I had intended to post this yesterday, but I'm a day late!
A Christmas Fairy Tale. Part 2.
One year later:
It was Christmas eve, and Yugi was sitting at his computer working on a game that he and his small team were developing. Finding himself stuck on a line of code, he started thinking about the last twelve months.
Boy, had it flown by!
This time last year, he remembered being depressed about where his future was heading, and neither he or Anzu were in a good place mentally.
The call he missed, while they were kissing under a streetlamp to the peal of bells hailing the start of Christmas Day, had been from the personnel department at Kaiba Corp. offering him an interview via Zoom! They wanted him to call back to arrange it as soon as possible.
It had sobered both him and Anzu up quickly, and they made haste back to their apartment to get him looking a little less like a drunken idiot covered in pine needles, and more like a potentially respectable employee. After a shower, which Anzu insisted he should take cold to ensure he looked less tired and hung over, and wearing a fresh shirt, he was as presentable as he was going to be after a busy afternoon at work followed by a drinking session.
Thanks to time differences, the Personnel manager was surprised to hear from him at what was shortly after two in the morning New York time. Apologising for looking a little tired, Yugi explained that he and his wife had been at a Christmas celebration and had immediately returned home so that he could call them.
The Zoom meeting went better than he expected, and they told him they would be in touch within the next day or two. All he could do now was wait.
"They like you, Yugi. I could tell," insisted Anzu.
"Oh, I don't know." They must have noticed the bags under his eyes. "I'm not going to count my chickens just yet."
When the email arrived a day later, offering him a 30 day trial with a view to permanent employment should he meet the required standard, he did not even hesitate and accepted.
His starting date would be 1st February.
And then it occurred to him that in his excitement he had not told them he would need to discuss it with his wife first.
Luckily, Anzu thought he did the right thing by accepting straight away. "It's okay, Yugi. You would be crazy not to accept the offer."
The question he really needed answering was, "Will you come with me?"
Anzu had looked away then, unable to answer him. "I need to think about my own career options," she said stubbornly. A lot of soul searching and discussion was needed.
"I'll keep the apartment if you decide to stay," he offered not knowing what else he could do, especially since he did not really want to leave her here on her own, and homeless.
After discussing various options, they reached a compromise: Anzu would go with him while he worked his 30 day trial period so that she could make that long overdue visit to see her parents..
Much to his surprise, Anzu suggested they gave up the apartment, which Yugi hoped meant she was not planning to go back to New York.
His phone beeping with a message brought him back to the present.
:
Swinging her leg onto the rail, Anzu folded her body over her thigh and stretched. Pivoting around, she changed legs and repeated the move. A good stretch after an intense rehearsal was always a good idea, but today she was not feeling it.
Standing up a little too quickly, she felt a bit light headed and woozy. That was not normal?!
However, it was hot in here and smelled of sweaty bodies.
"You okay?" her male dance partner asked. She nodded.
"It's stuffy in here and I stood up too quickly." She felt a bit nauseous. "I think I'll get a cold drink and go and sit down." Making out she was absolutely fine, she skipped out of the dance studio and into the foyer, where she grabbed a bottle of water from the chiller.
"Are you okay, Anzu?" The studio manager asked.
"Yeah. Hot and stuffy in there. It's fine out here though. I'll be okay in a minute." She hoped she was not going down with a bug. But the show was not until New Year's Eve, so there was plenty of time to get over it if it was.
"I'll check the air conditioning is working properly," the manager replied, picking up the phone to call maintenance.
Anzu's dance partner came out to check on her, and was relieved when she told him she was feeling much better. He went to get changed.
Anzu pulled out her phone and messaged her husband.
:
Picking up his phone, Yugi opened the message his wife had sent him. He smiled at the GIF of a dancing Christmas Tree, and the caption she had written: Remember last year?
How could he forget?!
He sent back a laughing face and wrote, Don't remind me!
She replied with, What time will you be home?
He checked the time. He had a meeting with Kaiba and the marketing manager at four thirty. It was four now. Six, six thirty, he responded.
He received back, No later, k? Got a surprise waiting.
Wondering what it was, Yugi felt his face flush with heat when he found himself imagining her laying on the bed, waiting for him, wearing nothing more than a lacy negligee.
He sent her a love heart and a thumbs up.
Luckily, Kaiba seemed keen to get the meeting over with quickly so that they could go home. "What?" Kaiba said tersely when a quip was made about him not wanting to work late for a change. "It's Christmas Eve. Mokuba has issued strict instructions that I have to be home by six." He smirked. "Hell have no wrath like Mokuba if he doesn't get to enjoy Christmas." It was well known that Seto was ambivalent about Christmas, but that his younger brother absolutely loved it.
Yugi thought it was nice that someone like Kaiba, who was usually a bit frosty, cared so much for his brother that he would take time off to celebrate Mokuba's favourite time of year.
With the meeting over, Yugi went back to his office and closed down his computer. He told his small team of two that they were free to go home if they wanted, and then messaged Anzu to say he would be home by six.
He picked up a bunch of flowers for her on his way home.
Arriving back at their house, he went inside and kicked off his shoes. The first thing he noticed was the enticing aroma of what smelled like a casserole being cooked. "I'm home!" he called out.
"Up here!" Anzu called back.
A broad smile spread across Yugi's face as he remembered his earlier fantasy. But who was cooking dinner? Peering into the kitchen, he spotted the cooking pot in the oven on a low setting, being kept hot until they were ready to eat.
Dumping his messenger bag on the chair, he hurried upstairs. The bathroom door was open a crack and warm air wafted out, bringing with it the perfumed smell of bubble bath.
"In here!" said Anzu. "There's room for two!"
Not needing to be invited twice, he slipped into the bathroom and smiled at the alluring sight of her sitting up to her shoulders in an enticing bubble bath. "Who...who's taking care of dinner?" he asked, as he hastily undressed.
"It's taking care of itself. Mum made a beef stew and brought some round for us."
"That's kind of her," he said, dumping his clothing in the linen basket and sliding into the bath facing her, taking care to avoid sitting on the plughole or leaning his back against the taps. She opened her legs so that he could slide forward between them and put his own legs either side of her hips. He was already getting an erection, and tried not to poke her with it – this was supposed to be romantic and sensual, and him being horny and pervy might spoil it. Thank goodness for a deep bath and tons of bubbles to conceal things.
Anzu leaned forward, put her hands on his chest and planted a kiss on his lips. She then lifted a hand, put suds on his nose and giggled. "How was your day?"
Chuckling he scooped two handfuls of suds and deposited them on her head. "Good. How about you?"
"Good. The show is going to be so spectacular! I can't wait!"
He smiled. "I'm really proud of you." Two and a half years struggling to make it big on Broadway, and just a few months after arriving home to Japan, she had her name in lights in Domino Theatre and was starring in a hit show. She had also been in two J-pop videos and an advert for perfume. She then went on to be a mentor to a contestant in a TV dance competition, where celebrities are teamed up with a professional dancer and have to perform a dance each week to avoid elimination. Her celebrity had been a terrible dancer and she had not expected to make it past the first week's vote off, but amazingly they survived. From there, she discovered her love of teaching and choreography and somehow she and her clumsy partner made it to the final three. They did not win, but Anzu had the best time ever and was now a bit of a local celebrity. She even got recognised in the supermarket.
She still dreamed of starring on Broadway one day, though! Maybe she would if the theatre company she was working with took a show on tour?
"It's a good thing you persuaded me to stay in Japan," she admitted, not for the first time this year. "If you hadn't, I don't know what I'd be doing now!"
"I'm relieved you agreed to stay!" And he had not so much he had persuaded her; he had pleaded.
But it had all worked out and they were happier than ever.
"Shall we wash each other?" she suggested, reaching for the bottle of shower gel, "Before the water gets cold." He nodded keenly.
"Sure." Grinning sheepishly, he looked down at his lap. "I should warn you though…."
Smirking, Anzu rolled her eyes. "I would be surprised if you hadn't!"
They washed each other, and then washed each other's hair, taking care to rinse the soap away but still getting some in their mouths and eyes. They giggled about it though, and rinsed the rest away using the shower.
They then wrapped themselves in towels while cuddling.
"This is romantic," said Anzu, even though she was still being prodded in the lower abdomen by his prominent arousal.
"Apart from me ruining it," he said, unable to will his erection to go away. Anzu laughed and wiggled against him, making him gasp.
"Oh, I don't know…. I think it adds to the enjoyment," she teased.
"Do you want to make love?" he asked, even though he was not sure it was what a romantic bath together was about. Much to his surprise, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bedroom.
"Shame to waste it," she said, winking at him. He could not disagree with that!
:
They tucked into their beef stew and washed it down with a glass of red wine each. No more though, since they had both cut down immensely on their drinking in the last twelve months. But it was Christmas Eve. Yugi might have had a second glass, but since Anzu only wanted the one, he refrained.
"To a great year!" said Yugi, proud of how much they had both grown as a couple.
"To a fantastic year!" agreed Anzu. "And I wouldn't have wanted to spend it anywhere else, or with anyone else!"
"You mean that?! You don't regret coming back to Japan?" He still wondered if sometimes she wished she was still in New York.
However, she shook her head adamantly. "I just wish we had come home a year sooner."
He reached over and took her hand. "I don't regret most of it though. I think the hard times have helped us grow stronger, as people and as a couple."
She nodded. "And it's made me appreciate it more now we're both successful."
"Exactly! All we need now is for you to be pregnant!" he said. They had sort of been trying, and been a bit lazy about using protection this last month, but Anzu kept changing her mind about starting a family each time a dance opportunity arose. But they had had unprotected sex at least five times that Yugi could count, so it had to happen soon, right?
Anzu pulled a face and looked away. "Not until after the New Year, hopefully," she said, failing to mention that she was a few days late and had a feeling she might already be. Nothing to get too excited about just yet, but she had bought a test on her way home from the studio.
However, with the show coming up a week from now, and final rehearsals to attend, she was putting off the test because she feared that if it was positive she might be apprehensive about performing to her maximum best.
Stupid, she knew, but it was her own form of reverse psychology.
And she certainly was not going to mention her suspicions that she might be pregnant to Yugi, because she knew he would fuss and worry and try to wrap her in cotton wool.
:
With thoughts of pregnancy pushed to the back of her mind, New Year's Eve arrived and Anzu was full of nervous anticipation for tonight's spectacular show, which was being hosted by the Kaiba brothers at the Kaiba Land theme park.
The park had originally started out as just one building with a duel dome on top, but had since grown in size to hold Duel Monster themed rides, a virtual reality suite, plus a stadium where sporting and music events were regularly held. As an employee who had proven himself more than capable, Yugi had become involved in testing the virtual reality games; a role he thoroughly enjoyed and could not believe he was being paid a lot of money to do something he would happily do for free!
Seto Kaiba had opened the park for tonight's New Year celebrations, and the event and all of the rides were free – a gift to the city of Domino, which he more or less owned anyway.
It went without saying that the park was packed full, and there were long queues for the rides, the most popular of which was The Blue Eyes White Dragon Roller Coaster.
Having been asked to help ensure the software for the virtual games all ran smoothly, Yugi was able to be back stage to kiss his wife and wish her good luck as she skipped onto the stage.
Above, drones were filming the spectacle of music and dance, enhancing the footage which was being shown live on TV to the whole of Japan –the event was that big.
Yugi watched from the side of the stage with Seto and Mokuba. He was fixated on Anzu for most of the show and was immensely proud of her. He wanted to climb on top of the lighting gantry with a loud hailer and announce to the whole of Japan that Anzu was his wife. He refrained from doing so, and stood watching in awe.
"Your wife is talented, Yugi." Coming from someone like Seto Kaiba, that was a compliment indeed!
"Yeah, she's amazing Yugi!" chimed Mokuba. "How did a gaming nerd like you get such a beautiful woman?" Yugi got on well with the younger Kaiba brother, so there was no malice in the statement and it was spoken fondly.
Yugi winked at him. "What can I say? I used my good looks and magnetic, masculine charm," he teased.
"Perhaps you can teach Seto to use his. All he does is frighten them away."
"I heard that, Mokuba. And I frighten them away because they are all gold diggers."
"Not all of them are," said Mokuba with a sigh, and sharing a look with Yugi.
But it was a quick look, because all eyes were back on stage for the finale, followed by the countdown to midnight and the fireworks.
:
After the show and the fireworks were over, Yugi and Anzu were ushered out of the park through the VIP entrance and exit to avoid being stuck in the crowd jam getting out of the main exits.
Anzu was exhausted but elated and could not stop talking about how amazing it had felt to dance on that stage.
Smiling lovingly, Yugi held her hand and let her ramble. He loved it when she was buzzing like this from a show.
The limo dropped them off at home, and Yugi made camomile tea while Anzu showered and cleaned off the make-up.
"Tea's ready!" he called up the stairs. She was taking an awfully long time.
Deciding to take it up to her, he picked up their drinks and went upstairs. "You still in the bathroom?" he asked.
"Won't be a minute," she called back. She felt nervous and was shaking as she took the plastic wand from the pregnancy testing kit and read the instructions for about the fourth time since buying the kit a week ago.
"I'll be in the bedroom," he said, deciding to get undressed and into his pyjamas.
In the bathroom, Anzu was waiting for the result to show. If her hunch was right…..
A mixture of disbelief and trepidation, relief and delight washed over when she saw the result.
Pulling her fluffy dressing gown on over her nightdress, she wandered into the bedroom holding the little wand.
Yugi looked up from where he was resting on the bed reading a book when she entered the room. "Your tea is…." he faltered when he saw her. "What's wrong?" She was holding something in her hand and had a very weird look on her face.
"N..nothing's wrong. I'm…" She took a breath and approached the bed. "I'm pregnant." She held out the stick.
Jaw going slack, Yugi stared at her.
"Yugi?" Why wasn't he saying anything?
He stood up to join her. "Are you sure?" he asked, gently touching her shoulder.
She held up the test for him to see the result. "Unless this is lying, yes."
Snapping out of his stupor, Yugi let out a nervous laugh and smiled as tears of joy pricked his eyes. "When? How? I mean…. How long have you known?"
She shrugged. "I kind of thought I might be, but didn't want to do the test until after the show. But, probably about eight weeks."
"Oh, Anzu!" He opened his arms to invite her in for a cuddle. She put the test down on the dresser and fell into his arms.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he said, holding her tightly and burying his face in her wet hair.
"Would you have let me dance tonight if I had?"
He stepped back and smiled at her lovingly. "Probably not," he admitted. "But you feel alright? And the baby?" He took in a shaky breath and smiled again. "Wow!" he said breathlessly. "A baby."
"Our baby," she reminded him. He nodded and they both laughed, a mixture of happiness and nerves.
"Our baby," he repeated, hugging her again and taking in this moment.
What a last twelve months it had been! From struggling to find the right path to success, they had returned home to start afresh.
It had been the best decision they made, and in a few months from now they would also be parents.
Yugi could not quite believe it was true, but it was right here in front of him, a tiny part of him and Anzu combined growing inside her womb.
What a fantastic year this was going to be!
There's so much misery in the world lately. I think we all need a happy ending.
Happy New Year to all my readers.
I hope you enjoyed this little festive..ish offering.