-Chapter 107: You Still Don't Understand
**Note: Contains a spoiler from the show. If you haven't seen what is spoiled in here, that is now on you. This note is here to let you know if you don't wish to be spoiled, don't read ahead. If you don't care, keep on reading!**
I sit down in front of Gai as he picks up his tea cup. He has Yua outside the room and I'm not too worried about her not being around. I am perfectly fine with her being outside the room while I deal with Gai. He won't do anything too bad to me as long as she is nearby.
"It is nice seeing you alone once again, Mari," Gai tells me, bringing his tea up to his lips and sipping on it. I see that he's going to pretend that he adores me.
I look down at my hands on my lap and release a tiny sigh. It is hard being here in front of him. We're not on good terms and I left him without a second thought. Well, I didn't exactly do that. I am worried that he is up to no good and he is allowing me to be free only for a short period of time.
"I know that it has to be hard to deal with me after learning about why I changed your face. I will be open with you about what I did so from now on if you have a question about it."
"If I didn't leave Allen that night and decided to have stay with him, would you have kidnapped me and forced me to change my face?" I have to know the answer to this.
"I would have done so, yes." He is probably nodding his head right now. "I wouldn't have allowed him to keep touching you the way he did. I only stayed out of it because I could see where you were going in the marriage."
I look up at him and nod my head slowly. "Alright, that is what I wanted to know. I am sorry that Elise treated you like crap."
"She was more ruthless than me," he states, his voice steady. "Once she had a goal in mind, she had to achieve it no matter who was going to get hurt. Halo Horizons is what she wanted to herself and she died because she got too greedy. I may want to make money, but I wouldn't do it the way she wanted to."
It is hard to believe that, but I'm not going to doubt it. Even though Gai isn't totally upfront with me about every little thing in the world, he still tells me things. It is better than what he probably got with Elise.
"One more thing." I got to know one more thing, even if I honestly don't care too much about it.
"Yes?"
I look down again and take a deep breath. This is kind of odd to ask him. I don't know if that is what I want to do, but I already told him I have one more thing to ask. So, I should just ask it. I hope he doesn't get the wrong idea from it.
"Did you ever think of her when having sex with me?" I have to know if he only cares about owning me in order to remind himself of her. He could only want me for being like her at one point.
"I never once thought of her when we were together and that is the honest truth. Whether you believe it or not is completely up to you," he answers. I think he's being honest about that, right?
I lift my head up a bit and stare at him, my mouth slightly open from shock. He didn't marry me because I looked like Elise at one point? So, what was it then? Was it because of Allen? What does he gain by marrying a woman like me who doesn't fit with him at all? I just want to know.
Gai moves closer to me and I lift up my head a bit as he places his lips on mine, his hand moving under my chin. He closes his eyes, moving his lips a bit more roughly. I don't know how to react. I didn't expect him to attack my lips like this right now.
I bring my hands up to his chest and push on it, moving him away from me and my lips that aren't for him. "What in the hell are you doing? We're..." We're not together any longer so we cannot be like this.
"I thought you wanted to."
"I am sorry if you got the wrong impression, but I have no intention on being with you any longer. We ended when Aruto beat you," I state as I bring my right hand to my mouth, wiping it off. "Gai, I want nothing to do with you romantically. I only want to know why you wanted me to be your wife and nothing more."
"What do you want then? Just answers?" He looks me over, his eyebrows pointing down like they do when he's ticked off. I guess him getting rejected has made him upset.
I nod my head, dropping my hand down. "Yes, that is all I want from you. Why would you marry someone who has been married before? Why someone like me who shared a face with someone you had an affair with? That is all I want from you." It was a mistake to trust him on being alone with me like this.
He looks away, looking like a child who lost his favorite balloon to the sky when it slipped from his hand, and I hold my breath. Is he going to yell at me? Will he do anything else to me?
"I answered you enough today. Mari, you should know why I married you. It is obvious."
"Obvious?" He has never been obvious with his intentions towards me. One moment he's allowing me to use myself to distract Aruo and the next he's wanting me to himself. Which is it?
"Do you think that he will get over you loving a HumaGear?"
"Him? Aruto?" Does he think Aruto will be upset with me for still having feelings for Horobi? I doubt Aruto minds. I can't just stop loving someone instantly.
Gai looks back at me. "I wonder who you will pick. What if they were hanging off a cliff and you could only pick one."
"Gai..." That isn't far to do to me. How can I just screw them both over?
"You can always get the AI back if they have a backup, but there is only one Aruto. I guess you really don't know who you want out of them. I can assure you that if Elise was alive and hanging off a cliff with you, I would definitely save you. That doesn't mean I love you, but that I find you worth saving."
Maybe he's onto something right now. How can I just not pick one? But I am so confused on what to do. It isn't like I can forget my time with Horobi and disregard my feelings, but I also can't disregard how I feel towards Aruto. I can't forget either one of them and how they make me feel.
"I don't think he can deal with you and Horobi being around each other. See Horobi and prove to me that I am right. Aruto will not like it if you two are near each other because he will fear Horobi taking you from him."
I look down, my heart pounding madly. "Gai..."
"Do you think he'll be able to wait for you to make your decision? There is only so much time one can wait. I, however, am willing to have you despite your love for that HumaGear."
He's not wrong. I think I am even like that when it comes to either one of them. If some girl were to hang all over Horobi, I would go mad. It isn't like I want to own Horobi, but I crave him. Of course, it is a non-sexual craving. Sex with a HumaGear doesn't interest me all that much. It might interest someone out there in the universe though.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Your phone, Mari," Gai says softly. "We can finish talking about this some other time. But you know what? I think you will see that I am right about this. Aruto will not want you to be near Horobi because he wants you to himself just like Allen did."
I reach into my pocket, my hand shaking. Aruto isn't like Allen. Aruto will not be like him towards me. He just wouldn't.
I slide my finger on the screen and put it up to my ear. "Hello?"
"Mari, hey," Isamu's voice says, greeting me. "I have some news for you to hear. Are you sitting down?" Is it bad news? Did Aruto die? Did Horobi blow up?
"I'm sitting." Near Gai, which sucks. "Tell me what is going on quickly. I'm in the middle of an important meeting right now."
"Jin is alive."
"Jin...he's alive?" Jin is alive? How?
"I saw him for myself. He's very much alive," he responds. "He took Horobi back to Daybreak after breaking him out it seems. Horobi has reconnected with the Ark." Of course he has.
"I see..." I want Horobi to be free, but I doubt he'll pick that kind of life right now. "I'll talk to you later."
"Are you alright? You sound upset."
I close my eyes. "It is nothing. I'll see you all later." I remove my phone from my ear and open my eyes as I end the call.
Jin is alive now. I can't believe that he's back in action and got Horobi out. How did he manage to come back without anyone noticing that he was back? Do people really not notice things like that?
"I think you should relax for a few moments," Gai tells me as he moves to his original spot. "We don't have to talk any longer."
Good. I need a moment to process that Jin is alive again.
~.~
I look at the six clocks that Aruto has, tilting my head a bit. Why does he have so many clocks? Does he really need these many? He should find someone who can wake him up and make him breakfast every single day. If I could be his woman officially, I would wake him up and make him something to eat every morning. I would leave his clothes out so he can dress in them quickly and be ready to get a kiss when he goes to leave. It sucks that I am missing out on such a life since I decided to marry a toad.
"I usually need so many so I don't get up late. However, I still end up waking up late," Aruto tells me and I turn to the door as he smiles. "I didn't expect you to come over. I got you a hotel room under a fake name for a reason."
"I came here in disguise, so don't worry about the media finding out I'm here." I look back at the clocks, smile on my face. "You're silly. You don't need that many clocks if you find yourself a good wife who is willing to wake you up every single day."
"And where will I find her at? The one I want is taken still."
"Only on paper," I reply, laughing a little. "Once she's divorced, she'll gladly get remarried at some point."
"Do you think that he will get over you loving a HumaGear?"
My smile drops and I close my eyes, my heart pounding madly. He's right. How can someone be okay with that kind of thing when they love me? Aruto isn't going to want to compete with Horobi for affection and I don't want him to.
"Is something wrong? You look a bit pale right now."
"Do you think he'll be able to wait for you to make your decision? There is only so much time one can wait.
"It is nothing." I open my eyes. "Do not worry about me right now. How about we worry about you and the workplace competition?" I turn to him, forcing a smile onto my face.
I don't want to lie to him, but he doesn't need to worry about Gai saying such a thing to me about him and Horobi. Aruto has enough to worry about and I don't him to think that Gai is right. Gai has been right on a ton of things, but I won't let him be right about that. He's wrong.
Aruto's face drops a bit as he nods. "If you say so."
"Aruto, can I ask you something?" I want to see what he says.
"Sure," he answers. "You can ask me anything, Mari, and I'll do my best to answer you!"
"Horobi is free right now and I want to know what you think about that. Does it bother you for him to be free right now?" I won't ask him specifically about how he feels about me and Horobi.
He nods his head. "Yeah, I do worry about him being free. He's connected to the Ark and the Ark hates humanity. So, I'm worried about what Horobi is going to do now that he is out and about on his own."
"And Jin..."
"I know."
I look down. "Aruto, I want to apologize to you before anything might happen. If Horobi comes to me and tells me to join his side, I'm afraid I'll join him." I lift my head back up and look him in the eyes.
I have to apologize for that before it possibly happens. I can't turn Horobi down if he does so. He'll make me join him no matter what. It is what he does. As long as I am chipped, the Ark can make Horobi take me to his side or make me join his side by force.
"Mari..."
"I do not want to hurt you, but I fear that I might."
Horobi can use his power over me right now since I cannot fight him without my keys. So, I have no choice but to bend to his will if he wants me to. Once I get my keys back, maybe I can try and fight my chip. There has to be a way to stop it from controlling me.
"Let's not worry about that right now!" Aruto exclaims, forcing himself to smile brightly. "I want to show you around my place now."
I guess that is better than talking about Horobi all day. I don't blame him for not wanting to think about him. Maybe Gai is right on how Aruto is feeling towards Horobi and me. Maybe he won't get over it and will not want me. Who wants to have a woman who still has feelings for someone who was a big part of her life here?
A/n: What? Jin's alive? Wow!
It seems like Gai is getting in Mari's head. She has a lot to worry about and he's just adding to it. Gai...he really deserves to get his butt handed to him yet again. But do you think what he says is true? We'll find out what is truly in Mari's heart at some point.
In two chapters, I'll warn you now, we'll see Horobi again. Get ready to meet up with him and see what he is up to.
Thanks <3
Ps: Working on the Reiwa Generations Movie crossover story for Zero-One and Zi-O. I loved the movie! It was pretty good, but did have some cons. I wish the villain Time Jacker could have been seen more, but it was good other than that. Also, I wanted some more Horobi scenes since he looked so cool and handsome in it.
My twin was staring at Sougo (I watched it with her) and she was all like "Can I have him?" and I'm like "WTF?" Hahaha
Please look forward to it.