I'll Protect You- MatchaBlossom

Chapter 9- I Love You Infinitely

That night, I wake up at about 3am from a nightmare. Cherry's arms aren't wrapped around me anymore, and he's laying on his back. I have trouble breathing. It takes a minute before I catch my breath. When I calm down, Cherry rolls over towards me and opens his eyes.

"Are you ok? What's wrong?" he asks as he sits up.

"Nothing. It was just a bad dream," I say as I lay back down, my back to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Ok. Try to go back to sleep."

I don't listen. I don't want to go back to sleep after that. I never do. I never want to fall asleep in the first place because of having to relive that every time I close my eyes.

I don't want to see his face. His closed eyes. The way his green hair is tousled more than usual. His skin that's paler than a ghost.

I don't want to feel his cold skin.

I don't want to hear mine or the others' cries as I hold him in my arms.

I just don't want to relive that day. I never wanted it to happen in the first place.

I'll never see his smile again. Hear his laugh. Watch as his eyes lit up every time he saw me. Listen to him talk happily. I'll never get to feel the warmth of his hugs again. The way his hand was so much smaller than mine, but he still loved to hold them against each other.

I curse to myself for thinking about him again, and just stare at the blank wall in front of me.

Before I know it, it's morning and my alarm's going off. I turn it off and hop in the shower. Then I change for work and prepare to leave. As I'm about to leave the bedroom, a faint voice stops me.

"Wait. Come here," Cherry says sleepily.

I walk over to him. He sits up, then kisses me, not just a regular goodbye kiss, but a bit more than that. He holds onto my cheeks with his hands.

"I love you," he whispers when pulls away, still holding my face in his hands.

"I love you too," I whisper back, and then kiss him on the forehead, before leaving for work.

Nothing much happens at work. No one special comes, and we have a normal amount of guests. Thanks to the few hours of sleep I got, I don't doze off again.

At the end of work, I leave and go home. I'm so relieved to be back. It's nice to get to see Cherry when we aren't fighting. I tend to miss him a lot.

When I open the front door, I notice it's dark all around the house, except for a dim light coming from around the corner, presumably the kitchen.

"Kaoru?" I say into the darkness.

I get no response. I take my shoes off, and set them by the door. I hear Cherry come into the room, and I stand back up and stare at him.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Well, I thought I'd do a little something special for you. I know you've been going through a really rough time recently. You always seem to do everything for me, so I thought I'd try and do something for you," he says with a smile.

My insides flutter. I wasn't expecting this. "R- really?"

"Yeah, now come on. The food's gonna get cold."

"Food? You cooked?"

"Well, yeah. Wanted to try something new."

He grabs onto my hand, and drags me into the kitchen, where the table is set up fancily. There's a nice red tablecloth overtop, two plates full of food, two glasses of wine, and a lit candle right in the middle.