Secret (shinsoukoku)

Chapter 20

Akutagawa walks through the streets, his hands shivering a bit because of how nervous he was.

He kept walking around a building. A building where there was a good, famous jewelry shop.

The diablo's scared to go in. What if he picks out the wrong ring? Or what if... What if it's still too early to even pick one out?

What if Atsushi says no when Akutagawa proposes to him?

Suddenly, someone grabs his shoulder and Akutagawa's ready to punch that person, but when he turns around he sees a small, blonde woman wjth glasses and a smile on her face.

He recognizes her. That's the woman from the jewelry shop.

"You're not my first client who's this nervous" He laughs and Akutagawa's a bit wary of her but calms down when he realizes she's probably not any kind of threat.

"Do you need my help? I can help you pick out something. What's the occasion?" She asks and the diablo follows her into the shop. When they walk through the door, the tiny bell above rings and the diablo smells the sweet scent of some kind of room perfume.

"I'm... I'm thinking about proposing" Akutagawa admits and the woman smiles. She walks over to the desk and takes out a piece of paper with numbers on it.

"Before we start picking the design, do you know what size your partner has?" She asks and shows him the measurements on the paper. Akutagawa thinks for a while and nods, although a bit hesitantly.

"He has the same finger width as I do" The diablo tells her and notices that she's a bit surprised at the use of a male and not the female pronoun, but she doesn't ask about it.

"Hmm... about 2 cm" She mutters to herself and goes to her desk again. This time, she takes out a few boxes and opens them, each box revealing its own ring set. There's gold, silver, some pinkish color. Akutagawa already doesn't know what to choose and is starting to overthink.

What if Atsushi hates the ring he picks out? Damn it, he should've asked him what colors and crystals he liked before coming here.

The woman first takes a few rings out of the first box, all of them with a golden color and a white or blue-ish stones in them.

"These ones are used often as both proposals but also promise rings. Couples, especially young ones like you, at least I hope I'm assuming correctly, usually pick out smaller rings. Many find bigger rings annoying." She says and Akutagawa looks at all of the rings but after thinking for a while, he shakes his head.

"No... I don't know why but they don't feel like what he would like"

"Hm. Would you like a ring that has the colors that are similar to his personality, or rather a ring that is similar to how he looks?"

"How do I know? I-... This is difficult" Akutagawa announces and starts looking at the other rings. All of them are so beautiful but none of them feel... 'right'.

"Do not worry, I'm sure you'll find the right one soon. There's no need to stress or worry over anything. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been together for?"

"A few years already. I was nervous to ask him out because kd the baby-"

"He has a baby?" She asks, surprised again but this time because she wants to know more. She loved hearing stories about past lovers or accidental pregnancies.

"Yes. She's almost 7. She even calls me dad" Akutagawa says with a proud smile and his eyes look to the side, at the bracelets.

"I will probably buy her some jewelry, too, just maybe not here. I'm afraid she will accidentally break it" He says and the woman laughs.