Hayato clamps his lips. But then he turns to his brother and says, “I’ll need the car to take her home. Can we drop you off on the way?”
About twenty minutes later, we drop Norio off at the same hotel where Hayato and I spent our first night. The same hotel where we struck our crazy bargain to spend ten days together. Ten days. It was just for ten days. It shouldn’t have changed anything for either of us.
But I feel like an entirely different person as I bid Norio good night.
“Will we see you next New Year?” Norio asks me. “Lilli tells me you’re an excellent singer.”
I laugh, but it sounds weak. Just like the word that follows it: “Maybe.”
Norio glances at Hayato. “I hope so.”
After Norio’s departure, the backseat of the town car fills with my silence. Silence Hayato mistakes for indecision.
“We don’t have to get married,” he says quietly. “Just come with me to Japan.”
My heart twists at his words. “Hayato…”
“We can have a normal relationship, see how it develops,” he says before I can finish. “And then we can make a marriage decision without a ghost breathing down our necks.”
I shake my head. It feels like I’m drowning in regret and sorrow, and I can’t breathe.
“Hayato, I can’t return to Japan with you. There’s not enough time.” Then I gently remind him. “Tomorrow is the last day of Christmas.”
“Who cares what tomorrow is,” he explodes. “Why the hell are you insisting on going back to your job?”
I close my eyes. The pain of this conversation is almost too much to bear. “I have to go back.”
“No, you don’t! You don’t!” he yells, seeming not to care if the driver overhears. “You told me yourself a year ago on this very day. You don’t have to go back. Not unless you want to. So if you’re insisting on going back….”
His face falls a little bit as if he’s only now realizing, “If you’re insisting on going back, it’s because you’re a coward, even worse than me.”
I shake my head. “Hayato…”
“I get that you’re scared. I’m scared too. I almost went home to Japan to escape what we had. But I came back. I told Norio everything. I risked it all to be with you.”
His words stab at me like a knife, but I force out a whispered, “Thank you for doing that. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” he answers with a harsh look. “Be with me. Stay with me. That’s all I’m asking.”
He’s breaking my heart. He doesn’t understand what he’s doing, but he’s shattering it to pieces. “I can’t. I can’t stay with you.”
“Why not?” he demands, his voice course and guttural.
And this time, I’m the one who explodes. “Because I promised Santa another year of service in exchange for him making sure Jae-Hyun held on until you could meet him or next Christmas—whichever one came first!”
Silence.
My words hang in the air, falling slowly like ashes from a bomb.
Then Hayato whispers, “What?”
Oh no! Say it isn’t true?
Now that Hayato has put himself out there,
is he going to lose Kristal anyway?
Find out in the final episode of
TWELVE MONTHS OF KRISTAL
LOVELY DAY
Episode 12
45
Lovely Day
KRISTAL
THE FINAL DAY OF CHRISTMAS
I wake up the next morning to the sound of Bill Withers lying to me over the workshop's speakers. He's claiming that it's going to be a lovely day. But I already know that's not true.
Hayato stirs and rolls over to face me on his pillow of moss. "What time is it?"
He's always beautiful, but this morning he's painfully so. His high cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, and inky black hair, along with his long, lean body, make him look like a powerful Fae who somehow found himself in my lowly elf bed.
I'm going to miss him. I'm going to miss him so much.
"6 AM," I answer. My tone is apologetic for reasons that have nothing to do with the time. "Elves wake up really early. And today is the final twelve happy endings panoply closing ceremony, so they're playing Krista's favorite song. She loves Bill Withers. Always has, always will…"
I don't realize I'm rambling until I run out of words. I desperately search for more—anything to keep the awkwardness from last night's announcement from descending.
But Hayato speaks before I can find the words I'm looking for. "Introduce me to Santa. I'll convince him to let you go."
I start shaking my head before he's even done making the offer. "Breaking a deal with Santa is never a good idea for any reason. Deals with him are legally and morally binding in literally every multiverse. And even if you got him to say yes, there's no telling how the universe would respond. The Fates could curse you and all your Christmases in this life and all the ones thereafter. You see, there’s this prevailing idea that Santa only makes deals that are in your best interest. Like, he doesn’t agree to anything that won’t ultimately benefit you. Truthfully, I cannot find the benefit here. But if you want, I can take you to the library and show you all the passages in the Book of Elves about what happened to humans, elves, and pretty much every creature who tried to break their promise to Santa. It never ends well. I hate to put it like this, but it's just really, really not in the Christmas spirit—"