CHAPTER 15

Mei slowly opened her eyes as rays of sunlight from a nearby window lit up her hospital room. The sunshine upon her face warmed Mei, and as if she were waking from a dream, she called out, "Yuzu?" The faint hope in her heart disintegrated as a nurse responded, "Sorry Miss, I didn't mean to wake you."

The nurse gave an apologetic smile as she quickly documented some of the stats on Mei's heart monitor. Mei felt her heart sink as she saw that Yuzu wasn't in the room. She gripped her heart as she thought about the blonde beauty.

Mei shook her head slightly and thought to herself, 'Wow Mei, you're really losing it now, imagining Yuzu comforting you all night.' As she tried to take a few calming breaths her thoughts were once again interrupted. "Mei! Today's the day!" Gina barged through the door with a wide smile on her face. Keeping her usual neutral expression, Mei asked nonchalantly, "And what day would that be exactly?"

Gina glanced out the window, then back to the raven-haired girl sitting up on her hospital bed. Gina's announcement surprised Mei as she exclaimed, "You and Ren finally got the green light from your doctors, so we're all going home today."

Mei's face had shock written all over it. The last she knew from the her medical care team, it was too precarious to try and transfer her back to Japan. It was especially risky since her condition was so rare. Her physicians had so little information for empiric therapy that they thought it was best to keep Mei at the hospital until they had something more solid for treatment.

"How did you manage that? I tho-"

Mei was cut off as Gina spoke the one word that always made Mei's heart skip a beat.

"Yuzu."

Mei looked Gina straight in the eye as she waited for more of an explanation. Gina held Mei in her gaze. Even though she had only met Mei relatively recently, she could tell that Mei was a good person. Gina could also sense how much love the girl had for her friend. Before finishing her explanation, Gina thought to herself, 'Why can't they just be honest with each other?'

"Well, I didn't witness it myself, but apparently, Yuzu's argument was so persuasive that they couldn't say no to her." Gina gave Mei a smile, amazed but she couldn't help but notice the sad look in those purple orbs.

Mei thought to herself, 'She never changes.'

A FEW HOURS LATER....

"OMG! Yuzu could you please stop that?" Harumin looked over to her friend who was tapping her finger on the arm of the seat repeatedly since the plane took off.

"Ohh, sorry Harumin, I didn't realise I was doing it." Yuzu tried to give her friend a reassuring smile.

"What's wrong Yuzu-onee? Are you afraid that Ren and Mei will be sharing stories about you to each other?" Matsuri turned in her seat to give Yuzu a devilish grin.

"What!? No, of course not!" Yuzu tried to sound sure of herself but before she could say anything else Matsuri spoke again.

"Or maybe you're worried that they're fighting over you and that only one will survive, haha... Owww!" Matsuri rubbed her head as Harumin gave her a light karate chop on top of her head.

Yuzu looked out the window as the couple started to bicker over the things just said. But anyone could tell that the argument wasn't serious. As Yuzu continued to stare at the clouds out her window, she realised that she should being honest with herself. She was a bit worried about what was happening on the other plane. After all, the two people she loved most were on that plane. She automatically went into worry mode when Mei's and Ren's physicians had explained that no family or friends would be allowed to fly with the two patients because the attending medical care team would already be accompanying them until they returned to Japan.

And so, Yuzu was back on the private jet with her friends, Sho, and Ume.

Yuzu had started praying that the flight of her lover and ex lover was going alright. But it seemed that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop her mind from thinking the worst.

MEANWHILE ON REN'S AND MEI'S FLIGHT....

"Thank you." Mei spoke as she reached for her hot cup of tea and blew on it gently. She could feel Ren's eyes on her, she tried to ignore it but as time went on her patience was running low.

"Is everything ok Ren?" Mei spoke as she continued to look out the window, but the answer the blonde young man gave made her turn her head and look directly at him.

"Yes, I umm....Gina told me about your condition, I'm truly sorry."

Mei could hear nothing but sincerity in his voice as he spoke, but it only made her feel that much more sure that he was the right one for Yuzu.

As she looked straight into his eyes Mei spoke in a clear voice.

"Thank you, but I have accepted my fate and I would appreciate it if you kept this from Yuzu. She should be trying to keep away from stress as much as possible in her condition."

Ren couldn't help a smile form on his lips as he heard Mei speak.

"She already knows, why do you think she fought so hard for this transfer?"

Mei's eyes widened and she couldn't help but notice how sad Ren looked before he turned to look out his window.

She went to speak but with his gaze still outside the plane he spoke again.

"Gina never told Yuzu, she figured it out on her own and....."

Turning back to face Mei Ren spoke again

"Yuzu is stronger than you think."

Mei looked down to her tea in her cup, thoughts started to flood her mind. She knew that Yuzu was strong she always thought that the blonde was stronger than herself in so many ways.

'Wait, what!?' Mei quickly looked over to Ren. She had just realised something and needed him to explain further as she asked, "What did you mean before? Are you saying Yuzu only pushed for the transfer because of me?"

Ren let a soft laugh escape his lips before he replied, "Don't get me wrong, I know that Yuzu would fight hard for me as well. But as soon as she found out she was determined to get you back home no matter what..."Ren's expression softened as he continued to speak.

"You're lucky to have someone love you so unconditionally without hesitation."

Mei gripped her cup tightly before she added with a note of disappointment in her voice, "No, I'm just the idiot who let it all go. You're the lucky one."

Ren could see the regret in the young woman's eyes, he took in a large breath before he spoke.

"She does have her clumsy moments though, hahaha....."

Ren started to flick through his phone, he burst into a hearty laugh before he turned the screen toward Mei.

One of Ren's many charms was being able to bring a bit of levity to an otherwise heavy moment. Mei's eyes went wide as she focused on the cell phone image of a very embarrassed Yuzu. She looked like she had fallen on her butt with ice-skates on.

"We went ice-skating, she was surprisingly terrible. But when I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else she refused. She said that she wanted to be able to do it on her own."

Ren looked up as he seemed to be remembering that day as he continued to speak.

"We ended up being there for 5 hours, but I must admit, she is one of the best skaters I know now, hahaha."

"Can I ask you something?" Mei spoke softly as she tried to avoid eye contact with Ren.

Nodding and giving a simple yes as an answer, Ren waited for Mei to speak.

"When did you know you were in love with her Ren?"

Ren was caught off guard by the question but after a few moments he gave a warm smile as he thought back to the moment he knew the emerald beauty had his heart.

"We actually weren't doing anything special, we were just walking through the park when.....cough, cough."

Mei moved to get out of her seat but a nurse was quickly at his side instead. After a few minutes Ren raised his hand, signaling that he was fine.

"Sorry for that Mei, where was I?.....That's right, we happened to walk by this family of 6 and the kids were asking their parents for a balloon from a guy that was making balloon animals."

Ren had a expression that Mei hadn't seen in a long time but it was one she knew very well, the look of someone in love.

"The parents said no and when Yuzu saw how sad the kids looked she ran over and bought balloons for all of them."

Ren turned to Mei who had a tear forming in her eye as he continued to speak.

"That was the moment that she stole my heart. Her kindness, selflessness and natural charm just pulled me in so fast that I didn't know which way was right or left."

Mei felt her heart beat faster as the young man poured his heart out. But she knew exactly what he was talking about because she had felt the same feelings before for the same person.

"What about you Mei?"

Mei couldn't help but smile as she recalled when her attraction to Mei had evolved into true love. She briefly closed her eyes before sharing, "Actually, it's a very similar story ..."

BACK TO YUZU....

Yuzu was getting impatient as she stood at the bottom of the stairs of Mei's and Ren's plane.

"Come on, come on." Yuzu couldn't stop fidgeting as she looked up. But the next few moments became a blur as the doctor rushed down the stairs while yelling in a panic into her phone.

"Where are you?! You should be here by now, and I need 2!"

"What's going on?" Yuzu asked as the doctor seemed flustered. She smiled sadly as she informed Yuzu of the situation on the other plane.

"I'm sorry Miss, but Ms. Aihara and Mr. Hatichi have both gone into cardiac arrest. We need to get them to a hospital immediately."

Yuzu looked up to see Ren and Mei being carried down on stretchers.

"We have stabilised Mr. Hatichi, but if we have to wait any longer Ms. Aihara won't make it."

Yuzu felt as if her heart stopped as she fell to her knees and she took in the sight of both Ren and Mei lying unconscious.

"She needs CPR!" The nurse yelled.

The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. Yuzu's body froze. She didn't know what to do. She felt arms wrap around her and a familiar voice speak.

"Yuzu, let's move out of the way."

Ume pulled her daughter to the side.

'No Mei, don't leave me, I haven't had a chance to tell you yet...you have to know.....I love you.'

TO BE CONTINUED....

AND BOOM BITCHES! HERE'S THE CHAPTER EVERYONE AND WE ARE BACK TO SOME SAD CHAPTERS :(

SHOULD I JUST KILL THEM BOTH? HMMMMMMMMM HAHAHAHA