[The King's Avatar] The Misconstrued Situation With An Overdue Explanation

Epilogue 1: Careers And Proposals

789 words, 4 minutes

13-and-a-half months later...

Before she hastily left Chongqing, Akane remembered believing China in general had nothing left to offer her. At one point, she even went as far as believing university wasn't right for her, despite her parents pushing her to attend.

Now here she was, re-attending university to complete her programs and graduate with her degrees.

She caught up with her 2nd-year spring semester coursework over the summer and was now working on her 3rd year at Chongqing University.

But she wasn't the only busy person.

Chen Guo's parents surprised her with a work position at their Internet café on her 23rd birthday. That was on August 8th. She was now 24, and she worked there as an employee before getting promoted to the manager position thanks to Tang Rou's knowledge in business administration, lots of Internet research and determination.

And maybe because of the fact that she was their daughter and they would need her to take over at some point.

Akane kept her promise and visited when she wasn't busy with homework, Chen Guo already having had graduated long ago and now focusing almost all her energy on the café. The rest of the energy went to her friends and family.

Tang Rou was completing her last year of university and worked harder than ever. However, her focus on the future shifted slightly to possibly working at the Happy Internet Café with Chen Guo, who said she would be more than happy to let Tang Rou know when they were hiring.

She was now 22 years old, and Akane remembered she didn't celebrate Tang Rou's 21st birthday because she was grieving over her mother's death and left the country shortly afterwards.

In fact, Sunday April 12th was when she witnessed the incident in the alleyway.

Tang Rou's birthday was the next day.

But when she told her friends she was leaving, Tang Rou hadn't found the heart to say anything.

Especially when she and Chen Guo were informed Akane was pretty much ready for her flight.

The tranquil woman assured her it was alright, and that it wasn't her fault things got out of hand. They got to celebrate her 22nd one anyway, and that left her satisfied enough.

And Josaku... goodness, where to start?

He also graduated just like Chen Guo, and true to what he told Akane that time they hung out at the tea house together and the first time they walked outside together during lunch, he pursued a career in construction.

His father being a construction supervisor gave Josaku a sizeable advantage, for he was taken under his wing to learn all about how things were done. He enjoyed doing grunt work like carrying heavy equipment, sweeping the building's dirt away, hammering in nails and helping tradespeople.

He was also scheduled to visit Chongqing's major construction union for more personal connections and information.

But there was also the fact that young guys like him were in demand since many construction workers were getting old and about to retire in a decade or so. He was 23 years old now, so he had a promising future ahead of him with many opportunities.

But despite all that, what Akane wasn't aware of was a specific father-and-son talk they had far out of her hearing range.

She only became aware of it when Josaku brought up the concept of marriage to her.

"I know we're busy, but I love you so much and wish to spend the rest of my life with you," he had told her one evening in front of Minzhu Lake, his motorcycle leaning against the fence. "Besides..."

Akane will never forget how cheeky his smile had looked, charmingly illuminated by the streetlights. Nor that he proposed to her during the month of May.

"...your father did say we have his blessing, right?"

Akane shyly tucked her parted bangs behind her left ear when he brought that up. She was going to get married at 21? When she still had university?

But in him, she saw her future. A shared future with many more struggles to go through but an unseverable partnership, part-time independence and common sense serving as their tools to deal with it.

And her father wasn't likely to revoke that blessing, either. Over the past year, they'd only gotten closer, skirmishes minimal and diminutive.

She would say the only large one they had was her misunderstanding of what happened in the alleyway.

Josaku tenderly placed his hand over hers on the fence. Her kindliness was something he never wanted to see disappear from his life ever again. "So what do you say?"

Akane got off the fence and hugged him tight in response. "I told you... I'd say yes."

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A/N:

The epilogue is divided into 4 parts. They're all connected, I just split them up because they would be too long together haha.

Also, THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED, AH—!

—Kaio