𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙰 𝙼𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎 - 𝙷. 𝚈𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Twenty Three

"Oh, Mr.Yamada," Dr.Sato smiled warmly as she opened the door, her eyes flickering to Aoki beside him. "Funny seeing you here. Friend of yours?"

He nodded before glancing back down at Aika, relieved that the doctor caring for her was one he was familiar with. Yamada tilted his chin down to put his lips closer to her ear. "Time to wake up, Dimples."

Aika hummed sleepily as her eyes blinked open while she tilted her head up to look at him. He gave her a small smile and nodded toward the door. "Dr.Sato is here so I'm gonna have to leave so she can treat you."

"Okay," she sighed. "Thanks for staying so long, Zashi."

"Oh, I'm not leaving leaving," he chuckled. "I'm just gonna wait outside until she's worked her magic. I'll drive you home when you're discharged, okay?"

"You don't have to, I can take a cab home."

Keiko scoffed from beside the bed, reminding Aika of her presence. "No, you cannot take a cab home from the hospital. As if I'd let you do that, Aika."

Yamada laughed and looked over at Keiko. "It's okay with you if I do though?"

Mrs.Aoki waved her hand dismissively. "Of course, of course. I'm sure she'd rather have you at home than me," she glanced toward the petite blonde doctor near the door and smiled. "But we should get out of the doctor's way, Yamada. The sooner she's healed the sooner things can get back to normal."

Aika grimaced as she propped herself up enough for Yamada to slip his arm out from beneath her. He kissed her forehead before getting off the bed, offering his arm to Keiko as he stood. "Hey ma," Aika smirked as her mother linked arms with Yamada. "Don't get too handsy."

"I'm sure your father wouldn't mind too much," she teased with a wink and Aika rolled her eyes.

"Don't listen to anything she says, Zashi," Aika called out. "Her mind's slipping in her old age."

Keiko laughed. "Brat."

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While Dr.Sato was tending to Aika, her mother and Yamada decided to go down to the hospital's cafeteria to get breakfast. After they grabbed their trays of lukewarm eggs and toast with coffee, they took a seat at an empty two-top table in the bleak room underneath a row of fluorescent lights.

"So," Keiko started, giving Yamada an amused smirk. "How long have you and Aika been dating?"

"We actually haven't been on an official date," he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But we've been spending time together for a while now."

She hummed and took a sip of her coffee before continuing her line of questioning. "How did you meet?"

Yamada chewed on a corner of his toast. "The station. I needed some help with my show and Ito took up a producing gig but was sick the first night and Aika covered for him."

"I bet she freaked out," Keiko laughed. "Probably embarrassed herself."

"Actually, she didn't. Well, not outwardly. She was kinda shy for a while, though."

"Just get her talking about something she's interested in and she won't shut up," the brunette shrugged.

Yamada chuckled. "Yeah, so far that's worked pretty well for me since we have similar tastes in music."

"You know, she listened to all that weird shit before she even heard your show," Keiko chased some scrambled eggs around on her plate with her fork as she continued. "That's probably why she liked your show so much in the first place."