"The sweet smell..." she thought, "The smell of a person..." she slowly opened her eyes. Wherever she was, looking at the room it was definitely not her house or of an average person's house. She got up holding her head, "Where am I-" she asked but before she could even complete her sentence, Akito hugged her all of a sudden.
"P-Please..." he said in the same shaky but tearful voice, "Please, don't. Die..."
"I'm..." she said shocked with tears rolling down her eyes, "Sorry..."
"I didn't even mean to say it but, the words... Just came out."
"Dear goodness," said the house girl as she entered with a tray in her hand, "it's really a relief that you are alright. Here have some chicken soup to warm yourself up." she said as she put the plate on a small foldable table and placed in in front of her on the bed itself.
"I-I'm so sorry!" she said realizing something important and slightly bowed in front of them, "I almost forgot to introduce myself, I'm Ishikawa Ai."
"Really? You wake up from being almost dead and that is the first thing that comes to your mind?" asked Ichiro wondering if death was an everyday thing for her, "Well, whatever. I'm Takahashi Ichiro, nice to meet you."
"I'm just glad you are all okay" said the girl as she served the soup, "I'm Yamazaki Yui." then she turned towards Akito, "and this is the owner of this house, Imamura Akito." she said as Ai looked looked towards him.
"T-Thanks for saving me!" said Ai bowing once more, Akito passed her a note.
"You really don't have to be that formal." said the paper.
"Why would he answer in paper instead of directly answering me?"
Soon Akito's phone rang, he gave it to Ichiro to talk.
"Looks like you have to get to your office right now," Ichiro said after a talking on the phone for a while, "the reports got a bit messed up." Akito just sighed, then looked at Ai who was just sitting there confused.
"But what about her?" Akito asked to Ichiro with another note.
"No worries, we will take care of her!" replied Ichiro, "I'll drive yo-"
Akito intruded with another note before Ichiro could finish.
"No worries, I'll drive by myself."
"Fine," replied Ichiro with a sigh, "just don't get yourself into trouble, you hear me?" he asked. Akito left with a nod.
"W-Well," said Ai as she got up after finishing her soup, "thank you very much for saving me, I have caused you enough trouble. I'll be taking my leave now."
"Are you fine now?" asked Ichiro, "Because you don't look like it."
"Y-Yeah!" she said feigning a smile, "I-I'm..." she said as her vision faded, "Totally... Fin-" she was about to fall on the floor but Yui saved her.
"39.8 degrees," said Yui after a while after measuring her temperature, "I'll get a cloth to put on her head." she said as she was about to get up but Ai stopped her.
"I-I'm cough cough I'm totally fine..." she said trying her best to hide her fever, "You all don't have to worry so much about me, I can go in this condition as well..."
"You are NOT getting up!" said Yui as she pressed her back onto the bed and put the comforter over her up till the head, "Now, get some rest and stop thinking about going anywhere! We never told you to leave, just stay as long as you want."
"Y-Yeah..." said Ai a bit scared.
"Ah, m-my apologies," Yui said realizing how she forced her to sleep, "I didn't mean to thrash you there."
"No..." replied Ai with a smile, "I don't feel bad at all... Thank you," she said as her vision again faded away, "Thank you for taking care of me..." She drifted into deep sleep again.
"I feel bad for Akito honestly..." said Ichiro, he lied on the sofa in the living room looking at his phone. It was night already, Yui was in the kitchen making dinner.
"Why is that so?" asked Yui.
"I mean he really wanted to spend his time at home today and yet he has to go." replied Ichiro with a sigh.
"Well, that's a company's CEO for you." she said stirring the cabbage with the oil, "It's expected to happen."
"Um, Yui-san?" asked another voice confused. It was Ai on the door of the room in which she was resting.
"Dear, it's good to see you are awake!" said Yui, "You feeling better now?'
"Yeah, the fever is almost gone."
"That's good but... Don't you dare try to push yourself hard, okay?"
"S-Sure!" Ai replied threatened.
"Anyways," said Yui with a sigh as she put the knife down and took her apron off, "dinner's ready, lets eat!" she said with a smile.
"What about him?" asked Ai.
"Who?" asked Ichiro, "Akito? There's no guarantee he will come anytime sooner, it's better we eat."
"I see..." said Ai a bit disappointed as Yui served the food and everyone sat one their chairs around the dinner table.
"Dumplings..." whispered Ai looking at them with a sad look on her face.
"Yeah," replied Yui, "you don't like them?"
"No, it's just that... E-Eh?!" asked Ai shocked, tears were flowing down her eyes even before she could notice, "T-This isn't, I-I'm sorry..." she said as she tried to wipe them down as fast as she could but the tears just didn't stop, "I'm sorry, I don't know why is this happening, I just-" She said while both looked at her with a worried face. It only struck to them now that they never even considered of asking her why was she trying to drown herself.
"It's fine," said Yui, "let it out... Let it out until you stop crying."
Those words were like opening the floodgates, Ai cried while running her hands over her eyes to wipe the tears.
"Why..." she said sobbing, "Why was he such a big idiot?" she cried for a few minutes, Ichiro and Yui could only sit and look at her, they didn't know what to say. Moments continued as they had their dinner in peace.
"Thank you for the food!" Ai said as she got up, too embarrassed to talk about why she was crying.
"Don't be embarrassed," said Yui, "it's always fine to let things out rather than getting hurt from it."
"I see... I'll keep that in mind, thank you." she said with a kind smile, followed by the door bell ringing.
"It must be Akito!" Yui said hurrying, leaving the plates she was collecting.
It was another man, with Akito supported by his shoulder. He seemed to be very drunk.
"Did he drink with the investors again?" asked Yui as Hachiro took Ayato to his room.
"They tied a new deal with him and asked him to celebrate with him so yeah." replied the man laughing as he walked away.
It was late night, everyone had gone to bed. Ai thought lying on the bed looking back at what happened, "All of the things to worry about but right now everything only brings me to a single question," she said as she opened her eyes wide, "Why am I even staying the night here?! I mean yeah they have saved me and all but that doesn't mean I just take a room for myself and spend all my life here! It's true I really want to stay here... I don't know why but it's, it's like I had a very good time here. It all just reminds me of him... And now that I remember all of that, I can't sleep anymore." she said getting up from the bed.
"I wonder why she was trying to kill herself out there," Akito thought looking outside from his room while drinking some lemonade Yui had prepared for him in advance to help with the hangover, "It would of course not be nice of me to ask her that but, those tears..." he thought as some of those memories reminded him of his previous self.
"I'm not really a big fan of those tears." A soft knock was heard on the door.
"C-Come... In!" he said with his old shaky and awkward voice. It was Ai on the door with a sad face.
"Can't sleep?" asked Akito raising a sticky note in his hand.
"Yeah," replied Ai, "sorry to bother you, I tried calling Yui but..."
"That's expected, they both work so hard doing the daily chores after all. Also, you may sleep here if you want to."
"Here?" asked Ai a bit embarrassed, "Isn't this your room?"
"Don't worry, I don't sleep usually."
"I wonder why..." she thought as she climbed onto his bed and put the comforter over her, both stayed there in the same room in silence for a while.
"Don't you want to know?" asked Ai after a while looking at him, "Don't you want to know why was I trying to kill myself?"
"You didn't want to talk about it, and I don't think so it's good for you to keep on remembering all of that."
"Well, I mean..." she said a bit disappointed from the reply, Akito knew she wanted him to ask her why did she do that but he didn't want to bring the pain of those memories back to her. They again stayed in silence for a while.
"I'll be leaving tomorrow," she said staring at the celling after a while, "I have caused you all enough trouble."
"And go where?"
"Where..." she stayed silent thinking about the question, "Wait a minute... I... I don't have anywhere to go..."
"I don't know but," she said mustering all her courage, "I can't just come here as a random person and just stay as long as I like... It's, wrong!"
"What wrong with it? If you don't have a place to go, what's wrong with staying here until you find a place?"
"That's... unfair." she said looking at him, "That's unfair to you..."
"Well, then accept it as a gift from me? A new life where you can live freely?"
"I- Thank you..." she said as she finally realized that it was useless to argue, Akito just looked at her with a smile and went back to gazing at the sky.
"It feels so warm..." she thought as she closed her eyes and dug her face into the comforter, drowning into deep sleep.