You Will Only Be Mine

"Now, face each other and talk things out properly. All I can do is create opportunities for you, but figuring this out is very much on you two," she said and turned our desks and chairs to face each other.

My gaze met with Ai's, but she started looking elsewhere, and for a moment, the urge to pull away after the discussion between us built up in my mind, but I fought back with everything I had. This is something we both need to work on ourselves. Natsumi-san will be here if we go overboard, but we should know the extent to which we can take certain discussions. Having such uncomfortable talks for the first few times in our relationship was hard, and most of it just ended with either of us getting so worried that we forgot the entire discussion and took care of the other person, or just an abrupt interruption.

"Ai…" I called out her name, and her eyes fixed back on me. "Thank you for worrying about me so much."

"Huh?" Ai was a little taken aback by the sudden expression of my gratitude, but it was no different from how I felt about her. When she was worried about me, a part of me was happy and relieved that she cared about me so much. As much as I want to deny those thoughts, there is nothing that would be more honest than admitting this.

I held back the urge to lean forward and hold her because I know the moment I do that, my mind will drift elsewhere from the conversation. "I know how you feel. I am the same, so I understand why you react to things the way you do. There is nothing in you that needs to be fixed or changed. Every part of you is what makes you the person I fell in love with. Change anything, and that is not the Ai I love with all my heart. I will never hate you for acting out and lashing at things, nor will I ever think about how things would be better if you changed certain things. Ai is Ai, and I love that Ai more than anything else. Please, forgive me for being so rude in our past few arguments. I got so frustrated with everything because it felt too much for me to handle, and you didn't fully agree to everything I said or did, but I can't forget that Ai is also a person. She is not a doll that will do everything I tell her; I didn't give my heart to a doll. If there is anything you would like me to do to make you feel at ease, just tell me and I will do it. Making you feel at ease comes before anything else for me. That was also the reason why I hid things…"

I paused and looked at her to see if my words were reaching her, but I could see little tears forming in her eyes. What? What's going on? Why is Ai crying? Did I say something wrong? No, did I say anything rude anywhere? I don't think I did. Wait, let's see, I thanked her, I told her I understood how she felt, and…and…

While I was lost in my thoughts, I felt a cold hand holding mine. I looked up to see Ai standing beside my seat, tears still in her eyes. Her face looked distraught; it looked like, at any moment, she would break down crying. She let go of my hand and held out her arms, asking for a hug. I said I was not going to hold her before, but there was no way I would say no to this face.

I pulled her close to me and hugged her tight. She sat on my lap with her head resting on my shoulder, her body lightly shaking. My shoulder started to get wet as she started lightly sobbing. I don't know why she was crying, and that made me frustrated. I wanted to stop her from feeling this sadness. If there was anything I could do to stop her from feeling this way, I would be ready to do it right away. The strong and cheerful half vampire felt so fragile in my arms right now. I wanted to protect her and keep her away from all sorts of pain. I wanted to destroy anything that would cause her pain. I wanted to do everything in my power to keep her safe.

"…ate…me?" Ai mumbled something in an extremely low voice; even I, with my enhanced hearing, had trouble picking up what she was going to say.

"What is it?" I said in a softer tone, rubbing her back.

"So, you don't hate me?" she asked me, her head still resting on my shoulder. "After I was being bad and fought with Kazu-kun so many times, he doesn't hate me?"

"Of course I don't hate you, what made you think that?" I asked her, planting a kiss on her head. "Oh, you dummy, why would I ever hate you? You mean the world to me. There is absolutely no way I would ever hate Ai."

"B-But we started fighting a lot for two days," she said, her voice trembling. This was what bothered her so much?

"When did we fight Ai? We just had a disagreement, and things got a little heated. This is common between couples, you know, or any relationship between two people who actually care about the other's opinion. They fight, sometimes a lot in a few days, and sometimes not at all for months, but things like these happen. There is no way things like this will make me ever hate you," I said and placed my hand on her head, slowly raising it and cupping her face in my hands. The tears were still slowly flowing down her smooth skin, and her eyes were lightly glistening due to the water. I swear there is no situation where she doesn't look good. "Look at me, if you ever think I will come to hate you, drill this face right in your mind. This is the face of someone who is hopelessly head over heels for you. Someone who is so stupidly in love with you that he can't spend even a minute without you. This is the face of someone who will have disagreements with you, but they will never matter so much that they would change my mind about how much I love you. Do you understand?"

"You love me?" Ai asked me in a meek voice, and I gave her the biggest smile I could.

"With all my heart," I said and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"You won't hate me even if I mess up sometimes?" Ai asked again.

"Not even in a lifetime," I said and kissed her. Pulling away, she rested her head against my neck and started slowly nuzzling it.

"I love you, Kazu-kun."

"I love you too, Ai."

"Thank you for not hating me."

"Thank you for being so amazing."

The tears, the sadness in her eyes. It all made sense to me now. How could I have been so oblivious to such an obvious fact? Ai has most likely never had a big disagreement or an argument with someone she cared about. She didn't know why this was even happening. What hurt her more than anything was the simple fact that we were arguing. I have had my fair share of disagreements with Natsumi-san around, but as far as I know, Ai may not have been the same. I still don't know exactly how she lived all those years by herself in a big house with no family around at such a young age. How was she before she broke into my place?

I looked down at the girl holding onto me and couldn't help but feel my heart being crushed, thinking what all she had to go through. Ai is strong, but she has her weak moments. She is not invincible and needs something to lean against. I have been that person all her life, whether I knew it or not, but everything is clear as a day now. I doubt we will ever have disagreements anymore, but I now know how it makes Ai feel. While I saw it as a little disagreement between two people, to Ai, that felt like a crack in our perfect-looking relationship.

I still don't fully know how I will tackle this thing in the future, but what I know now is that I have a lot bigger role to play in her life, and I doubt it will ever decrease. Ai needs me, and I will be there for her at every part of her life. I couldn't play much of an active role in her life before, but now that I am, I will make sure to be by her side no matter what happens. That is my promise to her and myself. No matter what happens, Ai, you will always have me.

"If you are done now, stop turning into one organism," Natsumi-san said, holding her head. "I swear, watching you two just gives me a constant reminder of how lonely I am."

"No, I didn't have enough of Kazu-kun's warmth yet," Ai said, holding onto me tightly. "We can keep talking like this, right?"

"Absolutely not," she said and grabbed Ai, but she held onto me even tighter, almost crushing my neck.

"I don't waaaaant," Ai whined as Natsumi-san tore us apart.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Join the Discord: