Chapter 31

Two months and 21 days have gone by since the initial announcement of their engagement; the venue was set, date and time confirmed. Flowers were ordered, and bubbly brought in by the crates. Like earlier mentioned by the ruling Mrs. Makino, it was set to be the event of the year.

Rui sat in the corner with his eyes fixated on nothing; it was then that she stepped in.

"Hey…"

He looked up at her, "Hello."

"How have you been?" she asked though clearly noting that he has loss weight, and hasn't shaved in days.

"Fine, the weather has been good." He said playing with the box he had in hand.

She noticed the invitation card on the table; the invitation to their engagement party.

"Will you be coming?" she asked looking at the card.

"Of course, one of my best friends is getting married I have to be there." He said still not facing her.

"Okay, I'll get going, you're obviously busy." She said turning her heel.

But, it wasn't before she took 3 steps that he said, "Could you hold me? Just for a bit, just hold me. The world took away the light before I could remember how it looked like, and it looks likes it's darkness all the way from here on out. I haven't said my goodbye before the light was taken away. So, could you hold me? Just for 10 minutes. No, 5 minutes would do, no one minute, thirty seconds even. Could you just-"

She gushed over and put her arms around his sitting form, as if protecting him from what was to come and buried himself into her stomach, tightening his grip, holding on for dear life.

"Rui…" she whispered into his hair, taking in the familiar scent for the last times in her life.

Nestled in a bar downtown were three guys listening to jazz with the spectacular view of Tokyo from above.

Akira sat on the bar stool swilling his scotch, and said, "So, In a week's time someone will officially be engaged. How's the dating coming along?"

"As good as one can hope. Imagine that in a weeks time --" replied Soujiro.

Tsukasa came in from the balcony and sat on the coffee table in front of Soujiro.

"You listen to me, and you listen good. Break her heart and I'll break your limbs," said Tsukasa

'You know the problem Tsukasa… is not how much I love her. Do I need to remind you how much I love her? I fucking love her. I fucking love her…. Good God. I love her." Said Soujiro as if the idea of it was totally absurd but one hundred percent true.

"Whipped," said Akira and started laughing maniacally.

"So what... By the way we're having a post engagement mini-sugar moon," said Soujiro.

"What moon?" asked Akira coming round.

"Sugarmoon. To get off and relax as a couple before all hell breaks loose with flowers and canapés. I wonder where will it be…Bora-bora," remarked Tsukasa with little doubt in his tone.

"How do you know what a sugar moon is… and how the hell do you know it's in Bora-bora?" questioned Akira.

"Tsubaki had one, and Tsukushi loves Bora-bora," said Tsukasa mumbling towards the end.

"You really loved her?" asked Soujiro.

"Remember, no matter how angry you are at her, how jealous, or how much you want to walk away with the upper hand…don't ever hit her, push her away, anything that will cause her to fall, or you'll regret it," said Tsukasa remembering the fall.

Tsukasa poured himself another glass of scotch and downed it immediately then pouring another.

"The sugar moon will be on the day after the engagement for a week at Bora-bora. Feel free to bring a companion," said Soujiro light heartedly.

And they all resumed the night without Tsukushi talk.