Me and Ai

Chapter 96: Somewhere By The Sea

"No, I didn't."

I take hold of the doorknob and pull the door towards me, fully opening it.

"Wha—!"

I didn't know that she was still holding on to the doorknob so she got pulled along with the door. I'm thankful that I was able to catch her or else she would have hit her head on the tiled flooring of the bathroom; that would have been unpleasant.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were still holding on to the door. Are you okay?"

She quietly nods in my arms.

"Were you going to use the bathroom?"

She sees the bathtub being filled and looks at me for a while. "Y-Yeah...I was going to...but, umm, you can use it first since, well, um, you were here first. I don't mind. Sorry for, um, intruding."

She averts her eyes and meekly tries to get away from me. How cute. Her cheeks are even reddening and it's spreading to her ears. If she continues to be this way, she'll certainly be the death of me.

"Um, excuse me." She turns her back to me and grabs hold of the doorknob.

I take her hand off of the doorknob and gently hug her from behind.

"Kaori, if it's okay with you, we could take a bath together. The bathtub is big enough for two people to fit inside."

Her body flinches at my question and I can feel her temperature rise a little. I do hope she would consent but she still seems to be uncomfortable with the idea...She'll most probably refuse to—

"...O-Okay."

Eh? "Are you really okay with it?" I ask for definite assurance.

She meekly nods. "Yes...I'll bathe with you."

I became speechless in surprise.

"Ai, um, could you untie the knot you made? It's really tight."

"Oh, okay. Wait for a moment, please."

She holds her hair out of the way as I try to undo the knot I made earlier; it is quite tight. After a few minutes, I was able to untie it and the straps loosely fall down.

"...Thank you." She says shyly as she holds the front of her dress against her chest.

"The lock of the zipper here is a bit tight. I'll take it off so you won't have a hard time removing it, okay?"

She nods. I remove the lock and hook of the zipper of her wedding dress and unzip it. While I was unzipping her, the tip of my finger touches her skin causing her to flinch a little. She didn't say anything about it but her reaction and silence made me feel a little embarrassed.

"You can go on ahead to wash yourself first and get inside the bathtub. I'll just get a change of clothes to wear after the bath; I'll get some for you as well."

"Okay..."

As I close the bathroom door, my heart beats a little faster than usual.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

I can't believe that I'm going to show myself bare to Ai!

I rinse away all the soap from my body.

My heart is just beating with some sort of happiness but at the same time it's shouting out loud because of nervousness! It's not that I don't want to...of course I'm alright with it if it's Ai but of course I can't help but feel a little uneasy at first. I know that he's been bearing with me all this time and I know that sooner or later it will happen between us especially now that we're married but...how do I put it? I'm just too nervous! I mean, I just saw him half naked all of a sudden and then he asked me to take a bath with him and then here I am bare naked in a bathtub waiting for him! I-I...My heart can't take this much all at the same time!