The Winter Project

50. Minoru

He had never cared for the idea of marriage when he was growing up, or even in his adult life until he had met Isabel. Minoru thought that marriage was an out-dated tradition, formed by religion and historical purposes in which noble families would use it to form alliances and made trade agreements in the wake of lavish wedding ceremonies. He had never thought that he would love somebody enough to care about a wedding. It was those thought processes that had created such a large rift between he and Stephanie.

From the day that Isabel had shown Minoru her list of things that she wanted to achieve, he had decided he wanted to marry her. He used to believe that love was just a desperate feeling of wanting to constantly be next to somebody and wanting them to love him back, full of jealousy and fear of being abandoned. When he met Isabel, he wanted nothing from her. He wanted only to make her happy every day and spare her from any pain or misfortune. When he had read the list, he was so hell-bent on making sure that she crossed off every item on it that he realised he finally understood true love. He had never cared to visit Iceland, but as they had stood together next to the Gullfoss waterfall he was ignoring the giant creation of nature and only watching her and her reaction to it. He found so much joy in seeing her face light up and point excitedly at it, constantly turning to him to make sure that he too was looking at it. The true beauty in places like that was seeing her, full of excitement and the feeling of accomplishment. Every place they had visited had been met with the same reaction from her, and he knew that it was ten times more incredible for her than most people because of the fact she had once given up on ever seeing such places. He took her everywhere that she had wanted to visit, and now she was more confident and happy than he had ever seen her before.

When he had told her that he wanted to marry her, they were sat in a quiet hotel in Iceland in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around them but the shadows of the mountains looming over them. The situation was not in the slightest bit romantic; she was sat in bed eating instant noodles and absent-mindedly watching a film on television. She told him that she wanted to wake up at four am to try and spot the aurora lights, and he had told her that he wanted to marry her.

She had refused to marry him anywhere other than Lake Garda, and that was because she wanted Steven to give her away. He had only invited his brother Hitoshi, his mother and father, Ricco and Stephanie. Isabel asked him why he had invited Stephanie when his list of guests was so exclusive, and he told her that he wanted to relieve himself of the guilt for making her so miserable and driving her to an unwanted pregnancy and a life of single motherhood. It was the only thing that truly hung over him and made him feel guilt. He felt that he could have handled their break-up better, but he had been selfish in his desire to travel and had left her to suffer alone. He was hoping to talk to her after the ceremony and clear the air for good.

His mother and father were sat at the back of the three rows of chairs, engaging in deep conversation. He was glad that they were able to get along since separating all of those years ago, and he was excited for them to meet Isabel. He knew that his father especially would approve of her, because his father had always told him to meet a woman who was highly intelligent and made him a better man. Isabel made Minoru a better man. A year ago he had thought that he had achieved a perfect mindset; that he was so happy and confident in himself that he had nothing left to learn, only new things to enjoy. He knew now that he was foolish to think that he knew everything. Isabel had taught him patience and compassion. She had taught him empathy. She had taught him, as far as possible without him actually experiencing it for himself, what it was like to feel true loss and grief and how to cope in a world where it feels like everyone and everything is against you. She had taught him what true strength looks like when she battled her fears. Above all she had taught him what it truly meant to love somebody so much that your only concern was their happiness.

He stood nervously and waited for her. He looked across at the small number of guests and caught Stephanie's eye. She smiled at him and held her son's arm in her hand, moving it back and forth in a waving motion. He smiled back, accepting this silent conversation as her blessing.

Before he could do or think anything else, he saw her walking towards him, her arm linked tightly with Steven's, and he had never been more in love or more happy in his life.