Even though Mirai was off in Dream Land, light noises and scuffle sounds from the real world disrupted her sleep. She opened her eyes and saw that Ryosuke was nowhere to be seen, though, the lamp at his side was on and his spot was cold, meaning he had been somewhere for a long time. Massaging her eyes, which made her vision blurry momentarily, she saw the time displayed on her phone. It was twenty-four minutes past midnight. She glanced down at the edge of her bedside, hoping Ryosuke was dozing on the ground while the game was still running, but no. His game was off, and he wasn’t asleep on the ground either as like the nights before. She looked at the bathroom and saw no light from it.

Where is he?

Although she’d like to go downstairs, she was afraid to meet something other than Ryosuke, so that idea was a no-no. Because she thought of that, she became scared to go back to sleep, so she grabbed her cell phone and played games to keep her mind off it. After playing for almost an hour and a half, she received a fright when her phone rang.

The caller was none other than Ryosuke.

She had forgotten about him. Curiously but hesitantly, she answered it. “Yes…?”

“Hey, wake up.”

“I’ve been for almost an hour. Where are you?”

“An hour?”

She heard him laugh over the phone and knew that he knew she was too scared to go look for him despite knowing that he was gone from the bed. She said to him without much shame, “I didn’t feel like moving, so I stayed here, wishing that you’d get eaten or something.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he commented while other noises were heard from his side. “Hey, do something for me.”

“What?”

“Come downstairs with the flowers you bought.”

“What?”

He repeated with a higher pitch, “Come downstairs with the flowers.”

“For what?”

“Just do it.”

“Ryosuke, it’s almost two in the morning. What do you want?”

“Meet me downstairs, ‘kay? See you.”

After he ended the call, she found herself lost, confused, uncertain, and bothered. What kind of crazy idea was he up to now, and at this time of the day? Although she’d love to find out what her unpredictable friend would do, she’d also love to not have a part in it. She was tired and scared to move around in a big room by herself because she’d gotten used to being accompanied by Natsu or by Natsu and Ryosuke. Deciding to ignore her friend’s stupid request, she put her phone back on top of the small dresser beside the bedside and tried to go back to sleep. However, seconds later, she received a text from him reminding her to go downstairs. After counting to ten to gather her courage, she got up and tried to not think of anything that would scare herself.

As she stretched on the bed, she scanned the room to see where she had placed the bouquet. She smiled when she found them conveniently laid by the footbed. She took them and noticed one particular flower.

A blue five-petal flower.

The bouquet she had asked for was for flowers in shades of reds, pinks, and whites, so there shouldn’t be a blue flower, and she remembered it not having a blue flower too when she had received it.

Unless it was the flower from Kota’s guest.

During the opening of the presents, Kota had told her that his friend had bought that for her and Natsu. Ryosuke must’ve thought the guest’s flower was part of her bouquet and had put them together.

Thinking of flowers, she thought back to whom she had seen for a glimpse at the floral shop she went to. She felt bad because when that person locked eyes with her, that person froze and looked like he couldn’t breathe at all. Even when she called his name and tried to speak to him, he ran away like he was terrified of her.

She touched the flower and sadly said, “Takeru, I’m sorry.” Taking her mind off that young boy because she had someone else waiting for her downstairs, she went to her bedroom door and opened it. To her surprise, she saw petals of roses on the ground with candlesticks lit up on each side to help brighten her way in the dark. A paper with directions telling her to not turn on the lights was taped on the wall for her to see.

What is this stupid big brat thinking? She had a feeling her friend was crazier than she had thought. To hide her pink cheeks, she put on a stoic expression so that she could yell at him later for pulling something like this to her. As she followed the rose path, she was fascinated by how elegantly he had decorated the hallway.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the candlesticks had been downgraded to small-sized glass candle holders, and each of them was placed on individual stair steps to guide her down. Thanks to those, she broke into a small laugh, and her pink cheeks turned red when she saw that the stairs were covered with the red poster that had been taped on the stairs like a red carpet.

So that’s what it’s for.

Once she had given the decorated staircase a good look—and laugh—she walked down the stairs and kept a close eye out in case he planned to pop out of the dark to scare her, something she knew he’d do. But halfway through walking down the stairs, that thought was thrown out of her mind when she saw her friend standing in the middle of the spacious living room—he had cleared and put the coffee table elsewhere.

He was also in his pajamas like her, and he looked at her with eyes shining brightly like the stars.

And time stopped for her.

The moment now seemed—no—was perfect. The bright candles around them illuminated, sparkled, and glistened in the dark, which made the room looked completely different, and it emphasized it was only them in the room.

That they were the only two in the world.

Ryosuke’s cough made her flinch and brought her back to Earth. He casually walked to her, following the path made by the candles on the ground, and then placed his right hand over his stomach as his left hand reached out to her. He tilted his head to lock eyes with her and asked, “Shall we go?”

Even though she had heard him speak thousands of times, touched him more than ever, and seen him all the time, she couldn’t help but become captivated by his gaze. Even though he was in his pajamas and his left side hair looked like his bed hair, she found him stunning.

And it scared her.

Because she had encountered this exact feeling before, and it was a feeling she thought it would happen only once.

She. Wanted. Him.

He formed a small smile and took her hand in his after waiting for so long but didn’t receive a response from a frozen Mirai. As he escorted her to where he had stood, he let go of her hand and turned around to have a better look at her. When he saw her face, it was he who got the surprise. He saw her eyes filled with water as tears flowed non-stopped down her cheeks like rain. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wanted to surprise her, not make her sad or cry. Because he was taken aback, his left hand lightly brushed her cheek, and he asked, “What’s wrong?”

She sniffed. “Ryosuke… Wh-what are you doing?”

He let out a laugh. “You can’t tell? It’s our virtual wedding.” He removed his hand from her cheek to hold both of her hands in his. “Today’s—umm—yesterday’s parties were the baby shower and the brat’s birthday, and they were both for him. But today’s yours, so here it is.”

She let out a soft laugh. “You’re stupid,” she said as she wiped a tear.

“I know it’s not the best or the greatest, but I want you to know that as my virtual wife from now on, I’ll do anything to make you happy. Never once will I make you hurt or sad.” He let go of her hand and as he looked at her holding back her sob, he got on one knee. “For rich or for poor, for better or for worse, through good and bad, during sunshine and thunderstorms, in sickness and health,” he one-handedly searched his body to take something out and held it between them, “reality or pretense, I want to be with you. Will you virtually marry me?”

Mirai, blinded by her joyful tears as she heard his sweet confession, couldn’t see what was in his hand, so she blinked hard to better her vision, wiped the tears, and looked at what was in his hand, and a weak laugh escaped from her. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she answered him, nasally.

He smiled and stood on both legs again and took a step forward to close the gap between them. While he undid the “ring,” she put out her hand and patiently waited for him to continue.

“May this slap bracelet,” he carried on as he lightly stretched out a thin slap bracelet with imprints of the yellow sun, “be the binding symbol of our virtual vows today, and it will always be no matter how many times it breaks, comes off, or becomes weary.” He paused for a moment and mentally thought of what to say next because his guts told him that he was forgetting something. However, when he made eye contact with her again, the magic words came to him. This time, with a much gentler and softer tone, he added, “May it be a symbol of friendship, respect, harmony, and devotion. Although this token of our virtual love can break with the simplest force, I promise you that my affections will stay the same.” He wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and then glanced at her with a charismatic smile. “I’m glad I married my best friend.” To end the ceremony, he pulled her into a hug, and she hugged him back. When he pulled away, he smirked and wiped her tears for her. “You ruined the mood. You’re not supposed to cry. You’re supposed to be surprised.”

She coyly slapped him on the chest. “I am surprised.” She bit her lower lip and said, “And I’m happy.” She took his hand in hers and blushed. “And I’m the happiest and luckiest friend in the world.” Eyeing the slap bracelet representing the wedding ring, she realized something and asked him, “What about you?”

“Me, what?”

“I don’t get to put one on you?”

He chuckled under his breath. “Stupid, it’s your special day. I want you to know you’re special…and you’ll always be.” He placed an arm over her shoulders and leaned inward. “It may not be a ring, but it’s the one and only bracelet with my artwork.”

“Artwork?” She gave the bracelet a better look and saw yellow markings.

“Yeah, I drew yellow suns all around it. Think of it as Natsu and me.”

She pushed him away and jokingly said, “Not you. Only Natsu.”

“Fine, whatever.”

The friends, for the first time, could feel that the air around them had changed, and they didn’t know what to say to eliminate the awkwardness in the air. They were usually okay with silence between them, but this special night told them that it was too special to be quiet.

She averted her attention back to her bracelet and saw that she was still holding onto his hand. She wanted to let go but also wanted to hold him longer. Then, her heart ached when she realized she hadn’t done anything for him ever since they had gotten married.

It was always him doing things for her. He supported her fight for her freedom from her family. He tweaked his schedule to match hers, no matter what it was. He skipped out on the baseball camp for her. He saved and protected her firsts. He planned and threw a shower and a birthday party for her.

And now, he gave her a virtual wedding.

She hadn’t done a thing for him in return.

Tonight, she would fix that.

“Ryosuke,” she said as she straightened up and spoke with a much calmer voice. “I too give you this token as a promise of respect…umm, harmony, and devotion.”

Hearing this, he couldn’t help but smiled. She was giving him her vows this time.

“Even if…this is forgotten…or replaced,” she squeezed his hand to show him that she was thinking of him, “my affections for you will always be the same, Ryosuke.” She closed the gap between them and said in a hushed manner, “Thank you for marrying me.” She pressed her hands on his shoulders and tiptoed up to him. Ignoring his confused complexion, she instinctively turned her head to the side, and, instead of the usual brushes or pecks on his cheeks that she always did, she gave him a full-on lip touch to his. After a few seconds, she gently pulled away, averted her gaze from him, and bashfully said, “And that’s my seal for you.”

Without another second to waste, he took her by the waist and pulled her body onto his while his other hand reached for her head to pull her in for another “seal.” He parted her lips and showed her the ropes of how it was supposed to be done. It had been a long time since he had kissed a girl, but her soft and moist interior melted him to the very core. He felt like flying in thin air. The peppermint breath soothed him and after seconds of her confusion, she was into the embrace and followed his lead.

She instinctively carried her hands over his shoulders and encircled them at the nape of his neck. Then, one of her hands greedily slid from his neck to his head and then to the side of his cheek. At the same time, her upper body moved on its own, pressing against his chest, and she knew that the only things in between them now were their layers of clothes. Although it scared her, she was surprisingly excited.

However, the two-minute kiss came to a halt when she sensed that she was getting tired from constantly tilting her head left and right and from excessive lip moving. She didn’t want to pull away abruptly, so she paced the kiss and slowed it down. When they stopped and she distanced herself from him, she knew her face was redder than an apple.

As she tried to act normal, she concluded the virtual wedding with, “Y-you better clean all of this mess!” She ran from him, went up the stairs, stopped halfway, and pretended to look at him when she was really looking at the ground. “M-make sure these candles are blown out too!” Clearing and turning away, she gulped and said to him, “G-good night”.

He bashfully watched her shyly run off into their room, leaving him alone downstairs. His mouth began to ache because he couldn’t stop grinning at how adorable she was just because she was embarrassed that they had kissed—no, his bad, they had French kissed. It’s nothing bad, he guessed, because he was darn happy.

In fact, he was so happy, he thought what happened just seconds before didn’t happen. It was so surreal.

He had kissed his best friend.

I kissed her! I kissed her! We kissed!!! It was the only words repeated in his mind. He rested his fingers on his lips and mentally said to himself, it’ll never be forgotten or replaced.

*

“This is important?” The elderly man eyed the food on the table. It had been a long time since he had seen, smell, and eaten anything other than convenience store-bought foods because of his career. He had other things to worry about, such as the germs he and his lab mates had kept in a petri dish in a warm-temperature room. “I’ll give you ten minutes before I leave.”

The elderly lady across from him forced a smile. “About thirty years ago, you would’ve given me all the time in the world.”

They were dining at a fancy restaurant, a first in who knew how long it had been.

“That was thirty years ago.” He cleared his throat in discomfort. He disliked talking about the past because he was all about the future and how to fix it. That was what he did for a living anyway—making the future a better place. “We’re not getting any younger, and our time only gets shorter with each day.”

“Exactly,” she butted in, “we’re not getting younger anymore.” She let out a hopeless laugh and looked at her husband for the first time in all these years that they had been distant due to their jobs. “That’s why I’m quitting my job. I’m going to devote my last years to you…and…” Although was opened, she didn’t finish what she wanted to say because it’d make the mood sourer than now. But she couldn’t choose. She was no longer a traveling journalist. That life had ended. She would focus on what she was supposed to from the beginning of her parenthood. “I want my sons back,” she confidently and proudly finished.

“What?” His icy glare showed he wasn’t impressed.

“Dear, look at us! Look at—” Her eyes searched the place and found what she sought—a family of five, dining together at a corner behind her. “At them! I can’t miss that because I never had that. And now that I want it, I can’t have it because we pushed our sons away.”

“They’re all grown up. They can take care of themselves.”

“Thank you for trusting our children,” she sarcastically snapped back. “But don’t you ever miss them? You’re always surrounded by four walls with only a door out to the outside, and even when you do go outside, it’s only to do laundry or get something from home.” She took a deep breath and composed herself before continuing. “I do the same too, so we’re no different, and I’m not going to reprimand you for something we both are wrong about.”

“Wrong? How are we wrong? We’re the parents. We can’t be wrong.” He reached for his glass cup of water and held it. “Our children grew up fine. They don’t need our help and if they did, they would’ve asked.” He put the cup to his lip and took a sip to clear his thirst. When he finished, he put the cup back down and fixed his shirt. “It seems that you’ve called me out for something trivial as this and nothing else, so I’m going to say do as you please. We may be married, but we have our own lives. I can’t stop you, and I won’t.” He stood up, ready to leave.

“Dear,” she whispered, eyeing his empty seat and trying to hold back her tears. “Did you love me?”

“What?” He found the question absurd. “Of course, I did. That’s why I married you.”

“Then,” she lifted her gaze to him, “do you still love me now?”

He awkwardly looked around. “We’re not young anymore, so don’t—”

“Do you?”

He paused, not because he was hesitant or unsure, but the look in her eyes and her composure told him that no matter how honest he would be, she would still doubt him. Believing so, he turned around and said, “I’ll be leaving first.”