Doug and Cliff had stopped counting how many drinks Duke had that night. Cliff finally got nervous and left to his room upstairs.
"Duke..." Doug addressed him seriously.
"Shut up." Duke groaned, "I can pay for it."
The man dumped a giant pile of coins from his stuffed pouch onto the bar counter. The younger man looked at it for a second and waited for Duke to finish his glass.
He took it away.
Duke was already furious, "What're ya doin'?"
"You can't have any more." The bartender demanded, "Please, just go home."
"I can buy whatever the hell I want!" Duke pounded his fists into the table and stood up, knocking the stool down behind him, "It's my wine anyway!"
"Look, Duke," Doug was looking firmly into his eyes, "I'm saying this as a friend. Just go home."
The world turned into a kaleidoscope for a second, and then it started to twist a bit. Duke shook his head and cleared away the strangeness for a second. He turned around to find something to throw at Doug, when he saw a figure walking into the bar. Even though it was blurry and he was getting light-headed, he could tell who it was right away.
"Manna." He grunted.
Manna saw Doug look at her fearfully, and she looked back at her husband, now in a blind rage. She didn't know what to say or do. She thought she could come stop him, but now it was too late.
"You put 'im up to this, didn't you?" Duke squinted at her and raised a fist.
He took an unbalanced step toward her figure in the door way and fell over. He didn't really know what was going on, but he saw something wooden, and then something white, and he closed his eyes.
"So you woke up." Doctor said to him, "You can't drink like that Duke."
Duke realized his eyes were open. He just saw white -- a lot of white. Eventually, he could see more and more. The white started to take shape, and there was a shadow sitting in front of him.
"Doctor." Duke said the name when he recognized the shadow.
A sharp pain hit his head as he cringed and flinched in the bed.
"Just rest here for the day," Doctor sighed and walked away, "You'll be hungover all day with the way you were drinking."
Duke felt horrible. His head felt like it was trying to tear itself into pieces, and the rest of his body felt like it was trying to escape through his throat. He spent the day in the infirmary, getting up to use the bathroom with the help of Elli or Doctor. He spent the day worrying when mana would come to see if he was alright. Some time in the afternoon, he fell asleep.
The notebook was drenched with tears, but she couldn't stop looking at it. The numbers had almost reached -15,000, and the cash in the drawer didn't seem sufficient enough even for basic living. That wasn't what worried her, though. What was that monster that lunged toward her in the bar that night? What had happened to her loving, caring husband that she married? Who was this person?
The winery was closed that day, luckily, so no work needed to be done. She didn't have to see Cliff, or anyone else for that matter. She sat at the counter with the lights off, staring at the notebook. The tears never stopped.
Eventually it she was too exhausted to even think, and she somehow made her way upstairs. She was struggling to change into her nightgown when she heard the familiar sound of the front door. She almost felt faint when she heard the other familiar sound. The money drawer opened.
This was it. She was finished with this. She threw her nightgown on the rest of the way and ran down the stairs.
Duke was writing in the notebook. She waited for him to look up to yell at him. She was going to tell him everything she felt, and he was going to listen. If he didn't listen this time...
Duke took out his coin purse from his back pocket, unlatched it, and dumped the few gold pieces he had into the drawer.
"Do you think that will make things better?" The woman screamed from across the room, "Is that really all you have left, after how much you took?"
"Well, I had to use a lot." Her husband replied coldly.
She paused for a moment in disbelief, "You don't need these things. You don't have to use a lot -- you don't even have to use any!"
"I had to use quite a bit," He looked up at her.
His expression wasn't the same. Something was different about it. Normally he would look away, be more annoyed. Something was strange about his voice, too. There was definitely something wrong.
"I had to pay Doctor for the hospital bill, and what he gave me while I was there." Duke looked down and closed his eyes, "And I payed the entire tab at the bar on the way home. I'll be able to pay Jeff next time the store opens, and when I get more money next week."
Manna stood still. She didn't know what to do or say. Could she trust him? He never lied before. He may have spent so much money, but he never lied about it.
Her husband took off his vest and walked past her and up the stairs. She remained still, staring at the wall, trying to figure out what she should be feeling or thinking. Her shoulders seemed higher, and she felt a little less weak than normal. After standing for a while longer, she decided she might as well sleep on it. She journeyed to her bed -- still in a shock -- and layed down facing Aja's bed. She didn't seem to be tired anymore.
Moments later, an arm wrapped around her. A hand appeared in front of her face, and some of the fingers from in brushed her cheek. She felt a chin rest upon her head and in the silence of the night, she even heard the drop of a tear onto her pillow above her head. She felt the warm embrace of a body as it pressed against her back, and then she heard a soft voice.
"I'm sorry."
The voice sounded better than anything she had ever heard, and they rang on in her mind for hours. For the first time since her wedding, she cried out of pure happiness. She couldn't stop her mouth from smiling. She turned her body around and pulled herself away from this body up against her to see the face that was resting above her. The face was of sincere regret and shame, and there were streams of tears.
Manna was so overjoyed she even laughed to herself, wiping away her husband's tears with her thumbs. He knew he was forgiven, and his mouth slowly turned into a smile. Manna flung her body forward and wrapped herself around the man in her bed. They held each other closely, and neither wanted to ever let go. Duke slowly backed away and looked into his wife's eyes, and then he kissed her.
It had been so long. Even though it was a small kiss, it seemed to her that it took the entire night. She had forgotten what it felt like, to have his lips locked lightly with her, and the fresh sensation left as it ended. She closed her eyes and rested her head against her husband's chest. She couldn't have been happier at this moment.
She fell asleep.