Once Again

Someday

I toss my purse onto the table instead of hanging it up and sit down, folding my arms and burying my head. I'm exhausted.

"Was your day okay?" The voice freaks me out and I look up, seeing it's Tadashi I burry my head again. I whine and my voice barely breaks through the barrier I've created with my arms. My nose is squished against the table, and my warm breath makes the surface steamy.

"I have the exact same schedule as him." I grumble in my low, crackly voice. Tadashi takes a seat next to me, putting his weight on his forearms, looking at the only visible part of my head - the top of it.

"That part's not my fault." He is trying to be funny but it doesn't work. I un-burry my reddened face.

"Gogo followed me everywhere - laughing." I say.

"I -"

"And he would NOT. STOP. FLIRTING." My face hardens a little more every time I emphasize a word. He chuckles and takes one of my hands, looking down at the table.

"That, that sounds about right." He turns to me showing a smile. I ask him what he means, I don't know what he means. "Before my parents died, August was my neighbor, we went to school together." That makes sense, he set me up with a childhood friend. Wonderful.

"I can't believe this is my life right now." I am absently staring at a wall behind him, daydreaming.

"Are you okay?" He squeezes my hand to get my attention and I shake the haze of the daydream off.

"I have absolutely, one hundred percent, no idea." I nonchalantly chuckle. I give a quirky half smile, hoping he can figure things out for me.

"That's a first." I nod at him, drifting off again but somehow remaining focused on the conversation at the same time.

"There have been a lot of firsts lately." I cannot begin to tell you just how true that is. There is a moment of silence as we sit there, both just letting our minds wonder around. There's nothing else to do, mom's not home yet and nobody else is here.

"I came up with a new deal." He scoots his chair back and I climb into his lap, he must realize how emotionally exhausted I am. I am curled up on his lap, my head resting in the crook of his strong neck. I turn my head up at his face.

"And what is that?" I ask as he slowly rocks me.

Without looking at me he begins to explain. "We find a way. We find a way to get me out of this without me ending up in prison for life, and you and I get married and live happily ever after." He stops rocking and looks at me now. I manage a chuckle. "Bad joke, huh?" I keep smiling.

"Yeah. But it has the best punch line I think I've ever heard." I look forward at the door and begin staring again. I feel him fill his chest with air and then release it through his nose with a sigh. His heart pumping nice and steady, like an echoing drum. Like the rain.

"I'll keep that in mind - maybe I can tell it to you again someday." This triggers something in my mind. I turn my head up once more.

"Tadashi, could I ask you something?" His voice sounds so powerful and deep when I have one of my ears resting on his chest.

"Anything."

"The letter I got from you, with the ring and that... Question?" I pause and he hums an "mhm" that sounds loud because of the way I am leaning on him. "Was it just a decoy?" He straightens and sits up a little, pulling me closer and more securely against him.

"Do you think that I would spend seven thousand dollars on a decoy?" He and I both laugh, and I watch the twinkle in his eye... It reminds me of how life was - it feels almost back to normal, now that so many people know.

"Well," I begin, "you did just try to set me up with some random childhood friend." He gently laughs.

"Yes." He says.

"Yes to what?" I put on of my hands over his heart, subconsciously rubbing my fingers against an edge of a logo on his shirt.

"Yes, I meant every word of that letter." My heart flutters, and my hand tells me his does, too.

"Were you... Were you really that nervous to ask me in person?" I wonder if I scare him, if he isn't comfortable enough to ask me that sort of thing.

"Not exactly. I'm nervous that if you say yes now, you'll be in real danger." Back to his danger notion. I have to think of something. Something. Find a new angle...

"What if... We don't say yes right this second?" My mind starts racing and I think so does his.

"Do you still have that ring?" As if I would get rid of it, I reach for my purse on the table and pull it out. Sparkling promises dancing on a golden hoop. He smiles gently and takes the ring, looking at it carefully. "Okay, my turn to ask a question."

I suspiciously say "okay".

"It's a someday question." I get excited, not quite sure of what he's doing.

"Ask already!" I say impatient and jokingly . He smiles.

"Honey Lemon, will you, someday, marry me?" I nearly jump out of his lap, but I'm frozen. My hand clasps around his shirt collar.

"Would you like a 'someday' answer?" He chuckles and looks right into my eyes, letting me continue. "Then, someday yes." He squeezes me tighter, putting his chin on top of my head, looking at the wall. Normally I wouldn't hear what he's saying because it's so quiet, but my ear is against his chest and I feel his jaw move as is rest on my head.

"Yea, someday." He whispers, my heart sinks at the way he says it. Tadashi clenches the ring in the hand that isn't holding my upper arm. "Someday."