"Will you marry me?" Hiroaki asks with a vulnerable look on his face, dropping onto both of his knees in the middle of a summer day when the heat is at its highest, in the middle of the street when the traffic is at a standstill, clasping her hands in his.
The sun is whithering her updo, searing the back of her neck as she tilts her head to envision Hiroaki's daydream of married life. Natsuko sees herself in his sleepy brown eyes and she's happy, because of him. She can visualize herself beside him everlastingly: asleep, awake, heartsick, enraged, content, but in love and alive.
"You're going to get run over," she laughs, tugging his hands.
Hiroaki grins widely. "Is that a yes?"
She bends down and fervently presses her lips against his.