Note: Loooong chapter ahead! Left text = present, right text = past

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“EHH???!” Daiki raised one of his eyebrows upon hearing his girlfriend’s request. It was as if he heard something so ridiculous, it took him some time to process the girl’s pleading. He looked at Amu then to Ryosuke & Rio who are just amused on the couple’s dilemma. 

“PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!” Amu clapped her hands once and bowed her head slightly. She mumbled the words of plea under her breath, hoping that the guy she loves will agree to her favour. 

“B-But I don’t know anything about your cousin! How can I befriend him?”

“Wait, tell me what your favour is again?”, with stifled laughter, Ryosuke tried to put his thoughts together, coming up with ways to mock the older boy who is now dumbstruck from Amu’s request. 

“My cousin Sei will be visiting from America tomorrow because he recently broke up with his long-term girlfriend. He said he wanted to get his mind off things and meet new people…” Amu explained. For her friends, it seems like this reason for his cousin’s sudden visit is harmless, right? WRONG. To Amu, it’s like facing her own nightmare. “He said he wants to meet my guy friends but there’s one problem… I haven’t told him I have a boyfriend yet”, Amu bit her lower lip, guilty of the fact that she kept hers and Daiki’s relationship from her own family. Don’t get her wrong, she’s not ashamed of Daiki. It’s just that, her dad is very strict when it comes to Amu’s relationships and he will definitely force her to come back if he knew about Amu’s boyfriend in Japan through her cousin, Sei. “In due time, I’ll introduce you properly to my dad, but for now, I don’t want him knowing this through Sei”

Daiki froze from his place after hearing this. It was like a bucket of iced water was thrown right at his face. 

“Dai-chan, can you please befriend him just until he goes back to America? He’s only staying here for a week anyway”, Amu held Daiki’s hand and continued to plead the latter. She then pulled off her signature ‘puppy-dog-eyes’ which he can NEVER EVER ignore. Sometimes, Amu doesn’t even realise she’s doing it, but Daiki becomes weak with this kind of gesture. Amu is just too cute, it’s a crime!

—

With this, Daiki just couldn’t help but to nod and admit defeat. He then turned his head slightly to his right and saw his best friend giving him a mocking look as if saying ‘good-luck-dude’. However, a sudden idea hit him… “I’ll do it in one condition...”, Daiki took a big sigh whilst squeezing Amu’s hand in the process, “You’ll have to spend Christmas with me… JUST ME”, he demanded. See, Daiki had been fitting his whole off schedule during the winter holidays for his and Amu’s dates. But with Sei’s sudden visit, his whole schedule was jumbled in just a click of a finger. Not only that, the AmuDai couple is supposed to be celebrating their 2nd year anniversary quite soon.

“I-um…” Amu struggled to speak. This is indeed the first time Daiki abruptly asked her for a date. 

“Geez, guys…. get a room!” Ryosuke and Rio said in almost perfect sync. The two high-fived each other but their chuckles were suddenly disturbed by the continuation of Daiki’s conditions. 

“… I’m not finished. I have another condition…” Daiki smirked and almost immediately, his friend felt chills. Ryosuke knows that look very well… “Yama-chan has to come with me”

“Sure!” Rio answered for Ryosuke which was enough to pull him down his miseries. 

“Eh?? Why the heck are you giving me away, Rio-chan?”

—

The day of Sei's arrival finally came and Amu instructed Daiki and Ryosuke to meet up at a nearby cafe only a few blocks away from her cousin’s hotel. Both boys shivered after feeling the chilly winter breeze penetrate through their thick coats. This prompted Daiki to zip his coat up to his chin and Ryosuke did the same on his. 

“The things we do for our girfriends, huh?” Ryosuke said and watched his breath fog up his fake glasses. He sighed at the thought that instead of spending time with Rio herself, he’s stuck here doing bromance stuff with his best friend. 

“Just admit you’re scared of Rio-chan that’s why you agreed to come”, Daiki replied mockingly. 

“Look who’s talking… just one cute look from Amu-chan, you already said ‘yes’”, Ryosuke countered back. Out of all the JUMP members, Daiki and Ryosuke are known to be the ‘obedient’ ones. They are said to have “girlfriend-o-phobia” (Hikaru’s made up word), meaning they’re scared to make their girlfriends even slightly upset.

Having gone through their usual banters, Ryosuke suddenly remembered something that Daiki usually prepares for this time of the year: his and Amu’s anniversary. “Have you given it to her yet?”, the younger one asked pertaining to a piece of jewellery he recently bought for Amu. He frowned after seeing Daiki slowly shake his head - disappointment plastered on his face. 

“I’m planning to give it to her tonight but since her cousin is coming, I don’t think I can. I wanted to make up from last year’s anniversary since I was stuck at work and couldn’t celebrate with her”, Daiki looked down and tried not to sound too depressed. It’s not that Amu forgot about their anniversary today, no, the one last year just didn’t go as planned because of Daiki’s schedule conflict and therefore assumed that her boyfriend didn’t value such cheesy couple celebrations.

--

As the winter night continue to delude their thoughts, Daiki suddenly remembered the happiest day of his life when Amu finally accepted him as her boyfriend. 

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*2 Years Ago*

“Amu-chan, Ryo told me to drop by the cake for tonight’s Christmas Eve’s party and he—“ Daiki entered a familiar apartment, and casually walked towards the living room. This was the time when Ryosuke and Rio only started dating and Daiki tends to visit the two girls’ apartment often like it was already part of his routine. 

He looked around the living room and saw a familiar maiden, putting on her shoes, ready to start another day at work. However, her pale complexion was easily noticed by Daiki, “Amu-chan, are you okay? You look pale”, Daiki worriedly asked after seeing the girl he likes with a glum expression. He prompted her to at least take a break but the girl just slowly shook her head.

“I’m fine, Dai-chan. I’m just a bit tired. I still have a lot to do in the office”, Amu gave off a weak smile and tried to hide her exhaustion. She’s been working non-stop these past few days and it was obvious that she was also sleep deprived. “Thanks for the cake, by the way”

Not wanting to bother others, Amu just led her way outside without looking back. She hurriedly walked towards the bus stop, not even noticing that she had forgotten her coat back at her apartment. After finally realising her mistake, she felt a sudden thump on her head and her vision suddenly becoming hazy. 

Everything around her went all blurry and by this time, she knew she was going to pass out…

--

Daiki held a tight clutch on Amu’s coat with the aim of catching up with the latter. A smile formed on his face as soon as he saw a familiar figure standing right in front of the bus stop. However, as he limit the distance between him and Amu, he saw her stance somehow tilted to the side, as if in the verge of falling. Everything around Daiki just went on slow-motion while he focused his eyes on Amu’s body nearly falling on the frosty pavement. 

“Amu-chan!”, He shouted, throwing himself to catch Amu before she hits the ground. “Yabai yabai yabai!”, he panicked before dialling Rio’s number with his free hand. 

—

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU’RE IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM ON CHRISTMAS EVE!”, Rio moaned and shot glares at Daiki and Ryosuke who came in later after hearing what happened to Amu. She placed both hands inside her white coat’s pockets and continued to lecture the boys, “You two seriously attract trouble!”

“Hey! What did I do? I just came!” Ryosuke replied but Rio was still not amused. 

“I don’t know… but both yourself and Dai-chan are troublemakers! You’re lucky I was still on shift or else, Amu-chan wouldn’t be seen sooner”

“Is she okay now?” Daiki spoke, his eyes never left Amu’s sleeping figure on the hospital bed. It was too obvious that he’s worried sick about the young girl's state. His eyes travelled on every part of her face and memorised every bit of it. She seems so peaceful.

“She’s okay… just fatigue and anaemic. She’s known to have low haemoglobin so she’s prone to passing out and getting easily tired. She can probably go home tomorrow”, Rio reported, “You should go home too, Dai-chan. You’ve been here for a couple of hours now. I’ll stay behind and watch her”, the girl in the white coat instructed. Having the authority to boss people around at her work place, Rio pushed the two boys out of the room and insisted them to have some rest. 

—

“Rio-chan?”, Amu forced her lids open and saw a white painted room, and inside, was her best friend going through some paper on a clipboard. As soon as Rio heard her friend’s voice, she immediately went beside her bed and assessed her condition.