Honey Magazine/My Sweet Proposal: Todo Masaya

Chapter 9.5

Maintaining a distance- Until yesterday, I had thought that was the best plan of action.

Masaya "Hello, Kisaragi? Right now, we're headed to Kana's parents' house."

Kisaragi "Do you know that we have a meeting in 30 minutes?"

Hearing his sigh spill from my earphones, I laugh drily as I grip the steering wheel.

Masaya "That meeting, I don't need to be there, do I?"

Kisaragi "It's true that you'd only be participating as a gesture...The fact that you're skipping work, and are headed to the house of Miura's parents must mean that your relationship with her is rocky at the moment."

Masaya "I wouldn't expect less from you, my secretary. You see everything even without me saying a word."

Kisaragi "Is Miura at her parent's house?"

Masaya "I went to Marriage Wedding, and Kana's aunt told me so."

If I really want to...care for her from the bottom of my heart, now is not the time to distance myself from here. Contemplating it overnight, the decision I had reached was to talk until we are both satisfied. First of all, concerning Kana and my relationship.

Kisaragi "Good luck..."

Kisaragi's words cause the tenseness in my heart to loosen just a little.

It's alright. I think I still have time.

How foolish I am to hope.

---

Masaya "The details can be covered on a later date. I will come to visit again."

As the door closes, I bow deeply. Leaving the pension, I head towards my car. Arriving at the house of Kana's parents, what awaited me was the absence of my fiancé and, from my father and mother-in-law to be, smiling in an attempt to suppress their disappointment.

Masaya "I guess I'll head to the church as well..."

I get into my car and start the engine.

However, afraid that we might just miss each other, I turn it off.

Perhaps due to the silence in the car, an odd uneasiness is swirling in my heart.

Masaya "Her childhood friend, Hiro..."

That she would go to her childhood friend for support, to be honest, is a little irritating, but I am in no position to complain.

If she will return to my arms, that is enough.

Telling myself this, I raise my face.

I spot my fiancé through my front glass and another person.

Masaya "It's a guy..."

Just by the sound of the name, I had assumed her childhood friend, Hiro, was a girl.

(My note: Eh, no way?! Hiro is a guy's name, though?)

But, next to Kana, making her laugh...is unmistakably a man.

Masaya "Why are you laughing? Kana, that smile of yours, isn't it supposed to be just for me?"

Kana "...!"

Perhaps noticing the car, the somewhat forced smile disappears from Kana's face, as if by magic.

Gazing at me in a daze, I see her whisper something to the man next to her.

To be honest, it's all I can do to stop myself from engulfing her in my arms.

However, that running headfirst into emotions of longing is an unnecessary thing, is something I learned a long ago.

I feign calmness.

Without averting my gaze, I place my hand on the door handle.

(Even in a situation like this, I feel such affection for her. The fact that, more than anger, I feel happiness on seeing her, makes me upset to the stomach myself.)

I straighten my jacket and attempt to appear normal out of ridiculous pride.

Buried deep inside of my heart, though, I am thinking...Please don't leave me.

That's the only thought that matters to me.