A/n: I hope you like this fanfiction! I'm promoting Itaewon Class. It's such a very memorable Korean Drama to me. I hope you watch it! I assure you that it's such a great watch.
It was such a long time ago already for Miyazono Kaori when she had almost lost the man she loved after someone intently tried to kill him.
Of course, now, she's happy that she was given a lot of chances to truly prove her love to him and stop lying to him. Lying that she likes Watari was truthfully one of her deepest regrets that she doesn't want to repeat.
"Kousei," she cried out while holding the diamond ring on her ring finger. "I'm sorry if I began my life with you with a lie in that April we met."
Surely, it had always been painful for her whenever she remembers the time when Kousei lost his memories for a few years. It caused him to forget his love for her and at the time she returned to Japan, she discovered that he was dating a new girl with whom he had a very special connection with but her presence made him remember his past and his love for her. It wasn't her intention to complicate matters towards him and his girlfriend at those days.
At the time Princess Aquina passed away since she protected him against the man who wanted to kill him, Kousei had always blamed himself for her death. She was ready to give up her love for him due to how much the princess sacrificed but Kousei wanted her to stay. She had shown her love towards Kousei and she knew he needs her by his side. He wasn't able to truly move on and forget Aquina but he wanted her to be with him and help him recover.
So, even if it was painful, she waited for Kousei to move on and see her love, once again. Even after he had lost someone very special to him when he was suffering from amnesia, Kousei accepted her feelings and taught himself to love her the way he loved her when he was fourteen but she knows that his innocent love for her will never be the same way ever again.
Miyazono Kaori was his puppy love in middle school while Princess Aquina was his first major girlfriend. Their relationship was long and deep. Due to her loyalty to him, she was grateful when he re- accepted her feelings. It was too different from when they were young since Kousei had a serious relationship with another girl. It was a difficult road for him and he had suffered for years after her death.
She felt like giving up on him as he's still extremely in love with Princess Aquina, even after her death. She's the girl who was with him for the years while he suffered from amnesia and she died protecting him but she knew she can't give up on him, most especially, when she discovered that he was abusing himself just after he turned twenty- one. She chose to understand his situation rather than get jealous on a woman who had long since passed away because she knew Kousei won't want to lose her, too.
"Kousei's really something else," she told herself. "I can't believe I will be an 'Arima' and marry someone like him."
Miyazono Kaori can't stop blushing while she was lying on her bed while staring at the six carat diamond ring on her ring finger after she got back home at the small bakery that her parents own. She stuck up for Kousei for so long while he had also supported her when they were young when she was the one who's sick. One can say that they both owe each other because of everything they had done for each other and that brought them together.
The ring on her ring finger was such a huge pressure for her that someone like Kousei stayed with her and his parents liked them together, too. It was difficult to keep loving him, more so, when he had fallen in love with someone else while she was away. He may have fallen for her but to show her loyalty and love, even if it hurt her to see Kousei abusing himself for sometime, she didn't choose to break up with him. She was there with him even when he was at his lowest.
A knock woke her up from her stupor and the feeling of being in cloud nine vanished in an instant when she realized how her parents would feel that she's about to be a partner of someone like Kousei. It's normal to be nervous and feel pressure, right?
"Kaori?" spoke her mom, Ryouko. "Can I talk to you?"
Kaori opened up her door and faced her parents immediately at the living room after Ryouko called her. She knew that her parents may have heard of her engagement with Kousei and they wanted to ask her about it. Calling her from her room meant that she had to immediately go to the living room where they can ask her the questions that they want answered. She doesn't know how to explain to them her joy but she's definitely nervous when it came to her parents.
"Why do you want to talk to me, dad?" she asked her parents. "Is there anything wrong?"
"Don't deny something we'll eventually know," Ryouko told her daughter as they all sit at the chairs near the dining table. "We heard what happened at the business party you attended."
"I heard you're engaged with Kousei," Takanayagi told her. "He sent a huge gift to us after you accepted her proposal. It wasn't that surprising since he's the son of a rich and powerful man. We're honored as your parents that they've always cherished you. I know, they've given you as much care and even money that I can't give you but for you to be his fiancee was still such a huge surprise to us!"
"We both know that this will soon happen since you have a long relationship with him ever since you were young but we were still caught off guard, most especially, we know how important Arima Kousei is to the Japanese people," Ryouko couldn't stop her tears after placing an envelope on the table. "He gifted us an enormous amount of money that we can use to our bakery as a way of his thanks to us and to you since you never left him! It was a huge surprise to us, too, when he shared some of his company shares to you."
"Kousei said to me at his call that he's investing a lot of it since he wanted to see the bakery grow bigger," Takanayagi told her. "He said to me that one day, he plans to create a business group and name it as 'A & M'. He has such a huge dream because of you. He wanted to build that group with you on his side."
"I didn't even know he'll do this," she told him. "Will you give us your blessing, dad?"
"Bring Kousei here," he told her. "I don't want to feel like we're selling you to a rich family."
"Why, dad?" Kaori asked him. "You've known him for so long and he's not a a bad guy! You all know how kind he is."
"Didn't he once went into bars and flirted with other girls before? He forgot to think about you and your emotions!" Takanayagi reminded her. "We want to be assured that we're giving you to the rightful man you really deserve."
Kaori took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. She wanted to disagree that time but due to the condition which her parents asked her to do, she knew that she has to obey.
The actions that Kousei did before due to his trauma caused his parents worry and that mistake made her parents doubt him.
"Kousei and I will be here to get your approval and blessing. He has been in so much pain for years now when Princess Aquina was murdered in front of him. He witnessed her die!" cried Kaori. "I wasn't with him when he had amnesia. It was normal for him to really fall in love with another girl. Her sudden death was traumatic for him since he was also witness of her death."
"His relationship with that princess was serious and she's his first girlfriend," her father told her. "Can you promise me that he does feel the same thing to you? What if he's just using you so he could feel comfortable? Does he really love you? Do you really love him?"
"I love him, dad but I can't answer for Kousei. Kousei will answer you," she told him. "Your question isn't mine to answer."
...
While they were talking that time, they became aware that someone pressed the doorbell of their house and so, they immediately scrambled out of the living room to know who it was that came to visit.
At the time they've opened the door of the bakery, it was when they saw Kousei smiling happily with his newly hired bodyguard who's standing behind him. He lowered his head at them as a gesture of his respect to his future in laws.
"Um...," He didn't know what to really tell them that time. He didn't even know if his gray two- piece suit with a chain on his left was just right for the occasion. He's going to ask Kaori's parents' approval on their engagement, after all. "Hi?"
Kaori quickly let him in the bakery and at her parents' living room. Her house is obviously smaller than his home and she's only a violin prodigy unlike Aquina. She didn't even know if she really deserve to have someone like him. Like her parents, she wanted to be assured that Kousei doesn't really see her as a replacement.
"He's Kagayama Shimochiro, Kaori," he told her. "Dad hired him as my bodyguard for me today. I told him that I don't need one but ever since the day I was almost killed, he was really overprotective of me. Also..."
"He doesn't want you to repeat what you have done before, isn't it?" Kaori asked him. "He's an eye for your father, isn't he?"
"Yeah...," He quickly held her right hand when he saw Takanayagi and Ryouko staring at him. "I'm nervous."
"Don't be," Kaori told him. "You came at the right time anyway."
"Can your bodyguard get out of the bakery and stand outside while we talk to you?" Takanayagi told Kousei. "We wanted to talk to you anyway. We were surprised by the gift you gave us. I know you're rich but-"
Kousei didn't just lower his head down at Kaori's parents. He knelt down on his knees and his head touched the floor. He didn't need his young bodyguard who was standing behind him to get out as he wanted to straightforwardly tell how he genuine his emotions are for Kaori.
"I want to marry your daughter! Please, let me marry her!" he cried out to him. "I had lost the woman that I had loved long ago. It was difficult to forget her but I can't keep my eyes blinded because of that. There's someone who's with me that I have to protect and love. Kaori loves me and I want to make her happy! I want to love her deeply just like before I had met Aquina. I want to give her everything I wasn't able to give Princess Aquina!"
Miyazono Takanayagi didn't need to ask him hundreds of questions like how he planned by now that it was him who came even without any call from them. He stood in front of him and gave his hand. "Stand up, Kousei. We've known each other for so long, now."
Kousei took his hand and when he's back to his feet, Shimochiro handed him his white handkerchief. He dried his tears and held Kaori's right hand tighter. Kaori and Kousei didn't seat that time since they were both nervous if her parents would agree on their wish to marry.
Takanayagi stared at the two of them closer that night in the living room. He inhaled a lot of oxygen when he saw how much Kousei's hands were shaking and sweating.
Even with those hands, Kaori held on his hands, as well.
Since he saw how much he hold his daughter's hand, he knew he had to give his daughter to the Arimas.
Ryouko also scrutinized the kids' facial expressions. They were both staring at each other's eyes and hands at the same time. She couldn't control her emotions anymore. Her daughter's set and ready to make her own family within the Arima Clan.
"Make her happy, Arima Kousei," Takanayagi sobbed. "I don't want my daughter crying anymore. Do you understand?"
Kousei found himself speechless after he heard Kaori's parents' approval of him as their daughter's half. His tears coated his cheeks badly and it just kept on falling as the message was just too powerful.
He's about to get a permanent settlement with Kaori and they'll be able to have their own family already.
"Thank you," he told them as Takanayagi take him around his arms. "Thank you!"
"I've always seen you as my own son," he told him. "Be happy, Kousei."
"Dad, I'm really happy tonight," cried Kaori while Ryouko cry bittersweetly in front of her. "Thank you for accepting our engagement."
"Marriage is a serious matter," Ryouko told them. "Be happy together as one."
...
A/n: Woosh!!! New chapter done! Dedicated to AisyaMahrita. Thank you for the comments and your support for this fanfiction!
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