Remember Me

IX

When Fourth woke up, Gemini wasn't beside him, which was unusual but should be expected after the previous night's events. Expected as it was, it didn't ease the growing anxiety that Fourth felt. Did Gemini leave? Did he remember? Fourth took a deep breath to calm himself before he could freak himself out even more and jump to conclusions.

He needed to get some tea. Some oolong tea would do him good right now, and then he would figure out what to do next. Or maybe instead of oolong tea, he should rather get rooibos tea. Rooibos always calmed him down.

As he lazily made his way to the kitchen, he was met by a rather unexpected sight. Well, rather expected, technically because Gemini still lived with him, and he didn't say anything about moving out. The unexpected part was that Gemini was cooking. Cooking! Gemini didn't cook. Never once in their relationship did Gemini cook. And instant noodles didn't count as cooking.

He stood there blinking several times, wondering to himself whether or not he was dreaming. For a moment, he was scared to move or breathe, scared that any movement might make these whole scene in front of him disa Gemini's face was relaxed, and brow pinched in concentration. When Gemini's eyes snapped up at him, he froze, and he was pretty sure his heart stopped beating.

"Morning." Gemini said with a bright smile, eyes crinkling turning into crescents.

"Hi." Fourth replied, voice small. He still wasn't sure if he was dreaming, hallucinating, or if any of this was real.

"I made breakfast. Come. I will make you some tea." Gemini said, turning to the cupboards to fetch a mug.

Fourth willed his legs to move over to the kitchen counter.

"Which one would you like? Jasmine, oolong, green tea or rooibos tea?" Gemini asked and looked at him with his head tilted curiously to the side.

"Uh -" That was Fourth's eloquent answer. Because what the fuck? Is Gemini going to ignore the whole thing that happened yesterday?

"I think rooibos will be the best. You always liked it with no milk and with honey right?" Gemini said already boiling the water. "I made an omelette for breakfast. I hope you will like it. We both know I am not a good cook but over the years I learned a few things and one of them being this." Gemini said as he placed a perfect looking omelette in front of Fourth. It wasn't burned, or looked weird.

"Thank you." Fourth said, still very much confused on what the fuck was happening.

"Anything for you." Gemini replied with a smile.

Maybe Gemini forgot everything again? It did happen for the first time at the hospital when his parents first told him about their divorce. The doctors did say it was psychological, and maybe Gemini refused to remember.

"Gem..." Fourth said softly while they eat. The omelette is really good, probably better than any omelette Fourth could cook.

"Yes?" Gemini looks at him and Fourth almost loses the courage to ask him about last night. Yet he knows he has. This isn't something you can avoid and just sweep under the carpet and hope no one notices it.

"Why are you still here? I mean after last night shouldn't you be mad at me or something?" Fourth asked, his heart hammering in his chest.

Gemini sighs and looks at him with an unreadable expression for a while before he speaks. "I am mad. Not at you though, at myself."

Fourth's eyes widen a bit before he frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Fotfot. Sweetheart. I have failed you in more ways than I can account for. I failed the moment I signed those divorce papers without reaching out to you first and try to talk this out, to try and fix this. I was just so angry at the time." Gemini replied.

"Gem..." Fourth said voice low, so low it comes off as a whisper.

"A few days after I sent the divorce papers back I regretted it. I wanted to reach out to you and beg you to reconsider but I was still too young back then and prideful. Which is not an excuse but I was young and stupid and honestly didn't know what I wanted. When I didn't hear anything from you and once the divorce was finalised I thought that maybe you will be happier without me.." Gemini said and Fourth makes a sound of protest because, what? How could Gemini ever think that Fourth could be happier without him?

"Gem... no how could you think I would be anything but happy without you?" Fourth asked and he was well aware that his voice was cracking.

"Fotfot. We both know I wasn't a great husband. I forgot important days, I was hardly ever home. I worked so hard that I wanted you to be proud of me. I know it's not an excuse but you had made sacrifices for me to still pursue my dreams and I just- I just didn't want to fail and let your sacrifices be in vain." Gemini continued to explain and Fourth was pretty sure he was crying.

"Gem..." Fourth replied because apparently that's all he could say at that moment.

"When you moved away, started your law firm and it became really successful I didn't want to disrupt all of that. I wanted you to be happy and I saw you had moved on so I tried to move on. Yet how can I ever move on from you?" Gemini said cupping Fourth's cheek with his right hand. "That's why I called off my engagement, Aya wasn't surprised. Perhaps she knew I was still hung up on someone."

Fourth was full on crying right now. When he woke up this morning he didn't expect any of this. He had thought perhaps Gemini would hate him right now, that Gemini would not want to see him for deceiving him. He had thought that he would be crying for completely different reasons, and not crying because the love of his life just confessed to not being able to move on from him.

"Gem what are you saying?" Fourth asked in a shaky voice.

"Fotfot. What I am saying is that I love you. I want you. I don't want to live my life without you. My heart delights in you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you until I take my last breathe." Gemini replied, and oh he looked so raw and vulnerable and beautiful that Fourth wanted to kiss him.

"Oh sweetheart..." Fourth breathed out and before he could utter out another word he was kissed.