Side Story: Ai's Reverie

The moon was in its perfect whole shape tonight– it was so round and yellowish golden– with the stars decorated the cloudless night airglow. It was so dazzling; bright enough to illuminate Ai's dark bedroom vividly, but cozy enough to make her fall into her pondering thoughts before slumber.

It was such a stupid idea coming from her when she unclasped her necklace only to get her wedding ring out from its gold chain. Well, she usually took the necklace off before she got into her bed and put it on her dresser.

However, instead of putting it for her safekeeping tonight, she brought it over into the thin air in between her thumb and index fingers as she leaned herself deeper into the soft mattress.

She chuckled though, upon seeing how the moon fitted perfectly well into the hole of the ring that was now glinting in the moonlight.

It looked stunningly beautiful– the ring that was.

Or perhaps it was their marriage symbolized by the ring that she found heavenly divine.

Her lips quirked up, forming a soft smile as she sighed in contentment. It had been a long day today, with her husband almost late for work and an unexpected guy appeared unconscious in their yard.

Nevertheless, she felt delighted.

"I promise everything will be okay, Ai."

"Thank you for trusting me, Ai."

As she was getting brief flashbacks on the things he said to her this evening, she couldn't prevail her smile from getting wider.

"It's because I love Ai that I asked her to marry me in spite of everything."

Shinichi's voice was ringing in her mind. She didn't see the expression his face showed when he said this, yet she clearly knew he told the soccer guy a half truth.

It was only happenstance that she was outside the living room– with her hand touching the door handle, ready to make an entrance to call them for dinner– when their conversation reached that part. She didn't hear the rest of it for she walked away, back to the kitchen while thinking the two guys needed more time to finish their talk.

Even so, the thing Shinichi said had unwittingly lingered in her heart. It evoked her memory of their fateful meeting about almost five months ago, as well as his whimsical proposal that evening by the gate.

She closed her eyes. And every time she did so, her mind replayed the scene so precisely as if it happened just yesterday.

With the sky glimmering in twilight and Chiharu in his arms, his dark blue eyes pierced into her blue ones in a sharp gaze as he uttered the dumb question. If only their situation was way much different than this, she supposed that would be the lamest proposal she had ever heard in her life.

He didn't even have an engagement ring to give at that time but the next thing she received was a wedding ring instead, in the form of a necklace pendant. It meant something to her before, and it meant a whole lot more now after their confessions to each other.

A pleasing bloated sensation was slowly piling up in her chest after she heard that one particular sentence he said to the soccer captain. It popped uncontrollably like a balloon that was pricked by a needle when he suddenly hugged her. For that, she pulled him and reconfessed her heartfelt feeling to him.

"I love you, Shinichi."

She blushed once she remembered how bold she was this evening.

Still and all, that warm feeling she felt from his promise and that one sentence he uttered was still there. And that was why she stupidly held her wedding band right now in between her two fingers, wondering what he had been thinking when he bought it.

Will it even fit in my finger? She wondered.

He didn't happen to know her size, did he?

Now that she had such supposition, her insides churned as curiosity took over her thoughts. Should she try to put it on her finger and see?

She gulped nervously before she shook her head off. What would she do once she found out about it anyway?

A minute of battling with herself– heart and logic were confronting each other– but her heart won once again as she slipped the ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

She felt the butterflies in her stomach burst out up to her throat when she observed her long slim finger being circled perfectly by the gold band. The small diamond glistened glamorously as it refracted the moonlight on its surface, reflecting the rainbow colors into her eyes.

Her heart quivered in ecstasy.

Impossible. She said to herself in surprise as the red blush returned to her face, deeper in shade than before.

She was going to pull it out immediately before her heart exploded to pieces from happiness, but it was stuck midway.

Shit.

Only because she followed her own foolish impulse, now she couldn't get the ring out from her finger. She was thinking of going to the bathroom and try to rub her finger with some soap to loosen the ring up. Yet she was startled by his presence in the hallway; he was standing in front of his own bedroom door that was just slightly opposite of hers, ready to turn in for the night after finishing his work in the study.

Damn, she forgot that she needed to pass by his door first before she could reach the bathroom. So how was she going to walk there if he was in the way?

"What's wrong, Ai?" Shinichi asked, puzzled by her troubled yet flustered expression.

"Nothing." She replied hastily as she returned to her bedroom and closed the door with a bit of a slam, leaving Shinichi stumped.

She sighed, plopping herself into the soft mattress once more then turned herself to her right side. Her left hand was resting on the pillow, just right next to her head. She couldn't help but to stare at the ring on her finger.

She surely would take it off when she went into the bathroom tomorrow morning. Howbeit, only for tonight did she have to sleep while wearing the gold rim on.

Only for tonight. She thought, her blushes were subsiding as she drifted off to her sleep.

And truth be told, she was awoke with a very fresh mind the next morning. A more healthy glowing complexion was also shown on her face, telling her clearly that she had been having a better sleep quality than any of the other nights she had ever had.

"Because it has been proven scientifically that cuddling with your spouse while sleeping at night promotes a better sleep."

She suddenly recalled Shinichi's remark when he persuaded her two days ago. Could it be that her subconsciousness think of the wedding ring as him for the whole night?

Nonsense. She rebuked her own reflection in the mirror while working with some soap to take the ring off.

Nevertheless, the blushes on her cheeks contradicted her thoughts.

Soon after, she felt the ring slid off with less effort. With that, she would sleep without it tonight– like she should be. Should she see the difference it made to her complexion tomorrow?

And if her hypothesis was true, should she consider his offer to move into his bed?

"It's because I love watching your serene sleeping face, Ai."

Her mind suddenly recalled another remark from Shinichi, again.

These voices of him telling her things out of nowhere were indeed getting irritating.

Geez. She cursed herself, surrendering to no one in particular.

Perhaps she would, for real, consider moving into his room if such postulation was proven to be true. For her skin health, that was– or so she reasoned with herself.

Author's note: She would never be true to herself until the end, wouldn't she? (haha). Anyway, despite the things with Yuuto were resolved, the summer vacation arc hadn't ended yet. Stay tuned!

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.