Chapter 10 #2
“You’re welcome, Maki! Enjoy the rest of your day,” she says before the line clicks, signaling that she’s hung up the call.
I put my phone down and stand up, walking around my breakfast counter. I step behind Rin, putting my arms around his waist and resting my chin on the top of his blue head.
“Hi,” he says softly.
“Hello again. That looks like it’s done.”
“It is,” Rin says, nodding towards our bowls. “Grab those for me?”
As much as I don’t want to let go, I realize eating is important and go to grab the bowl but not without leaving a kiss to the back of his head first. Rin gives a happy little hum that fills my stomach with warmth.
After filling our bowls, we move to the breakfast island, sitting side by side. I slide my notebook back to its place and out of the way. Rin sits so close that his knee sits against my thigh. I like this.
“Can we go back to your question?”
I nod my head. “I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.”
Rin takes a bite of food, giving himself a moment to think. I follow his lead, doing the same. When he swallows, he gives me a soft smile.
“I haven’t thought about mating too much,” Rin says softly. “I guess, being human, we don’t have a special mating practice. That’s not to say I haven’t thought out our future, because I have. I’ve thought about it a lot, Maki.”
“What have you thought about?”
“Whenever I imagine the future whether it’s one year from now or five or twenty, I always picture the two of us together.”
The words hit me like a truck slamming into a brick wall.
I feel completely and utterly shattered, my entire being put back together by Rin’s gentle hands.
I’m startled by how forceful the emotions are hitting me.
I knew I loved Rin, but I didn’t realize that hearing him voice my same feelings would feel like this.
“Good,” I say, surprised by how steady my voice sounds despite how shaky my insides feel.
“That’s really good, because I feel the same way.
I want to be with you. I want to stay with you through the hard times and the good times.
I want to come home to you someday. I want everything you’re willing to give me. ”
“I’m willing to give you everything, Maki.” Rin sets his fork down and takes one of my hands in his own. “I want to give you all of myself because I love you.”
I close my eyes, savoring the sound of Rin saying those three precious words. They slice through me, leaving me feeling flayed and exposed in the most wonderful way. Rin loves me. Rin loves me.
When I open my eyes again, Rin is staring at me. I don’t want to leave him waiting a moment longer. “I love you too,” I whisper before leaning forward and kissing his lips.
I pull back but Rin doesn’t pull away quite yet, stopping to place a kiss to both of my cheeks. Then my forehead. Then my mouth one last time.
“I don’t know what the future holds exactly,” Rin says, starting to eat again.
I take a big mouthful, allowing him space to speak.
“I own the house I live in right now and you have your housing contract with the Ninjas so I don’t think we’ll be moving in together anytime soon.
Not that we won’t continue having sleepovers all the time.
I really, really like sleeping next to you and waking up in your arms, Maki. ”
“I like that too. I agree with all of this.”
“Right,” he says, nodding his head. “And then there’s our publicity we have to worry about. I think we should wait to tell the world until after we’ve officially mated.”
“I like that idea as well.”
Rin looks over at me, giving me a soft smile.
“I like how we’re on the same page about all the serious stuff.
” I give him a smile back. “I think someday it would be nice to convert the house fully into a streaming office and then buying a new house for living in, just the two of us. That can wait, though. As long as we’re together and serious about each other, everything else will fall into place. ”
“I’m very serious about you, Rin,” I tell him, reaching over and squeezing his thigh. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Rin lets out a long breath before turning towards me fully. “Then I have to ask; can you tell me what it means to mate as an undine?”
“Of course,” I say right away. Rin stares at me as I speak. “I don’t know how much of this is true and how much is simply legend but it’s believed that an undine is born without a soul.”
Rin’s eyes widen. “What?”
I nod my head. “We are without one, so we do not have soulmates like other creatures might have. Instead, when we find the one we wish to spend our lives with, we ask them a simple question. Will you share your soul with me?” I run my thumb over Rin’s thigh.
“We don’t have soulmates predestined, instead, we choose ours.
When we mate, legend says your soul will be torn in two and you will gift half of it to me. In this way, we will be mated.”
“Oh,” Rin breathes out, watching my face. “You want to be my soulmate?”
“Very much so,” I say right away. “But only if you wish to share that piece of yourself.”
“Yes,” he says softly, barely above a whisper. “It would be an honor to share myself with you, Maki, because I know you would protect it and treasure it, the same way you do the rest of me every day.”
I swallow thickly, trying to push down the emotions welling up inside of me. I stand up and step into Rin’s space, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him until his face is pressed into my belly. He holds me just as tightly.
“That makes me happier than I thought possible,” I murmur, leaning down and burying my face in his blue hair which is growing out, showing the brown of his natural roots. “Thank you, Rin, for trusting me with your heart and your soul.”
“There’s no one else I’d rather hold on to it.”