28.) Heart to Heart

Kaya stands in front of the Columbarium, looking at the doors to gather her courage before pulling them open and entering, walking the same way she'd followed Toru through the area three months prior. Spotting the yellow urn with tulips, she stood in front of it and took a deep breath as she dusted it off with her hand.

"Hello Aimi, it's me again. I'm alone this time, I kind of left Toru at his father's birthday party." She chuckles nervously. "He's a real character, am I right?" Kaya said, thinking of how he and Aimi might have also had some issues with the Oikawa patriarch concerning her relationship with Toru.

"Last time I was here I told you how I used to hate Toru and that now I couldn't imagine not hearing his stupid voice every day. I had only just broken off my engagement with my college boyfriend a few weeks prior, then came to terms with the fact that I actually did care about Toru." She chuckles. "Funny how spending more time with him made me realize just how much I wasn't willing to admit to myself at the time.

"Truthfully, I'm madly in love with him. I'm sure you of all people can understand why." Kaya sobs softly and wipes a tear. "In the small amount of time I've known him, I'm returning to the strong woman I always used to be before I let my ex slowly eat away at me. Don't get me wrong, I was still strong in a lot of aspects, but there were subtle changes I hadn't realized occurred.

"We've been dating for six weeks now, Toru and I. I've never felt more at peace with someone than I am with Toru. But it's also caused a lot of trouble for him, being with me. And I'm so sorry for that Aimi, truly I am. I don't like to be the cause for any strife in his life, I just want to add good things as much as I can. I want to take good care of him the way he takes care of me.

"Not just because I love him so much, or because he deserves it for being so amazing. But also." Kaya pauses, sniffling and catching her breath. "Also because I feel like you'd want me to. I'm his girlfriend now yes, but you're still the woman he planned his entire future with. I could never replace you nor would I ever try to. Instead, I just want to make you proud with how much I take care of the man we love.

"That's being threatened now though. Mr. Oikawa wants to retire next year and to appoint Toru as the CEO. That should be nothing but good news, but he's demanding Toru be married by August in order for that to happen. If I'm not ready or willing to marry him before his next birthday this July, he's demanding he marry a woman he's arranged for him to marry.

"Who even does that anymore Aimi? I mean honestly. Arranged marriage? In 2021 America? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Kaya chuckles with annoyance. "I don't know what to do. There's so many questions I don't even know the answer to. Does Toru even want to be married to anyone ever again? I honestly felt when he brought me here that to be married again was something he'd never want.

"I think he could see past my smile the sadness I felt for him that day, even though I tried to hide it because I knew he was concerned I might start being different towards him when he told me about you and all the things that followed after he'd lost you. In all honesty, I just felt so brokenhearted for him that he loves you so much and he can't have you with him anymore.

"And I know he still loves you, and I've never had a problem with that. When we started dating I again thought about how he'd likely never want to get married again and I asked myself if I could give my heart to someone and potentially spend my life with them unmarried. It only took me about five minutes thinking about it to conclude that because I love him it shouldn't matter how we're together, so long as we're together.

"Another thing I don't know is just what all Mr. Oikawa expects of me. Even if Toru and I did get married, I have the impression that I'm expected to adhere to some kind of idealistic view he has in his head. You should have heard him yelling at Toru. Telling him he's a loose cannon and needs a good, smart, sensible woman by his side. What the hell does that even mean?" Kaya shakes her head softly, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I do know that I can't stand the idea of him getting married to that Kita girl. When Mr. Oikawa explained why she was there I wanted to hold her by her bicolored locks and smash her face into a fucking wall. I've seen women flirt with Toru right in front of me, even had him tell me about a fling of his and never once got angry. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Is it because I didn't like hearing Mr. Oikawa casually talking about Toru being with her for at least five years or until she produces him with a male heir? Ugh, who agrees to that anyway? That girl has to have some screws loose. But I'll be damned if I let her touch Toru, Aimi. She doesn't love him, she doesn't even know him. Her reasons for marrying him are all business. It makes me sick just to think about it.

"Don't even get me started on the amount of respect I lost for Mr. Oikawa to pull Toru up by his shirt like that. Poor Mina was trying her best to get him to let go of him, but neither of them seemed to notice she was there. I was still frozen in place with all the shit that had just come out of his mouth, but when I realized what was going on, Kaname's hand was already on my shoulder.

"That's my brother by the way. Kaname. Yeah, not only did Mr. Oikawa lay all this shit on us, but he invited my entire family along and they heard what he was saying as well. Plus the Kita girl and her mother. I have no idea what everyone talked about after I left. I just know I needed to get some air and to think. Then I found myself outside of here and was thinking, you're the only person I can talk to who would understand." Kaya softly smiles at the yellow urn.

"Funny thing is when Toru and I first started dating, I told him it wasn't up to anyone else but else to decide what the timing of things in our relationship would be like. Now all I keep thinking to myself is isn't it too soon to get married? Even if it were something we wanted down the line, isn't now just way too soon? God, I'm such a hypocrite."

"The thing is I know for a fact I want to spend my life with him. I never want to be single again, I never want to be with someone else. I only want Toru. I'm just not sure if we should get married just because his father demands it. But I also don't want to be the reason he doesn't become CEO when that's what he's wanted for so long.

"Not that he would have to do so. I mean after all, his father gave him a whole separate option for a wife to be by his side so he can take over as CEO. I wouldn't be able to blame him if he took that option if I refused him, though it would shatter my heart. I don't think I'd ever be able to trust my heart to anyone ever again." Kaya stops, hearing the front door of the Columbarium opening.

She pulls a tissue out of her coat pocket and wipes her eyes then blows her nose when a familiar figure approaches her. "You ok?" Toru asks her softly, stopping about 3 feet in front of her. Kaya looks at him with surprise. "How did you know I was here?" She asks. Toru looks over at Aimi's urn and gives it a sad smile.

"You left the hotel on foot, I was worried about you so I checked your location on your phone. Sorry for invading your privacy like that. I thought about not coming when I realized where you were, but then I realized we really need to talk alone, and if you'd come here to talk to Aimi then you're for sure ready to talk some about what my father said." He tells her gently.

Kaya nods at him and turns to face Aimi again. "I had some time alone to talk with her, if you want I can go out and let you two talk for a bit." Kaya offers. Toru looks at her a moment then holds his keys out to her. "Thank you Kaya. Please stay in the car with the doors locked so I know you're safe out there." He tells her. Kaya goes to grab the keys and he holds them up a little higher.

"I promise." She tells him. "Good, also, can I hug you?" He asks. Kaya cocks a brow at him. "When have you ever needed to ask?" She asks. "You were pretty upset earlier and threw my hand off your arm, I'm just checking in case you prefer not to be touched." He explains. Kaya accepts his answer and wraps her arms around his waist, inhaling deeply to take in his scent. "Come get you in a bit." Toru tells her before letting her go.

Kaya smiles at him and turns to the yellow urn. "Thanks for listening Aimi." She says with a soft smile before turning on her spot and heading out. Toru watches her walk out and turns to the urn himself. He walks over closer and sees that Kaya had already knocked the light dusting off of it, a smile coming across his face.

"At first I thought it was weird she came here, but thinking about it she's always been so inclusive of you as a part of my life." He chuckles. "I realized I have a lot more pictures of you than is space for at home, so Kaya's been helping me to get some things together to make a memory book and choose which ones I want to hang around the apartment. I didn't think to tell you that when I came by this morning before everyone else was up.

"She thinks it's nice that I come to see you more. Maybe I should bring her sometimes too, would you like that honey?" He asks the open air, a sad smile on his face. "So I'm guessing Kaya told you about dad's crazy demands today. And I thought it was bad when I told him I'd bought you a ring.

"I'll have to fill her in on his other demands later, but after she'd left he said he expects that should I marry Kaya instead of the Kita girl that he wants us to have a child by the time I'm 30 unless there's medical proof of fertility issues. He also wants her to sign a prenup, though nowhere near as demanding as the one he'd made you sign.

"Hers would have a infidelity clause similar to the one you'd signed, but she isn't being forced to agree to etiquette classes and such. He was always so judgmental of your class in the beginning. I think it was seeing how wrong he was about you that got him to chill out a little for poor Kaya. Not that she would notice the difference.

"The thing is I do want to marry Kaya. I already thought about how I'd like to take her back to Dillard for our anniversary and ask her there. I saw our timetable as much further out than what dad is demanding. I asked myself if a year to propose might be a bit much, considering Kaya's shitshow of an engagement before me, but she insisted only we can determine what's right for us.

"With that in mind I decided a year was perfect timing for me to ask, and it would be up to her if she wanted to accept at that time. Then we would decide together when we got married if she did accept. But now, now I don't know if I should even ask her if she's willing to even marry me. There's nothing romantic about that.

"Instead I want to go out and find a ring tomorrow. I'd tell her in my proposal how it was a no-brainer for me to ask her, because I can't imagine a future without her in it. That even though my father put a demanding timeline on it, this is ultimately what I want. And if she says no, if she isn't ready to marry me or never wants to marry me, then I'll leave behind my desire to be CEO.

Toru pauses and looks at the urn. "You'll always be in my heart, I'll never stop loving you Aimi, never. But I love her too. The crazy thing is I'm pretty sure she knows exactly how I feel about both of you. It only makes me love her more. As long as I have Kaya by my side nothing else matters. I don't need to be CEO, I don't need to be married, I just need her." Toru says with determination.

"Yeah, that's it. That settles it. No matter what happens I'm not marrying this Kita girl. No way no how. I could never live a life away from Kaya and she means too much to me to ask her to be my mistress. She's wife material, not to be cast aside and used like some whore. Takeru can have CEO for all I care, I could never break her heart that way." Toru pulls out his phone, his jaw set with determination as he texts Kaya.

"Wish me luck honey, I can't stand the idea of leaving this topic any longer. She has to know my decision and she can take the rest of the time dad gave us to decide which way she'd like to go with this." He tells Aimi, just before the front door opens again and Kaya rejoins him.

Toru takes looks her in the eye. "Hey, everything ok?" She asks cautiously. "Yeah, come here please." He asks softly. Kaya closes the distance between them and they both turn to face Aimi's urn. "When I brought you here, I'd already told Aimi I was in love with you. It was difficult for me to tell her so, but Hajime was with me and was my strength. Plus it was only right I be honest.

"Nothing about the way I feel for you has changed and it never will. I could never marry some stranger just to become CEO. Takeru would be a good CEO and I'll be happy enough staying with you at Date Tech which I feel confident my nephew would allow seeing as my performance has been more than satisfactory and he can see how much it would mean to me to remain by your side rather than go elsewhere.

"Kaya," he says softly, turning to her. "You're all I need. I don't need Seijoh. Let's just forget all of this nonsense and spend our lives together the way we want to, on our terms, our timeline, what we want. One day I will ask you to marry me, on the timeline I decided some time ago. It'll be your decision to accept at that point or not.

"Even if you say no, I'm going nowhere. I love you Kaya. I love you so much. Let's go back and tell my dad to fuck off." He tells her with a gentle smile, his eyes shining at her and heart beating awaiting her reply. His heart sinks a little when she starts to shake her head and he wonders if he'd said too much when he said he wants to get married one day.

"I love you too. I want to spend the rest of my life with you too. So if you want that and I want that, why just throw out your dream? That makes no sense. I want to be with you Toru, and I want you to have everything you've always wanted. CEO of Seijoh, Probably like three kids since five still seems a bit much, and me by your side.

"Don't compromise because your dad is being a dick about it and you feel the need to rebel against his word to prove that you love me. I know you love me. I mean, I did worry for like maybe three minutes you might marry the Kita girl, but I realized I was just overthinking it. I knew before you said it you would never do that.

"Maybe if we had never met you would have, but not after. You know what, let's throw a little wrench in your dad's archaic ideals." Kaya says, pulling a piece of gum from her pocket and popping it in her mouth. She takes her coat and lays it on the carpet then gets down on both knees in her dress, taking Toru's hand.

"Toru Oikawa, my heart, will you please marry me?" She asks, folding up her gum wrapper then putting it in a circle as a makeshift ring. Toru stands staring at her with his mouth open, unsure how to feel about being proposed to. He liked that Kaya wanted to marry him enough to ask him, but he hated that his daydreams of a big proposal from him were all shattered.

Toru lowers himself onto his knees in front of Kaya and starts to slip his finger into the makeshift ring. "Nothing would make me happier than to marry you Kaya Moniwa. I love you so much." He tells her, smiling while she pushes the gum wrapper ring onto his finger before she leans in and kisses him.

Returning to the hotel, they find that Kenechi, Mina, Sora, and Atshuhi were still in the event room, talking amongst themselves about all that occurred. The couple stood outside of the door for a little while, listening to their parents discuss them.

"How can you agree with him Atsushi, did you not see our little girls' face when she left out of here? She was so upset she didn't even let Toru comfort her." Sora could be heard complaining.

"I'm not saying I agree with the way he'd said everything, I'm only saying that I can agree with the concept of our daughter not living with a man she isn't married to. Much as I hated Kenji, at least she never lived with the asshole." Atshushi countered.

"Who is Kneji?" Kenichi asks. "That's the ex, the one Toru put in the hospital." Mina filled her husband in. "I know you like to stick to old fashioned family values Kenichi, but this is 2021, we can't honestly expect our children to adhere to those values as well." She tries to soothe.

"The hell we can't! It's the way he was raised. He damn well knows how it looks. If he truly loved her then he would have given her the respect she's due of not asking she share a roof with him and not be his wife. Where's the security for her in that?" Kenichi complains.

"Fine, I suppose I can see where you're coming from when you put it that way! But what about demanding they have a child by the time Toru is 30? Even if they want children, putting that kind of stress on them can make it difficult for her to conceive." Sora voices.

"You may well have a point. I'll rescind that demand.However, I do want her to guarantee that they will have at least one child. I know for a fact my son wants several kids, especially a girl. He once asked me if he only had daughters if I would be disappointed in the lack of male heir.

"At the time it sounded like the end of the world, but I've been trying to become more open minded for my children's sake. That said, I won't budge on the need for an heir." Kencihi replies coolly.

"And what if they can't have a child? What then? Will you shame my daughter for being unable to produce a child for your son?" Atsushi asks harshly.

"No, but like her brother, I'll expect her to be willing to open her home to a child without a family of their own. The child need not be biological if it's truly impossible, but they will bear the name of Oikawa and be raised from an age young enough they cannot recall a time my son was not their father." Kenechi answers.

"I don't know, I still feel like no matter how much they love one another it isn't fair to make them get married before they feel ready to do so." Sora speaks up, a quick "I agree." Coming from Mina.

"If you can live together in sin then you're ready to be married. It's as simple as that. I was actually prepared to demand he be married by 30 rather than before he takes over the company, but when I found out they were living together I no longer felt that compromise to be necessary." Kenichi replies.

Mina lets out a loud sigh. "Even still, bringing the Kita girl here was cruel." She scolds her husband.

"I just wanted a little push for them. Fuyuki did agree to marry Toru about two years ago. I didn't know it at the time but she did so while heartbroken and didn't care who she wound up married to. She was prepared to keep her word and even pushed away a young man she cares for deeply.

"I contacted her when I'd learned of Kaya and told her that Toru had started seeing someone and that I knew my son well enough to know he'd never agree to marry someone else if he were in love with another. She was grateful and asked if there was anything she could do to help me to say the word.

"She came here with my guarantee she wouldn't be marrying Toru and could date this guy back in Dallas with no worries. I may be demanding at times, but I'm not cruel. Besides, I'd rather my son love his bride than marry for business reasons." Kenechi defends.

Kaya felt her heart softening a little to hear her future father in law explaining himself not knowing that the people he'd attempted to manipulate could hear him. But she was still angry that he schemed like this in the first place and was willing to cause emotional damage to get his way.

"Hey." Toru whispers to catch Kaya's attention. She looks over at him and he continues. "We can go in there and tell them we know the truth and demand they let us get married in our own time." He offers. Kaya shakes her head. "If we're getting married, let's just do it now. That piece of paper won't change our love nor will the timing of when it's signed." She reasons.

Toru then suggests an addemned he feels they may be able to get away with, knowing now that his father was upset about them living together more than anything and feeling that would give them leverage. Kaya takes about a minute to think it over then agrees, with a smile on her face.

Toru nods seriously and takes Kaya's hand, walking into the room with her and letting out a devilish grin at how quickly the room becomes silent at the sight of them. Sora gets up and hugs Kaya, running her hand over her curls and Atsushi watches on with a kind face.

"I didn't expect to see either of you for the rest of the evening." Kenichi tells them. "Why is that?" Toru inquires. "Kaya was rather upset, I expected her to be too angry to talk on the subject until after a good night's sleep." He replies.

Atsushi looks at his daughter, she looks a little cold from walking out of the party, but her face looks peaceful. "Where did you go?" He asks. "I went to talk to Aimi." She replies. Kenechi's face registers surprise at this information,but he quickly covers it with a confident smile.

"And how did that go, sweet pea?" He asks. "Well actually. Discussing my thoughts and feelings aloud really helped me to see everything clearly and Toru and I have already agreed on what to do about all of this." She tells them resolutely.

Kenichi raises an eyebrow at the couple, not having expected an answer so soon. Toru lifts his left hand so everyone can see the gum wrapper ring. "Kaya asked me to marry her." He tells them smiling and taking joy in his father's dissatisfied stern face. Mina yelps happily, jumping up to her feet and hugging the couple.

"There's so much to plan, we can get started right away getting your wedding underway." She happily chirps looking from Kaya to Sora. Kaya shakes her head softly and squeezes Toru's hand. "We have a proposal of our own to present to Mr. Oikawa." She says.

Kenechi comes to stand in front of her and looks at her with a kind smile "It's dad now, you're marrying my son. What is it then, little one? I'll gladly hear you out and give it careful consideration." He assures her. "We heard you guys talking before we came in, we know that a lot of this is stemming from the fact that you don't like us living together and not being married.

"So to help alleviate that concern, we're willing to get married next weekend. For the rest of the week Kaya will stay at her parents' place and we won't live together again until after the wedding."Toru tells him. "And in exchange?" He asks. "She'll only sign a standard prenup and you have to recind all other demands on our marriage such as when we might have children and what kind of work Kaya can do." He finishes.

Kenechi thinks for a moment, his eyes settling on Kaya. "Do you want children one day?" He asks. "I do." She tells him cheerily. "I don't know if you know this, but my wife does not legally have my last name. She still of course answers to it and has it on public documents so most people don't even realize. Say that if you want to remain a Moniwa that you're willing to do the same and I'll agree to everything else." He counters.

Kaya nods at him, giving a smile. "I was already planning to take the Oikawa name. Seems we've reached an agreement. Dad." She smiles.