A/N: Thank you so much everyone for your support. I apologize for all my grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. :)

Rejection

(General POV)

Kotoko wanted to leave for Kobe in the Sunday morning. But Tomoko called her to remind her about their group assignment which was due Tuesday. She couldn't ignore it as she will be absent on Monday if she leaves for Kobe today. So in the morning she informed oka-san that she will leave for Kobe directly from Tomoko's house after she finishes her assignment. The assignment took longer than they expected. It was nearly noon and Tomoko insisted that she should have the lunch with her. It takes 6 hours to reach Kobe from Tokyo. It was nearly 8:30 pm when she reached there and due to the long journey and the stress of how she should break this news to Naoki, she fell ill. She vomited as soon as she was out of the train. She felt dizzy and the muscle pain was back. She was taken into the medical care room inside the station for some rest. She called Naoki to inform her situation but he didn't receive. She was out of energy to call again. She lied down on the bed and decided to rest for some time. Mrs. Irie called her after a while.

...

(Kotoko POV)

'Irie-kun what are you doing? Why don't you ever receive your calls? What do I do?' I was thinking what to do when my cell rang. 'Irie-kun!' I jumped into sitting position on the bed leading my head to spin. 'Ah damn'. It was oka-san who called. 'Oh no!' I forgot to inform her. She must be worried.

"Hello oka-san."

"Kotoko-chan, did you reach Kobe yet?" Oka-san sounded worried.

"Yes but I'm still in the station oka-san. I would have called you once I reached to Irie-kun's apartment." I tried to sound cheerful so that she wouldn't worry.

"Oh that's good. Have a nice time then Kotoko-chan." Oka-san sounded happy.

"Yes I will." I giggled.

I lied back again after cutting off the connection. The muscle ache was killing me. Why did it have to come now! It was nearly 9:45 pm when my head seemed to clear a bit and the pain reduced. I got down from the bed and thanked the station doctor for his help. I started to walk on the path which will lead me to Irie-kun's apartment. Fortunately this time things went right and I found his apartment. I took a deep breath standing in front of his apartment building. After leaving my details into the front security desk, I went to the lift. It was already on the ground floor. I entered and pressed the floor where Irie-kun lives. 'Irie-kun, I'm coming' I mumbled as the lift started to move upward.

...

(Naoki POV)

I shut the book and closed my eyes for a moment. My head was pounding with headache. I assisted in a 2 days long surgery on a 5 year old boy who had head injury. I returned home at 7:30 pm. After shower I had a light dinner and then sat down to study. But I was so tired that couldn't concentrate. My eyes fell on the only photo frame that was on the table when I opened them. It had a picture of Kotoko and my wedding. It was a rare picture because in that I was holding her around her waist instead of her clinging onto my arm. I was told by the photographer to do that but I didn't mind doing it. But of course I didn't show it. The photo brought a smile to my face. I suddenly remembered I didn't answer her calls from the past 4 days. I was too busy with the surgery. In fact I only talked once with her in the whole week. Probably she is busy studying since she didn't call much? I took out the phone which was still in my coat pocket and swiped it open. It had 3 missed calls from Kotoko and 2 from my mother. My mother also left a massage nearly an hour ago. I decided to check that first.

'Did Kotoko reach your apartment? She was in the Kobe train-station at 8:30 pm. Check up on her and let me know.'

I froze for a second. 8:30 pm? She called me around that time. I checked the time and its 10:20 pm right now. It's been nearly 2 hours since she reached Kobe. Where is she? Did she lost her way again? "Baka! What am I gonna do with you". I said out loud. It's late in the night and she is alone walking on the unknown street, the thought made me panic. Few days earlier a hijacker stabbed a woman to take her bag three blocks away from here. I grabbed my coat and nearly flew out off my apartment. Reaching the lift I pressed the button and saw it was already coming up, and then I dialed to Kotoko's number. It rang two times and the lift door opened. I stared inside. There she was! Holding out her cell on her hand which she was about to answer. She froze for a second and then ran out of the lift towards me and crushed herself onto a hug wrapping her hands around me. Warmth spread throughout my whole body relaxing me. She is fine! She is here! I thought. But the next moment I felt angry. How dare she travel this long distance in the night? If she wanted to come she should have departed in the morning! I pulled away from the hug, grabbed her hand and dragged her inside the apartment with me. "Irie-kun" she called me but I didn't stop. I needed to give her a piece of mind tonight. She shouldn't do this again. She wouldn't listen if I didn't scold her. Once we were back in my apartment I released her from the grip and looked at her. She looked very tired. Why did she have to come if she wasn't well? That made me even angrier. I waited for her to start the conversation.

"Irie-kun?" She seems to have understood that I was angry, but didn't know the reason why. I kept quiet.

"Irie-kun, are you busy? You didn't reply my calls." So that's why she is here! Well this is not new that I didn't answer her calls. She calls all the time so most of the time I keep ignoring them. I don't usually answer at work or when I study and do the researches work. And that's normally what I do when I'm awake most of the time.

"Of course I'm busy Kotoko! What do you think I'm doing here? Did you check the time? If you were going to come why didn't you come in the day?" I used only one pitch higher tone than I usually do. That wouldn't work I told myself.

"Umm... I needed to do an assignment." She mumbled with a faint smile.

"Great. So you have done your study. What about my exam? Didn't I tell you I have exam from tomorrow?"

Her expression changed. It clearly tells that she totally forgot about my exams. I sighed internally.

"I just needed you to see this." She pulled out a file from her bag which had several papers in it. That pissed me off. Did she come all the way to make me help her with her assignments? I didn't touch the file that she extended at me. I wasn't going to help her with this now. If I do, this will repeat again. I needed her to stop coming abruptly like this. What if she came yesterday night instead of today? My cell was switched off around this time yesterday. I turned it on around midnight but didn't even check it and it was on silent mode. I only checked it a while ago. She would have to spend the whole night outside of the apartment.

"Which part of do not disturb me with the unnecessary things during my exams did you not understand Kotoko? I clearly told you my exams were coming and that too will start from tomorrow. You arrive at my door step this late, in the night before my exams and you expect me to help you with those... whatever they are? Yes I know I don't answer much of your calls. But do you think I'm just fooling around here? I'm working hard and studying at the same time so that I can finish all my work here as soon as I can to return to Tokyo. But look at you. What are you doing? You promised me you will do everything you need to do to pass your exams and get here. But you still fail your tests and instead of staying home studying you are wasting your time here." I told her heatedly.

"Irie-kun this is..." she tried to talk but I cut in.

"No excuses Kotoko. I don't want to see you in Kobe again unnecessarily. You said you were okay with me moving here. You said you wanted me to do well in my career. You said you will come around on your holidays. You promised you will study hard and pass your national exam within this year."

"Irie-kun I really meant all this..."

"Your current action doesn't show that." I again cut in her. "If you keep pushing yourself on my way and make me worry about you 24*7, how do you think I will do well here? You are going to be a nurse. You need to start to think by yourself. You need to do your works on your own. You need to be independent to let others depend on you. If you are going to be a nurse, all your patients are going to depend on you. Do you understand how serious this is? If you think this profession is a joke then you should give up immediately. You are going to be dealing with lives and that's not going to be a joke. Do you understand?"

She was biting her lower lips to try to shop her tears from falling. But she nodded.

"I'm so sorry... Irie-kun. I really didn't mean to intrude."

'What the hell? When did I tell that she intruded? Did she even understand anything that I told her until now?' I thought helplessly.

"I will work hard from now on. I promi... well I seriously promise that again. I will start doing my works on my own. I won't ask for your help again."

That last sentence stabbed me. 'No I didn't mean that silly. Why would you not ask me for help? I just meant you should be aware of the time and your surroundings. You could have just mailed me if those were so important!' I bit my lip.

"I... I actually never thought how hard you work here. Maybe because you are a genius, your hard works are taken for granted... even by me." She paused feeling guilty. "Trust me, I will be the happiest person for every success that you achieve. I would never want to come in your way. I will try to make it up to you... for today... for every time. I am really sorry."

I was shocked. What did I just hear? Is that Kotoko talking? Damn, I think my words worked a bit more than I wanted. She sounded too serious. Well that's exactly what I wanted but something seems off. I mean its Kotoko... she can't be this... serious! I couldn't think of anything to reply to her. I wanted her to understand my words and now when she did, I don't want her to understand it anymore. This reminds me of why I love her so much. She always does the expected things in an unexpected way. That makes me fall for her even more. But right now in this situation, I don't know why but I felt guilty. I really wanted to pull her into a bone-crushing hug. I wanted to kiss her to senseless. I wanted to make sure I didn't hurt her. I wanted to make sure that she was okay! But I couldn't do any of it. I just stared at her. She looked up at me and forced a small smile. That made my heart hurt more.

"These papers are not really important." She stuffed the file inside her bag again. "I actually miss you a lot." She looked at the floor.

'I know! And I miss you too... more than you think Kotoko... more than you can ever imagine.' I told in my head.

"Well you should get back to study. I am really sorry. You must have a headache now. Do you want coffee? Shall I make you some?" she moved towards the kitchen.

I still couldn't find what to tell her. So I decided to get back to study. I started to flip over the pages not really reading anything. I hated the feeling of not knowing what to do. She returned with coffee after a while and put in on the table near me.

"I will go to sleep early then. You should study. I feel tried. Sorry for not waiting." She said.

"That's okay. But don't you need dinner?"

"I had some on the train. Don't worry. Good night."

I knew she was lying. Why would she have dinner on the train while she was coming here? But I'm sure she didn't have the appetite after swallowing everything I told her. I can totally understand that.

"Good night." That was all I could say.

She kept the bag near the bed, changed into her pajamas and went under the blanket. I drank some coffee that she left for me. It felt heavenly. Her coffee was the best in the whole world. It was soothing for both aches that I was having; physical in the head and mental in the heart. I finished the coffee, decided to check her assignments tomorrow after exams and I needed to request for another set of apartment keys for her. It would be better to give her one. This way at least I will know that she is home and safe whenever she comes. After that I returned my concentration as much as I could, back to the study. I studied until 3 am then went to bed to get some sleep. Kotoko was asleep already. Her face looked uneasy. I hoped she wasn't dreaming something bad. I sat beside her.

"Kotoko, I love you... more than you think." I mumbled on my own. Then I bent down to her face and lightly kissed on her forehead and then to her lips. She slightly flinched. I hovered over her with a few cm gaps between our faces. She held her breaths but stayed very still. 'So she isn't sleeping! Then why isn't she responding?' My heart gave a jolt. I kissed her again. This time not lightly and lingered it on her lips for a while. But she did not respond or even open her eyes. I got the idea that she is upset and didn't want my company now. "I am sorry Kotoko." I told her and moved back to my side. I tried to sleep but it already left me for tonight.