Chapter 8.

Chiwa sighed happily as she stared at herself in the mirror. The last two weeks had been so amazing that even now she felt as if she was dreaming.

Although they hadn't been able to go on a real honeymoon since Hokuto was just starting his own business, he'd taken her on mini-moon to Atami, which was not only a beautiful place to be in, but the gesture itself had been one of the most thoughtful and romantic thing ever. Especially since it came from Hokuto- a man who constantly put on a front of his I-am-a-man-and-couldn't-give-two shits-about-romance.

Life could not be better.

Chiwa had thought that now that she was pregnant, she'd be soon suffering from morning sickness, nausea, loss of appetite and just the overall crap storm that all pregnant women claimed they suffered from during pregnancies, but she was totally fine.

After coming back from their mini-moon, they'd gone to visit their doctor, who'd although prescribed her a couple of prenatal vitamins, had assured them that the baby was totally healthy and very thing was as it should be.

And the biggest thing of all was that even though they'd been back for a whole week now Hokuto was still as attentive with her as he had been during their mini-moon. If he wasn't careful she would soon start to think that he'd been taken over by aliens. Smiling to herself over her silliness, Chiwa walked out of the washroom.

Hokuto was sitting in the bed as she walked into their bedroom, still smiling to herself.

"What is so funny?" he asked

"Oh nothing Im just happy" she said as got into the bed next to him, "but what are you looking at?" she asked pointing to the big file he was sorting through.

"Just some papers for the office"

"Speaking off, when are we going to start working at the office?"

There was a long pause from Hokuto, and she started to get worried. Did Hokuto not want her to work for him anymore? Was what he said before was just that-something to be said? Did he not mean it in reality?

She fully turned her body towards him and asked him what was going on.

"Do you not want me to work with you anymore?"

Before he could respond, Chiwa carried on "its ok if you've changed your mind, I just wanted to know that's all."

She tried not to sound dejected, tried to pretend that his continued silence on the matter didn't hurt her. That she was fine if he no longer wanted to her to work for him. She knew she wasn't anything special, just average. After all she didn't know much about business, or economics, in fact she hardly knew anything at all. And that too at his insistence.

Feeling like total crap now due to her own depressing thoughts, she tried to put on a happy front, she starting laying down in bed, asking him if she could turn off the light because she was tired and wanted to get some sleep.

Even minutes after his wife turned off the lights, Hokuto silently started at his wife- well really just the outline of her, because it was too dark in the room.

He was no expert about women, although he'd certainly thought so until he meet Chiwa, but he'd learned a few new things about women, chiwa in particular since meeting her, he was 99 percent sure that his silence had made her feel rejected.

And wasn't that just the dumbest thing to do, since that was the first thing the books he'd been reading warned against doing.

He hadn't mean to make her feel rejected though. Damn him. How could he be so stupid? Had he really thought that if he just ignored the subject, it would just disappear? That she wouldn't bring it up? For a man whom half the country considered to be brilliant, he really was a dumb ass.

Berating himself for his own absurdity, and hating himself for having hurt his wife, especially in her condition, he turned on the light.

As the light came on he saw Chiwa jerk, but remain on her side, facing away from him. He called her name so that she may turn and they could finally discuss the topic, but she remained in her position, trying to act as if she was asleep.

He sighed and with a hand on her shoulder lightly forced Chiwa to turn towards him. He had to stifle a shocked gasp as he saw the tears running down her face.

He took her in his arms. "… no don't cry" It was those words, combined with that sympathetic tone of voice which finally broke the dam for Chiwa. She could no longer contain her sobs, and she cried even harder because of that.

"I'm s-sorry" She gasped out "I don't even know why I'm crying"

"No, no don't be sorry. I'm sorry. I should have talked to you about it sooner" begged wiping her tears.

"Why didn't you?" she asked. Genuinely confused as to why he wouldn't just tell her that he no longer wanted to work with her. It was alright that he didn't, after all there were much more qualified people out there so she would have understood. It might sound like a lie considering the fact she was bawling her eyes out at the moment, but if he'd just explained, it wouldn't have been such a let-down.

"Because you're pregnant!" he blurted out. Chiwa stilled and it was then he realized how wrong that sounded.

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" he could actually feel the anger surround her, and was amazed at the transition from sadness to anger.

He sighed and started to explain "You're pregnant, and I love that. But I don't want you to work anymore. I don't want you to worry about working anymore. Can you understand?" he asked.

She sighed and shook her head "Not really. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I can't work anymore. Lots of women work while they're pregnant."

"I know. But you're not just any women. You're my wife, and shouldn't have to work in this condition."

Chiwa raised her head and smiled, "Hokuto, you can't expect me to just sit at home all day, doing nothing."

She laughed but as Hokuto remained stoic she realised that that was exactly what he wanted her to do, and suddenly she was no longer laughing.

Once more he wasn't being a husband. He'd made his decision and had hadn't discussed it with the one person whom it concerned the most. He'd been acting like his old self, like he was when they first got married, where he made all the decisions and she just followed him.

And that was not a marriage.

He cursed himself as it occurred to him what a big mistake he'd made in not talking to her. Sure it didn't seem like that big a deal, but if he kept acting like his old self…

No it didn't even bear thinking about.

Chiwa meant so much to him. He loved her so much.

"So you're saying that I can't work. Not just with you but anywhere?" Chiwa removed herself from his embrace and sat up in bed facing him fully.

Hokuto sat up again and braced himself because he knew this was going to be a tough conversation.

"Chiwa, you do realize that you don't need to work right? I mean even with a starting business I do have enough saved up for us to live comfortably"

"It's not about needing to work, but that I want to work. And before when we were married, you wanted me to work, or did you forget that part?"

"I haven't forgotten anything. But that was different. You weren't pregnant with my child at the time!"

What does that even matter? You say that like you've never seen a pregnant women work before. In fact many keep working right up until the last month!"

Hokuto took a deep breath and grabbed her hands, trying to calm himself and her "why don't you understand? You are not like those women. You are my wife. Your comfort is important to me."

Before she could reply, he pushed on "When this baby is born, you're going to be so busy. A job is stressful enough as it is, and as the pregnancy advances you're going to start getting tired too. I want you to enjoy this time, before the baby gets here!"

Chiwa stared in shock. Hokuto cared so much. His actions may have been wrong, but his reasons made her love so much more. Although that still didn't mean she could just sit at home and twiddle her thumbs. She sighed.

"Ok, I understand that. And thank you for think about me so much."

"Good" Now that he'd said all that, he was starting to get a little uncomfortable with this conversation. So giving her a kiss, Hokuto turned to turn off the light.

"But-"he paused. Of course, nothing is easy with chiwa. Why'd I even think we were done talking?

"But what?" He turned back and asked.

"But I'm not the kind of person who just sits around and does nothing" Hokuto opened his mouth to argue but Chiwa carried on, "I have been working since a long time ago. I don't even think I can go back to just doing nothing anymore. Let me work."

"I-"

"Please. I don't even feel any different since I got pregnant-"

"Yeah, but later on you will"

"But if I start to feel like I can't do it anymore, or don't want to do it anymore, I can just quit working. After all, it's like you said, I don't need to actually work. I can quit anytime".

Ahh…why is it that I, Hokuto Mami-Muria, who never loses, can never manage to win against this women? He thought staring at his wife's face, and puppy-dog eyes.

"Alright. But there are conditions" She nodded. "One: if you feel like it's too much you'll be honest and tell me. Okay?"

"I will. I promise."

"And two: You will stop working after two months. No matter what. "

"What? But what if I feel perfectly fine even after two months."

"Even then. Two months. That's it."

"How about five?"

"No."

"Four and a half? Please. "

"No, Chiwa."

"Ok, four. Four months. Come on, don't be so stubborn."

He sighed, He was being stubborn? She was the one being stubborn. "Fine, three months. That's my final offer."

Chiwa bit her lip. She knew she'd been pushing him. But should she try once more? What if he got truly mad? She didn't really want to get into a fight with him about something she wasn't even sure about.

After all, what if they by pushing him even more, they got into a fight and later she wanted to quit work after two months? She'd never been pregnant before, what if he was right and she started getting fatigued in a month? Two months? Who knew what would happen so far in the future. Better to give in gracefully now, and if anything, she could just convince him afterwards.

"Alright. I agree, three months."

"And then you'll stop working, no matter what?"

She nodded.

Hokuto watched his wife. He had a strange feeling as if something had gone wrong, but couldn't quite figure out what.

Whatever, She agreed, I agreed. It's done now. He thought and laid down in bed.

"Good then, turn off the lights and come here." He opened his arms.

Chiwa smiled, a million dollar smile. This, this is why I can never win, he thought as his wife turned off the lights and snuggled into his embrace.


A/N: Hi guys, I'm back! first of all I wanna thank all those who kept messaging me and motivating me to finish this chapter. I couldn't have done it with out all your support.

And secondly, I need some prompts or ideas for what to write in the next chapter, so please review, let me know how you liked this one and any suggestions you might have for the next one.