Forced Marriage, True Love

25. Apartment

"Tsukasa!" I smiled while waving at him. Tsukasa smiled back at me as he pushed his trolley towards me. "Mitsuha, it's been a while. How are you?" He asked. "I'm good. What about you? Are you alright?" I asked, feeling worried. I knew Tsukasa was also mentally disturbed after reading his letter. I didn't ask him about it, because I knew I cannot just invade in someone's privacy like that.

"I found a house for you to stay. The rent is cheap, but there is a little electricity problem. Are you okay with that?" I said, making him look at me. "I thought I'd be staying at your place." He said, making me laugh nervously. "Actually, about that... I'm living with Taki." Tsukasa stared at me in shock. "Did he force you?" He asked, making me nod.

"That bastard! How dare he!" Tsukasa shouted in anger. "Tsukasa! Calm down! Uh... can we... talk about this in the car?" I asked, making him nod. As soon as he put his luggage in the boot and got in the front seat, I sat in the driver's seat and drove away. "So, do you still want to stay with me, or do you want me to take you to your place?"

"I apologize for being rude, but I can't see your fiancé's face every day. If I do, I'd have a very hard time controlling my fists." He said, making me laugh. "Mitsuha... Taki... forced you to be his fiancée, right?" He asked, making my eyes widen as I looked at him. "How'd you know?" I asked in shock. "I've been his friend for almost ten years. I know what he's thinking. Even Miki. Given her obsession over Taki, there's no way she wouldn't go around claiming to be his fiancée. The only way Taki could escape from her is if he finds another girl as soon as possible."

I laughed, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Did he threaten you?" He asked, making me chew my bottom lip as I nodded. "With what?" "He said if I revealed this to the public, he would make sure I would never get a job again. I honestly wouldn't mind sleeping on the streets, but... I had to do this for my sister."

"Remind me to buy a big frying pan." Tsukasa said, making me laugh, remembering the first time I met him. "Tsukasa," I spoke up after a while, making him look at me, "if you don't want to say it, I won't force you, but... what actually happened between you and Taki, for you to fall apart like this?" I asked.

"I see. Did Taki tell you to ask me this so that we could reconcile, and he could feel better?" Tsukasa asked mockingly. "No. Taki didn't ask me. I'm asking this on my own. I don't know whose fault this whole situation is. All I know is that both you and Taki are suffering for something neither of you are responsible of. I don't want you both to live like this: blaming yourselves for something that was not in your control and living your whole life in resentment and hatred. It's just not worth it, Tsukasa." I said, making him grin.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "I can understand why Taki fell in love with you." He said making me gawk. "Love? There's no love between us. He's only using me to run away from Miki." I said mockingly. "Maybe in the beginning he did. But now... I'm sure he loves you." He said.

"About what happened between us four... it feels like another life altogether. Me, Taki, Shinta and Miki were all childhood friends. We were so close that I thought we would never break apart. However, Shinta and I come from relatively poor backgrounds, compared to Taki and Miki, making Taki's parents be against our friendship.

However, Taki didn't care about his parent's warning and continued being friends with both me and Shinta, to which I was extremely grateful to. At that moment, to defend us, he even said he didn't want to become the next CEO of Tachibana Industries. And that's where things went very wrong.

Miki never had a good opinion on me and Shinta since we were poor and never really spent much time with us. However, she suddenly started becoming cheerful towards us as well, which surprised us. Taki remained speculative... but I was a fool. I got attracted to her cheerful personality and fell in love with her. So, I gathered the courage to ask her on a date.

What I didn't know was that I had just stepped into Miki's carefully planned trap. Miki agreed to be my girlfriend and we started dating, but on our dates, she always talked about Taki and kept asking me about him.

No man would like to hear another man's name from their girlfriend's mouth. At I first I replied to her casually, but I eventually got angry and dragged Taki into this. However, instead of talking to him, I lashed out at him like a child.

Taki, however, didn't have a clue of what was happening between me and Miki. Although I know he wasn't at fault, my ego just didn't let me listen to him, and we ended up fighting. Shinta tried to stop the fight, but... I don't know whose fault it was... we came back to our senses when we heard Shinta's screams. And then we saw our friend lie on the floor, blood leaking from his wound like a tap which was left open."

By now, Tsukasa was crying, making me pull over and hug him to comfort him. Tsukasa returned the hug, burying his face in my shoulder and cry his eyes out. "We rushed him to the hospital, but he couldn't be saved and..." Tsukasa said as his voice broke. "Sh. Shh, Tsukasa calm down. It's okay. It's not your fault." I said softly, trying to comfort him.

"No Mitsuha. It is all my fault. I behaved immaturely, not listening to Taki and fight with him, which caused Shinta's death. It's all my fault." Tsukasa cried. "Tsukasa, did you forget the letter you read?" I asked, making him stare at me with wide eyes. "Y-you... how did you..." He faltered as he kept looking at me.

"The day I called you, Taki accidentally ended up breaking his photo frame of you three. When I took the picture out to throw the frame and the glass, I saw a letter inside it. So, I thought, maybe you would have a letter inside your photo too." I said, making Tsukasa look down.

"Tsukasa-" I started speaking but was cut through by Tsukasa. "What was written in Taki's letter?" He asked. "I don't know. I didn't read it." I lied. I knew what was written in it, but I didn't want to talk about it. It was Taki's private information. If Taki wanted to tell him, he would tell him on his own.

"I see." Tsukasa replied. "Tsukasa, I don't know who really is at fault. All I know is that both you and Taki are suffering for something you both didn't do. I don't want you two to live in guilt for the rest of your lives." I said, making Tsukasa smile at me. "Thank you Mitsuha." I smiled as he slowly and nervously leaned forward towards me.

I didn't hesitate to pull him into a hug and gently patted his back. I knew Tsukasa needed it a lot right now. "I'm sorry, I'm embarrassed." Tsukasa said, making me look down at him questioningly. "I just blabbered to a person I barely know. Even worse, that person's a girl." 

"I'm really glad you did Tsukasa. In this way, we can become even closer." I said with a smile before realizing how selfish my words were. "I'm so sorry. That was selfish of me." "No, it's not. Not at all." He replied as he smiled. "Thank you Mitsuha. I'm really glad you're here." I smiled as we stayed in each other's embrace.