A/N: Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well. I'm back with my new update. Enjoy! :D

Shocking Truth

(General POV)

Naoki watched Kotoko as she read the letter. She laughed and cried while reading it. She also looked scared and confused for a short duration. It was a humongous letter, almost five times or bigger than Naoki's. She took her time to read it. After finishing it, she read it again… then again… for several times.

At last when she was satisfied with memorizing it, she looked up at Naoki with tears in her eyes. He was already watching her. In fact, he never stopped looking at her when she started reading. Naoki always loved watching her while she read. It was entertaining to him. All those different expressions that appear on her face while she reads something fascinated him all the times.

"Grandma Yoshida… She is an…" Kotoko stopped for a moment and inhaled deeply, "she was an amazing woman Irie-kun. I can't believe she was worried about me until her last breath. What did I do to deserve to be loved like that?" She asked him painfully.

"You deserve all the love of the whole world Kotoko. You just don't know what you are, do you?" He asked pulling her into a hug.

Kotoko hugged him back and remained silent for a while.

"I didn't tell her about Neuroshia. I just told her about my mother and about the decreasing possibility of my conceiving."

"Oh… You didn't?" Naoki was surprised.

"No… I didn't want her…" She stopped.

"You didn't want to worry her or you didn't want her to spill the bean to me?" Naoki asked calmly.

"Both." Kotoko mumbled in a barely audible voice. Naoki sighed.

"I… I shared about my mother because… I… well I kind of escaped there. I remember feeling all messed up and unsure and didn't know what to do. She was my escape at that time."

Naoki tightened his grab around her but didn't say anything. His heart was hurting really bad hearing this, but he remained quiet and let her continue.

"But in the end, I couldn't tell her everything. It's not like I didn't want to. I did want to. I just… didn't have the courage. At first I thought I didn't tell her only because I didn't want her to worry or I was afraid she might tell you, but then I thought harder… and after I started my treatment I realised, that I was actually a coward. I didn't tell her because deep in my heart I was hoping it was all a bad dream… that I was only dreaming and it will all go away when I wake up. If I tell her, if I talk about it out loud it will all become true. I was a mess Irie-kun… and in the end I feel like I deceived her. I didn't tell her the whole truth. I didn't let her go in peace. And she was worrying about me… all these times…" Her voice broke and she sobbed.

"Shh… Hey… Kotoko… don't… what are you saying?" Naoki was astounded. He couldn't fathom the depth of her worries. How hurt she was. He felt like his heart was breaking… yet again.

"Do not blame yourself for every single thing." Naoki couldn't count in his fingers anymore, how many times he repeated that sentence to Kotoko. Every time for every single thing she ends up blaming herself.

"I'm sure Yoshida-san is in peace. I'm sure she wouldn't worry about you anymore because she knows I'm with you. I can assure you that she definitely didn't want you to feel bad about her. She loved you a lot Kotoko and that is why she was worried about you. She even threatened me you know? She said she will haunt me if I don't love you enough and don't take care of you properly." He consoled her while running his fingers through her hairs slowly.

"She did? She wrote you a letter too? Well she did warn me that if I don't tell you everything then she will. I guess she wasn't bluffing." Naoki removed her tears from her eyes and cheek with his fingers.

"She didn't mention anything. She just told me to ask you if you already didn't tell me before I see the photos in the camera."

"Photos? What camera?"

"She left a camera for me, which has photos of you two I guess, from the time when you visited her."

With saying that, Naoki untangled himself from Kotoko and took out the camera from inside the box. Kotoko kept looking at his direction with confusion. Naoki turned on the camera with a smile. Finally he could see all the crazy stuff they both did together without him.

...

(Kotoko POV)

I watched Irie-kun with confusion. I creased my forehead thinking hard.

A camera?

He took out a DSLR camera from the box and turned it on.

Wait a minute! I know that camera! Am I missing something?

I continued watching Irie-kun as he looked through the photos. Slowly the smile on his face was wiped out. He wrinkled his forehead and then he looked utterly horrified. Then his hands started to shake.

"Irie-kun?" I called out feeling slightly terrified too. What was going on? What's in there?

Then a video started to play. At first there were only low sounds and then I heard my own voice.

'Grandma… what are you doing?' I shouted in the video. 'Stop recording me!' I whined.

My eyes widen with horror. That can't be happening.

'Don't be silly dear. It's not like I'm going to post it on the youtube. Relax.' I heard grandma say.

Darn it! I totally forgot. Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! What the hell? How can I forget about that? What on earth am I gonna tell him now?

'Grandma! Come on… ouch' I heard myself say.

How can I forget about my freaking ACCIDENT!

'Kotoko… are you okay?' Grandma had rushed towards me because I nearly fell from the bed. I remember that incident vividly.

'I'm fine.' I replied her. 'Why are you recording me?'

'I'm not interested in recording you. But I'm fascinated by all those bandages you have on you. I'm recording them. You're just a bonus with the bandages. Consider yourself lucky.'

I had then rolled my eyes hearing her answer. But now I closed them. There is no way Irie-kun is seeing this whole video. I have to stop him.

Grandma recorded my injuries while I was changing my bandages. It was creepy but she did it from an angle which didn't show too much of my skin. I didn't even know when she entered my room where I stayed during my visit at her summer house and started recording. But I didn't let her continue and threatened her to stop it.

"Irie-kun…" I tried to snatch away the camera from his hand but failed. Instead it fell in the bed between us.

'Grandma, stop recording or I will have to move to the bathroom. You really don't want me to walk around without the bandages on me. It will increase the pain. I have two freaking fractured ribs you know!' I heard myself threatening grandma in the video.

'Fine.' Grandma had said. And then the screen turned black.

Well that was the whole thing as far as I remember. After that she turned the camera off and helped me putting on the medical adhesive tape around my broken ribs area and on my wrist.

But unfortunately the screen lightened again and I saw a very weak grandma sitting on her bed with the support of her headrest. I looked up at Irie-kun who was frozen and staring at the screen blankly. I returned my gaze at the camera too.

'I'm really sorry Irie-san… and Kotoko if you're there too. I hope Irie-san, that you already know about the incident and outcome and that this video is meaningless to you both. I really hope that. But knowing Kotoko, she will hold back her secrets until the last minute. She will suffer alone. She'll never tell you anything if that means it will spare you from all the pains. Believe me when I say that, I really didn't want to give you this camera. I was sure I'll be able to convince Kotoko before I die and then I wouldn't have to send it to you. But I couldn't get in touch with her in the last few months and I don't think I have much time left. So… I don't know what else to do. I don't want Kotoko to suffer alone. I want you to be with her in her pains, so I chose this path, even if it's wrong to do so. Now, Kotoko… you can hate me all you want honey. But believe me… nothing good comes when you keep secrets from your life partner. He has every right to know everything that you go through. Your pains… your sufferings are his too. Don't deprive him from that. You think you're doing him a favour but it's actually the opposite. Hiding something this big, while he is a part of your life, you're giving him a life-time punishment. You're his responsibility after all. You cannot deny that. I originally made this video because I wanted to blackmail you if you don't agree with me to tell him everything. It was not my plan to ever send it to him. But now this is my last resort to help you. If you're watching this, it means I'm no longer alive in this world. It was my last gift to you both which I'm pretty sure is sounding like a curse now. Trust me; I only have the best wishes for you both in my heart. I truly want you to be happy and always stay happy together. Please forgive me if you can. I love you both. May the almighty bless the two of you.'

The screen went black again. My tears were flowing relentlessly soaking my pyjama top. I couldn't stop them. They were making my vision blur. I looked up at Irie-kun and my heart nearly stopped.

Bloodshot eyes were filled with tears. He was frozen and still staring at the screen. His breathing was erratic. It seemed like he was having difficulties in breathing.

My heart started palpitating. My time froze. I could only see the broken man in front of me and everything else vanished, became meaningless.

What have I done?

Irie-kun cried like he never cried before. He cried or was in the verge of crying a few numbers of times in the past after he found out about my condition but he used to compose himself quickly. He forced to compose himself for my sake. But right now was different. It felt like he wasn't even aware that I was around. He was just… lost.

"Irie-kun…" My voice broke.

I removed the camera which was separating us and threw my arms around him crushing myself on him.

"Irie-kun… please… please don't cry." I sobbed. "I'm okay. See? Look at me. Nothing happened." I pulled away from the hug and forced him to look into my eyes.

"I'm fine. Don't you see? It was nothing. Please stop crying."

He closed his eyes without meeting mine and wailed out in pain breaking my heart into millions of tiny pieces.