"Okay, bye," I said to the phone as I flip it close. In front of me was a table set for lunch - a french loaf sandwich cut in half, filled with slices of ham, fresh green salad leaflets and bright red tomato slices. Across the table was my girlfriend, Rin.

I didn't notice her frowning until I look up at her as I ask her to pass the knife. She didn't say anything. Instead she passed me the table knife rather than the butter knife I obviously meant. The sharp tip gleamed under the lighting of our apartment. It was a typical rainy autumn weekend, darkening the skies. We decided to stay in for lunch, hoping the rain will stop soon so that we can go out for dinner. Maybe we can stop by the mall to get some butter knives.

"Are you okay, honey?" I asked as I took her offer of using the table knife. She looked at me in the eye sharply.

"Who were you talking to?" she asked.

"Erm, Kaito," I said.

"What were you guys talking about?" she asked next, cupping her chin with her hands, looking at me sadistically. I can hear the suspicion dripping in her voice.

"Nothing much," I said, deciding to actually use the table knife to put some cheese on my sandwich. It took up a huge dollop, and the knife pierced through the bread when I tried to spread it. "About knives, mostly."

"You sure it wasn't Gumi on the other side?" she asked, ignoring my pun. I look at her. I knew this was coming. Ever since I decided to buy Gumi a Christmas present last year, Rin bugged me about why I bothered. It was only as a thank you gift for taking care of her when Rin passed out at a bar a few weeks before. I had to ask her if she wanted to move in with me for her to finally forgive me.

"I thought we went through this, Rin," I started. "I'm not cheating on you."

"Okay, maybe you're not," Rin said. "But why didn't you tell me who called? Or what you guys were talking about? You seemed like he was saying something amusing."

I remembered the joke Kaito made about Luka accidently dyeing her hair blue. I didn't think it was interesting enough to tell her, since by the end of the conversation I had forgotten about it. "It was just a stupid joke, you wouldn't get it."

"Why wouldn't I?!" Rin asked, her voice rising. Oops. Wrong choice of words. "Because you think I'm stupid? You guys never let me in on the joke. I can take a joke. You wanna hear a joke? Your hair colour looks like puke!!"

I stared at Rin. I knew she didn't mean it - she was the one who picked the colour, I just went along with it. I took her hand from across the table. "Rin, are you okay?"

She stared at me coldly. But then she started quivering, her eyes uncertain where to land. "Do you really mean that?"

"Huh?"

"Do you really care if I'm okay? Or are you just saying that so that you won't offend me?" I gave her a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." She shook off my hand. I can see her eyes wet from tears. "You don't even notice when I wear new make-up. You don't hold my hand when we're with friends. You talk to your girl friends even in front of me. Do you really care?"

"Of course I care," I said. A feeling of regret fell over me. I clenched my hands, wanting to hold Rin's in it. "I'm sorry. I should've been more attentive."

"That's not enough," she said, finally looking at me. "If you really love me, prove it."

My eyes dropped to the table, looking for an idea. Finally, I took a cylinder ice from my glass of apple juice. It had a hollow center - maybe too big for Rin's small fingers, but it will do for now.

I looked into Rin's eyes as she watch me walk to her side of the table and kneel down on one knee. Holding out my right hand, the left offering the ice, I asked, "Kagamine Rin, will you marry me?"

She didn't say anything for awhile, and her face was a bit distorted from the tears to see an emotion. She laid her right hand on mine, and I slipped the ice on her ring finger. It was bit loose. I looked at her as she observed to ice, acting as a possible saviour to our rocky relationship. I love her, and now I know how much she loves me. I waited for a reaction.

Rin looked at me, her eyes still teary. "Ren, I'm not too excited."

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Inspired by (or possibly a fan-fic of) :

Labels: romance

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