Bargain Wedding

As Cheesy As It Can Get

"Axel, I really hope you didn't mind my callous comment earlier," Aimi spoke as they slowly walked to the lounger chairs by the pool. As it had started getting dark, lights were turned on and their illumination was glinting in the pool water, mimicking several moonlights.

"What comment?" Axel grinned.

"Thank you," Aimi smiled. "I hope you like the gift." She said with nervousness.

"I am sure I will." Axel chuckled as she sat on the floor by the pool. Aimi did the same when she saw the younger person now putting her hand in the water to dabble it nonchalantly.

"I heard you are into singing and dancing, and you are also graduating in a few weeks. What are your plans after that?"

"I plan to continue, yes." Axel nodded her head. "What about you?"

"I am a lawyer," Aimi responded and touched the cold water. I mean I graduated a few months ago and right now I am just practicing as an intern under a prosecutor."

"That's nice." Axel smiled, imagining Aimi in a lawyer coat.

"Dude! Nothing is nice. All I do is get coffee for everyone, make photocopies of documents, get the signatures from the old dudes, and not even get paid. This is harassment. The moment I become a lawyer I am going to file a case against them all." Aimi sneered with such passion and zeal that it made Axel guffaw out loud.

"I am scared of you," the cherry-haired female responded. The golden highlights in her hair she had gotten done, were gone, covered in red, more like.

"Don't be," Aimi giggled, seeing Axel take off her shoes and put her feet in the water while leaning her spine backward, supporting it with her palms. "I protect my family, and you are family."

A bizarre yet pleasant wave of elation passed over Axel. Aside from her parental family, she never got to experience love after the wedding from anyone else, except Jona. But right now, Aimi felt like a sister she never had. "Are you a single child, Aimi?" She asked.

The other girl looked up at Axel at the random question and then nodded. "I am, but Jona-San never let me feel like it. He was always there to scare my boyfriends away," the two laughed together. "He and I have played a lot in this pool. It used to be smaller when we were kids, but still, it was always here."

Aimi also took off her shoes. Axel whipped her head towards the other with a soft smile on her face. "How was Jona in his childhood?"

"Chaotic," Aimi was so quick to reply that she didn't stop to think about what could be an alternate word to describe Jona.

"What?!" Axel grinned in disbelief. How could Jona be chaotic? Her overly patient, calm, and composed husband.

"Yeah, he used to be so short-tempered, a picky eater, wanted things his way or no way. He was that kid who we looked up to and wanted to be like. He had that charisma, and he still has, but he is too classy now. He was very mischievous yet he was very smart. He knew how to cause a ruckus and, at the same time, how to stay out of trouble, even after picking fights. He once beat his university professor. Man! That was hilarious." Aimi chuckled at the memory.

"Are we talking about the same Jona? My husband and your brother Jona?" Axel reconfirmed, flabbergasted.

"One hundred percent. He was in no way tamed by anyone. Uncle Suzuki loved him and so did Aunty. He was never scolded at home, and he never brought outside troubles inside. That's why we wanted to be like him," Aimi sighed dreamily.

"Why did he beat the professor?"Axel's curiosity made her ask.

"Oh, I don't know if I should tell you this," Aimi shook her head vigorously with a smile of recreation.

"Come on! I don't want to break our friendship just yet," Axel threatened.

The black-haired woman raised her eyebrows and they both chuckled like teenagers. "I am pretty sure it was because of Delany."

Axel bit her lower lip and flared her nostrils, her cheeks burned red.

"She was my brother's friend in college and one professor used to hit on her. Jona-San, on the other hand, never confessed that it was because of Delany, but we all knew. He kind of had a little crush on her, and she had the biggest crush on him."

"Did you study with Jona at the same school?" Axel asked, and looked away all the while recollecting that Jussy had mentioned Delany and Jona said that Delany was no one special. If she wasn't special, why did he fight for her with a professor? This didn't sound like 'nothing special' to Axel.

When she met Jona on what was supposedly the date before the wedding, Jona did mention his past lovers, but she didn't pay any heed to it, as she didn't think she would ever be interested in his life stories. How the tables had turned. She was certain that Jona had never mentioned anyone named Delany. If he did, she would have had a recollection of it when Jussy mentioned her the first time.

Aimi nodded. "I am seriously offended that you don't know anything about me. I mean it's nothing on you but my brother. How could he not tell you about me? I know everything about you." Aimi folded her hands over her chest.

"What do you know about me?" Axel asked slowly, the enthusiasm from a mere moment ago now replacing a burning sensation deep in the pit of her stomach, jealousy.

"I - I know. I mean... I know how the marriage happened. Uncle told Dad but... Ugh! I am sorry." Aimi suddenly stopped talking and shook her head, apologizing.

"No, no. Please don't apologize. It is true after all," Axel started splashing the water in the pool with her feet slowly while fixing her posture to sit up straight.

"When uncle told us about the wedding, I talked to Jona-San. He wouldn't stop talking about you. I can see why." Aimi poked Axel's arm.

Axel smiled faintly as if she didn't believe it. "Really?" She asked rhetorically.

"Yup," Aimi smiled with tight lips and then chuckled. "I haven't seen anyone like her. She has baby-like characteristics on a woman's body. Her eyes are very innocent. Her face is just adorable. She is the prettiest woman. You cannot pry away from looking at her." Aimi mimicked Jona.

Axel smiled shyly. However, the enthusiasm was long gone.

"I came at Uncle Suzuki's funeral. I was hoping to run into you at that time. I thought I must talk to you. Honestly, aside from Coco-San, I knew you might not get along with many others." Aimi also started mirroring Axel's actions and they both looked at the water as the air blew their hair slowly away from their foreheads.

"You deduced that right. He is a lifesaver. I can tell you that."

Aimi turned red which Axel was quick to notice. Clearing her throat, she wiped the clouds of jealousy from her head and tried to tease her sister-in-law a little bit. "Do I smell something? Maybe a little crush?"

"Come on!" Aimi couldn't help the grin while turning redder. "It's not like Coco-san will ever like me back."

"Why not? You are pretty, an independent lawyer. You two would make a power couple," Aimi argued.

"You think I am pretty?" Aimi noted, batting her lashes dramatically and comically flipping her hair to make Axel laugh.

"You are. What I think or don't shouldn't be your worry."

"Thanks, girl. But Coco-San's interest is not in women."

"Wait, what?" Axel chortled.

"Mhm," Aimi nodded. "I've like the longest-running crush on him since I don't even know when. He is just so f*****g handsome and his heavy voice just does something to me. It's a shame I am not a boy."

"This is new information. I can't say I am not surprised, but I am happy."

The ladies spotted Jona coming their way by then. Axel stopped talking because she remembered something, and Aimi stopped talking because she didn't want his brother to find out about her crush.

Aimi knew that if Jona knew about it, he would tell Coco and then the two would laugh at it together. What she didn't know was, that everyone in the family knew about her crush, including Coco. "Brother," she called, craning her neck to her right to find the man still strutting towards them elegantly. "We aren't done talking yet."

"Aren't you guys hungry?" Jona looked at the two. While Aimi nodded, Axel whipped her neck from Jona to water.

The man's brows twitched after being ignored by his wife and he intently sat between them on the floor, a little behind.

"Your dad was calling you," he squeezed Aimi's cheek who drew her legs out of the water and scurried away in no time with a sheepish grin on her face.

Axel remained unaltered, still looking at the water while her hair blew haphazardly with the soft breeze. "You might catch a cold," Jona said softly, looking at Axel's naked calves sparkling under the water.

Without saying anything, Axel pulled her feet out of the water while Jona picked a towel from the circular table that was joined by the lounger chair.

"Why didn't you tell me about her?" Axel looked at Aimi who was still walking towards the house, crossing the big pool.

"I wanted us to have clarity first before I could burden you with... Additional information and family drama," Jona tried to wipe Axel's legs, but the woman snatched the towel from his hands.

"Makes sense," she started wiping her wet legs while Jona knew that something was wrong. "What do you think about me, Jona?" Axel boldly asked, looking fiercely into the eyes directed at her.

Jona didn't get time to think and answer. "You are my wife, Axel," he replied, not wavering anywhere and also maintaining strong eye contact.

"That I am," Axel scoffed, looking away at her feet. "I have been for a while now." She stood up and started walking away from the pool, leaving Jona sitting on the floor.

"Axel!" Jona yelled after her, looking at the dejection on his wife's face. What was it that he was seeing? He quickly caught up to her and stood in front of her face. "If I asked you something, would you answer me honestly?" He looked down into her eyes as her hair fell on her forehead due to the wind in the opposite direction, while Jona's hair blew in totally opposite end, revealing his bare forehead.

Axel nodded while she bit her lower lip.

Jona sighed sharply and moved closer, holding Axel by the forearms. Her eyes traced Jona's hands over her own before looking up. "I have been meaning to ask you this for what felt like ages," Jona spoke, making Axel's lips quiver, and she bit them hard in foolish anticipation. Her heart pumped and rang in her ears. "Do you remember our kiss at the party?"

Axel's mind went numb, and a storm rose in her stomach as she nodded firmly this time.

Jona kept looking at her, still not believing he was having this conversation at last while they had guests waiting for them inside. "Could you help me understand if that was perhaps due to the alcohol you consumed?"

Axel's mind screamed at her to stop the conversation right there and ask Jona about what his relationship was with Delany, but her heart was a slave to her new feelings. She didn't move an inch as she gazed deeply into Jona's eyes and shook her head, sudden guilt punching her in the guts as the realization dawned that she was also holding back a certain truth.

"Did you regret it later anyhow?" Jona inquired, somberly searching for answers in her eyes after releasing her forearms.

"I did not," Axel teared up, hearing herself speak those words. She critically wanted to talk to Jona about it, too, before she left for LA, feeling that Jona would never initiate the conversation.

"Sweetie," Jona sighed, and his hand raised to brush Axel's hair away from her face. "Would you- Would you like to go out for dinner on the night of your last exam?" He asked and let his hand fall. "On a date, of course." The man added with a winning smile.

Axel forgot all about her newly-found jealousy, guilt, anger, doubts, and reservations. Her lips stretched up adorably and her eyes darted at the floor with her pink lips and cheeks. "I would love to." She replied as she looked up slowly, biting back the grin.

"Really?" Jona was smiling radiantly, "I mean you can think about it again. There will be jazz, candlelight, and maybe flowers. It will be as cheesy as it can get. You might not like it."

"I want that," Axel's voice as if it had been lost in her trachea, and only a small whisper came out as she nodded to affirm the acceptance of the offer.

Jona clasped Axel's palms in his own and leaned in to kiss her forehead.