Chapter 34

“Remind me to never run away again.”
“I want to ask you something.”
“What?”
He took her hand and put the ring on it. It was made of 18K white gold with small aquamarine stones embedded around it in intricate patterns, like lacework, and a steel grey diamond in the centre with a smaller fancy grey diamond on either side of it. No doubt, it was custom-made.
“Marry me?”
“Uh...wait. Oh, I get it.” She burst out laughing.
“What's so funny?” He raised an eyebrow.
She stopped.
“You were serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I just need to think a bit.”
“Ok.”
They sat in silence for a little while.
“I just remembered that I never thanked you.” He said.
“For what?”
“For staying with me despite everything. Youhei told me about your argument with the pack elders.”
“Oh. There's no to thank me for that, you know.”
“Tell me what's wrong.”
“Look, as much as I want to be with you, marriage is a big deal. And we haven’t even been dating that long.”
“Wait. I didn't mean that we should get married now.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“You marked me and since I can't do the same, I wanted to give you some other sign of commitment. How else are guys supposed to know that you're permanently off the market?”
“Do you have any idea how much you scared me? I almost had a heart attack.”
“Sorry about that. We'll get married when we're both ready. But that doesn't mean we can't be engaged.”
“Cool. Wait, did you give me hot sex just to get me to say yes?” She glared at him.
“No, it was more of a bonus.” He laughed nervously.
“Not the most romantic way of proposing, but I'll give you an A for creativity.”
“In my defence, I was planning something but the words just came out. Mind if I try again?”
“Before that, there’s something you should know. When we get married, I want to keep my last name. It’s mainly because my last name is on my degrees, license, and other legal documents. It might cause a few hiccups later on if the last names don’t match.”
“Well, the law won’t allow us to have different last names after marriage. What were you thinking about that?”
“If we register our marriage under pack laws, it’ll still count, even if it won’t be in the government’s system. When I go back to work, I can always lie and say you took my last name and I’m sure that by the time we do get married, I’ll have my PhD so the titles won’t be much of an issue. And when we have kids, they can have a hyphenated last name. They can choose which one to use outside the pack when they’re older and get fake IDs for it.”
“How long have you thinking about all that?”
“Quite a while. I didn’t say anything because the topic of marriage never came up. As I’ve said, we haven’t been dating for long.”
“Well, it’s a little too late to back out so may I try again now?”
“Knock yourself out.”
He took her hand.
“I know that I already put a ring on it and since we're not getting married, will you be engaged to me?”
“Well, the ring is still on my finger. What do you think?”
“So, it's a yes?”
“As I’ve said before, it's still on my finger.”
“Awesome.” He kissed her forehead.
“Did it have to be so over-the-top? People might think that I robbed a jewellery store.”
“Trust me, that's as simple as I can get. You don't want to know what my first choice was.”
“But what about Yuri?”
“That's what I wanted to tell you before you ran away earlier. My mom called earlier to tell me that the engagement is off.”

When Takumi came home, he found Twilight and Toshiro running around like mad people. They hadn't even noticed him coming in. It looked as if they were looking for something.
“What are you guys looking for?”
“I was helping her look for...”
“Look for Oreo. We were playing hide-and-seek with him.” She cut him off and put her hands behind her back.
“Isn't that him sleeping on his bed?” Takumi asked.
“Silly us, we must have missed him somehow. He's good, huh? I just remembered that I need to check on something... in the kitchen.” She left the room.
“She...”
“I already know what she's actually looking for.”
*Later…*
“Snowflake?”
“Yeah.” She entered the living room.
“Come here.” He patted his lap, gesturing for her to sit on it and she did so.
“What's up?”
“Anything interesting happen today?”
“No.” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Show me your left hand.”
“Why?”
“Is there a reason you don't want to?”
“No, just curious.”
“I might have something for you.”
“Ok?” She hesitantly showed him.
“That's funny. It looks more ringless than usual.”
“That's because I took it off before taking a shower.” She avoided his gaze.
“At noon?”
“Why not?”
“Then I guess, this one isn't yours.” He held it in front of her.
“Oof, someone's busted,” Tis said.
“I wonder whose ring this is.”
“Ok fine, I did lose it. Where did you find it?”
“On the bathroom sink. And you didn't tell me that you lost it because?”
“I thought I’d find it.”
“Or you were just being stubborn.”
“Maybe.”
*A few days later…*
“How could you?” Mitsuri busted into her room.
“You know; you really need to stop doing that.”
“Never mind that. I thought we were best friends. How could you not tell me?”
“And now I'm confused. Not tell you what?”
“That you're engaged.”
“I haven’t told anyone yet. How did you know?”
“Are you telling me that that ring on your finger is just for decoration? I was waiting for you to say something about it but since that obviously wasn't going to happen, I had to confront you about it.”
“I was going to tell you, it's just you know, perfect timing and stuff.”
“Yeah sure, let's go with that. Next time something big happens in your life, be sure I'm the first person you tell.”
“What about my dad? You know, my own flesh and blood.”
“Sisters before misters. Before I forget, sorry about busting in like that. I hope you're not mad enough to not want me as maid of honour.”
“C'mon, who else would I choose?”
“Yay. Anyway, how did he propose? Was it romantic?”
“It was...something.”
“It must have been if you're blushing so hard right now. May I see the ring; I didn't get a proper look at it.”
She showed it to her.
“Wow, he's not messing around. Quick question: you're not pregnant, right?”
“No.”
“Oh, just making sure. I thought that you were tying the knot because a bundle of joy is on the way.”
“Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon.”
“I always dreamed of the day you'd get married. Emphasis on dream, for obvious reasons. I even started planning for it when you were 12. A winter-themed wedding would be perfect for you. I was thinking that the invitations could be an off-white colour and the paper used could be Romantic Eggshell Dream. Although, I couldn't pick a dress for you. I couldn't decide whether it should be an icy blue or just a traditional white. Then I started thinking that it should be a very pale, almost white, blue and have blue or silver snowflakes embroidered on the hem, neckline and straps and maybe finish it off with a sparkly belt. Takumi's tie would match the colour no matter what it is. It would be long and have a tail to bring out your shortness in a good way, the straps would be off-shoulder. I was thinking silk or chiffon, maybe sequin, but lace should be there because it suits you and I can imagine how gorgeous it'll look on you. Maybe the straps and neckline could be lace or maybe, instead of embroidering the snowflakes, they could be lacework. And the cake...”
“Hold up. That's great and all, a little crazy even, but it's too early to plan a wedding.”
“Why?”
“There isn't going to be one anytime soon.”
“What? But… what?”
“Yeah. There’ll be one in a couple of years.”
“Well, that’s disappointing.”
“Anyway, I don't think lace would be such a good idea.”
“Why?”
“Let's just say that you'll be signing me up for a death sentence.”
“Oh.” She snickered.
“Trust me, you wouldn't be laughing if you were me. I can't believe that you were planning my wedding behind my back.”
“You can't blame me; it's not like you were going to do it.”
“But at 12?”
“I mean, that’s when you first shifted. And it's more like, me and all the other ladies in the pack because you were most likely going to find your other half at 18 so six years was enough to start planning. But when you found him at 16, we started finalising the plans. One mind-link and everything will be ready for you to get married in three days. That's how prepared we are.”
“Wait, you were all planning it behind my back?”
“Like I said, it's not as if you were going to do it.”
“You're getting wifed?” Youhei busted in.
“How did you find out?”
“I may or may not have mind-linked the whole pack about it,” Mitsuri said.
“So much for telling everyone myself.”
“What, you didn't tell your own best friend, so I highly doubted that you'd tell everyone else. That's why I did it for you.”
“You're getting married?” Her dad asked.
Before she could say anything, Kaido came in.
“Stop right there and not another word.” She told him. “You too, Takeshi.”
“But...”
“But nothing. I'll explain everything later. Now everyone, out. Except you, Mitsu.”
When they left, she closed the door.
“Is it too late to say sorry?”
“Definitely. Next time, let me break the big news.”
“Only if I'm the first person to know.”
“Sure. Now I have to mind-link everyone to fix your mess.”
There was a knock on the door.
“I told you to leave.”