Chapter One

There were mumbles and small talk among all of the voices here. None of it concerned us, of course, but one of the voices lifted out above the others. It might've been because she was naturally loud and excitable, but it also might've been because she was sitting right beside me.

"Smile, Irie-kun!" There was a click, just one of many since boarding the plane. I flinched out of the way of a flash and closed my eyes. Between waking up at the crack of dawn to get to my own wedding I had no idea about and getting sent packing to be on a flight a few hours later, I was exhausted. How could she be so full of energy?

The flashes stopped and the flipping of pages took its place. Down the plane aisle squeaked the wheels of a food cart. I shifted.

"Excuse me, ma'am," a woman said, "Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, yes I would." Kotoko said hurriedly. I heard shuffling and something fall to the floor.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, excuse me." She said, a little more composed now.

"We have coffee, tea, and orange juice." The flight attendant said.

"Coffee, please!" Kotoko said in less than perfect English.

"Certainly." A cup was poured.

"Thank you." Again, in English.

The girl across the aisle giggled. To this, I reopened my protesting eyes.

"Why are you speaking in English?" I said.

"Oh, I didn't know you were awake." She grinned.

"We're going to Okinawa. It's in Japan. You don't need to speak English."

She scrunched up her face in a frown, "I didn't know that. It's just my first time flying, so I studied some English phrases… 'coffee or tea', 'hello', 'thank you'." With her thick accent, this was English not many people would understand.

"You're getting carried away." I peered out the window as my eyelids grew heavier.

"Of course I am!" Kotoko said, "It's our honeymoon." She took out the camera again and gazed at the screen, a sigh rolling off her tongue.

"What?" I glanced over at the screen to see her flipping through the wedding pictures once again.

"I just can't believe we got married. It's like a dream." Kotoko sighed again, her eyes lighting up.

How many times is she going to look at those pictures?

"I'm taking a nap." I said as I finally closed my eyes for good.

"You're really taking a nap right now?" She sounded scandalized, but I was far beyond checking to see if she looked like she sounded.

"We've been running around all day for things I wasn't prepared for. I'm tired." I laid my head against the window and focused on the hum of the jet. I fell down the rabbit hole as quickly as my mother had planned my wedding.

…

The contents of Kotoko's purse scattered onto the seat of the cab. She spread it out and her fingers searched for something out of sight.

"What are you looking for?" I asked as she looked for a moment longer.

"My sunglasses."

"Sunglasses? I thought you were night blind." She started throwing everything back into her purse as we arrived at the hotel.

"Night blind people feel brightness, too," She said, "They must be in my suitcase."

I paid the cab driver and we exited, grabbing our luggage from the trunk.

Kotoko rolled her suitcase into the middle of the check-in and fiddled with the locks.

"It doesn't open." She said and tugged. A grunt escaped her.

"Yeah, right." I knelt down to inspect the suitcase, which had been fully openable when we'd left.

"Do you think the lock is broken?" Kotoko said as she pulled more.

"Don't break it."

Another huge tug later and the suitcase flung open. Kotoko staggered backward.

"It's open!" She said with such excitement, but as her eyes landed on the clothes in the suitcase, her jaw dropped. She picked a revealing bikini top out of the pile and held it in between her thumb and forefinger by a string. I couldn't have imagined her ever wanting to wear something like it.

"Is that yours?" I said and studied it.

Kotoko blushed and giggled, "Oh, no," she said with a wave, "I'd never wear something like this. It's too showy."

As I thought.

"Hey, that's mine!" Kotoko and I both turned to see the familiar face of the woman who sat across the aisle on the plane. At her side, she carried an identical yellow suitcase.

Kotoko threw the bikini back into the suitcase, "Is that mine?"

I closed the suitcase back up and handed it to the girl as she rolled Kotoko's bag over to us.

"Sorry about that." I said.

"No need to apologize," the girl's eyes lit up, "I'm Mari."

"And I'm Takumi. We're on our honeymoon, too." Said the man beside her. Mari seemed only a bit annoyed.

On the ground, Kotoko sifted through her actual suitcase and found her sunglasses.

"Here they are," She popped the cover back over it and was to her feet in a flash, "It was nice seeing you two again, but we have to check in." Kotoko started tugging me over to the check-in desk by the arm.

"Us too!" Mari said. She and Takumi hurried up to us, though Mari was in a much bigger rush. She showed a smile and her eyes sparkled the way a predator's would at the sight of its meal.

Kotoko took first place in line where she hurried to check us in. Mari stepped up right beside me and beamed.

"I'm so glad we're staying at the same hotel! We could all hang out and do fun stuff together. Say, how about we all have lunch together after this?" She eyed me hopefully, although I couldn't say I was interested.

"Done!" Kotoko said, "Let's go to our room," She took my arm once again, "It was nice seeing you again." She said to Mari and Takumi. Mari stared after us, seeming offended.

"It's finally just the two of us." Kotoko smiled, warm and inviting.

Arriving at our room, she was giddy with excitement. She lit up as soon as the door was opened.

Wheeling in her suitcase and dropping her purse on the bed, she said, "Wow!" as she eyed everything around her. Upon seeing the patio doors, she made a beeline for them.

"This room is so great! Look, it's the ocean!" I closed the door, as her voice had the tendency to carry far distances, "I can't believe we're in Okinawa! This is so exciting!"

"Calm down, just a bit." I said as she skipped over to the bed and fell onto it.

"The bed is so big!" She rolled around, no quieter than before. I picked up the tourist guide and sat down on the sofa. Kotoko finally quieted down.

She came over and sat down next to me.

"Irie-kun?" She said.

"Yeah?"

"Um…" She fidgeted, "I'll do my best to be a good wife. Just don't give up on me." A worried glance made me put down the guide.

"I don't expect too much. Just stay as you are." I brushed a strand of hair away from her face and she blushed furiously.

"The beach." She blurted out.

"Huh?"

"Let's go to the beach! I've never been to the ocean before." Kotoko stood awkwardly and headed for the patio doors.

We headed out into near dusk. Kotoko skipped out ahead of me and watched the ocean with her hands on her hips, "It's beautiful." She said.

"Naoki, Kotoko! Over here!" Mari flagged us down, "There's a couple of open seats over here. Why don't you join us?"

Kotoko didn't seem too thrilled at the idea as she pulled her attention away from the ocean. I headed over to them, Kotoko dragging her feet behind me. Where she was displeased, I'd decided to ignore Mari's obnoxious personality entirely. We were only going to be seeing them for a few days after all.

"Hi again." Takumi said.

"There's a bar around here that we can all get drinks at. Naoki, why don't we go order together?"

"Sure, I gu-" Mari tugged me away from Kotoko and Takumi. I was very familiar with this from being with Kotoko. Mari's eagerness to be around me was far too reminiscent of Kotoko's. I had to be receiving her friendliness the wrong way, however, as she was on her honeymoon and she knew I was on mine.

At the bar, no matter my attempts to lead her arm astray, she held firm. I ordered a simple drink and a fruity one for Kotoko.

"Two drinks?" Mari asked.

"You're not going to get one for your husband?" I said. The word seemed to spring the memory that Takumi existed and she was graced with a sour expression as she said,

"Oh, yeah."

The sun starting to set and two drinks in hand, I came back to our seats. I handed Kotoko her drink and she studied it gleefully.

"Yay, it has pineapple!" She took a sip, "It's sweet."

"I've never been able to enjoy drinks like that. They're too girly. I like a woman's drink." Mari said, taking another swig of her cocktail.

Kotoko downed hers fast and it left color on her cheeks. She headed up to the bar for another.

"So, tell us about yourself. What are you interested in?" Takumi said. He adjusted his glasses.

I had to think for a moment. There was a lot I could tell, but also a lot I didn't feel like sharing.

"Back in Tokyo, I'll be going to college to earn a medical degree." I said. That should be enough for them to know for now.

"I'm back!" Kotoko announced. The outdoor lights flicked on as the darkness closed in. She fell back into the chair next to me, drinking this one faster than the last.

"You should slow down, Kotoko."

"Oh, I'm just having fun." She nibbled on her straw.

"You're really going to be a doctor?" Mari said, her face cracking into a huge smile.

"I'm just aspiring to at the moment." I said.

"Even just aspiring to is fantastic," Takumi said, "I'm sure you can do it."

Her second glass now empty, Kotoko giggled and sat up, "That's because he has an IQ of 200! He's a genius." She fell back.

"You two got married after Kotoko pushed you violently, right?" Mari asked.

Kotoko and her talkativeness.

"Violent?" I turned to see her flushed red from alcohol and smiling hard.

"That's because Irie-kun is from a completely different world than me." She shoved my shoulder. I laughed at how intensified her silliness could become after only two glasses of alcohol. She slurped the last few drops of her drink through the straw.

"You still call him Irie-kun? That's funny." Mari tittered, "You're not close enough to call him by his first name?"

"Mari!" Takumi snapped at her.

"It's just a habit." Kotoko waved it off, but I felt our time with these two for the night was expiring. No matter a habit or not, it wasn't Mari's business.

With Kotoko zoned out, I found the perfect opportunity to escape, "She's pretty out of it. I think we should get going back to our room."

"Aw, that's too bad. See you guys later, I hope!" Mari said as I scooped Kotoko out of the chair. She hung around my neck and climbed onto my back.

I toted her all the way back to our room and led her to the bed, "We're back in our room…" She sighed sleepily, "Kotoko, we're back."

Kotoko collapsed onto the bed, her eyes fluttering shut, cheeks twinged with pink. I sat beside her, as if seeing her for the first time. Not as the girl who I'd secretly loved or the one I'd lived with for years, but as my wife. This was the beginning of a life with her and I could still hardly believe the incredible mistake I'd almost made with Sahoko.

I brushed her hair out of her eyes and she took a deep breath.

"I love you, Irie-kun." Kotoko said softly, through her sleepy, alcohol-induced haze. It brought a smile to my lips. I leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight, Kotoko."

...