After neatly packing away her workspace, she reached out and Clicked the switch on her small desk lamp, making her side of the room into the dim blue shadows of the morning.
She looked over at his chaotic desk one last time. 'Is he seriously sleeping like that all morning?' she thought, frowning.
'Good grief. Does he want his entire spine to sue him for damages tomorrow?' she scoffed softly.
'If he breaks his neck, what do I tell the kids? That their father died protecting a pile of papers?'
She turned away.
'Hmph. Idiot.'
But right as she turned to walk away, her eyes caught something sitting flat on his desk.
It was his black ceramic coffee mug. It sat completely untouched, the liquid inside dark, dead, and freezing cold.
A sharp wave of pure irritation immediately hit her chest.
Mrs. Kamitani threw her head back, looking straight up toward the ceiling as if complaining directly to God.
"Kami-sama, I passed the bar examination for this?" she whispered helplessly to the empty air, her shoulders slumping in absolute defeat.
SMACK!
Mrs. Kamitani slapped the flat of her palm right against her forehead, irritated at her own weakness. Her brain told her to go to sleep, but her heart was forcing her to help him anyway.
She stayed perfectly still like that for a few quiet seconds, keeping her hand clamped over her eyes. She thought that if she blocked out the sight of his crooked neck and messy desk, she could still stop herself from caring.
But it was no use. After years of marriage, taking care of this stubborn man had become her automatic second nature. Even though she wanted to act tough and grumpy, her wifely habits were simply impossible to fight off.
Only after a long while, she finally dragged her hand down and looked up.
Her brow was twitching with pure irritation as she glared at the sleeping attorney one last time.
"Hah..."
She let out a long, heavy sigh of deep surrender, shaking her head.
"Fine. I will only do this once."
With an angry, grumpy huff, she slammed her packed bag back down onto her table.
She stomped across the distance between their two desks, her bare feet making soft, hurried slaps against the polished wooden floor.
She reached her hand straight out, about to aggressively grab the cold cup and storm away, but right before her fingers could touch the ceramic handle, she suddenly stopped herself in her steps.
She bent down slightly, whispering fiercely to her own mind to justify her actions.
'I am only throwing out this cold coffee because leaving good beans to rot is a complete waste!' she argued with herself, her chin shaking with a sharp, stubborn nod.
She stared down at the freezing mug with a big, grumpy frown.
"Yes, exactly. I am just saving our household budget!" she whispered-yelled to the empty desk, her face turning pink.
"I am absolutely not doing this because I care about him. I am doing it because unlike a certain stubborn, brainless idiot, I actually know when a hot drink is ruined!"
_AFTER A WHILE_
The heavy bedroom door silently opened with a soft Click cutting the quiet voice in the bedroom.
Mrs. Kamitani stepped back into the dark room, carefully balancing a fresh, newly made mug of hot coffee in her hands, the rich aroma instantly cutting through the freezing air.
With slow, secret steps, she crept across the polished floorboards, trying her absolute best not to make a single sound as she arrived right beside Mr. Kamitani's workspace.
Only when she stood directly over the desk did she finally notice the actual, complete chaos of his workspace.
It was an absolute disaster area. Legal files were scattered everywhere without any order, papers were sliding off the edges, and one thick cardboard file folder was even ridiculously sitting right on top of his desk lamp, blocking out half the light.
Mrs. Kamitani deeply frowned at the sight, her corporate neatness completely screaming inside her head.
She carefully set the fresh, steaming mug down onto a clear spot on the wood, before reaching out and aggressively snatching the rogue file straight off the lamp, throwing it back down onto a random stack with a quiet rustle.
She stared at the messy mountains of paperwork and silently cursed Mr. Kamitani under her breath.
'Unbelievable...' she thought to herself, a wave of realization hitting her mind.
"For years, I kept wondering how on earth Kento managed to develop such terribly messy habits in his room. I kept scolding him for it."
She let out a sharp, quiet huff, crossing her arms tightly.
"Now I finally realize the truth. The poor boy inherited it directly from his own father's DNA! At least Shido is a thousand times better than both of them combined."
As her eyes drifted back down to her husband, she noticed the formal tie around his white shirt. Even while bent backward in total exhaustion, his dark tie was still pulled up incredibly tight against his throat.
A surge of grumpiness rushed into her chest, and she stared at the fabric with a narrow, angry stare.
"Honestly, looking at him like this... I feel like choking his neck with that stupid tie!" she complained fiercely to herself.
Despite her angry thoughts, Mrs. Kamitani reached her hands out anyway. Her fingers gently slid under his collar, carefully and softly loosening the tight knot, pulling the fabric down a few inches so he could finally breathe properly.
As her hands retreated, she noticed the wild, tangled mess his hair was in, the strands sticking out in every single direction.
She let out a long, heavy sigh, looking down at his exhausted features.
'Good grief...!' she murmured internally, a mix of pity and annoyance bubbling up. 'Did he even look in a mirror before sitting down?"
She stepped back slightly, adjusting her reading spectacles in the dim light while continuously grumbling in her mind about the absolute ridiculous nature of the stubborn attorney she had married.
She stepped back slightly, adjusting her reading spectacles in the dim light.
"Good grief..." her mind grumbled, looking toward the chair.
"A respected attorney. A father of two children. Years of education and professional training... only to end up sleeping in an office chair."
She cast one last annoyed glare at his messy desk.
"Amazing."
As she turned her chin to leave, her green eyes caught a few long, messy strands of his hair falling directly across his closed eyes.
Mrs. Kamitani let out another dramatic, silent sigh, rolling her eyes at the sight.
Since she was already standing right there beside his chair, she unconsciously reached her hand back out toward his forehead.
She used the tips of her fingers to gently push the loose, tangled strands aside, trying to clear his face so he could rest a bit more comfortably.
Hoping to bring some neat order to the chaos, she swiped her palm over the top of his head to smooth the rest of the wild mess flat.
But the moment her hand lifted, the stubborn hair immediately sprang straight back up into the exact same messy, wild positions as before.
Mrs. Kamitani's eyebrows twitched with an instant wave of irritation at her failed attempt.
'The heck—' she thought grumpily, pulling her hand away and dropping her arms to her sides. "Even his hair is as incredibly stubborn and uncooperative as his legal arguments."
Giving up completely on fixing his head, she took a tiny step backward.
The quiet sound of the air conditioner suddenly faded away as a sudden, painful memory rushed straight back into Mrs. Kamitani's mind.
The lighthearted energy of her quiet care vanished in an instant, replaced by the heavy, suffocating weight of the words they had exchanged during breakfast in the kitchen.
Mr. Kamitani's freezing, absolute whisper echoed clearly through her ears, cutting through her thoughts like a sharp piece of ice.
"You are daydreaming. I will not believe this... Now drop it."
And then, the absolute raw volume of his furious shout slammed into her chest all over again.
"YUNA!!!"
The memory of that terrifying moment made her chest tighten with a sudden, fresh wave of bitter betrayal.
A single, hot tear immediately welled up in the corner of her green eye, shining under the faint light of the computer screen.
But before that tear could even think of falling down her cheek, Mrs. Kamitani sharply lifted her fingers, aggressively rubbing her eyes to erase any trace of weakness.
"Hic... ugh—" she let out a tiny, muffled sniff, quickly clearing her throat as she swallowed down the lingering hurt.
She fixed her reading spectacles with a sharp snap of her finger, her defensive pride returning in full force as she stared down at her husband's frozen, stretched-out body.
She leaned down slightly, looking here and there across his messy wooden desk while beginning to whisper quietly to his unmoving form, badmouthing him right to his face.
"You should have absolutely never offended me like that, Counselor." Mrs. Kamitani murmured in a fierce, breathless whisper, a small, mischievous pout forming on her lips.
She crossed her arms tightly over her cotton pajamas, tilting her chin up with an immensely confident look.
"You completely forgot that your wife is not some ordinary, simple-minded opponent you can just dismiss in a brief. I am YUNA. And now, you are officially going to pay back every single bit of that attitude and be completely even with me."
---
🖋️ AUTHOR'S NOTE 🌙
There are two kinds of love.
The first says,
"I love you."
The second says,
"Your coffee is cold, your tie is too tight, your desk is a disaster, your hair is impossible... and you're still unbelievably annoying."
...before quietly fixing every single one of those things anyway.
I think we all know which kind Yuna prefers.
Thank you so much for reading!
I'll see you in the next chapter.
(≧ω≦)♡
----
✦ 🔮 A GLIMPSE INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER 🔮 ✦
"What awaits beyond this page...?" 🌙
(灬･◡･灬)♡
"Sleep well, my stubborn opponent."
"By the way..."
----
🗝️ HIDDEN BETWEEN THE PAGES 🌙
Fun fact:
There is a very strange disease called...
"I am absolutely not helping him."
Symptoms include:
• Making fresh coffee.
• Fixing messy hair.
• Loosening uncomfortable ties.
• Muttering insults every thirty seconds.
Yuna appears to be in the final stage.
(^～^;)ゞ
----
🌙 The stars may fade, and memories may sleep...
But the Spiral continues to turn.
Until we meet again beneath the same forgotten sky.
<(￣︶￣)>
— SakuraShinomiya