The New Year's reconciliation

New Year is the time or day at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar’s year count increments by one. © Wiki

It was a New Year Eve and Ryoma was preparing mentally for the worst. That evening he had promised his parents to bring Sakuno to join the family celebration at his home, but the previous day the young couple had had a serious quarrel thanks to Echizen’s short temper and sense of jealousy. And now the legendary prince of tennis was silently freaking out about the upcoming storm that his parents’ rage would surely pour on his long-suffering head. The Echizens spouses adored their younger son’s fiancée and they would definitely punch him in the face if they found out that he somehow had mastered a way to offend the girl. Life was cruel. That statement was the only thought running through Ryoma’s head as he silently observed his cheerful parents in the living room, where his mom was humming some random song while setting the table with traditional New Year dishes. Ryoma face-palmed hard in misery. If he didn’t put up with Ryuzaki somehow in the nearest future, his mom would drown him with her own gentle parental hands. And dad… Ryoma’s eye twitched nervously. His face paled when he imagined what his eccentric father would do to him on the tennis court if he found out that his former coach’s sweet granddaughter wouldn’t celebrate the New Year with them because of his stupid son’s fault. It would be the beginning of the end. He had to do something to bring Sakuno home tonight, but the sense of pride didn’t let him to even start thinking about the ways to reconcile. It wasn’t his fault that they had a fight, after all! There was a very serious reason he acted like that! “Like a total jerk,” Echizen thought with a scowl, when a pang of conscience pierced his heart. They used to have little fights once in a while, but this one was a tremendous one. He didn’t remember them arguing that badly before. The memories of that day brought nothing but distress, as her hurt expression and teary eyes were forever imprinted in his mind. “Hey, young man! When are you going to pick Sakuno-chan up? It’s already past 9 p.m.” Ryoma put on the most indifferent expression on his face he could master at that moment. “I was about to do it, oyaji,” and with those words he grabbed the car keys and left the house. It seemed that there was no other choice but to reconcile, after all. If he wanted to step into a peaceful new year, it was vitally important to fix his relations with Ryuzaki. Sitting in his sport-car, Echizen took out his smartphone and tried to dial Sakuno’s number, but to his great surprise she didn’t answer his call. “Dare to ignore me, ne? Mada mada dane.” Putting aside his hurt pride, Ryoma activated the app to find his girlfriend’s whereabouts. He was the one who had suggested downloading that app on their phones so that they could always know where to find each other. But it was so long ago. If to be honest, he didn’t even think that he would need this app at all. Not until today. Cat-like eyes sharpened, when they detected the location of the stubborn girl. The similarly stubborn guy started the car and drove to the central mall. Finding Ryuzaki in the huge mall was equally finding a needle in a haystack. If not for the app’s help, he would have met the New Year in this place. “Gotcha!” he exclaimed triumphantly and headed towards the familiar silhouette in the crowd. When he was just in several meters away from the girl, he called out to her in a demanding voice and attracted too much unneeded attention. Sakuno stopped on her tracks and looked back only to find Echizen walking in her direction from the other side of the hall. When she saw him and his trademark smirk on his handsome face, she turned away hurriedly and speeded up her steps in attempt to escape his company. Her strange behavior started to play bad music on his nerves. The cheeky smirk was replaced with an annoyed one. He, too, speeded up his steps to catch up with her, but she never tried to look back at him or react when he called out to her. “Is she that mad at me?” Ryoma thought, watching his girlfriend running away from him in the direction of the elevators. Of course, he followed her. The place was noisy and crowded but he managed to get closer to the girl just before she hid in one of the vacant elevators. Ryoma gritted his teeth in annoyance. She indeed was avoiding him, wasn’t she? With heavy confident steps he approached the elevator just in time to block the closing doors with his elbows. “This one is broken, get out of here,” he commanded in an orderly tone to the people inside. Maybe it was the magic of his cat-like eyes or his categorical statement, but the mall visitors started to leave the elevator one by one obediently. When Sakuno was about to join the others, she was stopped abruptly. “You are staying here,” Ryoma proclaimed icily and pushed her back into the mirrored cabin, blocking the way out with his tall figure. “No, I’m leaving!” she uttered and tried to go past him, but he grabbed her elbow and pressed her to wall. “No, you are not,” he hissed, pressing the button to close the doors. Sakuno bit her lip and glanced up into his golden eyes. He was irritated; it was obvious by the sharp way he was looking at her. Echizen broke their eye contact for a moment and slammed the command panel of the elevator with his fist so hard, that the cabin shook a little, the lights blinked several times and then the emergency red lighting filled the small space of the elevator. “What do you think you are doing, Ryoma-kun?! We might get stuck in here!” Sakuno cried out in panic and tried to shove his hands off of her, but he didn’t even flinch. On the contrary, Echizen placed his hands firmly on her shoulders and pressed her back to the wall even harder. “If it means that you will stop avoiding me and just try to listen to me, then let it be! I am not in hurry, you know,” his words were soaked with emotions and it was rarity, because the famous prince of tennis was always stoical and didn’t show his true feelings to the others. Sakuno turned her face away and said in a hurt voice: “I believe that I have already heard everything you wanted to say, Ryoma-kun, and you never tried to hear me out.” The silence was smothering. “Look,” he started in a calmer voice, when he noticed how vulnerable she was right now. “I was angry with you that time. Or maybe I was angry with Atobe-san for courting you shamelessly.” Sakuno’s head snapped up at his words and she sent him a disapproving gaze. “How many times did I tell you that he wasn’t courting me, Ryoma-kun! He just happened to pass by in that terrible snowfall and offered to drive me home! And if to be completely honest, I was stuck in that blizzard thanks to you!” “But I called you to notify you that I would be late. You didn’t have to jump in his car just because I was a little late!” “A little late?” Sakuno’s eyes rounded in disbelief. “You left me standing there and wait for you in that awful weather for two hours, Ryoma-kun! And then you started to insult me and tell me mean things! You acted like a total-” “Jerk.” He was the one who finished her phase. Sakuno’s eye filled with tears as she watched his changing expressions. At first he was looking at her as if she was the source of his problems, then he gifted her with bemused gaze but now he looked like a man who accepted his mistakes. “Sakuno, I didn’t mean to offend you or have a fight, really,” he continued in a disheartened tone. “And I absolutely had no right to say the words I said.” “But you said them, Ryoma-kun,” she let out a sniff and tried to turn away from him, but his strong hands didn’t let her do that. He trapped her petite form in his secure embrace and pressed her head to his chest gently. After all, Sakuno was way shorter in height than him. “I didn’t want to see you ever again,” she whined between sobs, weakly trying to beat his firm chest. “I know. I deserved it,” he agreed obediently and stroked her hair gently. “You always lose your temper and never listen to my words. You’ve hurt me so deep this time, Ryoma-kun,” her sobs increased and now she was crying in full strength while clutching his coat in her fists. “I am truly very sorry for causing you so much pain. Please, forgive me, Sakuno. I was being a mean jerk, but I don’t want you to hate me.” When he was heading here, all his thoughts were directed to find a way of making up. It was only for his own benefit since he didn’t want to meet his parents’ rage. But now, when he was holding Sakuno in his arms and listened to her uncontrollable crying, he understood that he indeed was a stupid spoiled brat. Right now he wished only for her forgiveness, because he felt terrible for making her suffer so much. He hated himself for that. Echizen gritted his teeth in self-contempt and embraced the girl in his arms even harder, burring his face in the crook of her neck. She smelled like flowers in winter and he didn’t want to lose this girl. “I missed you,” he uttered into her ear in a hushed voice. She didn’t reply right away, and a prick of conscience pierced his heart. “Say, Sakuno,” he continued in attempt to win her attention again, “will we be alright from now on? Do you still love me like I do?” After the last words left his mouth Sakuno flinched a little. Ryoma felt her tensing in his arms and her hands gripping the fabric of his expensive coat. She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him with her sad teary eyes, which sparkled magically in the red emergency lighting. “You are a very complicated person and a true heart crasher, Ryoma-kun,” she sighed heavily and bent down her head a little to avoid his piercing gaze. But Ryoma’s hand took her chin gently and made her look up at him again. “But you love me,” it wasn’t a question, it was a statement and it was said with a note of pride. She sighed again, closing her eyes in defeat. “I do, and I can’t understand why.” “Please, look at me,” he asked gently, brushing her cheek with his thumb, and she obeyed. When he met her earnest gaze, his heart filled with warmth and a sense of gratitude towards this fragile girl. “Thank you for loving me, Sakuno.” “I just hope that things will work out between us,” the girl uttered tiredly, showing him a weak smile. “Then let’s get married.” She was about to let out a sarcastic laugh but his serious gaze stopped her from doing so. “We are engaged but that’s not enough,” he continued, taking her left hand and touching the golden band on her wedding finger. It was the ring he had given her several months ago during his proposal. “That’s not enough at all,” he repeated thoughtfully. “You never cease to amaze me, Ryoma-kun,” Ryuzaki pressed her left hand to her chest in embarrassment. “We are too young to talk about marriage.” “We are both twenty three and you have already given me the positive answer for my proposal. It’s obvious that the next step is marriage.” Ryoma’s tone was so casual as if he was discussing the weather and not their shared future. “B-but…it’s still too early,” her voice was so small and uncertain that it made Echizen’s lips curve into a boyish smile. He took her blushed face between his palms and made her look into his eyes, which glowed like gold in the emergency lighting. “I am not joking. I want you, Sakuno. I want you in my life, I want you to have my lastname, I want you to be mine and only mine, and I want everyone to know that you belong to Ryoma Echizen and to no one else. This is why I am asking you to marry me right now and stay by my side forever.” Sakuno’s breath got stuck in her throat. She loved him with all her heart, but the very heart that was beating like crazy right now, was not ready to get such a strong and straight declaration of love and a marriage offer. “I-I…” she was lost of words, her head was spinning and she felt her knees getting weak. “You love me,” was his another statement. “Y-yes…” “And I love you, too. Marry me.” “But Ryoma-kun…” “Please, Sakuno.” And his gaze was indeed a pleading one, and also there was so much care and gentleness in his cat-like eyes, that Sakuno could feel his true intentions and the sincerity of his declarations with her young heart. “I promise to make you happy and always be by your side,” he added and pressed his forehead to hers tenderly. “I will never offend you anymore. Please, believe me and believe in us.” Sakuno’s eyes filled with tears again, but those tears were joyful ones. Ryoma placed his warm lips on her forehead and left a chaste kiss there, wrapping his arms around her small body once more. This time she didn’t object and answered his embrace with her own one. “May I assume that your answer is “yes”?” “Why are you so pushy?” she giggled. “Because I want to get your answer before the staff will rescue us.” She smiled again. “You are the one who got us stuck in here.” “Sakuno,” he loosened the embrace a little and looked down at her smiling face only to say the next words with all the significance he was capable of, “ will you marry me?” She sighed in delight and gifted him with the most radiant smile he had ever seen on her face. “Yes!” The next moment she found herself soaring in the air, as Echizen picked her up and started to spin them both in true happiness. Thanks to that, the elevator was rocking back and forth, which made the couple stop their “dance” and share a portion of laughter. Ten minutes later the staff indeed came to their rescue. Ryoma was lucky enough to avoid being scolded for the damage he did to the controlling panel of the poor elevator. But the couple’s adventures didn’t end in the mall. Ryoma had mentioned that he wasn’t joking about wanting to marry Sakuno right there and then. Not paying any attention to her freaking out, he found a noctidial municipal government office in the Internet and they drove there to register their marriage officially. That night, right before the clock struck 12 p.m., newlywed Ryoma and Sakuno returned to the Echizens’ residence to celebrate New Year and the foundation of their new family.