Chapter 23: Last

"Are you sure you want to do this? we can back out now." Kazu asked me with a worried face.

"I will marry you tomorrow, dummy." I hold his cheeks and stare at his beautiful face, A tear escape from my eyes. "Be good to me from now on until the end of our life, okay?"

He hold my hands that's cupping his face, He kissed them tightly and nodded.

"Good." Kazu pulled me into a hug. I hugged him tightly. "Be ready because I won't divorce you, You'll be stuck with me forever," I said while chuckling.

"Even in Hell, y/n I will be with you."

The next day, everyone is busy preparing for the wedding. In my hotel room, Machi knocks on the door.

"Ma'am, your gown is here." She said and I nodded. She then walked inside and carefully lay the dress on the bed.

I walk towards them and stare at them. "It's beautiful," I whispered as I traced the details with my fingers.

"I will set this up in a mannequin for picture taking," Machi said and I nodded. She took the gown and was about to step outside the room when I called her.

"Ah, Machi."

"Yes, ma'am?" She said, looking back at me.

I walk towards her. "I know that it may sound stupid coming from me, but please, take care of him, for me," I said. The corner of her eyes suddenly builds tears.

"I will do my best to look after him." She smiled at me.

"That's all I wanted to hear." I smiled back, she nodded and walked her way out of the room. I went back to sit on the vanity table and look at myself.

I sighed and smiled at the mirror. "This is it, y/n. There's no turning back."

The make-up and hairstylist came in and they started to do my hair and make-up. I try calling Kazu but he's not answering so, I message him.

"Answer me, Kazu. I wanna see you wearing a tux!"

"Ah, Ms. Haitani can you look at the camera, please?" A photographer said so I put down my phone and smiled at the camera. I didn't know that getting married is a lot of work.

after the long-ass pictorial, I finally wore the gown. I look at the mirror and turn to my side to see the details.

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

I took a deep breath and check my phone, he replied to my message.

"Excited, huh? Wait a little longer, wife." He said, making me smile. His sweetness doesn't match his appearance.

At last, the wedding is about to start. I just want this to finish and lay on the bed far away from here. Even though we hired a coordinator, preparing for a wedding is a pain in the ass.

I am now waiting for my signal to come out at the limousine. "What time is it?" I asked the driver.

"9:50 am, Ms. Haitani." He replied, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

"Why he's not here? The wedding is scheduled for 10:00 am. Did something happen to him? Did he slip in his bathroom and hit his head at the bathtub?" As I am thinking of possible things why he's late, the car door suddenly opens. Machi sits inside breathing heavily like she ran a marathon.

"Ma'am. We can't find your groom."

"What?! did you check the bathroom? He's sometimes a klutz he might hit his head and go unconscious."

"We check his whole room ma'am and he's not there." My eyes widened and I panicked inside. What is he thinking?

"But we found this on his table with your name on it," Machi said, making me look at her. She hands me an envelope.

"I'll excuse myself." She said and step out of the limousine. I stare at the envelope for a while that I didn't notice her getting out of the vehicle.

Shaking, I open it.

my y/n,

I am now giving you your freedom. I was such a scaredy-cat that I didn't do anything to stop the engagement and with that, I made you cry several times. But now, I gather all my courage and finally admit my defeat.

I know that you're doing this for me because of my twisted family, but I don't need inheritance, money, and all. Your smiles are enough for me. It's priceless compared to what I'm going to get so be happy y/n, be happy for me.

All I request after all of this chaos is that... think of me sometimes, think of me when you're sad. when you achieve your goal when you're happy. that's all I wanted.

I love you, y/n from heaven to hell.

Love,

Kazuya, Kazuma, Kazutaro, Kazunori, Kazu, Kazutora.

Tears stream down my face. "Dummy!" I said with a smile. I put the letter back in the envelope and remove my veil. I wipe my tears with my thumb and step out of the car.

I can feel eyes on me. I remove my heels and hold the lower part of my gown, I sigh "Here we go." I whispered and started to run.

I can hear my father and my brothers calling me but I ignored them. fuck them!

Mitsuya

I drank my bourbon while looking at my window. Today is the day, huh? While I think of her, tears are streaming down when a memory suddenly flashes in my mind. That night at the park.

"Please, don't let go of us."

"I won't, silly. Even if the world is against us, I will be by your side. I know that we're young and things might get tough in the future but if I feel like giving up, I will remember this day here, sitting at the swing looking at the stars with you, That's enough for me to hold on."

"it's easier said than done." I scoffed and drank the rest of the alcohol from the glass.

Moments later, I heard a knock on my door...

Kazutora

"What are you doing here? it's early in the morning." the bartender who became my friend said.

"Ah, I'm just gonna spend time here before my flight."

"Isn't today your wedding?"

"Yeah, I ditch," I said and drank the whole glass of whiskey. "Have you ever loved someone to the point that you chose her happiness over yours?" I asked. The bartender just looked at me, He wanted to say something but he closed his mouth so I just shook my head and sigh

"I heard their conversation, He will wait for her. And what a good guy will do? I let her go. I gave her the freedom and me... I'll probably sulk at the plane, live for let say, 50 more years if I stop drinking and will die alone." The bartender was about to speak when the door suddenly burst open, I snap my head towards the door then choke from the liquor, spraying it on the ground.

"y/n?! what the hell?"

"I'm the one who supposed to say that. What the hell Kazu?!" She's panting and sweating. She walks towards me and snatches my liquor and drinks them straight. She slams the glass on the bar counter, wipes her lips with her arm, and flop her body on the chair next to me.

"You made me run!" She exclaimed. "On a wedding dress!"

I was just stunned at my seat, trying to process what is happening.

Mitsuya

I opened the door and it's Mikey. My shoulders dropped, Tears are building up again from my eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I said and turned my back at him to get some more bourbon.

"Today is the day."

"Yeah, I know. I'm their designer."

"I heard the groom ditches her."

I snapped my head at him, surprised then I looked down. "She's not here so, she might be looking for him."

"Yeah," Mikey said and walked inside. He took something from his coat and put them on the coffee table in my living room.

"y/n asked me to give you this." He said. "I know how it feels, Mitsuya so if you want someone to talk to, call me." He added and tapped my shoulders. He then exits my unit.

I just stared at the white envelope on my table.

I took a sip of my bourbon and walked towards the table.

I sat on my couch and put down the glass. I then took the envelope and opened them. Something fell from it so, I crouched down to pick it up.

My eyes can't hold the tears anymore when I saw that it was the other pair of my earrings, the one that I have given to her before.

I opened the letter and read them.

My first love,

What am I going to say? I don't even know where to start. Ah! I know... I'll start by saying I forgive you, Takashi.

I'm sorry for all the pain that I've caused you. I know that I have some... no, a huge participation of why you're like this now. I changed the loving, caring, most kind person I know to someone who despises love and commitment.

I will forever bear that in my heart. I won't make excuses for what I did but I just want you to know that I never once think of anything that will harm you and you're family... If I need to sacrifice my happiness again, I will do it in a heartbeat just to see you okay.

Thank you, Takashi for teaching me to stand. For believing in me and for loving me despite all my flaws. from that, I have learned to love myself, I became stronger because of you. for that, I will forever be grateful that I met you.

I am not in the position to say this because I'm the cause of your pain but, please don't be afraid to fall in love again. There's a person out there that will love you more than I loved you and you will love her more than you loved me so, please don't close your door.

I will return this earring to you. I will return the half of your heart so that it will be whole again and if someday, you fall in love again, you can give her your whole heart.

We may not be destined in this timeline, but you'll always be part of me Takashi and maybe if gods will grant us to meet in our next life, I will love you better.

y/n.   

I didn't notice that the paper I am holding is now soaking in tears. "I'm the one who doesn't deserve you, y/n. I let my anger eat me that I didn't see how much you suffer." I whispered as I hug my her letter. Her scent is there and it lingers in my nose.

"I will be happy, maybe not now but I will in the future. I promise."

Kazutora

"Why are you here?" I asked in a confused tone.

"I don't know, I just follow my guts." She shrugged her shoulders, chuckling.

"Wait, What? Are you stupid? I just gave you the chance to chase the one you love. why are you here?"

"As you've said, I chased the one I love."

"Are you high?"

"You want me to punch you? Do I need to shout it in your ears? I LOVE YOU KAZUNORI!"

I froze from my seat. Am I hearing things right? "What- What about Mitsuya?"

"I..." She paused. "Before our wedding, I close my eyes and toss a coin, heads I'll marry you tail I'll run away with Takashi."

"y/n!"

"Kidding!" She said and smile. "I already wrote him a letter and before you did that runaway groom stunt. I've already decided... Yes, I may be unsure, questioning my decision most of the time but that moment, when they informed me that you're nowhere to be found, I got scared! then I read your letter... That's when I confirm that it's you."

"But-but why?"

She sigh. "I asked myself the same question." She chuckled "for five years, Kazu, All I ever did was to think of Takashi and our love story that ended in a very unfair way. I was trapped in the past that I didn't see who's in front of me. In every pain I felt you're always there to comfort me, In every happiness, you're always there, you get mad for my sake, Kazu. Hell, you even sacrifice your happiness just to see me happy. All of those you did without asking anything in return from me." She paused.

"I just ignore this but I notice little things about you, when I think of him, I think of you more. When I kissed him, Though I wanted to kiss him for a long time, there's a tiny tug in my heart, a little fragment of you. When you confessed I felt happy and when I read that letter, instead of me running to him, I ran here to you."

"My love for him is indeed different from my love for you, Takashi will hold a special place in my heart. After we talked, I felt like I became free, free from the past, and finally, I accepted that our story ended five years ago. This time, It's you... it's you that I want to spend the rest of my life with. My heart is looking for you, not for Takashi. Fuck! I can't explain well what I feel right now." She said and stood up. She grabbed my face and kissed me passionately. I closed my eyes and pulled her waist to kiss her deeper.

After a while, she let go. "I hope that expresses how I feel."

"I- I get it now, I guess," I said as I looked away.

"Are you blushing?" She said, teasing me.

"Don't look!"

"But I want to see you!" She said, holding my face. I sigh and look at her. We stare at each other for a while, I can't believe this! She chose me!

"Let's start from scratch." She said and took a step back.

"Kazutora, I love you. Will you please go out with me?"

I chuckled. She's like a kid. "Yes, y/n. I will go out with you until you get sick of my face."

"I will never get sick of your smug face. Smug-face!" She laughed, I pulled her towards me and hugged her tight.

"Thank you, Thank you for choosing me."

seven years later.

y/n

"Love! Let's go. Kazumi and I are hungry!"

"Wait, love! I'm just tying Kazuya's lace."

"Dad and Onii-chan are slowpokes!" Kazumi said.

"Yes, Dad and onii-chan are slowpokes!" I said, chuckling.

"Hey! We heard that!" Kazu said as he walked beside us with Kazuya by his side. We're at the park for a family day. After what happened seven years ago, we started to date, Dad died two years later and My brothers and stepmother moved on with their lives.

I cut ties with them, I even changed my last name back to my mother's. Kazu did the same with his family, He cut ties with them even if his dad threatened him to remove his name to his will.

Now, we start our lives from scratch. We got married at a simple wedding a year after we started dating. Now we have two children together.

I can say that I made the right decision that day, Being with him made me happy... Super happy!

Sometimes, I still think about Takashi, praying that he finds his own happiness as I did.

We're walking when we see a familiar face that's approaching us. My eyes widened when I saw who it was. It's Takashi and by his side is Machi that's pregnant. My eyes caught his fingers and there's a wedding ring.

He walks past us and just smiles at us. Ahhh, that smile... it came back! He looks so happy. Kazu holds my waist and kisses my forehead. "He looks so happy."

"Yeah, Finally, he found his home as I found mine," I said and smile.

There is this one person that will come into your life, their role is to help you fix yourself, to teach you about love, what's good and bad about it, so that when you meet the person that was destined for you, the one that you will spend the rest of your life with...  you'll know what to do, that you will not make the same mistakes, that you're ready, you're complete, you're now be a better partner... 

Thank you, Takashi for teaching me how to love properly. We may not end up together in this timeline but you will always be a part of me.

The end.

Thank you guys for staying until the end <3  tbh this is the original ending that I had in mind when I started this book, i changed my mind in the middle of writing but I ended up with this ending hehehe.

Thank you guys for reading this book <3 Love ya! ^_^