This happens after Naoki brings Kotoko home after kissing her in the rain then asking for her hand in marriage.

Naoki has just finished talking to Kotoko's father.

He turned to her, "Is that fine with you, Kotoko?"

Yes, her heart screamed. "Yes!"

But the words that came out of her mouth were different.

"No."

She bowed deeply toward their collective family members. "I'm sorry, but I will not marry Irie-kun."

She vaguely registered the looks of surprise on her father's, Ojisan's and Yuki's faces before Obachan was in front of her and blocking her view of Naoki.

"Kotoko-chan!" Noriko grabbed the young girl's hands. "But this is what you've always wanted, isn't it?"

"Is it because you promised to marry someone else already?" Naoki's flat emotionless voice rose above the rushing in her ears.

Kotoko shook herself free and stepped back. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Obachan, I'm so sorry." Then she ran up to her room and locked herself in.

Kotoko opened the door once it was quiet throughout the house a few hours later. Her father and Mrs. Irie had knocked on her door but she ignored them both. Changed out of her wet clothes, she only felt marginally less miserable. With a deep breath, she tiptoed past the boys' room and made her way downstairs. Her stomach rumbled but she did not have an appetite. Out of habit, she opened fridge and peered at the contents. She grabbed a sandwich, closed the fridge door and jumped in surprise.

Kotoko's scream was swallowed by Naoki's large hand over her mouth. Kotoko staggered back, chest heaving.

"Irie-kun!"

Naoki leaned against the counter, arms crossed casually across his chest. He was dressed in sweat pants and a white shirt, a towel slung across his shoulders to catch any stray drops from his still-wet hair.

"Don't you owe me an explanation?"

Kotoko sputtered. "Eh?"

"I proposed to you and you turned me down."

Kotoko straightened her shoulders.

"Correction, you did not propose to me. You asked my father for his permission and I said 'no.'"

He waved his hand dismissively.

"Why then? Isn't marriage to me what you've dreamed of since freshman year?"

"Well you'd know better than anyone." She said bitterly.

"Is it Ikezawa then? You'll marry him?" She couldn't say if that was a slight hardening in his voice she detected when he spoke about her marrying Kinnosuke.

Kotoko lifted her chin defiantly. "No. I rejected Kin-chan – although, he doesn't deserve the way I did it." She was still sad about how she had turned him down.

"Ah, you want me to propose to you properly then? Even though everyone knows how you feel?"

She shook her head. "Iie. It won't make a difference. I will not marry you."

Suddenly she found herself pressed against the fridge, the cold metal against her back. Their faces were no more than inch apart. She could lift her chin the slightest fraction and their lips would touch.

"What do you want then, Kotoko?" But he didn't give her a chance to respond instead sealing their lips together, his long fingers cradling her jaw.

Kotoko closed her eyes in response. It felt wonderful to be kissed by Naoki, his lips soft and warm against hers.

"Stop!" She pushed against his chest and broke the kiss. "I don't want this."

"You can't lie to me. I know you enjoyed that."

"Don't mock me! Yes, I did. And I hate that I did. I will always love you, Irie Naoki. I tried to stop – many times – but I can't. I've come to accept that. And while my heart soared because you declared that you wanted to marry me, I know it's too good to be true and I will not marry you."

"W—"

She raised her hand and he fell silent. "Let me finish or I will never have the courage to say this again!"

She stepped to the side, putting distance between them until she could no longer feel his warmth.

"Today I became an object for you. Simply an object to compete with another for. At least before I was that person who annoyed you, who made your life 'interesting.' I would have always been a trial to you, a burden, but at least I was a person in your eyes. Now you just say those words because you cannot bear to be beaten by another because you've never lost to anyone. You don't care about my feelings and you certainly don't feel that same about me as I do you. When you thought that my feelings for you were going to be given to another, you couldn't stand it. You don't want to lose. This is why you proposed. This is the only reason why you want to marry me."

Naoki chuckled. Whatever she had expected from him in response, it wasn't this. Then he laughed harder - a little muffled to keep from waking the rest of the household but it was a full laugh just the same. Kotoko stared at him in surprise and quickly rising anger. Finally Naoki wiped at his eyes and fixed his dark gaze on her.

"Is this what you really think, Kotoko?"

"It's the truth." She bit out.

Naoki pushed away from the counter and stood to his full height. "Well, as usual, Aihara Kotoko, you got it wrong."

"Ehh?"

He stepped toward her.

"I know this: Your feelings for me will never change. You cannot give them to Ikezawa even if you had accepted him. You love me."

He stated it plainly as fact. His warm hand descended on her bowed head.

"You will never be an 'object' in my eyes. You are too alive and too passionate to be anything other than you." Large eyes met his. "Of course, I didn't want to lose."

Her head shot up, eyes tightening.

"I don't want to lose you. I don't want your feelings to change. I want you to keep loving me. Keep loving me because I love you."

Kotoko's amazed expression turned to confusion.

"But why? Why now? Why do you love me then since I've only ever been a nuisance in your life?"

"As I said before, you make my life interesting. You make me feel things – emotions that I have never felt before. You inspire me. You gave me the gift of having a dream - something I want to work hard for." And he wasn't just referring to his ambition to become a doctor. "You make me feel alive."

He took her hand and laid it over his heart. Kotoko could feel it beating rapidly beneath her palm.

"That. You do that to me."

Kotoko couldn't breathe for the overwhelming emotions in her own heart.

"It took the threat of losing you for me to realize what I've known for a while now. That I love you, Aihara Kotoko."

"Irie-kun." She whispered. She could feel his warmth enveloping her.

"Naoki." His hand was warm against the back of her neck. "Say my name, Kotoko." He brushed her lips with his. "Say it." There was the tiniest waver in his low voice.

Kotoko lifted glistening eyes to his.

"Naoki." She breathed.

Naoki rested more of his weight on her. "Say it again."

"Naoki."

He kissed her then. The clock struck midnight but in the kitchen, time had stood still for the two whose hearts beat as one.

"Kotoko."

"Mmmm?" Her eyes were still closed, her consciousness still reveling in what had just happened.

"Will you be my wife?"

She opened her eyes, searching his beloved face and seeing the truth written on it. She smiled, the stars in her eyes.

"Yes."