You Will Marry Me

"Answer me, Aki. why do you have this book?"

"Uh...it's a long story." I hastily replied, averting my gaze. She cocked an eyebrow at me, clearly suspicious of me. I had always been honest with her, but I couldn't let her know about it. If she knew that I hypnotized myself, she'd be livid; I don't even want to think about what could happen if she found out I had hypnotized her as well.

"Alright then. I'll just have to figure it out myself. How's your jog?" Changing the subject, she brushed the spot next to her on the sofa and beckoned me to sit with her. I wiped away my sweat and sat down beside her. She was reading through the book as if she was studying for a test, which was worrying, to say the least.

"Why did you start working out, by the way?" She asked a much lighter question this time, shutting the book and setting it down on her lap. I breathed a sigh of relief, wanting to answer the question and lead her away from the topic of hypnosis as soon as possible.

"I read those articles, and what they say about you. How they say all those mean things about you choosing me to be your partner. I...I wanted to stop them. I wanted to become a person that would be able to stand as your equal." I said, letting my heart pour out with every word.

"Aki. You never change..." She mumbled, turning to face me while grabbing my head to force our eyes to meet. "Let me help you." She chuckled, poking me on the cheek playfully.

"You've done enough. I don't want you to worry about me. This is something that I have to work on by myself." I peered into her eyes, nearly getting lost in trying to spot the tiny flecks of color that dotted the brown. She pulled her head back slightly, smiling cheekily as she put a finger to her lips.

"Oh, man. Well, I guess that gym membership will go to waste. I really wanted to exercise with you, since I'm always gone for work and always come home tired." She said in a teasing tone. Knowing her, the gym she was referring to had a high probability of being one of the better ones in the city. The thought of working with people that could assist me was already enticing enough, but the thought of training with my girlfriend made it extremely hard to refuse. "And I just got some new clothes for the occasion. The yoga pants are going to go to waste."

"Well, if you've already paid for it...then..." I could feel my face heat up, and she was smirking at my flustered expression. "Let's start next week," I said, walking up to get myself a glass of water from the kitchen. I was already imagining her in yoga pants and a sports bra... "Stop it!" I steeled myself, slapping those thoughts away and splashing water on my face to cool off. I stood over the sink with my head feeling slightly lighter than usual. "Nakumi, what do you want for breakfast?" I shout out my question as I opened the refrigerator.

"Cake!" She cheered like a six-year-old from the sofa. With how much sugar she ate, I started to wonder how intense her workouts are to burn those extra calories. That was something I didn't envy her about, especially since her job is about keeping a favorable figure to lure in buyers.

"No! We're not having cake first thing in the morning!" I yelled back. Honestly, how childish could she get? Well, I guess I was grateful that I was used to that side of her. "Are you okay with omelets?" I asked, receiving an unenthusiastic groan of approval. I sighed, taking out the eggs. "I might as well try my best!" I mutter silently as I searched my memory for my favorite recipe; I remembered her mother's recipe first and smiled. It took some time to get it right, but I managed to set up breakfast before she brought up another interesting topic.

"Do you want to go back to school?" She spoke so suddenly that I nearly dropped my spoon.

"You don't have to go that far..."

"Aki, I don't mean to be rude, but shouldn't you go looking for more opportunities? If you go back to school, then wouldn't you be able to..."

"I'm fine. Thank you, but I..." I had to pause. She was right, and she clearly wanted to help me with my endeavors.

"You're going to accept it anyway, right?" She teased me, clearly knowing that I was wrapped around her finger. "I'll get you some private lessons, then let's go look for a university together. It'll be a date."

"Kinda strange for our date to be about education." I joke, smiling back at her as the two of us continued with breakfast. I was about to wave her off for work when she turned around and pulled me into an embrace. "What's this about?" I asked as she buried her face in my chest. Speaking of which, I had lost a significant amount of weight and was starting to get a figure that was akin to her coworkers. My chest was more defined, my abs weren't covered in as thick of a layer of fat, and my extremities had become stronger and bulkier.

"I'm on a break. We can stay here, together, all day." She was positively beaming, looking up at me before pulling my head closer to hers. "I have a surprise for you, meet me in the bedroom." Giving me a sly wink, she playfully pushed my chest with her finger before ascending the stairs. Needless to say, I followed shortly after and found the door slightly ajar.

"Nakumi? Can I come in?"

"Of course~" She beckoned me, giggling loud enough to allow me to hear it through the tiny gap in the door. I excitedly rushed in, finding her standing with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Aki...you didn't have to hypnotize yourself. I'm going to put an end to this." She scolded me as she unfolded her arms and readied her hands. I glanced around our room, finding the hypnosis book on a pillow on our bed.

"Wait, no! Tano!" I tried to stop her, but three claps had already sounded through the air. I felt my vision blur and my head spin momentarily as my hypnosis was broken. Then I looked towards my girlfriend, my best friend, who was clutching her forehead as tears slowly streamed down her face.

"You..." She tried to hold back sobs, her lips trembling as her arms wrapped around her body. Taking steps backward as her legs seemed to buckle and give out, she fell onto the bed. "You hypnotized me..." Her face filled with terror as more and more tears flowed out of her eyes.

"Nakumi...can we talk about this..."

"Get out...I want to be alone for a bit." She was somber, a rare sight for those that knew her. Guilt crept up from within me, taking away my breath as I felt my heart slow down. The image of her face, her confused and scared face, was etched into my memory and I prayed that I would never cause her to make that face again.

I took my leave, giving her the time she wanted. Not knowing what to do, I found myself sitting at the top of the stairs with my head in my hands for the better part of the day, only leaving to go to the bathroom before continuing my moping on the stairs. "Stupid! Why didn't you tell her earlier!? What will she think of you now?" I spoke to myself, tightly gripping my hair and tugging it to send signals of pain through my scalp. "Why did you...Why did I even do this to her?" I felt my pants get slightly damp as my own tears began to fall on them. Regret, guilt, sadness, fear, among the sea of emotions surging in me at that moment, those four were the most prominent. From my spot on the stairs, I could easily leave and never return. She'd probably want that, and she'd tell me to get lost soon enough.

"A-Aki..." That voice made me turn my head. I swallowed my fear, this felt like the end of the road for me.

I was swept up by her arms, she was kneeling down to be level with me. A hand pushed my face towards hers as her lips pressed against mine. "Mmmgghh...Nakumi? What?" I was dazed. She just kissed me! I felt my face heat up as we gazed into each other's eyes.

"Shut up and let me do this!" She berated be jokingly, slowly pulling my body up as we both rose to our feet. Dragging me by my shirt back to the bedroom, she pinned me against the wall before throwing both of us onto the bed.

"I thought you'd hate me..."

"Hate you?" I got her to pause as she pondered her next set of words. "I guess I do, a little bit. It's like you didn't trust me to listen to you." She looked away, pouting. That momentary distraction allowed me to flip us over and give myself the advantageous position of pinning her down. "All those nights we were kids when you'd force me to study until I couldn't take it anymore." She said with a smile, placing her arms around my neck and raising her head up for another kiss.

"Well, you'd never study if I didn't do it." I broke away, grinning as I reminisced on the first time I used that book. "And...I wanted to spend some more time with you."

"And those pictures you took before I moved away...really helped me find my manager." For a moment, Tano forgot what she pulled me in here to do, instead opting to take a trip down memory lane as the past sixteen years of her life had been recontextualized with the knowledge that I hypnotized her. "But I have a question, though."

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you do anything more...selfish with it?" She asked as I moved to lie down beside her. "You could've done anything with this. I think you might've been able to take anything that you wanted, so why didn't you?"

"I already have what I want," I said, resting my head on our pillows. I moved my arms around to emphasize the room. "because you were able to follow your dream." I closed my eyes, sucking in air through my smile as the sun began setting from outside our window. I felt my chest expand with a warm and bubbly sensation; like a lock had just been removed from my heart. It was a good feeling, but it made me tired. She wasn't having any of it.

"Hey, let's do it..." She whispered in my ear as she moved her body on top of mine. "Tell me, have you ever thought of doing anything with me?"

"N-No..."

"Don't make me use the book to get you to tell me the truth." She looked down at me with a toothy sly grin, one that looked similar to my own. I swallowed my saliva, feeling myself get warmer and warmer with each passing second as fear crept up on me once more. I muttered my fantasies under my breath, turning red from embarrassment. She laughed as she dismounted me and paced around the room, tying her hair into a ponytail. "Do you want to hypnotize me again, just for tonight?" She asked, reaching down to grab the bottom of her shirt to remove it. I shook my head.

"No..."