Chapter 42

Early morning, the smell of his favorite food woke him up from his sleep. On reaching the kitchen, he saw his 'wife' humming preparing the breakfast.

Wife, that sounds amazing, he thought. "A month, eh? Might not be a problem." He smiled to himself, just then she turned around, his eyes met hers, "Good morning." She greeted with her sweetest smile.

"I was planning to spoil my wife with an amazing breakfast but you beat me to it." He hugged her from behind as she continued with the preparation.

"You mean spoiling my kitchen?" She mocked him.

"Then let me think of something else? How about we go on a date? We never got to complete our date," He planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "It's your day off, isn't it?"

"hmm-hmm." She nodded.

****

They walked hand in hand in the park, "so what're we gonna do?" Rina asked.

"I don't know." he shrugged.

"You took me out without a plan?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes." He smiled. "Don't need plans, they always fail. I just wanna go with the flow, just being with you walking hand in hand, it's a perfect date for me. So let's just go where the road leads us?" he brought their held hands up to his mouth and placed a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Okay, let's do that." She laughed.

There were amateur bands singing, they joined the crowd formed around them and sang along, Rihito took her hand and they even danced in one song.

They played in the water from the fountain at the park, they lied on the grass drying their drenched self.

They headed on to another spot, "Ready?" She looked at him with challenging eyes. "Of course." he nodded cracking his fingers. They stepped inside the arcade.

"And here I come." She pressed the buttons moving her avatar to attack Rihito's.

"Bring it on." He yelled as he countered her attacks.

In the end, it was 3-0, "I won, again!" She exclaimed.

"once more." He inserted the coins.

"I don't mind." She laughed preparing for another battle.

She won again.

"This thing is definitely broken." He accused the machine.

"We can switch if you want." She offered.

"Let's play something else." He put her hand inside his jacket's pocket and dragged her along.

They moved to another game, they both held a mallet on their hands and prepared to whack the mole.

"there....there...." They shouted hitting the mole. "Oh yes."

The next they stopped for bowling, they noticed few couples competing with one another, "Let's join?" Rihito suggested.

"Cool." She answered with joy.

There was a couple who continuously won, they were titled "The Ultimate Couple."

"Should we aim for that title?" He elbowed her.

"What're you talking about? I'm already planning to take that title." She replied, "Let's get that." She gave him a nod.

"Oh, I'm so on it." He replied enthusiastically.

At the end of the day, they returned home with 'The Ultimate Couple' title and numerous gifts in their hands.

****

"What next?" Rihito looked at the calendar as he planned for another day out. He had marked tomorrow as 'The Day' "Not bad." He patted his shoulder.

He was then reminded of the movie date he had stood her up, let's replace this with a memorable movie date. He picked his phone and texted Rina asking her out.

"Will be there <3" he got the reply immediately.

Rina had reached sooner than they planned but she didn't want to get out, the memories of that day still haunted her, the day she was left waiting... and waiting. "But today, it's different, Rina." She patted her chest, calming herself down.

She finally got out and walked to the entrance, maybe I should just stay in the car, it's still 20 minutes earlier than the fixed time, she was about to turn around when a familiar figure caught her sight, she ran to him without a second thought.

"You're early." She stopped in front of him catching her breath.

He held out a bouquet for her, "I wanted to wait..." He smiled shyly.

She jumped into his arms.

"You're happy?" He asked hugging her back.

"I'm more than happy." She grinned planting a soft peck on his lips.

*****

The next morning when Rihito woke up he found a note on the table with a box at the side, he opened the box, his eyes widened.

Rina had been waiting outside, debating whether she should go inside or not, just then Rihito came out, "We need to go somewhere," he scratched his hair, "So...hmm.. get ready." He went back inside.

"Heh?" Rina stood dumbfounded. "What was that? Didn't he see that?" She cocked her head to the side, "Maybe I should've given it directly?" she went inside and checked, the box and the note both had disappeared. "He did see it."

"Coffee?" She asked as he came out of the bathroom drying his hair with the towel. "I'll take it." he nodded, so you took the ring or not? she wanted to ask but kept quiet. She tried to take a peek on his ring finger but couldn't.

"You should get ready." He spoke picking out his clothes.

"We're going where?" She asked.

"You'll see," he replied.

There was an awkward silence in the car as she searched for the ring on his finger, it wasn't there. He took it or not? She fidgeted on her seat.

"What?" He looked at her.

"Nothing at all." She shrugged it off.

Did he not see? or he's pretending not to see it? Maybe he's not ready? or... "Argh! I don't know." She shouted.

"We're here." He stopped the car, coming over to her side he opened the door for her, "let's go." He smiled.

They were at a restaurant, what's here? she frowned. He lead the way inside, they were greeted by the manager, "They've arrived and escorted as you had asked."

They? Who? There were tons of questions on her mind but she just followed him, I'll just see when I get there.

The doors opened and she was shocked to see the familiar faces she hadn't seen for ages. "Mom? Dad?" She blinked in confusion. "I'm here too, you know." Her bratty brother waved at her.

She then noticed his grandparents, "Grandy and Granny too?"

"What's going on here?" She looked at her fake husband.

To her surprise, he knelt down in front of them, What the hell? Her mind was spinning now.

"Sir, Mam," He addressed her parents, "I wanted to start everything on a clean sheet, so I invited you all here, though you may have already heard it from Ethan about our fake marriage, I wanted to clear out everything."

Rina was flustered, what's he saying? Who told you to bring the topic out? Her parents didn't know anything well at least that's what she believed.

Her father glared at her to which she lowered her eyes, her fake husband continued, "I forced her to have a fake marriage with me, that time my grandparents wanted me to marry as soon as possible and worried that they'd actually tie me up with some stranger I approached Rina for the favor when she denied I blackmailed her using her brother's name, that's how it started," he then looked at her, he smiled softly, "Throughout the time, we spent together, I grew fond of her and without realizing I fell for her, I hurt her many times but despite what I did she was kind to me, took care of me, supported me and accepted and healed the broken man I was. I still think that I don't deserve her and she deserves much better but I won't use that as an excuse to run away, it may be selfish of me even but I need her in my life, I want her in my life for I'm in madly in love with her." Tears spilled from her eyes, he then turned his gaze to her parents and bowed, "I can assure you that no one can ever love her as much I do, Just as she has filled mine I want to fill her life with love and happiness, I ask of you her hand in marriage, please let me have her."

After his heartfelt confession, her parents had acknowledged him as her partner, they gave their blessings and took off, "Congratulations sis, you're getting married for real." Ethan hugged her and "Congratulation, my official brother-in-law."

After being left alone, he took her hand as he knelt down in front of her, "Are you happy?" He asked her with a smile, she nodded with tears in her eyes, he gently wiped it away, he then took a box out of his pocket and held out the ring for her, "Thank you for not giving up on me, thank you for making me believe I have the right to love and to be loved, I have too much to be thankful for but for now I'd only like to say that I'm insanely in love with you, Rina, I want to be the one to make you happy, and for that, I learned that need to be happy first, so will you make me the happiest man in the universe? I want to be tied to you forever, this time with true vows, will you marry me?"

She nodded as her tears burst out, he slipped the ring on her ring finger and kissed it, he then took out another box which she had given him this morning, "How come you always beat me to everything?" He pouted as he held his hand in mid-air, she then slipped the ring on his finger and hugged him tightly. "But I'll love you more and more, I'll beat you on that." He kissed her.

"We'll see." She murmured against his lips.

***THE END***

I Will upload an Epilogue soon and a bonus chapter soon!!

Thank you for reading!!