.:Chapter Twenty-Three:.

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    Something that was important to know about Sasuke was that he loved his watches. While other men obsessed over football jerseys or cars or their whiskey cabinet, Sasuke secretly adored his watches. Even in his most casual clothes there was always an expensive watch present on his wrist. You didn't understand why he needed so many since they all worked perfectly fine and most of them looked very similar, but you guessed that the same thing could be said for your own jewelry, so you never questioned him about it. The other thing to know about Sasuke was that he could be very lazy. Of course not when it came to work – he was never a second late with any reports or files that were due for work – but in his personal life outside of work, you had a few criticisms; when he'd forget to get groceries and you found his fridge to be completely empty, or when he'd toss his clothes into the chair in the corner of his room instead of the laundry basket and leave them there all week. You couldn't really help him with that. You could nag him to change his ways all you wanted - and you definitely had - but he was a grown man and even if you were his girlfriend, you weren't going to fetch his groceries and do his laundry. But there was one thing you could do for him.

Sasuke had a pyramid of single watch boxes on his dresser, which annoyed you to no end. They were stacked very messily and constantly fell and scattered when the dresser was bumped, but most of all, it was just obnoxious to look at. You decided to do the logical thing and buy a watch box that could hold all of his watches in one sleek, compact case. It was made out of rich dark wood that was shiny and smooth to touch, and the interior was a soft gray colour. The top case could hold six watches and another bottom drawer slid out to reveal six more spaces. You had his name printed on the glass of the case in clean gold letters. That was your gift to him. The case came already wrapped in tissue and in a navy box with the company's logo on it, but you took another step and wrapped that box in dark silver paper and wrote him a little card. It was the most money you'd spent on a gift for someone, but it was for Sasuke, and you were happy to do it.

On Valentine's Day you woke up to a text from Sasuke that said your reservations were at seven and he would pick you up around twenty minutes before then. The plan was to go to dinner then come back to your apartment to exchange gifts. You didn't roll out of bed until two, you didn't shower until four, and it was at five that you realized how hungry you were, but it was too close to dinner to eat anything. Around six is when you began to get ready. You'd already planned out what you were going to wear – a black halter dress, minimal gold jewelry and black heels – and after you fixed your makeup and did your hair, you slipped into your outfit. Once you were done getting ready, it was 6:30, so you waited around the apartment, listening to and loving the sound your heels made on the wood floors. At 6:40 sharp, Sasuke knocked on your door.

You'd seen Sasuke dressed up many times before – everyday he wore a suit and tie to work, so seeing him looking so fancy wasn't surprising to see. But tonight, in his tailored black suit and polished black dress shoes, he looked more handsome than ever.

"Hello," you greeted with him a smile.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked and held his arm out to you. You smiled and nodded, and held onto his arm, and he led you out of the building and towards his car.

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Dinner was lovely. The restaurant was amazing, although you did feel a little bit intimidated by how classy it was. You and Sasuke were definitely the youngest people in there, which made you think that the waiters weren't taking you very seriously. But then they realized who Sasuke was, and they treated the two of you like royalty. You were nervous about ordering since everything was so expensive, but then Sasuke assured you that he was paying, and instead of feeling anxious about not being able to afford dinner, you felt guilty about making Sasuke pay for dinner. But it was Valentine's Day, and he wanted to do something nice for you, so you didn't put up much of a fight.

After dinner you went back to your apartment. Your feet were beginning to blister in your shoes, and you kicked them off as soon as you got into the apartment.

"Make yourself comfortable," you said to him. "I'm gonna change real quick, I'll be right back."

You quickly changed out of your dress and into a fluffy robe, then proceeded back out into the living room where Sasuke was waiting on the couch. He'd slid off his jacket and his dress shirt, and was now just wearing a white t-shirt untucked from his pants. He was holding a small square box in his hand that you presumed he'd been carrying in his jacket pocket. You grabbed your present off the kitchen counter and joined him on the sofa.

"Okay," you said with an excited smile. "Who should go first?"

"You should go first," he said. "So we can save the best for last."

You snorted. "Are you sure your present will be able to handle following mine?" you asked. He shrugged and you rolled your eyes. "Okay, here you go." You handed him the heavy box, and he seemed surprised by the weight.

He opened it carefully on the gift carefully on his lap. He delicately peeled off the card from the paper which had been attached with double sided tape, and read it before opening the present. You didn't write anything special; there was no sappy message about how much you cherished him or how happy you were to be with him. The card simply said, Happy Valentine's Day from the Best Gift-Giver in the World. Sasuke smiled at the card, then set it aside and took the wrapping paper off the box in one clean sheet. He looked down at the box and seemed to recognize the brands logo by the look that flashed across his face. He lifted the top off with a little shimmy, moved aside the white tissue inside, and stared down at his present.

His expression was blank, but after a second, his mouth twitched into a smile. "A watch case," he said and lifted the whole thing out of the box. He turned it over in his hands and admired the craftsmanship, then smoothed his thumb over his name written on the glass.

"Do you like it?" you asked, feeling nervous at his reaction, since it wasn't what you were expecting.

He chuckled. "I do, really," he said, still smiling. "Honestly, I was a little afraid that you were going to get me something really sappy."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"It's perfect," he said, still admiring the case. "Thank you." He leaned over and gave you a peck on the lips, then put the case back into its box and set it carefully onto the coffee table. "Now it's my turn."

"Oh boy," you said and prepared yourself.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said and handed you the small box he'd been holding. It was thin and wrapped very neatly in pale pink paper and tied with a gold bow. There was a little tag under the bow that had your name written on it in Sasuke's neat printing. You carefully untied the bow and slipped off the paper just as Sasuke had done, and you were left with a thin gray box. You shimmied off the top, pushed aside the tissue, and inside was a square card that was shiny and gold with a necklace wrapped around it and a little message printed on it in little black letters. The necklace was a thin gold chain, and in the middle was a single shiny pearl. It was simple, but oh so beautiful. Above the necklace, in pretty cursive letters, it said Pearls of Love, and blow was a little paragraph about the pearl. And at the end of it, it said, "Wear your necklace as a reminder that you are incredibly loved."

"Pearls of love?" you asked, and looked at Sasuke questioningly. "That's–"

"You don't need to say anything," Sasuke said, and you were glad he interrupted you because you had no idea where you were going with that sentence. "It's just a necklace."

You rolled your eyes internally. There he went again, only going half-way with his romantic gestures. He bought you a surprisingly romantic gift, and yet he wouldn't say the words that went with it. He let the card say it for him, but did he even mean it? Did he just buy the necklace and disregard the 'I love you' part of it? Or did he truly know what it meant but was too stubborn to say it out loud. Did he love you?

He was staring at you expectantly when you didn't say anything, so you quickly said, "Thank you. It's beautiful, I love it." You threw your arms around his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss. He wrapped his arms around your waist and held you snuggly on his lap.

You couldn't tell if you were upset that Sasuke hadn't told you he loved you or not. You weren't in love with him yet, so there shouldn't have been any hard feelings. You'd only been dating for a month and a half or so, it was too early for love. The necklace was enough for now.

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