Endless Love ("Neiko")

One Day at a Time

Seiko sat in the seat next to Naomi's bed with her face buried in the palms of her hands, sobbing.

Naomi doesn't remember anything. Seiko thought.

Naomi was sitting in her bed watching Seiko painfully. She hadn't liked seeing her friend that way.

Naomi reached her left arm out to touch her shoulder, "S-Seik-" Naomi cut herself off before she made contact with Seiko.

Naomi stared blankly at the silver band wrapped around her wrist. Naomi brought her hand back to her face and inspected the metal bracelet. Naomi unclasped the metal and held it out in front of her with her hands.

Naomi noticed two things; her name engraved on top, and Seiko's on the inside.

"W-When did I get this?" Naomi asked quietly.

Seiko looked up from her hands and wiped away the tears from her face, her voice shaky as she tried to regain her normal breathing, "I-I...got you that, for your birthday, N-Naomi."

"My birthday...?" Naomi asked, "What day is it today?"

"January sixth." Seiko said flatly.

"W-When did I go into a coma...?" Naomi asked.

"On Christmas Day." Seiko replied.

Naomi shook her head, "Okay, back to the bracelet. Why did you give it to me and why does it have your name on it?"

Seiko sighed shakily before explaining to Naomi, "I got it...b-because I love you, and it has my name on it because that way...no one would have to know about our relationship, even though you knew on the inside that I loved you...and hopefully you loved me back..." Seiko stated.

"I don't remember..." Naomi said, "I'm sorry..."

Tears welled up in Seiko's eyes as she realized Naomi may never remember the amazing times they had spent together. She quickly wiped them away and tried to regain her calm demeanor.

Naomi reached over to Seiko, causing Seiko to flinch suddenly, but settled down when she realized Naomi was reaching for her necklace.

"When did you get this?" Naomi asked, "It's really pretty..."

Seiko chuckled, "I got it for my birthday... You gave it to me, Naomi."

Naomi looked up to meet Seiko's gaze while she spoke.

"And when you say it's pretty... Well, when you got it for me you said, "It's beautiful, just like you." You also got me a bunch of flowers that day." Seiko smiled when she remembered her birthday.

"I...I did?"

"Yeah, you did." Seiko said quietly.

Seiko scratched her head in the awkward silence, "Uhm... I'm going to get your mom."

Seiko got up before any words could be uttered and she left the room. As Seiko walked towards the cafeteria she started crying, crying because the love of her life doesn't remember anything.

Seiko had been walking, too busy thinking that she ended up bumping into someone.

"Ah, I-I'm sorr-"

Seiko had bumped into Naomi's mother. Without warning tears started filling her eyes and she threw herself at Naomi's mother. Seiko's head was pressed up against Natsumi's chest and Seiko was grasping onto Natsumi's shirt tightly. Natsumi was shocked, but hugged Seiko back lovingly. Natsumi started rubbing her back, telling her everything would be okay.

Seiko shook her head against Natsumi's chest, "Sh-She...doesn't reme-remember."

"Seiko? What're you talking about?" Natsumi asked.