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Sho woke up with scents invading his foggy brain. His wobbly feet took him to the kitchen to find the source. Butter chicken curry he made at his cooking date last night was bubbling in the pot, spreading its smell all across the house. The sizzling sauteed onion added the lovely smell of the home-cooked breakfast. His rice cooker tuned a song, the sign that the warm rice had cooked. Sho liked chicken curry rice with caramelized onion on top. Sounds weird, but he liked it. The coffee maker had brewed his favorite coffee blend, completing his ideal breakfast. Sho gave a warm, sleepy smile to the one who had woken up earlier than him and had prepared for the delicious meal.
Ohno Satoshi, his husband.
“Good morning, Sho-chan.”
“Morning, Nii-san.”
Sho then walked to the bathroom to get a quick shower and changed his clothes into his working attire. He then joined Ohno at the dining table. Sho and Ohno were busy with their own job, but they’ve made an agreement to always have breakfast at home. It wasn’t always freshly made foods, some of their breakfasts were yesterday’s leftover (‘It’s not a leftover if we intend to cook meals that to be eaten tomorrow,’ Sho pouted and Ohno just chuckled). They enjoyed their food in silence when Sho opened a conversation.
“Nii-san, do you know what day today is?”
Ohno paused chewing his food and looked up. “Hm? Monday?”
“Yes, it is. But… don’t you remember something in particular today?”
“What do you mean? I remember nothing like that tho.”
“Oh… okay.” Sho smiled bitterly as he walked to wash his dish in the sink.
“Is there something wrong?” Ohno turned back from his chair with a confusion on his face.
“No, never mind.” Sho dried his hands, took his suit jacket and put his bento box in his backpack. “I’ve got to work now.”
“Will you have dinner at home?” Ohno stretched out his hands to give Sho a hug on his waist.
Sho hugged Ohno back and leaned down to give a kiss on his head, “Yeah, I think so. Should I buy you something?”
“No, thanks. We have a plenty of ingredients in the fridge. I’ll cook for dinner.”
“Okay, see you tonight!”
“See you, Sho-chan!” Ohno waved him goodbye.
Sho closed the door and leaned on the door sighed, “He doesn’t remember, huh?”
---
Sho worked hard to shift his troubled mind by working on his to-do list today. It kept him busy and made him forgot his supposed-to-be special day. Sometimes he wanted to be forgetful. He didn’t like it when he couldn’t share the same memories with others.
But, hey, at least he had something to look forward at home. Ohno’s cooking was always his favorite since a long time ago. It was simple yet delicious, the perks of his partner’s home cooking he always boasted. So, he thought of what they would have for dinner instead of his annoyance toward his forgetful husband.
He left his office at 6 PM while whistling his favorite song. He met Nino, his colleague, in front of the elevator.
“Something good will come?” asked Nino, who was holding a pile of documents.
Sho chuckled while pressing the elevator button. “Yeah, sort of. Will have dinner with Satoshi-kun at home.”
Nino leaned on the cool elevator wall. “Oh, sounds nice. And I’m stuck here working on my documents. Should I call my wife to pick me up so I can go home earlier?”
“You’re sly, but I like that idea.”
“It’s Good Married Couple’s Day after all. We should celebrate it. Well, have a good time,” Nino walked out and Sho waved him goodbye from the elevator.
A realization came to his mind, “Oh, right, it’s that day. Ah, I can’t stand it! Why did he choose this date as our wedding date but keep forgetting about it? And it’s our 10th anniversary…” Sho’s irritation was more intense than this morning and he knew it would be longer to subside. He walked out of his office with annoyance.
Sho’s phone ringed suddenly. He checked the caller ID and answered the phone call half-heartedly, but he tried to conceal it over the phone. “Hello…”
“Hello~ Where are you now?”
“I’m on the way. Are you sure you need nothing for the dinner?”
“No, don’t worry. I’ve got everything I need.”
“Okay. I’m near the station. I’ll be home in 15 minutes.”
“Great. I tried a special recipe this time.”
“Really?”
Ohno chuckled, “Yup. See you at home.”
“See you!” Sho pressed the end call with a heavy sigh. He thought he should buy cans of beer and snack to celebrate the anniversary alone.
---
“I’m home!” Sho said while taking off his shoes.
“Welcome home!” Ohno’s voice echoed from the kitchen.
Sho sniffed his surroundings. “Wow, my house smells so good. What are you cooking?”
“Something we love to eat,” Ohno chuckled.
“By the way, I bought some beer and snack, just in case.” Sho walked straight to the kitchen and showed the plastic bag he brought from the convenience store.
“Thank you, Sho-chan, but we don’t need it tonight. Have a shower first, okay? The dish will be done in few minutes.” Sho nodded slightly and walked to the bathroom. “Ah! I forgot! There’s something for you in our mailbox. It’s on the bed.”
“Okay, thank you,” said Sho from the bathroom.
Sho had showered and took the mentioned thing his husband told him. It looked like a letter in sky blue envelope, but it neither had an address or a stamp. “A mail without stamp? Looks sus…” Sho opened the envelope warily, hoping it wasn’t a threat letter or didn’t contain any dangerous material.
Sho only found a piece of folded paper. No harmful substance found. He unfolded the paper and saw a neat handwriting. He recognized the owner of the handwriting immediately and smiled.
Dear Sho-chan…
“Hi, Nii-san…”
I’m not great at talking. But let me write something for you.
How long have we married? 15 years? I’m sorry, I forget the exact number, but I remember that today is our anniversary.
“Wow, he remembered. It’s 10 years ago,” Sho chuckled.
We’ve been knowing each other even longer than that. It’s obvious that I love you with all of my heart, and vice versa. I hope we can keep loving each other peacefully (because the last thing I want to see is your tears).
“Say the one who made me mad today...”
I really like being with you; spending our time in silence when you read your book while I fillet my fish. Or when we laugh hard at the TV shows we watch together. Or when you simply asking what I’m up to, what my next project is. I feel you genuinely care about me and I appreciate it.
“Thank you for caring about me as well...” Sho bowed slightly.
I know I never indulge you with romantic words. I keep trying to define what I feel for you, even after all these years. Sometimes I’m confused, but I want to accept those feelings that had been living in my mind.
“Oh, my...” Sho covered his mouth and his eyes got watery. “He never told me about that...”
Sho-chan...
Sho trembled and sobbed, “Yes?”
... did you know? I get it. I’ve found it. Something beautiful was kept far away, deep inside your heart. The key to the feeling I want to define and cherish is there. You keep it safe within yourself, waiting for me to find it.
Sho put the letter on the bed as he crouched down to the floor and cried for a short while. He then took the letter and continue reading it while sitting on the floor.
I hope we can be the best version of ourselves. I hope I can make you happy for the rest of my life.
My life won’t be perfect without you. Let’s share this big love together.
Satoshi
Sho leaned on the edge of the bed while holding the letter against his chest. His husband remembered. And he spent his day being upset and disappointed since he thought his husband forgot the anniversary. Maybe a superficial thing like the exact anniversary date wasn’t important anymore. He even could celebrate the anniversary on entire November if he wanted without worrying too much about the date, the number. He could make a feast to celebrate both the anniversary and Ohno’s birthday. How could he miss that opportunity for years?
Sho wiped his tears and burst out of his room to find Ohno, who was setting their dinner, “Satoshi...”
The love from his husband suddenly filled his body out of nowhere, felt like his chest was going to burst. He knew Ohno loved him so much. But he didn’t expect it to be that much.
Ohno looked up to see Sho holding his letter tight, and he just smiled, “You’ve found the sender.”
Sho ran and hugged his husband, the tears flowed again on his face, “You write your name on it. And your scent lingers all over the paper...”
Ohno hugged Sho back, “I didn’t make any mistake when I met your parents 16 years ago...”
“It’s 11…”
“Okay, 11 years ago,” Ohno patted Sho’s back endearingly.
Sho sobbed, “I thought you forgot...”
“I’m sorry...”
“No, I’m sorry for assuming you forgot.” they kept hugging for a while until he calmed Sho.
“You know what? I did forget,” Ohno chuckled out of the blue.
Sho was confused and leaned backward to see Ohno’s face, “What- But how you prepare all of this if you forgot?”
“I’ll tell you after dinner,” Ohno smiled, then shed Sho’s tears away from his face. “I thought I’ve told you I don’t wanna see your tears...,” he mumbled under his breath, then nudged Sho to sit in the dining chair.
“This is happy tears,” Sho sobbed quietly.
Ohno squeezed Sho’s upper arms from behind. “The food is ready. Time to enjoy the dinner.”
On their contrary tradition, the special recipe is indeed special. Ohno made a 3-meal course for their dinner tonight instead of the usual Japanese cuisine. The first dish is 3-cheese garlic bread. When Ohno served the dish... “Oh my... No way. Is this your cooking?” Ohno just chuckled and nodded. Sho took a bite of the appetizer, “Hmm, this is good! Your skill has improved!”
“Thank you. It’s a simple dish tho, everyone can make it.”
“No, no. I can’t make it. For sure.”
Ohno chuckled, “Well, thanks again.”
Ohno took the dinner’s primary star from the oven, the steaming baked lobster tails. Sho’s eyes were shining in disbelief. But he held himself from squealing over the dish, making Ohno laughed while putting the plate. “Don’t hold it, Sho-chan. You can scream.”
“YES- NO- I- I don’t know how to express it better. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Let’s eat this.”
The moment Sho put the lobster in his mouth, he scrunched his face in delicacy and finally squealed.
“Okay, so… what’s the dessert?” asked the expecting Sho.
“Something you love to the bone,” said Ohno, who walked to the fridge to take something out. A classic strawberry cheesecake.
“No, you can’t do this...”
Ohno served two slices of the cheesecake while smirking, “Yes, I can. That’s what we ate on our first date.”
“I can’t believe you still remember- no- YOU TRICKED ME!”
“I’ve told you I forgot the anniversary, Sho-chan,” Ohno smirked.
“I won’t believe you!”
“Why don’t you believe me?”
“Because this- this is too good to be true- stop smirking!” Sho pouted.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. But try my cheesecake first.”
Sho tried the dessert and sulked. “I can’t say anything except it tastes wonderful. Are you satisfied?”
Ohno held his laugh while putting more strawberry topping on his own cheesecake, “Thank you.”
“Now tell me. While I finish this delicious cheesecake- no, you can’t eat it before telling me everything.”
Ohno put his fork down with a pout. “I genuinely forgot about it this morning after you asked what day today is. I thought it was just your friend’s birthday. When your face turned bitter, my brain whirred to find the cause. But I couldn’t. So, I thought, what’s the best thing to lighten your mood?”
“... Your food.”
“Exactly, then I said I’ll cook for dinner. I still forgot at that time. When you went to work, I searched for every bit of clues on what day today is.” Sho cackled in amusement. “Then I found something on your table calendar. You wrote ‘Futari no Kinenbi’ on a sticky note at 22nd and I was like ‘THAT’S WHY HE WAS SO BITTER!’.”
“You spend your time today to solve the case and plan this instead of working on your project?”
“My project can wait, your bad mood episode after work can’t. You’re mad at me all day, right?” Sho spit a bit of his cheesecake while laughing.
Sho rubbed his mouth with a napkin. “Not all day tho, just 50% of it. Because you keep forgetting the date. Every. Year. And it’s our 10th but you forget it again. My frustration was almost beyond repair.”
“I remembered I bookmarked a 3-meal course recipe on my browser and tried it. So, I went to the nearby market to find fresh lobster. And the rest was history.”
“It’d be fun if I could see your panicked face.”
“Oh, yes, you’re right. Can I eat my cheesecake now?” Sho laughed again and nodded.
“And how about the letter? It was so neat. How long did you write it?”
“All afternoon. I made the cheesecake first. While waiting for it to set, I wrote the letter. It was difficult at first, but it was getting easier when you knew what you wanted to write,” Ohno held Sho’s hand affectionately and got a softest smile from Sho.
“I’m amazed you found an excitement in writing.”
They finished their meal by sipping wine. “I’m full. Thanks for everything today. You’ve pulled my heartstrings.” Sho bowed and took their dirty plates on the kitchen counter. He wore his waterproof apron, then washed them in the sink.
You’re the diamond, the jewel of my heart...
A soft melody suddenly was heard from the speaker. A man’s deep voice echoed throughout the entire house.
Sho turned to look at Ohno over his shoulder, only to find his husband had already gone from the dining table. His hands were still full of soapsuds, bulging his eyes in shock. “No…“ his heart never beat that fast after that time.
It was their wedding dance song.
You’re the first and the last, always...
“Yes,” Ohno walked towards Sho and helped his flustered husband to take his apron off. Ohno took out his hand. “Shall we dance?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” said the blushing Sho as he rinsed and dried his hand, then took Ohno’s hand to start the slow dance.
You’re my king, the crown of my love
Wider than any ocean
The limit of my love for you, my dear
Ohno led the dance by putting his right hand on the small of Sho’s back while Sho drape his left hand on Ohno’s shoulder, their other hands intertwined. Their bodies swinged through the song.
“Your body is still stiff,” said Ohno.
“But at least I don’t step on your feet now.”
“But that’s why we got closer that time.”
“Yeah, time flies...”
As the chorus came...
“When I’m gone…” Ohno sang the man’s part while looking up Sho’s face.
“Take me faraway with you…” Sho sang the woman’s part while smiling back at his husband.
Even if the world is beautiful, and the heaven is peaceful
My life is still a hell without you
That’s love
Even if the sun is bright and the moon shines with delight
My world is still dark without you
That’s love
“Sometimes I wonder what if we got a different dance partner back then,” Ohno said as they turned to the beat.
“I wouldn’t meet you,” Sho followed Ohno’s guide and clasped his hands tighter.
“Bless anyone who’d made the lottery,” Ohno let out a soft chuckle.
“You’re my king,” Sho lip-synced and mimicking how the singer sang exaggeratedly.
“You’re the apple of my eye…” Ohno giggled and played singing the ad lib.
“You’re my first…” Sho squeezed Ohno’s hand.
“And you’re my last, always…” Ohno squeezed Sho’s hand back.
When I’m gone,
Take me faraway with you
Ohno let go of Sho’s hand, making his husband perplexed. It didn’t last long tho, as Ohno apparently moved his hands to circle Sho’s waist and pulled him closer.
Even if the world is beautiful, and the heaven is peaceful
My life is still a hell without you
That’s love
Even if the sun is bright and the moon shines with delight
My world is still dark without you
That’s love
“You-“ Sho smacked Ohno’s shoulder playfully and got a harder squeeze from his flirty husband. Sho then wrapped his arms around Ohno’s neck. His hand nestling in Ohno’s soft hair, enjoying their closeness.
“You smell amazing,” said Ohno.
“And you smell like food,” Sho chuckled.
Ohno sniffed himself, “I should’ve had a shower again after cooking...”
“Just kidding. You smell good as well. And your cooking is mind blowing! I think that is the best dinner I ever had.”
“Wanna taste them again on our next cooking date?”
“Um, can we do it on your birthday?”
“Sure!”
Even if the world is beautiful, and the heaven is peaceful
My life is still a hell without you
That’s love
The song was getting closer to the end. They linked their foreheads, eyes were closing, noses were brushing. The steps were forgotten. Ohno just led the way while Sho followed where his husband took him, drowning in the warm embrace and intimacy. They were swaying through the romantic melody.
Even if the sun is bright and the moon shines with delight
My world is still dark without you
That’s love, oh, that’s love
A deep kiss became the last move before the outro came. Two pairs of love-struck eyes met, observing each other’s blushed face, then sighed and smiled in sync.
“Sho-chan...”
“Hm?”
“Why is this song too short? I still wanna dance with you.”
“You can replay it. But all happened today makes me tired.”
“It’s a roller-coaster day,” Ohno caressed Sho’s back.
“Yes,” Sho looked down and grinned sheepishly.
“We can hug and dance for another 5 minutes and we’re done. I’m as tired as you, to be honest.”
Sho chuckled, “But we don’t know how to stop.”
Ohno nodded, “So we just keep going.”
Ohno walked to his phone to press the replay button—while holding Sho on his waist, Sho circling his right arm on Ohno’s back, and putting his left hand on Ohno’s shoulder—then put each
other’s head on their shoulder, dancing to the same song once again.
“I can do this forever.”
“As long as I’m with you.”
---
EPILOG
“… So, are you still mad at me?” asked Ohno.
They were cuddling on the couch, leaning on the armrest, and watching a late-night TV show. Ohno held Sho from behind. Sho’s back leaned against Ohno’s chest. They wrapped themselves in a fluffy blanket. They somehow couldn’t sleep despite of being tired. The happy vibes perhaps kept them awake.
“After all of that? Of course not.” Sho answered while munching on the snack.
“For real?”
“Yes.”
“So, what’s with this impulse buying?” Ohno pointed to their coffee table, full of beer and snack, then snorted.
“NII-SAN- Stop it! This is so embarrassing…” Sho pinched Ohno’s arm and sulked.
“You thought you would celebrate on your own after dinner?”
“… Yes.”
“And planned to keep it by yourself?” Ohno squeezed Sho tighter.
“Yes. I thought if you couldn’t remember, I wouldn’t force you. At least I still remember the date and will celebrate it by myself every year.”
“What should we do then? Should we write ‘Futari no Kinenbi’ on the calendar at every November 22nd?”
“That’s nice…”
Since then, they wrote the reminder on all of their calendars. And Ohno didn’t have any excuse left when he forgot again.