Those of Us Alone

Chapter 77: Recollection of a Promise

I frowned slightly before giving a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry, that one I didn't hear, can you repeat that?"

She let all four of her chair's legs touch the floor and dropped her gaze to the table, her ears were turning even more red than her face had been, but, in a small voice, her whisper sliced through the silence, "We were supposed to get married," my eyes widened, and my jaw dropped slightly, "weren't we?"

Midori's POV

I was honestly afraid to look up.

The tension in the room was higher since I let my plaguing thoughts out. I was leaning on my elbows, my hands clasped in front of me - my thumbs fiddling with each other. I must've been blushing furiously, since my face felt like it was on fire. Most of my hair was up, so I really couldn't even hide behind it.

"Did . . . did you remember that?"

I bit my lip before shaking my head, my voice small as I choked out, "I . . . I ran into Hak . . . recently. And. . . and he, uh . . . we got into an argument." I took a deep breath to steady my breathing and my speech as much as possible, "He, uh, was mad that I was, uh, helping you. Threw that information in my face - it's been bugging me that I couldn't remember it, since it obviously happened. . . Sorry to catch you off guard."

I heard a small sigh before Soo-won reached over and took ahold of both of my hands, "I . . . will say that I didn't expect you to ask that, but . . ." He laughed softly, his left hand reaching up and guiding my face up to meet his gaze. I shied away from direct eye-contact, but didn't drop my head again. "I was wondering if you'd gotten that memory yet - though I did assume you lost it."

"Sorry," I whispered. I glanced over towards his kind green eyes, then down to our hands that were clasped again, "I just . . . I thought maybe that was a . . . happy memory?"

He squeezed my hands as he spoke kindly, "Well, I hope it was a happy memory. You seemed excited."

"See!" I exclaimed finally meeting his eyes completely, "It was, no is, embarrassing!"

"You were complaining about suitors and how you were just going to be a nun at that point."

I snatched my hands back, covering my face and whining, "No, stop it. The memory may not be there, but I can definitely get second-hand embarrassment from myself."

"Where's the fun in that?" He made his way around the four-seater table, sat in a closer chair, scooting close to me, and pried my hands off of my even more blushing face. He wore a cheeky smile as he continued, "I asked if you wanted to be a nun - I would have been heartbroken by the way, but would have accepted that answer. But you said - "

"Spare me, please!"

"You said, 'The nun life is choosing me at this point. My choice won't matter'." I groaned, unable to cover my face with my hands, I buried my face into his shoulder. He was shaking from his soft laughter, "Then I said, 'You could just marry me before then' - which I think was pretty obvious as to what I was insinuating, but someone thought otherwise."

I was chuckling myself, happy tears in my eyes, "Hiryuu, save me. What was my response then?"

He wrapped his left arm around me, and I was left holding his right hand, "Hm . . . something like, 'You'd have to be crazy to marry me - I wouldn't want to burden you with craziness'."

We were laughing as quietly as we could to ourselves, and I couldn't help but think, this is right - this is where I need to be. Of course, I felt slightly guilty being like this with the man that hurt Yona, Hak and I, but . . . I just wanted to be happy - and for some reason, the gods ordained that this man would make me happy, and that I would have to choose: this or loneliness. Anger from either party is inevitable, and I'm sure I'd be guilty forever no matter my choice - so what did it matter?