When She Loves Him
Ch2
True love is when you shed a tear and still want him.,
It's when he ignores you and you still love him,
It's when he loves another but you still smile and say 'I am happy for you',
True Love is when all you really do is cry and cry.
Sakuno stood in front of the mirror, eyeing herself. She sucked in a breath, and tried to unhook the corset. Just as her fingers grazed the first hook in between her shoulder blades, she let out her breath. She turned around and inspected the alignment of the hooks, starting from just between her shoulder blades and downwards her spine to end just before the small of her back. With her back to the mirror, she tried to reach for the last hook instead. Like her first attempts, she failed again.
"Kami-sama, how did I get into this?" She frowned as she pulled up the corset to further cover her cleavage.
The corner of her eye caught the sight of her wedding dress, sprawled gently across the bed. After the wedding reception she and Ryoma had gone straight to the airport and boarded a private jet to Hawaii for their four-day honeymoon. Their wedding attires would be sent back to Japan the next night, everything being handled by the hotel staff.
The 28-year old woman sighed as she sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, staring at the beautiful white dress. The dress was strapless, and had showed off her elegant neck and collarbone as she walked up to the altar. The dress fitted her curves perfectly, and she had never felt so pretty in her life as she twirled around in front of the mirror, just minutes before she was called.
Sakuno clearly remembered the moments which passed by during the reception that evening.
She hadn't dared to look into Ryoma's eyes, afraid of seeing those pair of cold amber eyes which held no fondness of her, no love for her, so unlike her own. She recalled how distant his touch was when he held her shoulder to fake a blissful picture by the altar. Yet the hand felt warm to her. He had his lips upturned a tiny fraction, not so much of a smile, as the cameraman took pictures of the so-called match made in heaven. She could recall how hard it felt to fake a smile, but she pulled through the photography session well, like any other good-girl would.
He had quickly pulled away after the cameras stopped flashing without anyone noticing. He'd let her walk around by herself, not even sparing her a glance as Momo took him towards the beverages to have a chat with his ex-senpaitachi.
Sakuno smiled and put a hand to her chest, momentarily forgetting the constricting corset around her body when she had seen him leave for the door as discreetly as he could –probably to talk to his one and only love- when Momo was busy talking to Kawamura about how many babies the Echizen newlyweds would get in five years.
That exact moment broke her heart, and she had tried so hard to smile at Rinko whom had motioned her to come closer to have a talk. The bride had knelt in front of her husband's mother whom sat in a wheelchair and fondly the older woman cupped both of Sakuno's cheeks in her hands.
"I'm sorry, Sakuno-chan."
The bride had shaken her head then. "Why are you apologizing?"
"I'm sorry to have pulled you into this marriage. I just want to see him settled down with someone like you. I don't have much time… I'm sorry, Sakuno-chan."
Sakuno had shaken her head and promised Rinko that she would love Ryoma as much as she could.
And she was quite surprised that she had meant every word of it.
It was strange, how she had loved him all those years. Since high school, all those years throughout college. She had never been with anyone else, because she had been harbouring hopes that one day, he would see her.
But it seemed that she was late.
She couldn't understand it at first when the rumours spread around school, that THE Echizen Ryoma was dating the school's president, Kotoha. Sakuno had known him longer than the president had, she had known him since childhood, her family had close ties with the Echizens and yet, he had chosen another girl.
When she had watched how Kotoha won the Nationals with the Girls' Tennis Regulars, she finally understood why Ryoma had never acknowledged her. The brown-haired girl was beautiful, unlike Sakuno whom spent her years in high school wearing a pair of spectacles. Kotoha was fluent in English, while Sakuno was just so-so. The school's first female president was talented in both sports and her studies, while Sakuno had been the girl who spent her time studying in the library and attended the not so famous home economics club.
She clearly understood why Ryoma had never seen her at all.
But still, she didn't know why, even after he brushed off her confession with his infamous Mada Mada Dane on the last day of High School… even after she had come home that day and locked herself in her room to cry all night… she still loved him. It was so strong, her feelings for him, that it scared her.
Her thoughts were abruptly stopped when she heard the door to the bedroom cracking open. Sakuno instantly stood up from the bed when she saw him entering the room, oblivious to her state of dress.
"U-Um…"
He turned around and his eyes looked her up briefly before he apologized.
"Sorry."
He was about to leave Sakuno before spoke up.
"U-Um… c-can you… help me… with my… corset? I-I can't seem to get out of this…"
Ryoma glanced at his newly-wed wife, standing in front of the body-length mirror in only white lace panties and a matching corset, looking very uncomfortable as she brought up a hand to rub her other arm. He turned towards her and told her to turn around, obviously surprising her when she had replied with a bright blush before she turned to face the mirror with her back facing him.
"Che. How did you get into this?" He mumbled as he began with the hooks between her shoulder blades.
Sakuno had shyly told him she didn't know herself, when she felt the first hook being undone. A relieved sigh escaped her lips.
"Th-That's better… Thank you…" She smiled at him from the mirror, not even expecting him to look back at her.
"Hm." He replied, his hands still working with the remaining hooks fluidly as if he had practiced doing it a lot of times before.
She closed her eyes, content with him being with her, even for just a moment. When she felt him rub the aching bruises on her back gently, her eyes immediately snapped open. From the mirror, she could see him scrutinizing the bruises on her back as he unconsciously rubbed them soothingly. Not wanting to remind him that he was actually touching her rather intimately, Sakuno kept quiet and took the time to observe him.
Even with his unruly hair, he looked handsome as always. It was no doubt that Echizen Ryoma was a heart throb. He was tall; much taller than what she'd seen of him as a thirteen-year old. His raven hair was short and looked windblown, a sign that he had been taking a walk at the beach. He two slashes of his dark brows which were nicely proportioned by God himself was in a straight line as his amber eyes focused on the hooks of her corset.
With every tug to release the hooks, he followed by a gentle rub to the pink bruises. Her eyes lowered to the reflection of her toes.
He surely hated her, that was no doubt, but the way his fingers were rubbing her marred skin made it impossible to believe that he actually saw her as a threat to his and Kotoha's relationship.
But that wasn't true.
He was just acting out on instinct when he rubbed those bruises with his surprisingly gentle fingertips.
Ryoma stopped at the three last hooks which were keeping the corset from sliding down her bodice. He eyed the pink marks which were still staining Sakuno's skin and impulsively ran his fingertips over her skin again, to soothe the marks away. His mother used to always do that when he had bruises on his elbows and knees from playing too much tennis ever since he was little.
His thoughts instantly went to his mother, the only person who pulled him into marrying a woman whom he didn't love.
He dropped his hand and stepped back.
"You can take care of the rest."
He mumbled as he left her standing in front of the mirror, with the corset left gaping halfway. Smiling bitterly, Sakuno reached her hands behind her and freed herself from the corset that wasn't just hurting her body, but also her heart.
The corset slid off her body, and she fell to the floor with it. She hugged her knees as she started to break down for the second time since marrying Ryoma.
A/N: Anyone, help me here? I have the plot laid out in my notebook but I haven't pieced them together yet, and they still need to be refined because this story just might turn up to be M-rated. But as I said before, don't expect me to update this story as quickly as I update my other stories because I still have yet to finish the other fics I have juggling here in my hand. But there's a high possibility that I'll complete this story.
So, you know the drill. Click the review button and tell me what you think. If you don't, then that's okay for you, since I'm used to not getting reviews. I won't bitch anyone to give me reviews because a real author doesn't GET reviews, he EARNS it. If you're reading this my dear cousin, then you should stop begging others and blackmail others just so you get a review. That's pathetic. (Oops, sorry for the outburst.)
Sorry for the bluntness, that's just the way I am.
HUGS AND KISSES!