if he put his mind to it.
That had been the general plan, but then she had to go and ruin it!
She just had to send him that small smile that bordered between cute and smug as he discovered just who was the ' magic bell' of the opera. Single-handedly, she had placed their performance onto a whole new level. Her music was, as per usual, enchanting. Too enchanting for him. The sounds had obviously done something to his brain and his ability to make rational decisions. The next thing he knew there he was, standing on what was an unimportant (to them) road in Tokyo. No flowers, no romance, not an ounce of finesse to be found. He didn't even ask her.
He just expected her, in her own way, to understand him and his intentions. To hear what he didn't say just as she always did.
He had to walk away from her then, had to hide his embarrassment as he berated himself for his idiocy. No proposal other than his could have been as anti-romantic as that! 'Awesome', why'd he say awesome? Was he a ten year old confessing to the girl he liked? He had promised himself he would cherish her, yet here he was being a dolt again!
He was so busy yelling at himself that he didn't hear her footsteps catching up to his.
She wrapped herself around his arm and he found himself looking at her, the excitement that shined in her gaze making his heart beat faster. The smile that followed was enough to make him falter, and then she began making her typical noises and he couldn't stop his own grin. When she reached down to grab his hand, he realized this was really it.
The cold steel of the band on her finger felt strange against their entwined hands, but he knew that soon enough, he'd be used to it.
Maybe he hadn't goofed it up too bad, after all, things just happened with her. It would be testing fate to get too angry over the change in his plans.