Tezuka arrived at his grandfather’s patient room. Maimi followed behind him. Ayaka was already there in front of the door room. The other family members were inside the room, chatting.
Ayaka smiled and bowed. Tezuka nodded. “Aren’t you coming in?”
“They are too many people inside and I’m shy,” she said. Her eyes took a sneak peek at Maimi who clutching at Tezuka’s arm.
“Come on, let’s go,” he told her and made his way into the room. Ayaka escorted herself behind her boss while Maimi walked later after her. Everyone smiled as they saw the three of them. Mrs. Fujimoto came towards Ayaka. “Ayaka-chan?”
Ayaka pulled some strands of her hair behind her ear and nodded slightly. “Um.”
Mrs. Fujimoto nodded too and asked the others to exit. Only the three of them left in the room with Grandpa To. Ayaka neared that old man and bowed. “Good afternoon, sir.”
“Good afternoon, dear,” Grandpa To replied. He adjusted his position. Ayaka smiled, “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry about. It’s just a heart attack. With the help of the medicines given, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, dear,” he said with a calming grin. Tezuka sighed, “It’s not just a heart attack, grandpa. You could have been dead!”
Ayaka and Maimi looked at him in surprise. Grandpa To chuckled, “Relax, Tezuka. Let me endure it myself. I’ll be happy as long as you do as I say.” Tezuka stared at his grandfather’s eyes, not knowing what was he regaling about. Grandpa To raised his eyebrows, “Don’t you remember?”
When he pointed his index finger at Maimi, Tezuka got it slowly. It was the promise they made before. He promised that when he got married, he would make a baby so that Grandpa To could see his first grandchild. He was afraid that he may die at any time despite that he was in his 80s. Ayaka frowned. Maimi did the same.
Tezuka nodded slightly. Grandpa To grinned. Ayaka did not dare to ask. She cleared her throat. “Um….do you want a drink? Coffee? Tea?”
“I can’t take caffeine,” Grandpa To told her.
“Then, eat this,” Maimi said, grabbing an apple from a basket on the end table. “This apple will make you healthy and happy.”
Grandpa To laughed. He received the apple and smiled. “It’s you….who can make me happy-,” he said and looked at Tezuka. “-sooner or later. And I’m waiting.”
Tezuka was tilted by his grandfather’s words. Ayaka sensed a thing that was going on between the family members but as a PA, she could not butt in their problems. Maimi clapped her hands happily, “Are you gonna stay here again tonight?”
“Three more days to go,” Grandpa To said, wiping the apple with his shirt and put it on the removable desk in front of him. “Mr. Fujimoto will accompany me here so you guys don’t need to be here for a long time.”
Suddenly, there the door was opened and Andrew was seen coming inside. Everyone in the room looked at him walking slowly towards the patient bed. Tezuka did not seem easy.
“I’m going to take fresh air. Excuse me,” Tezuka said and walked pass him abruptly. Andrew sighed hardly. He knew that was a sign for not joining the visiting. Maimi bowed at him and ran after Tezuka. Ayaka bowed too and said, “I should be going to. Nice meeting you, sir.”
Grandpa To grinned. Ayaka took steps beside Andrew and shot a worry, curious glance at him. He ignored it. As the door was closed, he settled down beside the bed. “How are you, sir?”
“Hahaha…..I’m fine, son.”
“What did the doctor say?” Andrew asked.
“Nothing much. It’s a heart attack,” Grandpa To explained. Andrew sighed, “I’m sorry about yesterday. It’s my fault too for doing Tezuka like that.”
Grandpa To shook his head. “It’s okay. He’ll be okay soon. He just needs time to recover as you’d just come back. He’s surprise.”
Andrew pasted his lips and nodded. “Yeah, he needs time. And I’ll be waiting.”
Grandpa To giggled and slap Andrew’s shoulders.
Ayaka spotted Tezuka’s BMW at the parking lot in front of the red-tiled building. She knew the newly-wed had already inside the car but she was curious about why hadn’t they drive away? She had been standing at the entrance with those killing high heels and cold weather.
There were tons of work in the office but since Grandpa To fell sick, she needed to make a visit while her boss took a personal leave to stabilize his emotion. As she decided to take a couple of steps, a deep, familiar voice sounded.
“I thought you’re away.” It was Andrew. Ayaka smiled nonchalantly, playing with her car keys. “I am.”
Andrew smiled and stand beside her with his hands in his pocket jeans. He looked at the sky. “Nice weather, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s nice,” Ayaka responded. She was trying to dig his secret fight with Tezuka so since he was there, she bravely faced him. “May I ask?”
Andrew looked at her.
“What’s going on between the two of you?” she asked. Andrew stopped for a while and changed his legs’ position. “Why do you wanna know?”
“I’m his PA. It’s my job to be beside for work and I can’t do my work if the two of you arguing whenever you guys meet. So, I deserve to know,” Ayaka said with a sly look.
“Deserve or curious?” Andrew shot. Ayaka was surprised by his words and looked away. Andrew chuckled, “It’s because I went to France.”
Ayaka took a side-glance at him.
“We study together when we’re in elementary, junior, middle and high school. He says he wants to build his own company and asks me to join. But I just don’t like his way. I mean, they he thinks about what’s gonna happen in the future and he always includes me. I have my own life, my own profession.”
Ayaka’s eyes stopped at him. Andrew looked up. “So, I decided to stay away from. That’s when I went to France to further my study there. It’s fun but I was kinda missed him. So, I flew back here to know his condition. And his marriage life. It’s a shock to know that he’s a step in front of me.”
“But he’s mad at you so much. What’s the point?” Ayaka asked.
“He cares for friendships. He doesn’t like breaking up,” Andrew said. “Once I did that, he keeps a grudge on me.”
Ayaka nodded a little. Just as she faced in front, she noticed the BMW had gone. She sighed.
Maimi was humming a song while doing her hair after cleaning herself. She wrapped her hair with a towel in front of the mirror. Her hear was leaping with joy as she knew Grandpa To was going to be okay and despite that she was wearing cute, pinkish pajamas with a panda picture.
She took her brush and made it as a microphone and sang. That unpleasant sound annoyed her husband a lot. Tezuka was lying on his bed, trying to take a nap before waking up in the middle of the night to continue doing his work in his study. But when Maimi had started singing, he could not endure it.
His door room was wide opened and he could see straight at Maimi’s room from where he was lying. Maimi’s door room was left open too so she could be seen running in the room with those pajamas sent by Grandma Megu.
Tezuka groaned. He sat back. “Hey, old miss! Don’t you need to sleep?!”
Maimi froze. She shot a sweet smile. “One minute, Nezumi-chan!” Then, she blew a kiss.
Tezuka rolled his eyes. Suddenly, he thought of something. “Hey, old miss! Don’t you have a cellphone?!”
Maimi jumped onto her single bed and shouted. “No!”
Tezuka clenched his teeth. “Then, how do you call people?!”
“I use public phone!’ she screamed back, playing with her brush.
Tezuka sighed. He had been thinking that if that old miss had a cellphone, then they could send messages without walking to each other room to talk. But she did not have one so Tezuka was frustrated.
“Okay, I’ll buy you one so that we don’t need to talk face to face,” he whispered to himself.
The next day came. Tezuka took Maimi out to buy a cellphone during the lunch break. It was an expensive gadgets store. As both of them entered, the workers bowed. Maimi was amazed by the collections.
“Good afternoon, sir,” a worker greeted by the desk full with imported cellphones. Tezuka browsed. Maimi browsed too and spotted a cute, whitish cellphone named Nokia. “I like that!”
Tezuka searched for her pointer and grunted. “No. Let me choose.”
“But I want it! It’s cute,” she said. The other workers covered their mouths and giggled. Tezuka shook his head and trying to browse more. “Buy something that’s relevant with many usages. Not something that is cute.”
Maimi pouted. The worker smiled and says, “We have a special promotion this month. Couples can get their new phones for half price. And we call that couple phone. Just a sec.”
Tezuka frowned. Maimi was eager. The worker took out three pairs of couple phones. They were black, white and maroon. The brand was LG. He, the worker held up a phone and pushed the slide. “It is a slide phone and it has many usages such as internet, GPS and etc.”
Tezuka took the maroon one. “But I already have….a phone,” he said, staring at the worker. The worker gulped. Maimi took the white one and studied it.
“Uh…uh…well, it’s time to change, right? You just need to pay half then you’ll get this pair. It’s limited.”
Tezuka was thinking. Maimi laughed. “I love it! It’s cool and cute!”
The worker nodded eagerly. Tezuka faced her. “I just wanna buy ONE.”
“It’s okay if you purchase two. You would just need to pay half. You can keep the other one for emergency,” Maimi said. She showed the phone that she was holding. “I want this.”
“Don’t ever think that I’m buying as a gift. I pay for it,” Tezuka told her with a stern voice. Maimi was taken aback. She looked down. “But I want it so badly. We’re a couple. We should have these.”
“Married couple,” Tezuka corrected. “A married couple shall not have this toy.”
The worker was shocked by his words. Maimi pouted. “Then, if that so, get me that white Nokia just now.”
“It’s not versatile, you idiot,” he said. “I’m going to buy Samsung like the one I’m using right now.”
“Huh?” Maimi sounded. Finally she gave up. At least she had a phone. She noticed the worker’s face turned sorrow. Maimi felt sorry when she put back the maroon phone. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking at him and back at Tezuka who was walking towards the Samsung place. “He’s always like that.”
“It’s okay. It happens a lot. But I’m telling you, this is limited and you’re not going to find it anywhere after this. It’s sad that your husband doesn’t like it,” he said, keeping the phones.
Maimi nodded. “Yeah. I want it so badly, you know. It’s just that he’s a simple person so he doesn’t like this thing.”
“I understand. Thank you,” the worker told her. Maimi smiled and get her husband.
“The one that you’re using is sold out,” the Samsung’s worker, a guy said as Maimi reached there. Tezuka sighed. He looked for the others. Nothing seemed right at his eyes.
Maimi saw a white one. “This one looks great. I like white,” she said, grinning. Tezuka gawped at her.
“This one is great too,” the worker said when he caught the one that Maimi pointed at. He gave it to Tezuka. “It’s the same as the one you’re using but the camera is only 2.8 megapixels. The others, perfect.”
“I don’t care about the camera,” Tezuka replied. He studied the phone. It was a flip. When it was closed, there was a small screen on the cover, showing the time. The speaker was good too. Without thinking any further, Tezuka nodded. “Wrap this.”
Maimi smiled at him. He noticed that and blushed. When they got into the car and as they drove back to the office, Maimi kept asking Tezuka about how to use the cellphone. She was scolded several times. Tezuka told her the point that he bought a cellphone for her was to communicate using texts. He did not want to face that old miss all the time. So, he figured out that a cellphone may help.