Mio and Eizan are in the guest bedroom getting ready to go to bed for the night. Eizan is laying on the floor and Mio is sitting on the bed. She looked down at him “You know, this feels like when I first moved into your apartment.”

Eizan giggled “Yeah.”

“You know you didn’t have to sleep on the floor.”

Eizan sat up and looked at her with a stern look. “There is no way I could control myself if I shared a bed with you.”

Mio giggled “I’m sure I could make you stop.”

Eizan raised an eyebrow and smiled mischievously “Are you sure you would want me to stop?”

Mio frowned “Unlike some people I have good self-control.”

Eizan laughed “I have good self-control, when I want too.”

Mio sighed. There was a long pause for a few seconds. “Is something bothering you?”

Eizan could see the worried look on her face. “What makes you think that?”

“Your mother said you only go sit in the garden when you’re worried about something.”

Eizan frowned “Sometimes I wish she wouldn’t meddle so much.”

“Does it involve me?”

Eizan looked towards the ground and sighed “I guess this is as good a time as any. I should tell you something about marrying into this family.”

Mio’s ears perked up immediately. “Okay.”

“It’s not safe.” Mio looked a little surprised. “You know how I showed you that someone is always following me at my grandfather’s orders.” Mio nodded. “It’s not just for him to gather information on me. He’s trying to protect us from people who might want to harm his family.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Someone might try to use his family to get his money.”

Eizan frowned “It’s happened before. To be more precise it’s happened to me more than once.”

“What? Someone tried to hurt you.”

Eizan shook his head “I have been hurt before. When I was eight, I was kidnapped for ransom.”

“Wait, what? You’ve been kidnapped?”

“Members of a gang found out how wealthy my mother’s family was and kidnapped me at the park. I remember it like it was yesterday. They pulled up in a black car and just grabbed me. Next thing I knew I was sitting in an empty room. They must have knocked me out somehow. I was terrified. I laid on the barren floor crying for hours. Hours passed and I heard a bunch of loud noises coming from behind the door. I could only sit there shivering. Eventually, the door opened and my father came in to rescue me. He told me to close my eyes and not to open them again until he said.”

Mio had left the bed and was sitting basically on this lap. “Did you get seriously hurt.”

Eizan smiled at her and shook his head “Don’t be too worried, I was fine. My grandfather paid some kind of special forces team to rescue me. But after that, it happened twice more that someone tried to harm me. Luckily one of my grandfather’s bodyguards stopped them the following times.”

“Are you worried that I will get hurt?”

Eizan nodded “How could I not worry about it. I know you may have already made your decision about marrying me. But you should know it may not be safe. I wouldn’t blame you if you ran away.”

Mio hugged him tightly “That’s not going to happen.”

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“Aren’t you scared that something bad might happen to you?”

Mio looked up at him. “Maybe a little. But you just said you have bodyguards.”

“Well, yeah. But you don’t yet.”

Mio tilted her head “But aren’t I basically always with you?”

Eizan laughed “Well, yeah.”

“Do you think if I marry you, your grandfather would have someone follow me?”

“He will. But…”

Mio frowned “He will want something for it.”

Eizan nodded. “Probably. That’s how he got my mother to start associating with him again.”

“For now, I’ll just make sure to stay with you as much as possible.”

“My grandpa Hashimoto and father trained me in self-defense because of it. He knew one day the protection might stop.”

“Oh, so that’s why you trained so diligently.”

Eizan nodded. “That and to keep my loved ones safe. I probably would have no interest in it otherwise.”

She hugged him again “I guess you’ll just have to keep me safe then.”

“I have another question for you.”

Mio sat up straight “What is it?”

“If I did decide to inherit my grandfather’s companies, would you be upset?”

Mio tilted her head in confusion “Not if it’s what you decided to do.”

Eizan looked down “Even if it changed your whole life?”

“Like what?”

“You couldn’t just wander the streets anymore.”

“Umm. I don’t know if you have noticed, but I don’t do that now.”

“You may be subjected to media scrutiny.”

Mio looked confused. “You mean like reporters and stuff?”

“Yup.”

“Why would they want to know about me?”

“Who knows but it happened to my mother and her siblings.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that, but I don’t think I really care.”

“I may be gone a lot.”

“Well, I do care about that. But couldn’t you take me with you?”

Eizan shook his head “Not if we have children.”

Mio blushed “Yeah, I get that. You would just have to promise me, you would be home as much as possible.”

“I promise I will.”

Mio frowned “You’re acting like you are seriously considering it. You always acted like you hated the idea. What changed?”

Eizan giggled softly and rubbed the top of her head “I wonder.”

Mio frowned “You’re thinking about it because of me.”

Eizan smiled “You are part of the reason.”

“You know I don’t care about money, right? I don’t want you deciding to do this because you think you need to provide for me or some other nonsense. I’m sure I will make plenty of money on my own.”

Eizan laughed “I’m sure you could. But life would be easier in a way. There’s a funny saying that no one is ever unhappy riding a jet ski.”

“Well, yeah, I can see your point. But I would be unhappy on a jet ski. I don’t like deep water.”

“That’s good because I hate the ocean. I have an irrational fear of sharks. Actually, I would say it’s rational and everyone else is being irrational by swimming with them.”

Mio giggled “That’s might be the weirdest thing I’ve found out about you.”

Eizan tackled her and started tickling her. “Don’t make fun of me.”

Mio was giggling like crazy. “Stop, stop, please it’s too much.” Eizan stopped tickling her and kissed her. She frowned “How improper. First you touch me all over the place and now you kiss me.”

Eizan raised an eyebrow “Why did you make it sound so dirty?”

Mio giggled “It’s funny to see your reaction. Now kiss me again you idiot.”

They made out on the floor for awhile until he tried to get a little handsy. Mio immediately put a stop to it. “Bad dog. You have to wait for that.” Eizan grumbled to himself “I wish you didn’t have such good self-control.”

“Oh, stop grumbling over there. I’ll give you a treat when we get back home.”

Eizan’s eyes narrowed “You know what. I think I’m going to tickle you again.” He attached her again. “This is for treating me like a wild animal.” She eventually pleaded with him enough that he stopped.

The next morning Eizan and Mio were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee waiting for breakfast to be finished. Mary approached the table with two plates of food. “You know, you two were being a little too loud last night.”

Eizan and Mio both froze. Eizan stuttered. “W-hat do you mean by that.”

Mary laughed “All I know is I was walking down the hall and I heard stop, stop, please it’s too much.”

Mio started blushing. Eizan sighed. “It’s not what you think. I was just tickling her.”

Mary raised an eyebrow. “I know you two are a couple but make sure to keep things in moderation.”

They both nodded. Mary was giggling to herself. She knew very well what they were doing. She just thought it was fun to tease them. She thought to herself “I’m glad they are getting along so well.”