┌───────────┐
暖かい
└───────────┘

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

Chapter Five
▏SUGAR▕

꧁꧂

☾ STAGE ONE ☾

"(Y/N)-san, are you alright?"

(L/N) (Y/N), the girl he was taking care of, and the girl he had come to love, was suffering from a coughing fit in her room.

He was quick to her side—in fact, he was always quick when rushing to help her with anything she needed.

Hakuji kneeled by her futon, one of his hands immediately finding its way to her back in attempts to soothe her coughs.

"I'm fine, Hakuji-san," she laughed almost nervously, waving him off as if she was okay. "It's just a small cough, nothing more."

He almost scoffed at her words, for he knew this was more than just a mere cough. It was starting to happen a bit more often now, and if he was being honest, it was beginning to scare him.

"Still," he insisted, adjusting the blanket around her smaller figure. "I'm worried about you."

From the corner of his eyes, Hakuji swore that (Y/N) smiled at that statement. He found himself feeling flustered as he guided her to lay back down.

She suddenly pleaded to him, "Please stay with me."

"Of course," he swore, not a drop of hesitation staining his voice. His light blue eyes stared down into (E/C) as he promised, "I'll stay with you forever, because I want to."

She joked, "Are those wedding vows?"

As she lightly giggled at him, Hakuji immediately froze and halted his movements in embarrassment. His shyness at her claim made him want to deny her accusation, but at the same time, it was also indubitably true.

They weren't exactly wedding vows, but he did want to marry her.

"I wouldn't mind if they were, you know," she suddenly informed almost casually.

Well, way too casually for him, at least.

"Are you saying you want them to be wedding vows?" he immediately asked her. In the back of his mind, he clearly preferred one answer to that question over the other option.

"I never said that," she playfully denied, and Hakuji frowned as he felt like he was being teased.

"Then, do you want to be wedded?" he asked again, this time more firmly. With his lowered intonation, it was more than clear to the girl that he was being serious this time with this certain question.

(Y/N) turned away from him and looked upwards to the ceiling of their shelter, where she hummed lightly as if she was lost in thought. But, Hakuji knew that she already had an answer.

He just needed to hear her confirm it.

She then turned to him again with a teasing smile, but it was a lot more serious than before. And when she leaned in to place a quick, delicate, and loving kiss on his lips, Hakuji already knew what she was going to say to him.

"Yes," she answered.

꧁꧂

It was past sunset.

It had been a long while since the last time they had a date on the boardwalk, and even a longer while since they met again at the coffee shop.

The two lovers had just eaten at the same restaurant for their anniversary of finding each other in this modern era, and they were making their way towards the same bench under that single lamppost on the boardwalk again.

The ocean surrounding their figures reflected the dying hues of orange from the already faded sun, signaling that it would be dark very soon.

As Hakuji pulled (Y/N) along the wooden planks, the boardwalk was about to be empty as the last remaining people were already leaving due to the upcoming cold of the night. And much to his luck, the exact bench they sat before on was unoccupied.

"What a sentimental location," (Y/N) commented as she sat down on the bench, facing the ocean.

Hakuji took a seat right next to her, and immediately spoke to establish a more serious atmosphere between the both of them.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something here," he awkwardly informed, his hand immediately finding its way to scratch the back of his neck.

(Y/N) falsely gasped, before asking incredulously, "You're breaking up with me?"

"No!"

She immediately burst out into laughter, telling him, "I'm joking, I'm joking." And when her laughter died down, she reached forward and grasped both of his hands within her own, warm hold. "You can tell me anything," she said to him with her most accepting and reassuring smile.

Knowing that now was the time for him to start, Hakuji quickly let go of her hands and cleared his throat, hoping to sound more formal than he normally did.

He was indubitably awkward when it came to these types of things, but he was really just trying his absolute best.

"Well, you know how," he began, stuttering quite awkwardly in evident nervousness. "You know how we were supposed to get married in our past life?"

"Yes?" she replied with rising intonation, which urged him to continue.

He cleared his throat once again in shyness before wondering, "I was think a lot about how that tied to the present."

His final word trailed off into silence, meaning he did not allow himself to finish his statement.

(Y/N) wondered if she was meant to guess what he was implying on her own, or if she should wait for him. But instead of just sitting there, she decided it would be better to pick the prior option.

"Are you saying you want to get married?" she questioned him.

"I never said that!" he immediately exclaimed, though he did not deny it. His face was incredibly flushed pink, and he was clearly so nervous.

(Y/N) laughed lightly at his reaction, and then replied through a more sincere tone, "Just answer the question, Hakuji."

He huffed right after she spoke, and let out a sigh of defeat. Reaching into his pocket, he stood up and then faced her, his shoulders tensing just slightly enough for her to notice.

"I'll answer that with a question of my own," he told her.

(Y/N)'s eyes widened as her lover got down on one knee in front of her, a small box in his hold. His nervous, shaking hands held out the box and opened it, revealing a small, diamond ring that shined against the light of the single lamp post above them.

"(L/N) (Y/N)," Hakuji huffed out cutely. "Will you marry me?"

He had the most goofy, yet nervous grin on his face. It was almost silly to her. In the end, why would she ever say no?

This was the man that loved her and cared for her in their past life, and even continued to do so in their reincarnated one. He nursed her whilst she was ill, and provided her with a loving sense of warmth.

Through health and through sickness, she would always carry immense love for him.

There was no way she'd ever deny his proposal.

And so she caught him off guard and quickly dove in his arms, making sure not to drop the ring as she finally responded to his life-changing question.

"Yes," she answered.

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

┌───────────┐
WARM
└───────────┘