About Love: Chapter 25

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The room was bright. What time is it…? As that thought flickered through Asaka’s mind, he stared up at the dim ceiling of the room, where the curtains were drawn shut.

He couldn’t remember exactly when he had fallen asleep, but he had a vague recollection that dawn had been breaking. His body was sticky, and the sheets were in an absolute state, but he had been too exhausted to care and had simply drifted off like that.

Next to him, Sasagawa lay on his stomach, his mouth slightly open in a rather foolish-looking expression. Just looking at his sleeping face made Asaka’s heart race.

It was ridiculous, how utterly endearing he found that helpless expression. He reached out and gently brushed his fingertips over Sasagawa’s eyelids. His eyelashes were long.

On a whim, he slipped a finger into Sasagawa’s slightly parted lips. A wet, sucking sensation—chup—sent a shiver down his spine.

When he pulled his finger free, Sasagawa finally stirred, blinking groggily at him with slightly reddened eyes. Then, an arm reached out, fingers tracing lightly over Asaka’s cheek.

Asaka leaned in and kissed him. Sasagawa’s arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. It was hot—so hot it was almost numbing.

When their lips finally parted, Sasagawa pushed himself up onto one elbow. He pulled Asaka along with him, positioning him in his lap.

The way Asaka sat straddling him was reminiscent of a certain position, and the fact that he wasn’t even wearing underwear made the whole thing unbearably embarrassing.

But considering how thoroughly Sasagawa had explored every inch of him the night before, it felt a little too late to be shy now.

Still lost in the lingering sweetness of the night, Asaka gazed down at him. But Sasagawa, for some reason, was looking up at him with an oddly desperate expression.

“…How was I?”

Asaka tilted his head.

"I mean… was I bad at it? Did it not feel good for you?"

Asaka resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The state of the sheets, absolutely ruined from how much he’d climaxed, should have been proof enough.

He gave a small nod.

"I don’t have much experience… and I’ve never been with a man before, so I was nervous. But… it was good," Sasagawa murmured, sounding genuinely relieved as he pressed his face against Asaka’s chest.

At those words—I’ve never been with a man before—something in Asaka snagged.

The thought spread through him like wildfire, sparking irritation. He grabbed Sasagawa’s face and forcibly pulled him away.

He shifted, trying to get off Sasagawa’s lap, but the other man must have sensed something was wrong—he caught Asaka’s wrist, stopping him.

“What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”

“Just let go.”

“…Are you angry?”

“I said, let go.”

Even as Asaka struggled, Sasagawa only held him tighter, strong enough that it actually hurt. Frustrated, Asaka tried to push him away—hitting his back, pulling at his hair—yet the arms around him didn’t budge. In the end, driven by sheer irritation, he bit down on Sasagawa’s neck.

The body pressed against him shuddered.

Asaka immediately released him.

“…Sorry,” he muttered.

And yet—despite being the one who had just been bitten, Sasagawa was the one who apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“…Why the hell are you apologizing?”

“Because Asaka-san isn’t the type to get angry over unreasonable things. So if you’re mad, it must mean I did something wrong.”

“…Tell me why you’re angry,” Sasagawa said softly, staring at him with pleading eyes.

Faced with that, Asaka fell silent. Those eyes wouldn’t stop searching him, digging into him. It’s bothering me so much I can’t stand it, they seemed to say. With a heavy exhale, Asaka finally opened his mouth.

“…Even if you like me, you still slept with someone else, didn’t you?”

He knew it was just jealousy. Knew it, and yet he couldn’t stop the ugly feeling from bubbling up inside him.

Sasagawa had never been with a man before. But he had been with that girlfriend of his. That thought alone made Asaka seethe.

“…I never slept with her.”

Sasagawa’s voice was cautious, as if testing the waters.

Asaka snapped his head up.

“…Huh?”

“I mean, last night—no, I guess it’s ‘yesterday’ now… I was planning to. But then I heard you had called, and I ran out of my apartment.”

Heat flooded Asaka’s face.

Oh.

So this is what it feels like for your face to catch fire.

Sasagawa kissed him before he could say anything. Kissed him so deeply it felt like he was sucking the embarrassment right out of him.

When their lips parted, Sasagawa was smiling.

“…So you were jealous, huh?”

Asaka didn’t respond. The silence was answer enough.

Sasagawa let out a soft chuckle. “I see. That makes me really happy.”

His fingers brushed against Asaka’s ear, trailing along the edge with an almost playful touch. The way he did it—so slow, so deliberate—was unbearably suggestive.

“…Quit touching me like that.”

“Oh?” Sasagawa said, though his eyes were still laughing.

“…Last night, you were all over me. Licking, sucking—doing things so filthy I could hardly believe it. Guess I learned something about you, huh? Turns out you’re actually a total pervert, huh…?”

Sasagawa’s face went beet red. Redder than Asaka had ever seen before.

“…I’ll be more careful next time.”

His voice was barely above a whisper, so weak it was almost fading away.

Asaka pounced on that vulnerability.

“You think there’s going to be a next time?”

The moment the cold words left his lips, the flush on Sasagawa’s face drained away, leaving him pale. He dropped his gaze, looking on the verge of tears.

He had taken the joke seriously.

Asaka reached out and tousled his hair roughly with both hands.

Shit… he’s way too cute.

“Relax. I was joking. Sorry for teasing you,” he said, pressing an apologetic kiss to Sasagawa’s lips. “Besides… I like clingy, secretly-perverted guys, so it actually works out pretty well for me.”

Sasagawa looked up at him, his expression still clouded. His hand moved hesitantly, brushing lightly over Asaka’s back before he finally spoke, his gaze turning serious.

“A little while ago… you lied to me, didn’t you, Asaka-san?”

Asaka blinked.

Lied?

He had no idea what Sasagawa was talking about. Tilting his head, he waited for Sasagawa to continue.

“It was when my transfer got decided, and I told you over the phone. I made you really mad, and after that, you wouldn’t even answer my calls. So I went to your apartment. I waited all night for you. But you never came back.”

Asaka stiffened.

“You told me later that you got home late that night. But you actually stayed over at someone else’s place, didn’t you?”

That was… the night he had stayed at Koenji’s place. He never thought Sasagawa had waited for him all night.

“I started wondering, you know? Maybe there was someone else you were interested in. Asaka-san, you’re amazing. You’re the kind of person who naturally attracts people. It wouldn’t be strange if there were others besides me who thought you were special. Maybe people were hitting on you all the time, and I just didn’t know it…”

Sasagawa hung his head, his voice growing softer with each word.

Asaka reached out and gently stroked his ear.

“That night, I stayed over at a junior coworker’s place. But nothing happened.”

Sasagawa lifted his head slightly.

“I was already dating you—or at least, I thought we were dating. I figured if I told you I stayed at another guy’s place, it might make you uncomfortable. So I lied.”

“…But in the end, you did end up sleeping with someone else. Someone other than me.”

Sasagawa’s eyes were glistening.

“I hate this,” he murmured. “I should have just taken everything from you back then, even if you hated it.”

His arms tightened around Asaka, pulling him into a crushing embrace.

“If I’d made you mine completely, I wouldn’t have to feel like this.”

The possessiveness in those words sent a thrill through Asaka’s chest. It felt good—being wanted so fiercely. But… he couldn’t just let the misunderstanding continue.

“…Um, about that…”

Leaning in, Asaka whispered against Sasagawa’s ear.

“I lied about sleeping with someone.”

Sasagawa’s mouth fell open.

“…Huh?”

“That guy who came over earlier? He’s just a junior from work. We were talking about a project. I only said all that stuff because… I got jealous when I heard you had been with a woman.”

Sasagawa’s face twisted in disbelief.

“…It was a lie?”

“Yeah. I haven’t been with anyone since I broke up with my college girlfriend. And the only person I’ve done anything like this with… is you.”

At this point, he figured he might as well lay everything out in the open. Taking a deep breath, Asaka steeled himself.

“…That first time—when things started getting heated between us… Honestly, it felt really good up to a certain point. I didn’t actually want to push you away. But… I didn’t know what to expect. I had no experience with this sort of thing between two guys. I got scared.”

Even though he had resolved to say it, the words felt clumsy, awkward. His face burned with embarrassment.

“…Scared?”

“I looked stuff up, you know. What happens when two guys do it. And all I kept seeing were warnings about how painful it was, how you could get injured… At the time, I just wasn’t ready for that.”

Sasagawa let out a small, choked sound, burying his face in his hands.

“I knew you were feeling guilty about it,” Asaka continued, “but I couldn’t bring myself to explain back then. I’m sorry.”

“…D-Don’t apologize. I just… I just need a second to process this.”

Sasagawa took a deep breath, then lifted his head.

“So… when you said you were seeing someone else, that was a lie. And when you said you slept with someone, that was also a lie. And… you don’t actually hate the idea of doing that with me…?”

When he put it like that, it sounded painfully ridiculous.

Asaka gave a small nod.

“…Then… does that mean I can believe that you really love me?”

Sasagawa’s voice trembled slightly.

“That it’s not just friendship like I thought…? That you’ve actually felt this way all along?”

“…I told you from the start, didn’t I?”

Asaka met Sasagawa’s gaze head-on.

“I’ve always loved you.”

Sasagawa stared at him, wide-eyed. Slowly, a single tear slipped down his cheek.

“…I’m happy.”

Asaka was pulled into a tight embrace, and he wrapped his arms around him in return. The warmth of holding someone he loved—it filled him with joy.

He had no idea what the future held, but at this moment, nothing could be more precious.

After a deep, heated kiss that seemed to steal away his very breath, Sasagawa whispered into his ear, his lips curling into a tearful smile.

“Asaka-san, who do you love most in the world?”

What a childish question.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, the answer slipped from his lips—

“…Sasagawa-san.”

The moment he said it, a wave of embarrassment crashed over him, and his entire body burned hot.

Am I an idiot?

The urge to scold himself was strong, but then he caught sight of Sasagawa’s utterly dazed, blissful expression, and—well, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

“…You once asked me, Asaka-san, ‘What do you look forward to?’”

Sasagawa’s fingers traced gently over his cheek.

“I couldn’t answer you at the time. But now I can. My greatest joy is making the person I love happy.”

His voice was soft, but firm.

“I love seeing the person I care about smile. Even more than my own happiness. I’ll do everything I can for you, with all my heart… So please, always keep smiling.”

Hearing something like that—how could Asaka ever let go?

No, maybe he was already incapable of letting go.

The fingers resting against his back slowly trailed downward, following the curve of his spine. Then, they brushed over a spot Asaka himself had barely ever touched.

He stiffened.

Sasagawa had kissed him everywhere, touched him until he came—but he had never asked for more.

Still, just the lightest pressure against that place made Asaka feel as if he might open up completely. A nervous shiver ran through him, and before he realized it, his hips lifted slightly.

Sasagawa’s breath was warm against his ear.

“If someday you get used to this—if you stop being scared… I’ll be careful not to hurt you, not to cause you pain… So when that time comes, can I be inside you?”

That’s unfair.

How am I supposed to say no to that?

Even as he thought it, a future where that moment arrived didn’t seem so distant.

“…Yeah,” Asaka whispered.

◇:-:◆:-:◇

At the end of December, Morino and Ikegami’s wedding took place. There had been some chaos along the way—the church had rejected them, Koenji had resigned—but everything eventually fell into place, and the big day arrived.

From 9 a.m., Asaka was busy at the restaurant that would serve as the reception venue, preparing the wedding favors, setting up the reception desk, and checking the indoor decorations, with hardly a moment to sit down.

Glancing out the impeccably polished window, he saw snow beginning to drift down, as if it had suddenly remembered to fall.

Early this morning, the first snow of the year had arrived. Asaka had been asleep, but he woke up earlier than usual, thinking that the room seemed unusually bright. The curtains had been left open, and beyond them, he could see white flakes drifting down.

Last night, he was sure he had closed the curtains. The culprit, undoubtedly, was the man currently embracing him from behind.

Back in September, when the lingering heat of summer was still harsh, a breakup had nearly happened, but now everything had settled completely.

After that, Sasagawa had broken up with the woman he had met while on assignment. Their relationship had ended abruptly, just when things were going well, leaving Asaka worried about what had happened. But when Sasagawa returned, he immediately begged the woman on his knees to break up with him, which understandably enraged her. Their relationship ended then and there, and later, Sasagawa mentioned that the friend who had introduced them had also scolded him, saying, "I've never seen such a terrible man before."

He had also divorced his beautiful wife back in August. Later, he confessed that, knowing Asaka considered him just a friend, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to say, "I got divorced," as if trying to make a point about being alone.

And now, instead of being where he was supposed to be on assignment, Sasagawa had somehow ended up practically living at Asaka’s apartment.

Not just on weekends—he would even show up on weekday nights before Asaka’s days off. Hardworking, diligent, and utterly devoted. He had once said, "My greatest joy is making the person I love happy," and he had lived up to that, taking care of the cleaning and laundry, chores that Asaka tended to neglect due to his focus on work.

At first, Asaka had felt uncomfortable letting an older lover handle the housework, so he had pleaded, "Please, stop doing that." But Sasagawa had replied with a perfectly serious expression, "Are you trying to take away my happiness?" and after that, there was nothing more Asaka could say.

Lately, Sasagawa had taken an interest in cooking, so he had been preparing their meals as well. Because of that, Asaka’s visits to Ruri-iro had significantly decreased. Sasagawa devoted himself to Asaka with all his heart, and in return, Asaka found himself being devoured—body and soul—without a shred of mercy.

Still wrapped in warmth from the embrace, Asaka gazed absentmindedly out the window, thinking how beautiful the snow looked. Then, suddenly, he remembered—it was Sunday.

In the next instant, he bolted upright.

"Mm... what’s wrong?"

"The snow..."

As he tried to climb out of bed to check the outside conditions, a firm arm pulled him back.

"It only just started falling, and the forecast says it’ll stop before noon. The news reported that this level of snowfall won’t affect transportation… so today’s wedding should be fine."

Relief washed over him, and his body relaxed.

Sasagawa had memorized Asaka’s entire weekend wedding schedule. He even worried about the weather, saying with a laugh, "I get nervous too when it rains on a wedding day."

"It’s still a little early. You can sleep some more. I’ll wake you up when it’s time."

"Mm... Wait, did you open the curtains?"

"Yeah. I got up to use the bathroom, and it felt oddly cold, so I looked outside. The snow was beautiful. If the brightness bothers you, I can close them."

"It’s fine. I don’t mind the light."

Even though he had said it was fine, when Sasagawa started to get up, Asaka hurriedly reached out and pulled him back down.

"It gets cold when you’re not here."

Asaka pulled the hesitant man closer. Enveloped in his warmth, he felt at ease and closed his eyes. Even though he had said it was fine, Sasagawa must have still felt guilty about opening the curtains—his large palm gently covered Asaka’s eyes. The warmth of his caring touch spread all the way to Asaka’s heart, making him so happy that he couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

Just as Sasagawa had said, the snow would soon stop. The gray snow clouds were beginning to break apart, revealing glimpses of bright sunlight.

At exactly noon, after finishing the preparations at the wedding reception venue, Asaka accompanied the couple, Morino and Ikegami, to the Kurumi no Mori Church for their ceremony. The two had visited the church multiple times before the wedding and seemed to have grown quite close with the pastor. During one of the meetings, the pastor had even confessed to Asaka, "It feels like my once narrow world has expanded."

By 1 PM, after the pre-ceremony photos had been taken, the solemn wedding ceremony began. The couple, both wearing frock coats, made their entrance. Watching them, Asaka felt a warmth rise in his chest. The two of them, standing before God and exchanging vows with radiant smiles, looked almost divine.

Morino had insisted on a church wedding, but in the end, it wasn’t about tradition or formality—it was simply the depth of their feelings that made it beautiful.

As they walked slowly through the flower shower, the atmosphere was filled with joy. Afterward, the guests took turns snapping photos with them.

Asaka was in the middle of coordinating with the staff for the upcoming reception when a voice called out from behind.

"Asaka-san."

Turning around, he was startled to see Koenji, dressed in a suit.

"Ah… it’s been a while."

Koenji had resigned from Dragée the day after consulting with Asaka. Kohara hadn’t tried to stop him. They had exchanged a couple of emails after he left, but that was it. Asaka had occasionally wondered what he was up to, but the hectic autumn wedding season had kept him too busy to follow up.

"I’m actually email friends with Morino-san now. I stopped by to take a quick peek at the ceremony from outside."

Koenji smiled casually. Even though he had only been involved in the early stages, Morino had been his client. It was only natural that he would be curious about how things turned out.

"If you’d told me, I could have let you inside."

"Nah, it’s fine. I’m just dropping by on my lunch break anyway. Oh, by the way, I’ll be visiting Dragée for business soon, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up."

"Huh?" Asaka blinked in surprise.

"Last month, I got a job at a matchmaking agency run by a friend’s older brother. It’s actually pretty interesting. So, I was thinking of handing out Dragée’s brochures to the engaged couples we match. And if any of them book a wedding with Dragée, maybe we could get a little commission. What do you think?"

All that talk about how the job wasn’t a good fit for him was already a thing of the past. Koenji grinned confidently, his quick adaptability catching Asaka off guard.

"It’s not a bad deal, right? I’ll be sending lots of customers your way. I’ll even tell them there’s an amazing coordinator at Dragée."

Just then, a staff member called for Asaka—it was time for the couple to move to the reception venue.

"Sorry to bother you while you’re busy. I’ll email you later!"

Koenji waved and walked away. He looked more vibrant than he had ever been at Dragée.

Suddenly, Asaka remembered something Sasagawa had once said:

"Once you find the right place for yourself, you can finally unleash your full potential."

It was a shame that Dragée hadn’t been the right place for Koenji, but it seemed like he had found where he truly belonged. The future was uncertain, but Asaka was sure that Koenji had made the right choice.

Even though they hadn’t been in touch, Asaka had always wondered how he was doing. Seeing him now, working happily, brought a sense of relief.

As the photo session with friends wrapped up, the guests started heading to the reception venue.

Just as Asaka was finalizing the transportation arrangements, Ikegami approached and whispered something in his ear.

"Tonight, after the reception, we’re planning a third after-party. I’ll send you a message—why don’t you drop by when you’re done with work?"

"Hmm… if I have time."

"Bring your boyfriend and introduce him! I hear you two are crazy in love… Don’t worry, I won’t tell Morino."

Asaka’s face turned bright red, making Ikegami chuckle.

"…If he says he wants to go, I’ll bring him."

"Yes!" Ikegami clenched both fists in excitement.

A stray petal fluttered from his sleeve. Probably a leftover from the flower shower. He quickly caught it and placed the soft pink petal in Asaka’s palm.

"A little piece of happiness to share."

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