Day 7: Flowers

Chapter 7: The End

"This sad story always ends the same

Me standin' in the pourin' rain

It seems no matter what I do

It tears my heart in two"

-Kelly Clarkson, "The Trouble with Love"

…

"…And as you can see with the incoming East wind, this rain storm isn't letting up anytime soon! Temperatures are expected to drop to forty-five degrees tomorrow and to forty degrees on Sunday. Don't forget your umbrella!" Cynthia Summerhold the Weather Woman flashed a dazzling smile at the camera and waved her hand over the green screen, pointing to where the East wind would be animated for the viewers at home.

Beside the cameraman, Mimi Tachikawa the studio intern was monitoring the teleprompter. She felt incredibly lucky to be here. She thought that Cynthia Summerhold was a great reporter who always made boring weather reports seem exciting. Cynthia once even scandalized viewers by wearing a sparkly dress that was deemed too short. Clearly, the weather channel was the fun place to be in news media.

Cynthia signed off on Friday's weather report and then gave Mimi the thumbs up, signaling that her shift was over. The young Japanese student gathered her things and stepped out of the studio into the hallway, where she instantly crashed into someone and made them spill their coffee.

"Sumimasen," Mimi apologized instinctively. "I mean, sorry—" Mimi's eyes widened. She realized that she had bumped into Parisa Abbasi, the department's other intern. Parisa always wore such beautiful, colorful outfits, and Mimi couldn't help but feel flustered around the stylish girl. Parisa also stood at an imposing six feet tall, but she never acted self-conscious about her height. Mimi found her confidence very attractive.

The tall woman laughed. "Oh, it's you, Mimi! Don't be sorry. I forgive pretty girls for anything."

Mimi blushed and picked up the coffee cup. "It's empty now. I owe you another one."

"Shall we make it a date?" Parisa asked teasingly, grabbing the cup and lingering her hand on Mimi's fingers.

Mimi's heart skipped a beat and then suddenly felt heavy. She opened her mouth and no sound came out.

Parisa's expression softened. "You miss that Japanese boy a lot, don't you?"

Mimi nodded guiltily. "Yes." Her voice felt dry.

"I understand," Parisa continued. "I've got a girl back in Iran. I mean, I had her. Back then… She had long hair, like you." Parisa admired Mimi's light brown hair.

Mimi grinned. "Jyou was tall, like you!"

Both girls laughed.

"I still owe you coffee," Mimi offered. "Can I still take you out just for fun? When the rain has stopped."

"Yes of course!" Parisa squeezed Mimi's hand and continued walking down the hall.

Mimi sighed and walked in the opposite direction to the exit. Her bag unbuckled itself and a giant pink flower popped out. Beneath the flower, Mimi could see Palmon's sad face.

"Mimi, Jyou said that you could date other people if you wanted," her digimon warbled.

"I know." Mimi patted Palmon's head.

"I don't like seeing you lonely," Palmon sniffled.

"I'm never alone. Not with you!"

"But…" Palmon sighed and fished around in the crowded bag for Mimi's umbrella. She picked up her cellphone by accident and it suddenly rung in her hands. Palmon shrieked in surprise and dropped the vibrating device. Then she gasped and picked it back up. "MIMI!"

"What?"

"IT'S JYOU!"

Mimi's heart skipped two beats. She flattened down her hair as if Jyou could see her. Then she realized what she was doing and shook her head. "Snap out of it!" she yelled at herself.

"Answer it! Answer it! Answer it!" Palmon repeated eagerly and handed the phone to her friend.

Mimi jammed the phone next to her ear and used the poshest voice she could muster. "Hello, Jyou. You've caught me coming out of a very important news broadcast about the weather. How are you?"

"WET!" It was Jyou's familiar grouchy loud voice. "I mean—sorry I yelled—I mean—H-hi Mimi! Am I bothering you?"

"No! Never you!" Mimi was delighted to hear him again. "How are you wet?"

"I…got lost in New York City and my umbrella broke," he said very fast.

"WHAT?!" Mimi's jaw dropped.

"I'm very, very sorry about this. I wanted to surprise you when your shift ended at the station, but I must have taken a wrong turn… I'm completely hopeless."

"Jyou!" Mimi's heart melted. "You came all the way to America! That's so spontaneous!"

"And stupid of me! And completely insensitive! You probably have all sorts of fun things planned for the weekend with your glamorous American friends and now I'm ruining it—" There was a tussling noise on the other end and Gomamon's squeaky voice interrupted him.

"Don't listen to him! He's madly in love with you!" Gomamon did his best to cover up for Jyou.

Mimi covered her mouth and felt tears in her eyes. "Oh Jyou…"

Palmon giggled hysterically. "He loves you!"

There was the sound of more wrestling and Jyou came back on the line. "I'm sorry! I—I should have called you first! I don't know what came over me!"

"Jyou, where are you?" Mimi asked eagerly.

"I'm—uh, let me check the street sign—I'm on the corner of 59th Street and Central Park, by this huge traffic circle—"

"Jyou! That's just across the street from my work!"

"It is?"

Gomamon interrupted again. "I told you that I knew how to read a map!"

"Oh shut up already—"

Mimi interrupted them. "I'll be right there!"

"You have an umbrella, right?" Jyou's voice was timid.

"Yes!" Mimi lilted and ended the call. Palmon quickly dug the fluffy umbrella out of Mimi's bag and handed it to her.

Mimi opened it and leaped out of the building. She ran through the puddles in her high heel shoes. A crowd of people crossed the street with her. Mimi pushed through them. She reached Central Park and looked left and right, and then she looked right in front of her.

He was tall. He was wet. His blue hair was plastered to his face. His glasses were covered in rain drops. He wore a long brown coat and he held an inside-out umbrella in his left hand. In his right arm he held Gomamon—who saw Mimi first. The seal immediately whipped out a dozen red roses with his flipper.

He was truly a heavenly vision.

"JYOOOOOU!" Mimi dropped everything and leaped. Jyou heard her voice and saw her. He dropped everything and caught her just in time. Mimi kissed him and Jyou responded immediately and enthusiastically, spinning her around in circles.

All around them, in the park and in the taxi cabs and in the street, everyone watching said "Awww" at the same time.

Mimi pulled her face a few inches back. "You came!"

"I missed you," Jyou said honestly.

Mimi kissed him again.

Jyou set her down on her feet. "I need that umbrella, please."

"Mimi to the rescue!" Palmon said excitedly and gave her the umbrella. Mimi picked her partner back up and held the umbrella high above their heads.

"Jyou had the idea to give these to you all by himself because he's that romantic!" Gomamon exclaimed, and he held out the bouquet of roses. (Mimi could tell that he was exaggerating the truth.) Jyou picked the digimon back up and handed the flowers to her.

Mimi took them gratefully. "They're beautiful."

"Thank you—I mean, you're welcome." Jyou recovered quickly. "I am…so sorry to barge in on you like this."

"It's okay. I'd forgive you for anything," Mimi quipped.

Jyou sighed in relief. "Thank you."

Mimi gazed adoringly at his eyes. "I missed you too…" She swallowed. "How do we make this work?"

"Well…" Jyou spoke slowly. "We both know what it's like to be separated from family. When we were in the Digital World, we didn't know when or if we would ever get back home. But now… we know when college will end."

Mimi nodded. "Four years isn't that long."

"It's a lot less stressful to wait when you know the date of when you're coming back home," Jyou continued.

"Yes," Mimi agreed. "Whatever happens afterwards, I want you to be there."

"Me too."

Mimi stood on her tiptoes, and Jyou leaned down and they kissed each other once more—a short kiss, since they were both holding their digimon. Then Jyou wrapped his arm around Mimi's shoulders, and Mimi held her umbrella high, and they both headed home.

The End

Thank you for reading!

My special thanks goes out to the mod of the Jyoumifeels tumblr, who organized Jyoumi Week and provided the prompt words that inspired this story.

This story is for all Jyoumistas, but it is especially for Koukacs, who is good, honest, faithful, reliable, sincere, pure, and every other word that we use to describe Jyou and Mimi. I would not have written this story if I hadn't made friends with you!

If you've read this far, then please, please review! I want to know what YOU think, you wonderful person.