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"Happy Birthday!" Akihiko's coworkers popped their party poppers and confetti bursted at his face.
Balloons tied on the chairs, tables put together as a big table for their cakes, spaghetti, and all varied foods for his birthday party.
The 25th year of his existence, today is his birthday. He laughed at the suprise as his coworkers hand him varied gifts. Pens, neckties, notebooks, and coffee mugs.
Laughter and all types of talks swirled inside the small office room. Detectives greeting him one by one, his superiors and juniors at work. The smiles and warmth in the air, and Akihiko couldn't help but keep a serene smile in his rosy lips.
The girls squealed as they see Akihiko's calm smile. To them Akihiko was an untouchable rose, as if thorns were wrapped in his heart and he was an unapproachable. He was dense and when his male friends had set him up or when someone asks him out.
He always says one thing, "My heart already belongs to someone else."
After the party, Akihiko got the permission to leave early and he had one goal in mind. He immediately headed to the flower shop nearest to them, the shop he was a regular customer to.
Buying a bouquet of roses, lilies and orchids. Some small flowers tuck amongst the larger one, all wrapped into perfection. After, buying the flowers he went to the bakery to buy a slice of strawberry shortcake. He remembered how much she loves that sugary cake after all.
Heading to the hospitals, going left to where she rests as the nurses chat about how jealous they were to the lady in comatose in that room to having someone to always visit her.
Akihiko then dropped all his stuff on the desk beside them, opening the windows letting in the radiant warmth of the sun and the cold breeze of that afternoon. The curtains flying as he took a sit beside her.
Smiling sadly as he told her about his coworkers suprise, for him the best way to end his birthday celebration was not having all those gifts but to have to spend it with her.
Minako had been resting in the same place for all those years he had spent being a college student, to a detective. He feels nostalgic to the first birthday he had celebrated with her. The sparklers they lit up at the rooftop of their dorm and the acrid scent of ash as they laugh together.
Every moment with her is bright and sunny, for she had the light of stars held in her scarlet eyes, rosy lips and pink tinted cheeks. Her warm laughter and her gentle smile, tender touches and the heat they once shared.
"Its my birthday now Minako, I'll still wait until you wake up.... So, can I share this cake with you?"
At each bite of the sweet sugary cake he felt a bitter taste pool up to his throat. The salty tears melting the creamy white frosting. The ripe red strawberries reminding him of how she spoonfed him once.
At each bite, he reminisce on the happy days they had once.
At each swallow, he remembers the tears he shed when she no longer opened her eyes.
How she really looks like is now only kept in the pictures that can't capture her exact beauty. Her voice barely a whisper. The warmth of her skin, now a phantom to his body.
The weight he had to carry for loving her. Yet, he already sacrificed his happiness for her.
And he will continue to do so, forever, even at his last breathe.
Akihiko then stood up, taking his trash out and splash water at his face to clean the tears away from his eyes.
He looked like a mess, no, he was always a mess until she came into his life.
The Spring of his youth for she gave him a strength he never knew he had within him.
But Spring never lasts long...
....However, it does return...
And on his 25th year of existence, Akihiko pushed the sliding door open and the air hits his face in a rush and the world suddenly became warmer and brighter just like in a fantasy.
Her eyes were open once more, as she sat on top of the bed. Tears falling from her scarlet, no, ripe strawberry eyes and she opened her arms as Akihiko words got stucked to his throat.
Running into the warmth of her thin arms as he dig his face into the nook of her neck, whispering "Is this not a dream? Please, don't be a dream."
"Silly.... Its not a dream..." Her voice cracked and he was sure that it was her, despite not having to hear her for years.
"If it is not... Please never leave me again... I can't bear to lose you again!"
"Silly... I am always here... By your side.."
He covered her cheeks with his hands and he made sure she is alive and real. Showering her cheeks, eyelashes, her lips and her forehead with peppered kisses as she let him, locking her arms around his neck as he pulled her for a deep heated kiss.
All the tears, sadness and bitterness left unsaid but they expressed their longing with their rushed kissing and touchings. Soon, the two of them calmed down.
Akihiko by her side, and she laid her head on top of his shoulder, and he kept on kissing the top of her hair. As she kept a happy smile as he warmed her cold body.
Noticing the presents, flowers, balloons and gifts on the table, she opened her mouth, "Aki... Mhmmm... Is it your birthday? Hehe, that means... I woke up on the perfect time didn't I?"
"It does not matter when, I am happy whenever it is... But it is such a great miracle."
She sighed as tears fall from her eyes, "Sorry... I made you wait... Sorry for not even having to give you any gift."
Akihiko simply shook his head, covering her hand with his warm calloused ones. The smile that he lost, now in his face. Eyes sparkling, and rosy lips showing his white teeth as his voice became so calm, and gentle.
"The greatest gift for me is... The greatest gift is... To have you awake by my side again."
The sudden rush of warmth made her cry even more, and Akihiko panicked as he almost left her to find a doctor.
She mustered all her strength as she pulled him back to the bed, placing a kiss on top of his lips, "Silly... I was just happy... So so happy... Thank you for waiting, Aki... I love you."
Akihiko returns the kiss as he answer back, "Me too... I love you... So so much."
On his 25th year.... He had her back awake by his side once more... The greatest gift that he could ever have in his whole life.