Eternal Melody

Terashima timing with the phone call, though, it is almost like he knew. Although Sumire is indeed safe with him, this is still a risky move. What is Terashima going to do if Sumire changes her mind and stays with him? 

“San, you’re too close. Can you let go?”

“I won’t do anything more than this. Besides, your body is so cold. I told you to wear more layers. Do you not like the clothes?”

“I like them.”

She is talking now; maybe she feels a bit better? 

“Sano, have you seen Yuhi?”

“I visited him. I said you were doing well.”

“Visited?”

“They transferred him to Hyou4’s prison. It seems Kiragi Asuka managed to pull some strings. I am sure they won’t mistreat him there.”

There was something that bothered him, though. He has heard some people say Terashima is deliberately staying in prison, even though there is evidence to clear him. 

“Can I see him?”

Sano shook his head. “You shouldn’t leave here.”

“But it’s been half a month.”

“No, are you going to eat or not?”

“I’m not hungry.”

This again! “Look, Sumire, you can’t keep doing this.”

At this stage, she will collapse again. He no longer wants to see her in such a terrible state in his family hospital again. Despite what it looked like, Sano found it hard to be her doctor. Although he could spend extra time with her, at what cost?

Sano felt her tug on his shirt, and he bit his lip. “I won’t do anything.”

“Even though you can? What if I say yes.”

“Sumire, I know you’re only emotional right now.”

“Who says I am?” Sumire challenged.

Just a few minutes ago, she acted cautiously around him, but now she is doing this again. Since Terashima entrusted her to him in the past two weeks, Sumire has had occasional emotional outbursts like this. 

“I am going crazy, San. Won’t you help me? I miss him so much.”

“Sumire-” His sentence fell short when she pushed him down. The moment she hovered over him, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist. But even then, he did not do anything more than that.

“In the past, you would have done it easily if I asked you.”

“That was then; we were dating.”

Sumire laughed. “Why are you trying to act like a saint when you cheated on me?”

“Sumire, please stop.”

“Touch me.”

Sano bit his lip. This girl is acting crazy again. He reported this odd behavior to Hino too, but Terashima’s case keeps him busy. 

“Sorry, but this is all I can do.”

….

After Sumire fell asleep, he decided to cook and headed to the kitchen. But he only finished halfway when he heard movements from the room upstairs. He quickly closed the stove and put lids on the pans before he exited the kitchen.

He could recall the sensation of her skin even though an hour had passed already. She should be fine now, right? Hino told him how Terashima controls himself around Sumire. But Sano does not know how he can do something like that. 

Sano ran his hands through his hair and sighed. This is driving him crazy. He is happy that Sumire is staying here with him; it is something he has always wanted. But he did not want it to be like this. 

If she was going to stay with him, he wishes she broke up with Terashima and no longer had feelings for him.

“Don’t get up; stay like that.”

Sumire sighed. “You stopped me?”

“Well, I did kiss you a bit.”

“Mmm.”

“Are you fine?”

“My head feels like a mess. Thank you for stopping me.”

Sano walked over and brushed his fingers across her forehead. The heat from her face transmitted into his skin. “You’re feverish; you should lay down.”

“Mmm, I’m sick again. This keeps happening a lot lately.”

“..”

“Is it because of the medicine you give me?”

She already has it figured out? “I’m sorry, but you need to stay put here, Sumire. If you go outside and cause problems, it will be bad.” He placed a cup in front of her. “It will only make you feverish and a bit tired. But it won’t harm your body anyway.”

“..”

She won’t take it now that she knows, right? To his surprise, however, Sumire picked up the cup and immediately drank from it.

A fit of coughs escaped her lips, and his eyes widened, alarmed.

Sano patted her back and laid her down. “Why did you just do something like that?”

“You know for the longest time I missed you.”

Huh? Did she miss him?

“It was during the time I dated Ren. I had those days where I wanted to see you.”

“You did?”

Sumire laughed. “He had a hard time stopping me.”

Sano paused for a moment, trying to register her words. Did she miss him? Their breakup was terrible; naturally, he orchestrated it to be that way. But even then, he could not leave her alone, and that was why he instructed some of his men to follow her. 

He knew what she was like; whenever she got hurt, she would end up doing something carelessly. Indeed when he received the report that she was at the bar, he got his men to go after her. But, Sano clenched his fist when he recalled the police report.

You set her up again? You have no shame, do you?

Set her up? That is not what he did- he sent his men to protect her. How did it end up like that? After that incident, he tried to call her; however, it did no good.

“Your phone.”

“I gave it to Ren. He told me he doesn’t trust me with it.”

So the one who blocked all his calls was Kanagawa. He supposes that made sense. No matter how much Sumire dislikes somebody, she would never block them. She is the type to keep the details of the person she hates even if it will backfire on her in the future. That was one of the few things he knew about her, yet he misunderstood this entire time.

Sano assumed that he went overboard this time and that she no longer wanted to see him. Of course, he went overboard; he had to trick those people successfully. 

“Is Kanagawa Ren coming back?”

“I haven’t heard from him since he left.”

‘Is that so?’ Sano thought the two would remain in contact. After doing a bit of investigating, it seemed like she knew Kanagawa Ren before they started to date. He already had so many rivals then, but he spent far too much time focusing on Ichinose Arashi like a fool.

Now, where was that guy? The guy he was so worried about, nothing ever happened between the two. Sumire dated other guys, and now she is in this current state where she can’t survive without Terashima Yuhi.

Sano caressed her cheeks. “Do you still have feelings for me?”