Night breeze gently caressed Kanoko's face as she leaned on the balcony's fence. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling calm. Or maybe it was lightheadedness from the wine? Whichever it was, she felt like she was finally able to relax. She had spent the entire evening amicably chatting with Takeru -- about his movies, about their times in middle school, about their ex-classmates and where they were now, about many other topics -- which had successfully taken her mind off Subaru.
Her face slightly fell when the name came back to her mind again. No, she thought to herself. You should forget about it and have some fun instead.
"Thanks for coming over tonight, Takeru," she said, truly meaning it.
"No problem. Thanks for having me over," Takeru said. He stood up from the chair on the corner of the balcony and walked over to Kanoko. "Nice view."
"Yeah," she said. "Although I want to live in a high-rise apartment where I can see entire town."
"You should move to my place, then," Takeru said, a grin on his face.
"Oh, there you go again. How many women have you said that to?"
"I bet you tell them that too."
"Maybe," his grin grew even wider. "Or maybe not." Saying this, he raised a hand to Kanoko's face and brushed strands of brown hair to the back of her right ear. His hand moved to her chin, and in the next moment, he brought his face closer and pressed his lips against hers.
Kanoko was baffled. She hadn't expected that to happen. It all seemed surreal until she felt something warm and wet trying to pry open her lips.
She pushed him back with both hands.
Takeru shrugged. "Why not?"
"Because--" Kanoko opened and closed her mouth several times, her mind racing trying to throw some reasons to him, but found none. Why not? She wasn't in a relationship -- in fact, she was looking for a company -- Takeru wasn't a stranger, they had a good time at dinner, Takeru, her, and Mizuki--
She gasped. Mizuki. Did he see that kiss? She threw a glance to her unit and found Mizuki sitting on the sofa. Good, it seems Mizuki didn't--
Takeru followed Kanoko's gaze and raised his eyebrows. "Him?" He asked her, tilting his head.
There was a brief pause before Kanoko understood what Takeru meant. "What? Oh, n-no. It's not--"
"Hey, no, it's okay, I get it. I'll be on my way now," Takeru picked his jacket up from the chair. He lifted his hand and seemed like he wanted to pat her head, but stopped. "I'm sorry… Kanoko."
And with that, he briskly walked back into her apartment unit, nodded slightly to Mizuki, and left.
Kanoko sank next to Mizuki on the sofa and groaned as she closed her eyes and massaged her temples.
His gut feeling had been right. Takeru was interested in Kanoko—and as it was, the actor had no qualms about expressing his feelings, too. Mizuki had purposefully sat a little bit far away to leave Kanoko out of his earshot, but he would have been blind to miss Takeru's kiss.
Now Mizuki lowered the newspaper he was half-reading to his lap and turned to look at Kanoko, who was burying her face in her hands. Instinctively he shifted closer to her on the couch so that their thighs were almost touching.
He had been her bodyguard for barely a week, but even in the short length of time they were together, it was becoming very obvious to him that she was going through a lot. Something almost like sympathy squeezed his heart inside of his ribcage, and he reached out and pulled her into his arms, letting her bury her face on his chest instead.
They stayed like that for a long, long time.
The next couple of days went by in a blur for Mizuki. After that night, Kanoko didn't say anything about Takeru, so he knew better than to ask about what exactly happened. Kanoko didn't say anything about Subaru, either, and especially for this one, Mizuki was all too aware of the can of worms he might open if he brought his fellow bodyguard up.
Until they found the invitations in Kanoko's mailbox, one Friday night after he picked her up from work.
There were two of them—one for him and one for Kanoko, their names scribbled on the surface of the envelope in Subaru's familiar handwriting. Mizuki Fujisaki. Kanoko Aizawa. Mizuki's heart sank when he noticed them, silver and clearly out of place in the pile of advertisements and bills that Kanoko had just placed on the dinner table.
Carefully he took the one addressed to him and plucked out the missive inside of the envelope.
The invitation was silver in colour, decorated with curls and swirls on the lefthand side. Subaru's name stood on the right-centre, embossed onto the smooth paper along with the name of his bride.
The wedding was to take place next Saturday—a little over a week—at the Grand Ballroom of a hotel. Elegant, sophisticated, and classy. It was exactly the kind of wedding Mizuki knew Subaru had fully expected himself to have.
Not a word from his lips, he slid the invitation back into the envelope and resealed it, putting it back on the table alongside the other envelopes. And then slowly he lifted his head up to look at Kanoko.
His voice was soft, careful, quiet. It was a silly question, but it had to be asked. Mizuki could hardly stand there and watch her battle alone with the wayward thoughts that were obviously populating the space in her mind.