"You seem so off, Ai-chan." Eri welcomed Ai with a sudden comment on how awful she looked, figuratively.

The strawberry blonde was stunned. How did two people at a separated time and place gave her the same remark about her look?

She was indeed feeling terrible inside right now, but did her face show that much only at one glance?

"Did something happen between you and Shinichi-kun?" The attorney threw an unexpected question.

Looked like being an attorney and learning from her own experiences, Eri was prone to noticing people's faces with marital problems. Above all else, she was a woman too so she had some sort of an instinct for such things.

"Um, not really." Ai tried to cover her emotions with a smile. "Aside from that, I'm thankful you are willing to take care of Chiharu today, Kisaki-san. And on a short notice too."

The adult could see it through, but she went along.

"I'm more than glad, Ai-chan." Eri smiled back. "It is impossible to bring her to the police headquarter after all."

She knew well enough how dangerous that place could be for a little girl.

"But I have to apologize for troubling you despite your busy timetable." Ai said.

"Not at all. Instead, I'm quiet surprised she behaves so much well even in a place full of pressure like this. She's a quick learner and smart too." She said as she glanced at the small girl who was playing with crayons and papers on the floor with her secretary. "I guess, you and Shinichi have taught her really well."

Ai immediately felt a warm wave of happiness smashed the iceberg that had been blocking her blood vessels for some time. Her heart was fluttered. It seemed the compliments she received were effective in clearing out the upsetting feelings between her as she got her colors back on her face.

Eri's remarks had unknowingly given her more assurance that she could surely meet the expectations to be Chiharu's mom. And in spite of her lack for nice childhood memories, she was pleased that she was able to nurture the little girl in the right way– with her husband's help too, of course.

The older woman didn't miss her genuine smile as she gazed at the little girl. Unlike before, her facial expression was beaming.

"Mammaa!" Chiharu approached her once she realized her mom had came to pick her up. She brought a paper full of her doodle with her, and showed it to Ai.

"Wow, you drew so well, Chii!" She squatted down to her height, took the paper from her little hands, and ruffled her hair. The little girl was grinning and chuckling from receiving praises from her mom.

Even though there were only strokes of imperfect circles in different colors and sizes that looked just like messy tangled threads, Ai praised her nevertheless. It was one of her ways to keep the little girl stimulated to continue her skills learning.

"It's also fine to leave her with me for few days, in case you and Shinichi need some private time alone." Eri teased Ai when she resigned herself from muddling further in the office. "I can fit my traveling schedules for the sake of that."

The fake teenage girl blushed. She didn't expect the attorney could utter a witty remark similar to her mother-in-law's. Well, they were close old schoolmates after all. Still, Ai kept the offer in her mind lest they needed it for real in the future– not for some private time like she said.

.

.

.

It was way past dinner time when Shinichi came home. Most of the lights in the house had been turned off, leaving some dimmed ones on. He wasn't surprise if Chiharu had been asleep by now, but he was actually searching for the other occupant of the house: his wife.

He looked worn out from working over time this evening. He couldn't get everything done as fast as he usually had since he spent more than half of his brain thinking about her and what might came to him once he walked into their house tonight.

Lucky that today was the last office day of the week for him. He put all his work-related stuffs in the study and went to the laundry room to store his dirty clothes in the basket. He still didn't find her anywhere.

Perhaps, she had retreated to her bedroom for the night.

But since he was still on the first floor, so he went in to the kitchen to look for her– who knew he would see her there– only to find a cling wrapped dinner on the counter, prepared by Ai. There wasn't even a note or anything close to it on the table yet it was enough to make him smile in relief, feeling the care from his beloved.

He was glad that she still cared for him despite the thing they had went through this afternoon. At least he knew she didn't plan to cut him off like that time.

Knowing she was still here had hushed away his uneasiness by a quarter, so he decided to eat his dinner and took his shower before he continued his search. He was grateful the warm water rinsed off some of his tired muscles even though his subconscious anxiety remained.

The door to Ai's bedroom was creaked soundlessly as he checked its inside for any sign of her. Shinichi sighed upon seeing the empty dark bedroom with her empty unmade bed, where was she?

At last, he searched for her in the living room. He knew it was the least room to find her at this hour but he had desperately looking for her everywhere with no avail, while his urgency to talk to her couldn't wait until morning. Sure enough, he found her curled up on her right side on the sofa; soundlessly sleeping. Her phone fell to the floor with her right hand hanging on the edge. Perhaps she was reading something from it before she gave in to her heavy eye lids and drowned to her sleep.

The detective sat on the small space of the sofa on her side, bringing his hand to brush her strawberry blonde hair then settled it on her cheek to draw some circles with his thumb. Ai squirmed as she felt someone touched her skin, it felt so cool and comfortable. She was almost half-awake, ready to get into deeper realms of her dream once again. That was then she heard his voice faintly said he was sorry.

Shinichi pulled his hands back when he saw her eyes fluttered open. She rubbed her sleepy eyes while trying to sit up.

"You're home." Her voice sounded hoarse and weak from waking up.

"Yeah." He said with a small smile, the heavy weight in his heart was lessened upon hearing her soft voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

She hummed as she took her time to start up her brain.

"Why didn't you sleep on your bed?"

"Obviously, I didn't plan to sleep in here in the first place."

But she couldn't get her rest no matter how hard she tried, so she went to sit on the living room and read some e-book with her phone.

"Why haven't you retire yourself for the night?" She asked him back.

"Ah, that." Shinichi was looking for the end of the string to begin with the talk. "I've been searching for you in the house but didn't find you anywhere, not even in your bedroom."

"Mmhm."

"Because I think we need to talk about what happened this afternoon."

The room was filled with a sudden silence as her ears generated the information faster than the little nerves technicians that were still connecting the cables one by one to her brain. Her consciousness was forced abruptly to wake up by the mentioning of something about this afternoon.

She opened her eyes a bit wider, totally awaken now.

"Oh." It was the only thing she could say.

She didn't actually want to talk about that since it reminded her of the scene which made her feel unpleasant– it was, in fact, the reason why she couldn't sleep until she drowsed herself on the couch. Yet, here he he was, bringing the matter up in this late hour on his own. Should she give him a chance to explain it?

They were staring at each other in quietude. He was looking deep into her eyes, exploring whatever emotions she might feel right now, while she readied herself for his next words. An open communication was important to make every relationship worked, they said. So here they were.

"I'm sorry about the thing you had to see this afternoon, Ai." He said after he made sure she was ready to hear him out.

She wasn't truly sure why her mood seemed to not cooperate well with her today, it was so unlike her. Howbeit, she couldn't deny the fact that she felt displeased the instant he was done saying his guilty words to her.

"Why?" She asked him with her cold tone. Her eyes turned darker just like when Shinichi saw them in the office, or even darker than that.

It was supposed to be that girl who said this, wasn't it? Because Ai knew the thing happened this afternoon wasn't his fault to begin with. But why was he the one who asked for her apology?

It was as if he was saying sorry on behalf of that fangirl.

Shinichi noticed her sudden change of mood, so he brought his hand gently to cup her cheek in attempt to soothe her. He flinched, however, at the moment she tilted her head to the side to avoid his touch. He furrowed his eyebrows, and saved his clenched fist to himself.

Was she going to get away from him again?

He opened his mouth to say something but Ai didn't even let any words escaped. Instead, she gritted her teeth and pushed him down to the couch. She strangled him on both sides with her legs, while her hands rested on his chest– she was literally sitting on top of him.

She didn't know what had gotten into her to be this crude, but she realized she caught him off guard as much as she did with herself. It was too late for her to retrieve though, the evil in her had taken control over her body and mind.

"Why are you the one who said sorry, Shinichi?"

He felt a sudden shivers down his spine for the second time today, even way downward than the one he felt previously. She was so much intimidating him by keeping her sharp darkened expressionless gaze on his and spelled his name in that tone, slow and clear. His mouth quavered a bit before it turned in to a thin line.

He knew it very well she was tremendously mad at him right now and she had lost herself in it, nevertheless she still excited him.

Damn, hormones. This wasn't the right time to act up.

Ai felt it in between her legs. She was surprised she could incite him even in this kind of situation. Her lips formed an evil smile when she felt his nerve down there tensed up more as one of her forefingers teasingly traced the bridge of his nose, continued to his lips toward the jawlines. She stopped at his apple lump that moved up and down a bit from swallowing; he was nervous.

"Looks like you prefer punishments rather than answering my question, huh, Tantei-san?" Ai smirked.

Shinichi groaned in frustration. Never did he once intended their serious talk about this afternoon to turn into something like this. They were straying away from their initial starting point.

But who cared?

If only they were on a larger space, he would definitely flip them over and turn this moment to his advantage. Howbeit, he could only grab her wrist in this position– lucky she didn't confine his hands too– stopping her naughty finger from tracing further down than his neck.

"At least punishments are better than you leaving me, Ai." His low voice sounded croaking as well as pleading, contradicting his eyes that were clouded with lust.

She hadn't had the time to react as he pulled her arm to make her fall against him, and forcefully crashed her lips onto his with the help of his other hand that found its way to slip to the back of her head. Ai let out an inaudible small gasp, which Shinichi used to penetrate her proximity by sliding his tongue to meet hers. They ended up engaging themselves in an intense battle for dominance.

She pulled her head a few inches away from him after claiming her victory, although her darkened orbs stayed in his softened ones.

What did he say again?

Shinichi watched her disbelieving her own two ears, so he repeated himself once again.

"You can punish me with anything, but please don't ever leave me again."

He gently brought her face back to his, minimalizing their gap before his lips met hers halfway in a more passionate kiss. She let him invade her mouth this time; she was too immerse in his sentence.

Why was he so pitifully saying to her not to leave him?

And did she hear him said 'again'?

Ai had a hunch he was talking about the thing between them eight years ago– the day when she decided to walk out of his life. But why was that memory still haunting him even though she was finally here with him?

Silly, detective. She thought.

There was no war like in their meeting minutes ago, it was only a pure lustful kiss between the two lovers now. Ai retreated, gasping for some air only to be pulled back again by his strong hands. She moaned into his caresses, almost forgetting her ire.

His hand started to glide down her back, as his other hand released her wrist to join its pair on her waist. He could sense her mood elevated a bit and she had started to give in to his touches, so he went to trail the edge of her t-shirt in seek of her skin. He was going to push it upward when her hand suddenly stopped him.

He growled once her swollen lips parted from his again. His eyes were saying his protest but were ceased by her once-again-coldened emotions he saw through hers.

Shit, what made her mood plummet all of a sudden?

"If that is what you want, then let me torture you, Shinichi." Ai threw him a baleful smile. If he thought his pleading words and soft touches could work to lighten up her mood, then he was totally wrong this time.

He understood the moment she stopped his hands, she was actually drawing an unspeakable rule of her punishment for him. And so he gulped, knowing where this was going.

While both of them agreed the night was still young, bet he won't last until morning if this went on. She was indeed going to torment him tonight.

He should have learnt from the numerous murder cases he solved that jealousy would always be the most dangerous thing that could kill even crueler than guns. It always ran in the blood of every humanity– like a curse. With that in mind, he should have never underestimated a jealous-angered wife, shouldn't he?

Especially when his wife was Ai.

Author's note: Honestly, this is the thing that came to my mind if Ai was jealous– torturing Shinichi (haha). Because women will always be the scariest species when they are jealous and angry, aren't they?

Hope you like this chapter. Also, do not forget to give your comments and reviews. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: All characters of Detective Conan are belong to Aoyama Gosho. I don't own any single of them.