Itazura Na Kiss- Eternal Love Story

#35 Shocking Truth

(General POV)

Naoki watched Kotoko as she read the letter. She laughed and cried while reading it. She also looked scared and confused for a short duration. It was a humongous letter, almost five times or bigger than Naoki's. She took her time to read it. After finishing it, she read it again... then again... for several times.

At last when she was satisfied with memorizing it, she looked up at Naoki with tears in her eyes. He was already watching her. In fact, he never stopped looking at her when she started reading. Naoki always loved watching her while she read. It was entertaining to him. All those different expressions that appear on her face while she reads something fascinated him all the times.

"Grandma Yoshida... She is an..." Kotoko stopped for a moment and inhaled deeply, "she was an amazing woman Irie-kun. I can't believe she was worried about me until her last breath. What did I do to deserve to be loved like that?" She asked him painfully.

"You deserve all the love of the whole world Kotoko. You just don't know what you are, do you?" He asked pulling her into a hug.

Kotoko hugged him back and remained silent for a while.

"I didn't tell her about Neuroshia. I just told her about my mother and about the decreasing possibility of my conceiving."

"Oh... You didn't?" Naoki was surprised.

"No... I didn't want her..." She stopped.

"You didn't want to worry her or you didn't want her to spill the bean to me?" Naoki asked calmly.

"Both." Kotoko mumbled in a barely audible voice. Naoki sighed.

"I... I shared about my mother because... I... well I kind of escaped there. I remember feeling all messed up and unsure and didn't know what to do. She was my escape at that time."

Naoki tightened his grab around her but didn't say anything. His heart was hurting really bad hearing this, but he remained quiet and let her continue.

"But in the end, I couldn't tell her everything. It's not like I didn't want to. I did want to. I just... didn't have the courage. At first I thought I didn't tell her only because I didn't want her to worry or I was afraid she might tell you, but then I thought harder... and after I started my treatment I realised, that I was actually a coward. I didn't tell her because deep in my heart I was hoping it was all a bad dream... that I was only dreaming and it will all go away when I wake up. If I tell her, if I talk about it out loud it will all become true. I was a mess Irie-kun... and in the end I feel like I deceived her. I didn't tell her the whole truth. I didn't let her go in peace. And she was worrying about me... all these times..." Her voice broke and she sobbed.

"Shh... Hey... Kotoko... don't... what are you saying?" Naoki was astounded. He couldn't fathom the depth of her worries. How hurt she was. He felt like his heart was breaking... yet again.

"Do not blame yourself for every single thing." Naoki couldn't count in his fingers anymore, how many times he repeated that sentence to Kotoko. Every time for every single thing she ends up blaming herself.

"I'm sure Yoshida-san is in peace. I'm sure she wouldn't worry about you anymore because she knows I'm with you. I can assure you that she definitely didn't want you to feel bad about her. She loved you a lot Kotoko and that is why she was worried about you. She even threatened me you know? She said she will haunt me if I don't love you enough and don't take care of you properly." He consoled her while running his fingers through her hairs slowly.

"She did? She wrote you a letter too? Well she did warn me that if I don't tell you everything then she will. I guess she wasn't bluffing." Naoki removed her tears from her eyes and cheek with his fingers.