イタズラな KISS ~3 ✔

INK3-33

Epilogue Thirty-Three: Challenge (Part Two)

"What's your problem, Irie?!" Kinnosuke asked me after he drank all of the beer in his glass, "Damn you, I shouldn't drink right now but you made me sit here and listen to you." he said and poured his glass again, "But I won't drink much, so tell me now before the time is over. I have to go home and look out for Chris, you know."

I spaced out and watched how the two men next to us eat their pizza, "It's quite complicated to explain." I said, "I don't know. Maybe I am not a genius."

"You're wishing you are not a genius? You call yourself that? I don't know about your achievements but... calling yourself not a genius is a great insult to me you know. Hell, sometimes, I can't help it, I wish to be like you... I wish to be a genius like you but I don't want to be greedy. I don't want to be a cold looking person like you." he said and poured me a drink, "Drink. You'll sing for yourself. Let's hear what's really troubling you..."

I drank all of it, bottoms up. I admit, it's my first time to drink with him and to drink a lot like this, we almost emptied three bottles and I'm going dizzy but I have to keep straight.

"Kotoko's condition frightens me." I finally confessed. "I don't want to see her like that. I don't want to lose her vision."

"You finally realized that you love her, do you?"

"W-what do you mean? Did I stop loving her?"

He smirked, it was sly kind of smile, "No. You just have started..." and he sniffed, "I mean, you just have started showing your true feelings to her. You just realized it... that you have to... you have to let her know that you love her so deep before she loses her eyesight. You may be hard to read but I kind of know you for such a long time of being a cold-blooded bastard."

I kept a thin smile trying to think clearly. Maybe I was drunk. I already had too much to drink. "I always think you are right so I sought to talk to you."

"You do? You finally admitted it, hell... you are a genius and stupid, but I am a stupid and genius... we all come at different things. We are not limited." and he poured me another drink, "You sure you can come home after this?" he raised a brow.

"I have you to take me home but not now..." I shook my head trying to focus my vision. My world is slowly spinning round and round but I could still perfectly remember how I felt when I knew that the woman in the operating room died and chose to leave her husband and daughter. I could picture out that it was Kotoko... and that was me and Kotomi. If I put our shoes on theirs, it will quite different, it will quite hurtful and I can't bear it. The happy and loud Kotoko that I know... I don't want to see her so quiet and pleading for light. I don't want her to go like that, nor I don't want her to die. "I don't want her to be like that. What should I do? Do you know, Kinnosuke?" I asked so desperately.

He sighed, "I've known Kotoko longer than you do. She's happy... she's happy when she's with you... she always loved to talk about you. I've been drowned in jealousy because of you but not until when Chris came. She's simple and raw, haven't you know that? She trusts you so much. You'd better start to believe that. That's what I could say to you. You lost the fire in your confidence."

I stared blankly at the empty glass. "She trusts me..." and whispered again.

Kinnosuke tapped me on my shoulders, "Yeah. She trusts you and you have to trust her for that. Speaking of Kotoko, she won't leave you because of that and you won't leave her either. You're here drinking with me, sulking, showing your ugly face, the one I despise the most, afraid of losing her. She completely chased you and you've managed to lift her when she was about to give up for you. You two have been crazy... in halls of universities and even in the corridors of the hospital. This is not the time to be sad and be worried about the future, this is the time to remember what you two have been, as a married couple, and be strong. If you're not... then you can't manage to pass those problems upcoming in your marriage life. It's like a test, you know."