Not long after leaving Hiroko’s office, Maki and Tomohisa found themselves literally bombarded with thousands of wedding plans and pictures. However, it was only Mrs Yamaa who seemed to be doing the deciding as the over excited wedding planner furiously inked numerous details. At times, Mrs Yamaa did ask Tomohisa for his opinion but got nothing except for grunts while Maki was ignored completely. Besides the usual awkward staring the wedding planner and his crew gave her –probably judging how it will all look on her.

Maki felt sick in the stomach, ‘What have I got myself into?’ She looked down and fiddled around with her hands. Suddenly, she could feel her phone vibrating in her white nurse skirt. She was in her uniform because she had planned to go straight to work after the little meeting. Instead, she was practically forced to go with the old man’s family – a family that she would soon be a part of.

Maki‘s heart raced, it was probably her supervisor wondering where the hell she was. They haven’t exactly been on good terms ever since the old man caught him yelling at her.

Tomohisa looked – no, quickly glanced at Maki. He could see a faint light glowing in her pockets. Not that he was actually looking! He rapidly shook his head from side to side, shaking away any... impure thoughts. He was a man after all with a “young boy at heart”, his brothers always said.

Instinctively, Maki covered one of her hands over her unsettled pocket. After a few minutes and millions of heart beats later, the phone stopped. She quickly glanced back up at the others in the room and luckily saw that no one was paying attention to her. She felt the sudden urge to wipe away imaginary sweat on her forehead, just like on the cartoon shows she used to watch as a child. She hurriedly grabbed the phone out of her pocket and kept it hidden under the table. After making sure that no one was paying attention to her still –it couldn’t hurt to check! – and flipped her phone open. Sure enough it was her supervisor with 20 missed calls and 8 demanding text messages. With a sigh, Maki closed her phone and placed it back into her uniform pocket. It could be the last time she would be wearing it.

Tomohisa noticed Maki’s more slumped state and couldn’t help but feel a little pity for her. After all, they were both dragged here against their own wills. However, Maki looked like she needed to be somewhere else, whereas him, he would probably be either in a bar with his friends and brothers or locked away in his room. Either way, he had nothing better to do in his life. He suddenly felt the urge to help her get out of here –wait, what? Not able to fight this empowering urge within him, he unconsciously stood up in silence from his spot earning all the attention in the room.

“What?” His mother grew impatient with his standing silence.

Without saying a word, he rapidly grabbed Maki’s hand and dragged her out of the building. Maki, unable to escape his grasp had no choice but to follow. Mrs Yamaa sat there with her eyes wide open.

“What are you doing?” Maki asked while staring at his hand still grasping at her wrist.

Tomohisa followed her gaze and immediately let go, “I couldn’t stand it in there anymore.”

At first, Maki wanted to thank him for saving her but then she couldn’t help but stare at him in curiosity. If he couldn’t stand it in there, why did he drag her with him? Before she had the courage to ask him, her phone demanded attention. She bowed slightly and took the call.

Tomohisa couldn’t help but observe her. After all, she was going to be his wife for 2 years. She definitely wasn’t the typical type of girls he would go for – y, caked faces, less clothed.. he shook his head dissolving the images before he starts to drool. No, Maki was the complete opposite of that – quite short, pure faced and innocent looking. He ruffled his hair in slight awe and frustration.  ‘What the heck am I thinking?!’ Too concentrated on his thoughts, he didn’t notice Maki staring at him weirdly.

“What?” He tried to regain himself and act cool.

Maki shivered a little, slightly scared of him. “Th..thanks for taking me out of there..but shouldn’t..we go back? I mean, yo..your mother’s going to be really angry.” She quickly bent her head down, regretting what she said. She didn’t want to go back there at all.

Tomohisa closed his eyes and sighed. He mumbled to himself, ‘She’s always angry.’ However, he ignored her suggestion and instead commented, “You look like you’ve got somewhere else to go though.”

Feeling embarrassed by what she was wearing, she fidgeted with her skirt. “Yeah, probably to sign my resignation letter,” she sighed. It was suppose to be sarcastic but it was most likely the truth. Her supervisor was definitely not happy about her not being at work today.

He couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. ‘Did she just get fired?’ He thought to himself. Unknowingly, he had spoken his thoughts a little too loud as he heard Maki’s reply, “I think so.” He shook his head, returning back to reality. He stood there for awhile, trying to figure out what to say when it suddenly hit him. Without any warning, he grabbed Maki’s wrist lightly but firmly and dragged her along.

Not knowing (and again not strong enough to resist), Maki had no choice but to follow. “Wait! What are you doing? Where are we going?” They were now standing in front of a very nice sleek luxurious black car. Tomohisa had taken the liberty to open the passenger side for her. Yet Maki refused, once again. “I’m not getting in the car with a stranger.”

He did expect that this would happen, just like the last time at the cemetery. But he wasn’t going to lose this time. He felt a strong determination in him, “You do realise that this ‘so-called-stranger’ is practically your fiancé and future husband for the next two years, right?” He couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. However, that was enough to get Maki in the car where they arrived at their destination half an hour later.

“The hospital? I don’t want to see his face yet,” Maki groaned softly. She was referring to her supervisor, but she would have to see him sooner or later.

“Come on,” Tomohisa unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. Maki immediately followed and continued to walk behind him as he casually walked into the hospital. However, she noticed that a lot of the doctors and nurses they walked passed bowing. She shrugged away this little thought but didn’t notice that Tomohisa had stopped. As a result, it caused her to bump into him.

“Ouch!” Maki immediately rubbed her head and then apologized quickly, “Sorry.” He stood frozen for awhile, not knowing what to say. Was he feeling a little nervous? However, luckily for him the sound of the elevator’s arrival saved him. Both of them quickly shuffled in, along with a bunch of other people including doctors and visitors. One of the senior doctors even recognised Maki and greeted her briefly.

“I heard that the Nurse Supervisor is furious at you,” he informed her. Maki gulped, extremely fearful of what could happen. Tomohisa heard this and glared at the doctor, who immediately saw his gaze, realized who he was and bowed with respect.

“I know. I think I’m going to sign my resignation letter now,” Maki whispered back. “I’m going to miss working with you Tanaki Sensei. Please, tell your wife and Hanako-chan I said hi.” She added before departing the elevator on the 3^rd floor and again following behind Tomohisa.

Just as Tomohisa was about to talk to the nurse behind the reception counter, he heard a man call out Maki’s name. Both he and Maki looked behind them to see who it was, although Maki already knew exactly who he was.

Hayato-san, Maki’s supervisor, approached them both. At first he didn’t take notice of Tomohisa, ignoring him completely, and told Maki to come with him to his office. However, it wasn’t until he opened the front door of his office that he had notice Tomohisa walking himself in behind Maki. His eyes widened at the person in front of him and immediately gave him a respectful bow. This didn’t escape Maki’s eyes as she slightly stared at both of them wide eyed, wondering why her supervisor would have done that. She knew for certain that Hayato-san was much older than Tomohisa.

“Tomohisa-san,” Hayato spoke first, “What are you doing here?”

Maki couldn’t help but scratch her head in wonder, ‘they knew each other?’ She thought.

Not really knowing what to reply back, Tomohisa stood there for awhile in silence trying to collect his thoughts. ‘What am I doing here?’ He thought to himself. It didn’t help that he didn’t exactly know this man’s name, yet he knew his. Of course, there family owns a huge market share for this hospital but he had never set foot in here before. Not even when his grandfather was admitted in here. However, he was aware of this power and intended to use it.

“Tomohisa-san?” Hayatao again tried gaining his attention and eyed Maki for some sort of explanation.

Tomohisa quickly cleared his throat, “Uhh...Supervisor-san,” he began.

“Hayato Kenji,” Hayato interrupted.

Tomohisa looked taken back a little, “Right, Hayato-san. I wanted to talk to you.”

Hayato immediately looked worried, ‘Why would one of the members of the Yamaa family want to talk to him? Was it because he was going to complain about something?’ He shuddered, not wanting to lose his job. “Yes, of course. Maki could you come back later?”

Maki looked from Hayato to Tomohisa back to Hayato and then to Tomohisa. She was very confused but nevertheless bowed down and headed for the exit. However, as she walked passed Tomohisa, he lightly grabbed her wrist and smiled a little.

“Actually Hayato-san, I want to talk to you about Maki.” Tomohisa spoke up and dragged both of them to the guest chairs in front of Hayato’s desk. “I take full responsibility as to why my fiancé was late today.”

“Eh?” Both Hayato and Maki exclaimed while staring at Tomohisa. Hayato pressured on, “Fiancé?!”

Tomohisa ignored this and continued on, “We were planning for our wedding and just lost track of the time. So yeah, please, you can’t fire her.” It was the second time he had acknowledged their situation of marriage and he couldn’t help it. It just slipped away naturally from his tongue now which annoyed him completely.

Maki’s face was slightly red; embarrassed that he had brought that up and even begging him not to fire her. Whilst Hayato on the other hand, was totally shocked as he processed the whole situation. It was true, he had plan on firing Maki. She was late most of the time and some sort of calamity seemed to always happen when she was around, not to mention him being yelled at by Yamaa Yohiho because of her. But now this? ‘No wonder why Yamaa-san was so kind to her,’ he concluded.

An awkward silence filled the office as the individuals inside were each caught up with their thoughts. Although, Hayato was the first one to break the silence, “Congratulations on your engagement,” he began. Both Tomohisa and Maki felt embarrassed while Hayato continued on, “You should have just told me this earlier Maki. Then we could have avoided all this trouble.” Hayato chuckled a little as he slowly understood the situation.

“It’s not like you would have believed me,” Maki mumbled lowly to herself.

“What was that?” Hayato asked suspiciously.

“Nothing, I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” Maki quickly covered her previous words and smiled a little.

Hayato also smiled back, “Now that we have all that cleared up, you two love birds probably want to head back to your wedding planners or whatever right?” He eyed their hands as Tomohisa unconsciously still hadn’t let go of Maki’s.

Noticing where he was eyeing, both parties immediately withdrew their arms to their sides whilst Hayato again gave a chuckle. “Ahh young love. Go on, you can take leave today Maki. But I except you to be here tomorrow, don’t forget you still have a job to.”

Tomohisa and Maki both stood up from their seats and bowed respectively to Hayato who also bowed back. As soon as Maki had opened the door two people were blocking the doorway.

“ENGAGEMENT?!” One exclaimed.

“WEDDING?!” The other cried out.

===

Author's Note: OHMYGOSH! O: Hello everyone! It's been a very long time! I'm soo sorry! I hope everyone is doing fine and well (if there is anyone left)! I'm also sorry about this chapter. I think it's pretty "lames" but I just HAD to update! Again, I'm so sorry! D: