Kazeyuki
"THE MEETING WENT INTO overtime. It should've ended six minutes ago. That means I was robbed of six minutes of my wife's company. Dammit."
"No."
Anastase smirked.
"You don't even bother denying it now," Anastase said in disgust.
Kazeyuki didn’t bother with an answer this time, only adjusting his cuffs as they pushed through the glass doors of the government building and stepped out into the cold.
The wind cut across the plaza, sharp enough to warrant a coat neither of them had bothered to bring, and Kazeyuki noted with mild interest that Anastase's hair, usually immaculate, had started to rebel against whatever product was meant to be taming it.
Click, click, click.
Meanwhile, the photographers were already hard at work.
They had been waiting outside since early morning, and the shutters fired in rapid succession as Kazeyuki and Anastase descended the steps.
If one were to look closely—at the photographers, not the two men—it would be easy to see the dollar signs in their eyes.
They already knew they would rack up views by the millions, the moment they had photos and reels of Stanhope’s Sexiest up on their socials.
In a world where most billionaires were either great-and-taken or available-but-not-great (and that was putting it nicely), last year's wedding of Kazeyuki Collington had been an unexpected goldmine for the press.
There they walked as part of the entourage, one billionaire after another, all of them the kind that the public loved to be obsessed with.
Movie-star looks. Power and authority that they wielded either like a king or a warrior.
And the kind of self-assurance that countless "influencers" tried so hard to fake but never could.
Anastase's car was the first that the valet brought up, and Kazeyuki's lips twitched at how the media reacted to its sight. Regular black BMW, five years old, more than a few nicks and scratches on the hood. Not a bad ride, but when its owner was someone who had billions at his disposal?
It was a mystery, and one that Kazeyuki happened to know the answer to. But that was Anastase's story to tell, and not his.
"Before I forget, Anastase—I need a favor."
His friend raised a brow. "Are you certain about that? The last time you asked me a favor—"
"I fell in love."
Anastase's gaze narrowed. Was this favor to pay him back? Was Kazeyuki about to—
"So about that favor..."
"Apologies, my friend," Anastase drawled, already reaching for his car door, "but I've changed my mind. You'd do better to find someone else."
Kazeyuki was still amused at the way his friend had practically thrown himself behind the wheel and raced off like a man outrunning a divine calling.
One could always try, but the outcome never changed.
But in the meantime...
Kazeyuki took his phone out as soon as he was in the comfortable backseat of his limo. I didn’t get to tell Anastase. Apologies. He hit Send afterwards and then checked his email—
Inori's parents.
He inhaled deeply. He had not allowed himself to expect anything when he had emailed them yesterday. He had simply written to them because it was the only way to be at peace with that chapter in his life and theirs.
Life in this world would always be messy. And people would always make mistakes. Even him. Or Inori.
Their reply to his email was more cautious than brief. They were agreeing to meet him. That was a start, and it was more than enough.
The rest of the emails and messages that required his response were thankfully not as serious.
Matt’s latest scans, which were as good as he had expected, and which he then forwarded to his brother-in-law along with a reminder about their next appointment.
A referral from a friend in Jackson Hole.
A dinner invitation from the Cannizzaros since Olivio's brother-in-law Aivan, a Formula One legend, was in town with his wife Sienah.
The two had made the headlines because of their almost-divorce, but God had seen them through, just like how He had been there for Kazeyuki and Katherine.
Even though over a year had already passed, it still hurt to remember how he had almost lost the girl he loved, and in the span of less than a day at that.
One moment, she was spending the night in his arms, they were choosing rings, and then the next moment, she was packing her things to leave him for good.
But it was a pain he forced himself to relive every now and then, just so he would never forget that lies only stole, killed, and destroyed...and at the same time remember who had made it possible for Katherine and him to start fresh.
When the limo cruised to a stop before the hospital doors, Kazeyuki found himself recalling something else.
Something older, like the days that Katherine would be at her usual window seat, laptop open, working steadily on whatever campaign she had going while also waiting patiently for him to come through the doors.
It made his chest tighten now, every time he thought about the days that he had been too busy to even look her way, despite knowing she was there and why.
He would never get those days back.
But what he could do now was make sure she never had to wonder again.
As soon as he entered the hospital, his eyes found hers, and his wife...
She had seen the limo pulling up, and so she was already on her feet at her window seat, laptop forgotten, her gaze fixed on the entrance, waiting for him to look her way.
Their eyes met.
Blush.
And there it was. Her cheeks turning pink the moment he smiled at her. One year already married, and she still believed she was "lucky" to have him when the whole world knew it was the other way around.
Her eyes widened when he started walking toward her. This was not their usual routine, and so she was clearly confused even as she got to her feet, her gaze following him as he entered the co-working space—
"K-Kaz? Is s-something—"
Awwww.
The audible, multiple sighs were not from her but from everyone else occupying the same space they did, for to see Stanhope Vancouver's Prince pull his young wife into his arms and kiss her...
Oh goodness, it was like watching someone shoot a romantic film in real life.
The kiss only lasted for a few heartbeats, but when he lifted his head, his wife was looking up at him with dazed eyes that made it seem like the kiss had lasted for an eternity...and yet it still wasn't enough.
Understandable, since that was how he felt, too.
"What was that for?" she whispered.
"A lot of things," he said gravely as he took hold of her hand, and the way her expression turned dreamy as she stared at their clasped hands had Kazeyuki's jaw clenching because...
How in the world had he ended up with the most adorable wife?
And now, she was acting like it was the greatest struggle to pull her gaze away as he walked them out of the co-working space, and she was looking at him as if trying to remember—
"What were we talking about again?"
"You were asking me about why I couldn't resist covering your mouth with—"
She reacted as he expected her to, her cheeks flushing as she hurriedly reached up to cover his mouth. "K-Kaz!"
He captured her hand and had Katherine turning even redder with a gasp as he gave her fingers a little nip.
She looked at him reproachfully, but he pretended not to notice this as he kept her hand in his and they resumed walking.
"I remember now," she blurted out all of a sudden. "You said you...you said you did that because of a lot of things."
"I did."
She looked up at him rather shyly, and Kazeyuki had to fight off the urge to pinch his wife's cheeks because she was too, too adorable.
"Is there something you want to ask me?"
"You already know what I want to ask."
She was actually grumbling, and he...would have to add this to his list of reasons why she made him want to kiss her again and again.
"But fine—" She was still grumbling. "I'll bite. What things are those?"
He looked at her solemnly, and her expression turned uncertain—
"Things like...I missed you."
Then shocked—
"I'm grateful for you."
And now she was back to looking at him the way she had been looking at him from the moment God sent her to his operating room—
"I love you." His thumb rubbed over her knuckles as he said the words. "And..."
He waited until they were inside the elevator, reserved only for the use of specialists, and as the doors slowly closed—
Katherine gasped as she suddenly found her back pressed against the wall.
"It was to let you know there's more to come."