For the longest time in her history, Ai had never been so stupefied that her brain seemed to stop working in a split second after it processed the latest information that came to her ears. Yet here she was, standing still just beside her opened locker door in the girls' changing room, wearing nothing but her bra and skirt, as well as her ring necklace that rested right on her chest. Her face was almost like those rows of haniwa dolls as she listened to her classmates gossiping about a certain detective who happened to be her husband.

It all started when she and her class were changing back to their school uniforms after their P.E. lesson. While it had already been some months ago since she wore her precious necklace, somehow it had only to be today that one of her classmates noticed it. Ai was taken aback before she threw a courtly small smile at her in response to her comment. The girl then continued to mention how her boyfriend wanted so much to buy the exact same model necklace only because it was the recent trend that everyone on the net was talking about.

Some other girls joined them shortly after, interested with the topic of the talk. And so, from a story about someone's boyfriend who wanted to look cool by following the newest trend, the conversation slowly shifted to somewhere around the origin of the hype.

"Isn't it supposed to be a wedding ring, or so I heard?" One of the girls said as she took her smartphone out to show a picture of a dangling ring pendant and some chats she had with her online friends. "Everyone across the forum is discussing this ever since yesterday."

The picture was much of a zoomed in version, like someone was purposely trying to get a more focus on the accessory rather than the face of the person who was wearing it. However, it took only a short glance for Ai to notice all the familiarity she could find in it– the overfamiliarity that made her heart stop beating instantly as a whole lot of insecurity crept up to her mind.

Oh God, please let these girls not be talking about his wedding ring.

However, as much as she said her wishes, the gods seemed to leave her with no answers. Instead, another girl came to turn the sitch all the more direr.

"Hey, isn't that a captured scene from this video?" She asked as she took out her smartphone as well, and played the video she was talking about. "My big sister sent this over to me last time, saying how cool the detective she idolizes is when in action. But then she came to my room yesterday night, rambling about him wearing a ring necklace."

"Ah! That's the murder case that happened in front of our classroom last week, isn't it?" The other confirmed.

Now, it was clear to Ai that everyone on the net and social media was talking about her husband– his ring to be exact. While the news about the case itself had almost died down, it seemed his fans had only realized the golden ring that dangled out from the detective's shirt.

And so, questions were thrown all over the forum and discussion, but there was only one unmistakably remark that everyone came to agree upon.

Did he, perhaps, had been secretly married to someone?

"Wait, don't you think he looks kinda familiar? Like, I've seen him somewhere before." Another one commented, gaining the attention of all the eyes in the room; all of them were looking at her wryly.

"He is the famous detective of the East, duh. So of course you've seen him on the news."

"But now that you mentioned it, I think I've seen him at school during the parent-teacher conference day." The other girl said. "If I'm not mistaken, he was with Haibara-san, was he not?"

The changing room fell into silence immediately as everyone's gazes were fixated on the stoic strawberry blonde. As if they were putting two and two together in their heads, their mouths were left agape a short while later.

"Eh?"

Meanwhile, Ayumi who was listening to the whole conversation from the side could only give herself a dry smile. She wanted to help Ai get out from the situation so much, yet she was too bowled over by her own confusion as to how to do it.

She sighed desperately in the end, disappointed with herself. The strawberry blonde had always helped her whenever she was in need, yet she could only do nothing for her in return.

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It was such a bright day for Shinichi. After weeks of recuperating at home, today was finally the day he was back to his station once more. Gleefully smiling from ear to ear, he was overly happy reporting his return to the chief inspector.

Regrettably, his good mood had to be cut short when Takagi came to Megure's office. His face was pale like he was troubled by something urgent which he was going to report to his superior right at this instant.

Just about at the same time, a sudden vibration coming from Shinichi's phone caught his attention. Peeking at the notification on the lock screen, he read his wife's name typing him a message.

Apparently, you and your ring necklace are the number one trending topic on the net since last night. She said.

It was so quick and short that it puzzled Shinichi to grasp the whole idea. Until he heard Megure's baffled shout, demanding for Takagi's further explanation to his report.

"It appears that there are some videos uploaded on the social media that show Kudo-kun wearing a golden ring pendant necklace. His fans noticed it, and they have been talking about it nonstop over the internet." He elaborated. "Those reporters said Kudo-kun's bachelorhood has become the number one trending topic on every search engine available."

Knowing that medias were always hungry for news like wolves craving for meats, they would definitely want to get a thorough information regarding the issue as soon as possible to make it in to their cover stories. Not to say, they were talking about a Kudo Shinichi here; the son of a famous mystery novel writer and a legendary actress, who debuted as a talented high school detective, who later joined the police force with flying achievements.

If only he was an ordinary police officer, no one would give a damn about his private life over a mere golden ring.

That was why Takagi came to Megure to relay a message from the front desk that some reporters were currently asking the polices' permission to have an interview with Shinichi.

Megure turned his eyes to the said detective, inaudibly asking for the credibility of the rumour with his perplexed stare. Shinichi returned it with a sheepish shrug, trying to stay composed despite the creeping anxiety he felt in his heart– it had got to be true since Ai told him the same thing just now.

Megure's attention was back to Takagi who was now showing him his smartphone to see if the reporters said the truth. Without further ado, Shinichi used this chance to quietly escape from the office and go to somewhere in the building where he could hide for awhile. Megure and Takagi didn't notice him missing from the room, not until when they threw suspicious looks to his now empty spot after they were done checking the internet.

Damn. They cursed inwardly.

Now, they had to think by themselves of a way to slip away from the media commotion although they knew it won't last long until those reporters came back once again.

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"Let's make it public." Shinichi's voice rang through her phone, leaving her enthralled with a deep thought. She pressed her lips into a thin line, her chest felt tight just from hearing his pleading soft voice.

Ai clearly knew since day one that it was impossible to keep their marriage a secret forever. Just like on the day when Yuuto accidentally saw them kissing in the broad daylight, she knew they had to come forth with their marital status someday, sooner or later– if it wasn't to the public, at least it was to their friends.

But not now. She said to herself.

She just wasn't ready to inform their friends about their marriage yet, let alone the public. Most of it was because she still had the status of a high schooler, while the other was because… well, because she just wasn't ready yet. Period.

Supposedly they were to announce their marriage to the world, it would be much less concerning if she was at least a college student by that time. Although their physical ten years gap still remained, but the public opinion would be much different that way. It was funny indeed, but that was how the society worked in reality.

So thinking of the worst possibilities, wouldn't it arouse many people to question his decency if they ever found out that a police officer married a high schooler in spite of the fact that it was actually legal?

More importantly, would she still be able to protect the only string that attach her to him if things were getting out of their control?

The thin string that she called a family.

Despite her full discernment that the string they had was no longer the fragile thread they kept in the beginning, it still frightened her so much to see it snap. What if it broke in the end before she knew it?

She thought they were lucky enough that the media only got to expose his ring as of right now. And by the look of it, the public still hadn't gotten a clear clue whether the pendant he wore was indeed a wedding ring or something else. However, she knew it would only be a matter of time before someone brought up some more talks about him to support the discussions. In which she was afraid that it might involve their nineteen-months-old baby girl whom those people in the festival saw cuddling in her daddy's arms.

Moreover, some of her girl classmates who were the ultimate witnesses to the last week's murder case were starting to get hints about her close connection to the detective. Not to say, they noticed that she was wearing a similar ring pendant as Shinichi's. Again, she thought she was fortunate enough that their female teacher suddenly barged in just in time for her to get away from their prying questions this morning. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but feel restless that those girls might still be entranced about the newly found too-good-to-be-true coincidence between her and the detective. It surely would seasoning up the spreading rumour if it ever leaked out to his fans.

So, if only Ai could remain selfish, she would choose not to agree with Shinichi just yet. Albeit, she did agree with him that they needed to take some actions before the scuttlebutt took up on another level.

It wasn't because she didn't trust him. She did truly believe in him with all her heart like she always did before. It was just that she had only realized it, that she was still such a coward as she was before, to see his already-not-so-perfect life was ruined by this no-turning-back decision. She was too weak to see her almost-perfect-life crumbled before her very own eyes. And she hated it that she always seemed to be the person who pulled him down to the pit of no end.

She should've kept on walking that day no matter how many times he called her to wait.

No, perhaps she shouldn't have uttered that one short dumb question that seemed to be the start of this all.

Or maybe she should've slipped away like she had always been doing the moment their eyes met for the first time after those long years.

And once again after all these months, it seemed she still had it in her head, the thought that in his life, she could only be the biggest mis–

"I know you're not running away from your life, Ai." His groaning soft voice was cutting her thoughts, waking her up with a surprise and leaving her bewildered. "But please, don't run away from mine again."

Listening to her prolonged silent answer, Shinichi understood her hesitation– her skepticism– and he could see she was starting to blame herself upon all this. So not wanting to repeat the same mistake like he did eight years ago, he tried to grab her back and hold onto her tightly with his words. He wasn't going to lose her this time– never again in his lifetime.

"I'm fine if you disagree with me on that first note." He sighed, yet his tone was assuring. "All I wanted to know is actually the things you keep inside your head."

Ai replied him with another short silent before she furrowed her eyebrows and finally spoke up with a slight bitter taste on the tip of her tongue.

"Why did you suggest it in the first place then?" She asked.

"It was the only thing I could think of to get this over with." He shrugged. "How else should we do to cover it up then when there are too many people to deceive?"

Besides, he was ready to endure every consequences that were to come, throwing everything he had off of his shoulders to keep his little family– especially her– by his side. He believed he would get everything else back in place with patience and resilience, but no hard work would ever get him closer to her if he was to lose her again.

"Let's split-up." She said in almost a low whisper.

Shinichi heard something cracking in his heart the very moment her sentence reached the core of his ears. His mind went frantic with anxiety as panic started to overwhelm his inner self.

Did he hear her right?

"Wha–?"

"It isn't too late now if you clear up the rest on your end by saying that everything is merely a misunderstanding." She said softly, ignoring his protest. "It will put off their suspicions about your ring without dragging anyone else further down the issue, especially Chii."

"What the hell are you implying here, A–?"

"Just until the spring comes." Realizing his raised tone in his voice, bet he was going to throw some furious statements; she immediately explained herself. "By that time, I guess the rumour should have died down eloquently. But before that, we should be better off as neighbours."

It wasn't good if people saw her come and go from the Kudo Residence almost everyday as if she was living there while she was supposed to be his neighbour in everyone's eyes. No one cared a hang of it before this, but since the rumour had it he was secretly married, people would surely pay more attention to such simple things around the detective. And with the social media on hand, any information could be relayed so fast in a snap of one's fingers.

"So, can you please wait until then, Shinichi?"

He gritted his teeth as he listened to her last question. How the hell could she sound this calm? And how the hell could he say no if she said it so sweetly as if she was begging for it like this? He knew they were not separating for real here– they were still a husband and a wife on papers– and unlike years ago, they were only limiting their interactions so they would look like normal neighbours in public. Furthermore, they would only be doing this for some months yet, he couldn't be so sure whether he could live his life without her even only for a short while.

Well, he had once waited for her for eight years after all, so going through another some months should've meant nothing to him this time around, right?

"Fine." Shinichi agreed in the end, slightly pouting, after he convinced himself with all those thoughts.

Even so, he couldn't deny the fact that he found it harder than said to let her go once she was within his arms that night.

As he pulled her close to him tightly in a snuggle, both of them were barely covered in anything but one single blanket they always shared every night for the past months. Their bodies were exhausted, yet no one dared to give in to their slumbers soon.

She nuzzled herself deeper to the crook of his neck, letting his nose inhaled the scent of her shampoo that lingered on her hair. While his fingers trailed off her every curves and turns as if he was painting every details of her inside his head, his hand finally made a stop to rest on her cheek. She cupped his hand with hers as she felt him caress the corner of her lips with his thumb. Shinichi tilted her face slightly upward, their clouded eyes met in a deep gaze before he brought himself to kiss her, pushing himself hungrily to get a taste of hers. Ai mewled weakly as she returned his teasing to her tongue, hearing him whisper to her the three words over and over in between their kisses while calling her name like it was the end of the world.

Now, if he ever regretted one thing tonight, it would be the part when he said that it would be an easy peasy for him to live out this coming months away from her. Bet, he couldn't survive even a day without her.

Shit, could someone remind him how he endured those long empty eight years again?

Author's Note: I guess I wrote too much drama for this chapter, huh? (haha).

Oh well, I hope you like this chapter as well. And as always, please drop down 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.