Whole

Chapter 37

"Good morning, beautiful." I soothed as my fingers ran through Kat's hair, gently coaxing her from her peaceful sleep.

"Hmm, good morning." She hummed, content as her eyes slowly opened and her lips curved into a sleepy smile.

"Happy birthday, baby." I pressed my lips to her forehead before I pulled my other arm from behind my back. A fresh bouquet, pink roses, white freesia, pink spray chrysanthemums, pink germini, and pink spray roses with pistache, all wrapped neatly in pink paper.

"Aw, baby, they're beautiful, thank you!" She beamed as she sat herself up and took them from me to give them a sniff.

As I was about to press my lips to hers, Akrio jumped onto the bed, smothering Kat with dog kisses, making her giggle.

"I think Akiro says happy birthday too." I chuckled as she placed the flowers down carefully and fussed Akiro.

"Aw, thank you, cutie." She grinned, cuddling him. "I have the best two boys in the world."

"And we have the best girl." I smiled as I brushed my fingers softly against her cheek. "I thought this morning, I'd take you out for breakfast, and we can walk this cute one through the gardens."

"Hmm, that sounds perfect." She hummed as she nuzzled her cheek into the palm of my hand.

If it were possible, I loved this woman more now than I ever had. It had been almost four years since Ryo took me to her old house to meet her. Nearly four years, when I almost instantly fell in love with her. Four, long years she'd stood by me while I did my thing with the band.

There was a time I almost lost her, and it destroyed me. Every day became a constant argument, no matter how hard we tried. It got to a point, we'd not seen each other in almost two months, and it all went horribly wrong.

A month we spent apart, not seeing each other, no calls, no texts, even Ryo refusing to answer my one million questions, asking if she was okay, what she was doing or thinking. It had been nothing short of what I imagined hell on earth to be. That was a little over six months ago.

Today was her birthday, I was home for two months before our Fateless album dropped and I'd shared my plans with the band two days ago. Tonight, I was going to share my plans with her. That month had made me realize many things and opened my eyes.

"Then tonight, I'm taking you for dinner, somewhere special."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Nope, not saying, that, my love, is a secret. Now, get that sexy butt of yours up and ready." I leaned to press a soft kiss to her lips before I picked up the flowers. "I'll go put these in a vase for you."

"I love you."

"And I love you, Kat, more than anything." I gave her a small smile before I made my way out of our room.

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"You didn't!" Katsuko's gasped as I pulled up outside the restaurant. The very same one I'd taken her too on the day I asked her to be my girlfriend.

"I most certainly did." I smiled, looking over at her dressed in a beautiful red skater style dress that hugged her curves. Her hair styled in neat curls and her make up done effortlessly.

"We haven't been here in so long! You're too good to me." She reached her hand over to my cheek as she turned to press her lips to mine.

"And as I always say, not nearly good enough. Come on, let's go eat." I smiled, pecking her nose before we climbed out of the car.

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"I can't believe how big your niece and nephew are getting!" Kat spoke as we sat there, eating our dinner. "It was lovely of your brother to bring them over while I was out there."

"Well, they're always chewing his ear off about how much they miss their favorite Auntie Kat." I chuckled. I was thankful my brother had gone out to see Kat while she'd been in America. Despite the fact she was there for work, she got to see her family and them, and it relaxed her.

"When was it they're coming here again?"

"Next week, baby." I smiled. I couldn't wait, I'd gotten to see them briefly before we started our Asian leg of the tour, but it was only for a day. "And hey, you're going to be a full-fledged Auntie too."

Kat groaned as her lips pouted, "Oh god, don't remind me my little brother is about to have a baby. I damn well choked on air when he told me! I'm happy for him, don't get me wrong, but they'd only been together for six months. Just seems so sudden to have a baby."

"Yeah, but hey, as long as they're happy, and if their relationship doesn't work out, they put the kid first. I hope it works out for them, though; they make a cute couple."

"Yeah, they do, she's really sweet, but urgh, everyone is having babies! Even Atsumi and Haru are trying! I still can't believe they ended up together."

My lips pursed in a thin line, although she didn't say it, after being together for over three years, watching her friends and family have babies, I knew she was getting to that point. I couldn't lie, I'd began thinking seriously about it too. She was thirty-one now, and I was turning thirty-three at the end of the year, neither of us was getting any younger.

"It does seem like everyone is having babies; even Sugi's Mrs. is pregnant."

"Wait; what?! He didn't tell me that!" Kat choked, desperately trying to swallow the sushi in her mouth without dying.

"They only found out last week." I shrugged, "Anyway, before I end up losing you to you choking on your food, eat up because the night isn't over."