A/N: Thank you so much everyone for the support. I really appreciate it. Umm... my story is strongly focused on angst I guess and I honestly suck at romance.. :( I promise I will try my best to write more romantic chapters. Enjoy!

New Beginning

(General POV)

Naoki was introduced to the whole Neuroshia team by Dr. Ayano on Monday. Everyone welcomed him warmly. But when he was introduced to them as Kotoko's husband, everyone was either surprised for the obvious fact that Kotoko was married to Naoki- who was undeniably one of the most intelligent person alive in japan, while the others were simply astonished due to the fact that Kotoko actually managed to hide everything from the genius successfully until now.

However, two of the Kotoko's closest people from the team were absolutely perplexed. Neither Hana nor Mio had imagined Kotoko's husband to be anything like Naoki in their wildest dreams. They always assumed him to be a mean, arrogant, good for nothing, self-centred genius who didn't give a damn about Kotoko.

Yes, they knew he was a genius and they knew Kotoko loved him blindly. They never inquired much about him to her as she seemed uncomfortable if they ever tried to bring it up and they didn't want to hurt her feelings either.

But that didn't stop them to hate him.

The whole team knew why Kotoko didn't tell her husband about her disease. Apart from Hana and Mio who always thought there was definately something more, the rest of the team believed her. Well, honestly although they were colleagues, the others didn't ponder much on this matter since it was her personal business.

But that wasn't the case for Hana and Mio. They were constantly worried about their friend's married life.

Dr. Ayano requested everyone not to question Kotoko about anything. He explicitly warned Hana and Mio to be careful and not to hurt her feelings since she was in quite a weak state right now. He explained the situation with slight details to them just to avoid any more misunderstandings which might hamper his patient's condition. But he of course discussed the whole matter with Naoki and took his permission before he did all the explanation.

Kotoko was being honest all along about not wanting to ruin her husband's future opportunities by dragging him back to Tokyo from the middle of the 'who knows on what' research he was doing. On the other hand, Naoki who was immersed in his work, honestly didn't have a clue about what was going on with Kotoko and he was not an asshole like they believed him to be.

When the truth about the whole situation finally sink in to the duo, they felt sad for their friend, angry at her stupid decision and pathetic at their own carelessness.

How could they never try to find out more? They should have tried harder to change her mind. They shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that Kotoko was doing fine without her heartless husband.

All of these thoughts frustrated them and they without even realizing, directed their frustrations towards Naoki who was the sole reason for Kotoko doing all the hidings and suffering from everything alone.

Naoki was aware of that from the moment he met their gaze. They were throwing daggers at him with their eyes. He remained silent and let them kill him over and over again with their looks, hoping they wouldn't try it practically in real and mentally noted to stay away from them for the time being when they handle anything that is close enough to a sharp object. He just wanted to make sure he wasn't stabbed until Kotoko walks out of the hospital being fully cured.

Naoki felt slightly proud and relived seeing that Kotoko had supports and great friends beside her during the entire time. That's Kotoko… his wife… a charming, adorable, easy-going person who can make friends anywhere she goes. She is like a human magnet who attracts people towards her. The thought made him smile slightly.

...

Kotoko was admited to the hospital in the next morning. Her therapy was scheduled on Wednesday. She apologised to Hana and Mio who assured her they weren't mad at her. But they refrained themselves from explaining exactly who they were angry at.

Naoki together with Dr. Ayano and Dr. Shinju had spent their times discussing on the changes that were required in the treatment. Naoki for once in his entire lifetime was truly thankful to his luck for being a genius with IQ 200. Because with that IQ, it didn't take him much long time to understand everything about Neuroshia. They changed to new medicine which was imported from USA by Dr. Ayano. He also had a meeting with his previous colleagues from the states.

There was a rare kind of problem seen recently in Kotoko's case. Perhaps this was due to the fact that she was the patient who inherited the disease rather than the disease triggering due to pregnancy complexity. She was the only patient in Japan of her kind. The other 2 patients from the last 10 years, who had Neuroshia were pregnant woman who aborted their child for the treatment.

Naoki was thinking about the whole treatment procedure while walking towards Kotoko's cabin. He stopped at the door when he heard the commotion inside her cabin.

Unware of Naoki's presence outside the door, Kotoko was laughing her head off inside with Mio who was cracking weird jokes while measuring her vitals.

"You do realize that you ruined your own luck, don't you?" Mio deadpanned.

"How so?" Kotoko was genuinely surprised.

"Honey you have ruined your chance to date the most handsome person of the town aka me. It's not anyone's but solely yours fault." Mio replied casually.

"Oh… that… I mean yes, you are right, I did. Why didn't I see it before?"

"Well, I can't do anything now. The fish is already out of the water."

"Aww… My bad. I guess I will have to bear with it then." Kotoko mocked.

"But now you will stay stuck forever with that cold hearted man that you call your husband." He sounded irritated.

"I'm more than delighted to know that." She winked at Mio.

Naoki who had curved his fingers in a fist listening to the conversation, clenched his jaw feeling suddenly irked. All the gratefulness he was feeling towards Mio flew out through the window in an instance.

"Dazed queen, you deserve so much better than him." Mio said in a serious tone and seeing the look on his face Kotoko knew he was not joking anymore.

She sighed and mumbled, "Mio, He loves me more than I love him. I came to realize it finally." Which didn't reach Naoki's ears. So he thought she remained quiet after the remark Mio did. It surprised him. Usually Kotoko tells everyone off who judges his love for her. Is she confused about his feelings? Well it wouldn't be something that he didn't deserve anyway. He skipped a heartbeat.

Naoki suddenly remembered about the night he returned from the Kobe conference and saw Kotoko walking home with someone. It was Mio who walked her home. He knew he had seen Mio somewhere before as he seemed really familiar. He was the person with who Kotoko was laughing happily. His heartbeat increased remembering her face from that night.

"Anyway, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me. I'm only a call away dazed queen. I'm sure I can managed to see bo... Ouch!" He stopped when Kotoko punched him in the arm and didn't let him finish his sentence where he wanted to say how he could managed to date both Hana and Kotoko.

Well, he was joking and Kotoko knew it. No one better than her knew how much he loved Hana.

"I really don't see why I should date a monkey." Kotoko said innocently.

"Who's a monkey, dummy?" With that Mio held Kotoko's right hand and tickled her in the side of her stomach lightly. Kotoko laughed out loud and tried to push him away with her left hand.

"Mio… hehe… stop that. Argh… Mio!"

Naoki heard her shout from outside and barged in.

What the hell? His blood boiled and he felt really mad suddenly. That was the last straw. How dare he tickle her… his wife!

"Get your hands off her." Naoki ordered through gritted teeth. But right after that he composed his face and tried to put on a blank face. But what he didn't know was that his face was still red in anger… or possibly jealousy?

Kotoko and Mio were frozen on spot as he suddenly entered and shouted out of the blue. But then released each other from their grips as soon as they saw the cold stare Naoki was giving Mio. Kotoko and Mio didn't dare to meet each other's gaze because they were scared they might burst out laughing.

"Um… Dr. Irie, here is her vitals." Mio quickly composed himself and handed over Kotoko's chart. He could still feel an angry aura radiating from Naoki.

This is going to be great. He mentally smirked.

On the other hand Kotoko was eyeing Naoki. She was amused by the fact that Naoki was irritated seeing Mio tickling her. Well Mio wasn't doing it in an inappropriate way. But Naoki didn't even bother to figure that out.

Naoki silently observed the chart then handed it back to Mio and gave him further instruction. He was nonchalant and talked to Mio as if he didn't just yelled at him.

After getting the instructions, Mio slightly nodded his head to both Naoki and Kotoko and sprinted off towards the nurse station to find Hana and fill her in about the event that just took place.

"Are you doing okay?" Naoki asked moving towards the bed.

Kotoko decided to drop the sudden yelling and scaring her friend off matter for now and replied in a soft voice.

"Yes… just slightly dizzy."

Naoki again clenched his teeth remembering how Mio was tickling her. Of course she would be dizzy. She was laughing and wasting her energy way too much. Kotoko immediately knew what he had on his mind and tried to defend Mio.

"Hey… it wasn't his fault. He was just trying to cheer me up."

Wrong move Kotoko!

Naoki didn't know how he should feel about it. Guilty? Irritated? Sad? Thankful? He turned away from Kotoko and took a minute to compose himself as all these emotions rushed past his feature.

When he turned back to Kotoko, he was again nonchalant.

"You should lie down. You have just taken saline. Rest for now. I will sit here with you."

Kotoko smiled at the last statement and closed her eyes to take a nap. Naoki sat down beside her and took her hand in his and kept looking at her tired face.

He wasn't exactly jealous. No. Why would he be? He knew Kotoko loved only him. But it still bothered him when someone else touched her. Someone who was a male to be precise. Doesn't matter even if it was in a friendly manner. He huffed slightly and then bent down and pecked on his wife's small pink lips lightly.

Then he stated the sentence softly yet firmly looking at his sleeping wife.

"You belong to me."