イタズラな KISS ~3 ✔

INK3-11

Epilogue Eleven: Burden (Part Five)

Before he bought his lunch, he called her again but her phone was still out of reach. He put his phone back in his pocket and decided to take his lunch. There are still a lot of patients waiting for him to visit and examine.

It was eleven o'clock when he finished his work. A colleague of him advised him to stay and sleep in the hospital but he refused. He wants to go home and see his wife.

He already missed her.

As soon as he was finished picking up his things in his locker, he took his phone and found out that he has a lot of missed calls coming from their home number. He checked out again, but there was no call from Kotoko. Naoki texted her to call back but seems like she didn't read the message.

He called her once again but it was still out of reach. He started to get worried.

"Maybe she's still mad at me. But she can't be this mad at me. Knowing Kotoko, she would forget it soon as time slipped by..." he whispered.

He called their home number once again. His mother surprised him on the other line.

"Ni-chan! Kotoko is still not home! Are you looking for her? I asked Yuki to find her but he can't trace her! She's missing! I will call the police right now!"

"Mom, please don't act in rush." he calmly told her Mom. "I am going home. I will look for her as soon as I got off in my uniform. Don't worry, I can find her. She's probably still mad at me." he calmly told her Mother even if his mind turned to blank.

He cut off the line and quickly finished what he was doing.

"Mattaku, what I am going to do to you, Kotoko!" he whispered and got out of the hospital.

Naoki managed to get home as quickly as he can. And when he did, everyone in the living room is waiting for him. Yuki just looked like he just went outside.

"She still hasn't home yet?" he asked desperately.

"What did you two fight about?" his father asked him.

"I don't know if this is the reason but I just yelled at her for ruining my schedule. I thought we're fine before I left this morning..."

"Let's just call the police." her Mother suggested again.

"No. I can bring her back to me. Oka-san, Oto-san, Yuki... you all can go to sleep. I can find my wife. Please rest..."

"No, I can't sleep not knowing that Kotoko-chan is not home. I will help. I will also look for her. Your dad and I are going to round the city."

"I can go on my bike, Ni-chan," Yuki suggested.

"I already called Jinko and Satomi and neither of them knows where Kotoko was. Chris hasn't seen Kotoko lately. I am going to look for her too, Naoki-san."

"Then it's settled, let's find her." he decided.

Everyone left except him. Naoki went upstairs and dressed in his clothes. He was wondering what makes her to overboard this way. It was only a small matter. He was just only telling her this morning not to ruin his schedule. She even gave Funatsu a lot of works. Of course, as a doctor, he can't give his work to others. He was only being responsible and passionate about his job.

After done getting dressed in new clothes, he went downstairs and started to find keys to use his Father's company car. He explored in the drawers until he saw a small piece of envelope besides their picture.

He strangely looked at the Minnie Mouse envelope until he realized it was from Kotoko!

With his hand shaking and his heart beating of some indescribable feeling, he immediately opened it and read it. His eyes heated for a moment and for the first time of his life, tears came rushing onto his cheeks and rolled down on the letter...

'Thank you for having me. I'm sorry if I left without a proper goodbye. I won't give you any trouble. I can't be a burden to this family. I promise. I love you all. I love you very much, Irie-kun.' – Kotoko.

Naoki was shocked. He looked like hell and was about to scream. He doesn't expect this. The first time Kotoko left him was devastating, was when she fought with him because of his jealousy. He felt that it was the pain. He felt that... he can't live without her. But know, after reading her letter and finding out that she won't come back again, it was more than knowing that he was hurting... like his pain was immeasurable.

And what did she mean 'I can't be a burden'? When did he say that she was such a burden?

'Wasn't that enough that I always assure her to have confidence when those times she was feeling insecure? What does she mean by that? Did I do something that made her to this far? And what? Is this because she was emotionally unstable now that she's pregnant? How could I forget to be careful in stirring her emotions? Or is she keeping something that she didn't want me to know?'

Naoki wasn't sure of all of that. Kotoko's sudden disappearance was a big mystery to him. He can't process things well.

How could Kotoko, who was so contented being by his side and obliged to love him forever, left him? She was powerful enough to do everything just to get him.

The Kotoko he knows won't do something like this. She'll be going to crawl all the way out from hell just to stay forever with him. Kotoko won't do something like this. He highly believed that.

There's must be a reason... something that threatened her to do this... or maybe she's in danger.

"Kotoko..." he slowly whispered her name while he was thinking what the hell happened between them that made her leave this far.