"Shit."

Yep. That one word summed up the pile that they were rolling in now.

Deep shit.

How exactly did this happen?

"It's not my fault, is it?" Tomoe, now out of her intoxicated high, clung to her fiancé, "I only ran after her because she left her toolbox—"

"…"

"She was the one who ran. She was the one who tripped and fell," Megumi, also finally out of the woods, whimpered like a frightened animal. Her guilty gaze flicked towards the unconscious woman on the hospital bed:

The plumber.

She had bandages to the head, a heart monitor, and numerous IVs on her body…

They finally took off her ventilator.

True she looked like a medical disaster, but she was finally stable.

Sanosuke held his girlfriend tight. "I know." He swept a fleeting glance at the woman and groaned.

"Do you think she will sue us when she wakes up?" Tomoe meekly turned to her brother, but the white-haired man remained eerily quiet.

"It's enough for intimidation," Kenshin said from beside her, his tone foreboding, "She had good reason to be running to preserve her life. If there were a group of drunk bullies who came chasing after me, I would definitely—"

"It's not our fault that she hit her head," Sanosuke angrily. They tailed the ambulance that held the unconscious plumber. They brought her to the hospital. Why were they going to be held liable? Why were they even in the room? Who cares if that stranger died… that was what he wanted to tell himself.

But he turned to his lawyer cousin. There was a hardened look on his face. With a drawn-out sigh, Sanosuke fell back on the couch and slumped his shoulders. "Guys," he said, "I swear if she died and we get charged—"

The monitors suddenly alarmed. A rally of nurses rushed into the room. Followed by a team of doctors… and a male nurse approached, gently ushering them out.

"What is happening?" Tomoe said as the door closed behind them. She looked around to find the rest of the group in an emotional mess like her. What if the woman really dies? What if the scenario that Sanosuke imagined would come true? Even if they were acquitted, it would surely smear her name.

She will be fired from her position at the University.

Kenshin, who worked so hard for his tenure, will also be dragged to the mud—

Then she turned to the male nurse. He held a serene, almost relieved look on his face: "Don't worry," he said, patting her shoulder, "It looks like your friend is waking up."

"I'm relieved that she didn't die," Megumi said, "But now…."

"She actually lived," Sanosuke was almost pulling at his hair, "Now what? That woman is gonna sue us for sure,"

"We'll settle." The most financially capable in the room, Enishi, finally spoke. He looked annoyed, more than anything, "Tsk, she'll ask for a ridiculous amount—"

The doctor stepped into the waiting room and paused:

Stiff-shouldered, pale in fear.

The women were squirming in discomfort.

Despite the call lights blaring on the hallways of the step-down unit, the atmosphere in the waiting room was deathly quiet.

"Your friend is stable now," he said, sitting down. "We just extubated her. She should wake up any minute now from the anesthesia," he expected them to be relieved, but instead, he got secret glances exchanged with each other, and highly perplexed expressions.

Of course, he wouldn't know the dilemma they were in.

"It was a major concussion," he drew in a long breath, "There was significant hemorrhaging when you brought her to us. She almost coded in the operating room— but she's a fighter. She fought for her life." He brought his gaze to the group, and they cringed.

Here it comes.

They physically braced themselves in their seat for the inevitable question: what the hell did you guys do to her?

"How are you related to this brave young woman?"

Silence.

"Huh?"

Brushing the strange reaction, the doctor gave them a small smile. "Are you friends? Family? Seeing that you stayed up the whole night, waiting anxiously in the hallway throughout her surgery… you must really care for her. Well no wonder she wouldn't give up; she has an amazing support system. It should help her tremendously with what she will be facing."

"Erm," Kenshin laughed nervously, "The truth is… we— URK!" He stopped when Megumi grabbed his neck and covered his mouth.

"What do you mean, 'with what she will be facing?"

The doctor took a moment before he spoke again, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but the concussion was not without any residual effects."

Another dead silence.

The call bells in the hallways were getting annoying.

"Your friend," the doctor paused, trying to be as gentle as possible, "Seems to have lost all her memories."

"What?" a stunned Tomoe croaked.

"She suffers from post-traumatic amnesia." The doctor clarified, "And I'm sorry to tell you, it's quite severe. She can't even recall her name… we thought she was just snowed from the drugs we gave her, but she's been evaluated by our in-house psychologist. Her comprehension is as sharp as ever, but her memories are a different story." He scanned the dumbfounded gazes of the people in the room, "I know it's heavy news… that's why I was asking you if you were related to her?"

The odd silence persisted.

The doctor finally let out an exhausted breath. He just operated on the woman for ten hours, and now these people were being difficult. "Listen, if you're not her friends, then there might be family members who need to be notified. If not, we have to notify the authorities—"

"There is none!" Megumi suddenly jumped, startling the exhausted surgeon. "There is none," she said a little more firmly, "We are best of friends. I apologize. We were devastated by the news that it made us speechless." She looked at Sanosuke, and his eyes widened.

It was as if a silent understanding formed between them because Sanosuke nodded.

"Oh, then," He stood, clutching his clipboard with him, "So, we will need signatures for hospital admission, if we are to complete her treatment the next few days. Who is signing?"

"Mister Yukishiro is." Megumi looked at Enishi, who was caught by surprise.

The doctor looked at the white-haired man, "You did sign for her emergency treatment. Are you next of kin? Power of attorney?" he eyed them skeptically. This dragged on for way too long, and it didn't help that the patient only had her first name Kaoru on the paperwork. It looked suspicious from the get-go, and his instincts told him that something smelled fishy. He just needed to confirm it… "By the way," he started, a cutting intent to his tone, "What is the patient's last name?"

He expected them to fall silent yet again.

But the woman named Megumi stepped forward. "What's with that tone, doctor?" She grinned, and the doctor stiffened. "It seems as if you're doubting our identities."

A tense silence followed.

"Yukishiro." Megumi finally said. "The patient's name is Kaoru Yukishiro. She's Enishi's wife."

A heavy cloud of gloom hung over the bachelor's head. It was pretty understandable. The young man, who had never had any serious commitments, suddenly found himself imaginarily hitched—

To a total stranger,

The one-time plumber, to be exact.

"I'm sorry," Megumi said, rubbing placatingly against her cousin-in-law's shoulders, "I got carried away. I just wanted that doctor to shut up—"

"Then why me?" Enishi brushed the woman off his person, highly irritated.

"Well," she said sheepishly, "Sano and I are married, Kenshin and Tomoe are engaged… you're the only one that's single—"

The white-haired lawyer rubbed the sides of his temples hard. There was a massive headache looming…

"Come on, Enishi… It's only temporary," Sanosuke slung an arm around the man's shoulders,

Enishi looked back at his cousin dryly.

"We're in too deep in the lie," the soft-spoken Kenshin said, "If we go against what we said, Miss Kaoru will definitely report us,"

Megumi nodded, "I hate to say this, but our best shot is to go along with the lie until she remembers everything. The moment she does, we will present her with settlement to keep her mouth shut,"

"Just pretend to be the perfect husband until then…." Tomoe said, and she looked at Enishi, finalizing the matter. She shifted her gaze to the hospital room door and paused.

There was a tense silence that lingered in the air.

"Hey, I heard your maid quit recently, didn't she?" Sano smirked. That question seemed to ignite something inside the white-haired bachelor, "That penthouse of yours can't clean itself, you know."

"Penthouse?" Enishi rewarded his cousin with an evil grin, "Who said my 'wife' and I will be living in a penthouse?" He turned to Tomoe and Kenshin, "Nee-san, how about we trade places just for the month? And Sano," He swept his gaze to his cousin, "We're going to need your wedding pictures before we get back home." An evil glint flashed in his dark eyes,

"Besides…" Enishi rubbed his cheek, recalling the disgusting rag going slosh! On his face…

"I still have a score to settle with my lovely wife."

He pushed the door open,

The rest of the group gathered their act.

It was time to start the play.