Me and Ai

Chapter 79: Owing To Love

Oh, I almost forgot that we're going to be celebrating Starish's victory in the Utapri awards; they won yesterday. The party will be at the dorm at 5:00 pm onward; we should get them something.

I type on my phone, "Alright. Fine. Let's go look for a coat but let's also buy something to bring to the party."

"It's settled then."

Ai smiles as he takes my right hand. The moment we got out of the lobby, my body suddenly flinches.

"Now do you understand why I was concerned of your outfit today?"

I nod immediately. It's really cold! Way colder than when I left the house! December just started and it's already this cold?!

Ai takes off his left glove and gives it to me.

"Here, put this on for the meantime."

I took the glove and put it on my left hand. But...what about—

As if he could read my thoughts, Ai takes my right hand and puts it in his left pocket; he's holding my hand in his pocket.

"That should keep our hands warm until we get to the mall." He says with a gentle smile. "I think I should buy you a pair of gloves as well."

I nod shyly at him as we walked down the street. I wanted to tell him that I didn't want a pair of gloves so that we could just be like this instead. His hands are warm...so warm that I want to hold them even more.

As we walk, I realized something. Ai hasn't told me anything about "that" yet—he hasn't said a word about Saotome's challenge. Yesterday was the deadline; I wonder if Ai was able to do it? I'm not sure if I should ask about it because he hasn't mentioned anything regarding that but I want to know...I feel a bit restless.

Before I knew it, we reached the mall. We went inside to the ladies department and went to the coat section.

"So which one would you like?"

I looked at all the coats; I can't make up my mind.

I type on my phone, "I don't know; I can't make up my mind."

I thought for a moment and then I typed again. "How about you choose? I'm fine with any of them since they're all really nice. The coat can be my Christmas present from you."

"Okay, I'll choose one for you but this is not my Christmas gift for you. It's still too early but I'm giving you my real Christmas gift later in the celebration."

That's way too early. Can't he wait for Christmas? Oh well, when he's made up his mind, it's too hard to change it most of the time.

"Your previous coat was black, wasn't it?"

I nod.

"Okay, so I'm not going to choose black."

Ai and I go thru the shelves. He stops at one section of the coats and takes one off of the shelf.

"Kaori, I think this will look good on you."

He hands me a navy blue coat with four pairs of gold colored buttons on the front. I hold it out on front of me and as I look at the coat, I smile; it really looks nice.

"Why don't you try it on?"

I nod and went over to the mirror. I took off my jacket and put on the coat. The first thing I notice is that the fabric is very comfortable; it feels so warm and cozy. When I look at the mirror, I get surprised by how I look; the coat really looks good on me. I end up staring at my reflection in amusement.