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Lilli had a lot going for her. She had left Japan, moved back to England, and started a kimono branch alongside her friend Catherine. She was still painting as much as possible amongst her busy schedule allowed her to. Sometimes she would arrive home so late that she had no time to do any painting; as much as she wanted to, her warm bed called to her instead.
She just had one little problem.
“Are you going to confess to him tonight???” Catherine asks her as they’re closing up shop.
Lilli blushes heavily. She really needed to tell Kit how she feels. She’s already tried - and failed both times miserably. She had to make this one count. She just had to.
She nods sheepishly at Catherine’s question, and the blond woman turns 15, squealing and grabbing both of her hands, and they spin around, making Lilli dizzy.
Once they stop spinning and Lilli stops feeling like she could fall over, she tells her friend that she has dinner plans with Kit and plans on telling him after they eat and go for a walk. Catherine continues to squeal the whole time, and thankfully, because the store is closing, no one but her gets to see her acting like this. She smiles to herself.
They exit the building, and Catherine tells her to go on; she’ll lock up from here. Lilli thanks her and hails a cab.
On the ride over to the restaurant, Lilli’s heart is thumping in her chest. Will she be able to confess this time? Lilli hopes and prays that it will work out because god help her, she needs it.
She kinda guesses maybe he might already know without her needing to say it, considering she didn’t marry Shin and came back here to London. Where she truly wanted to be, to stay and paint for the rest of her days. However, she doesn’t want it to go unsaid. She has to make up for the disastrous times she has tried before. The most heartbreaking and miserable moment was when he had left on a boat, and she had been crying into her hands. Even though she had called him a fool, she was talking about herself. She was such a fool not to say the words she had been wanting to say for months.
“Miss, we’re here.”
“..Miss?”
“W-What?” Lilli blinks, looking up. Then she glances out the window and realizes he’s pulled up to the destination. “Oh! Sorry about that.” She hands over the money to the driver and then gets out. The driver leaves, and Lilli is left standing outside, shivering, and not just from the cold. She has to do this tonight.
She must.
Taking a deep breath, Lilli heads inside. The delicious smells of food enter her nose, her stomach growling instantly because she’s so hungry, and she did the stupid thing again today of working on art and forgetting to eat. She scans the tables for Kit, and he isn’t hard to spot, his blond hair shining under the lights.
“Kit!” She calls out, approaching the table with a spring in her step.
He turns at the sound of his name, smiling at the sight of her. Lilil’s heart does a flip.
“Lilli.” He says, standing up and pulling out her chair. She thanks him and sits down. Once he’s sat back down, they get to talking right away as if no time has passed.
A waiter comes by at some point during their convention, they order food, and then keep talking. Kit had slid his hand across the table and grasped Lilli’s, making Lilli’s heart want to leave her chest. She turns her hand in his, their fingers interlacing together, palm to palm.
“I feel like it’s been forever since I saw you last.”
“Wasn’t it just this morning before parting for work?” Lilli tilts her head.
“Well, considering we were separated for so long, even just a few hours feels like forever.”
Lilli blushes. She knows the feeling, even separated from the one you love for hours on end, and wondering when you will see them again, so it can feel like the sun is on your face after a cold, dreary, miserable day.
A heartbeat of silence and Lilli’s stomach growls to announce just how hungry she really is. Kit grins at her, picking up his menu. “Well, we'd better get to ordering dinner soon.”
Lilli nods sheepishly, picking up her own and opening it to look through what she might want to get.
He orders a steak, and it sounds so good; she does the same. Handing over their menus to the waiter, they get back to talking.
“I got so caught up in working on a painting and also working that I forgot to eat.” She tells him.
“This is a habit of yours I’ve noticed.”
“An unfortunate one”
“Well, as your future husband, I’ll make sure you eat,” Kit says casually.
“My future husband? You should be so sure about it.”
Kit winks at her, and Lilli’s knees would be buckling if she were standing.
“I am.”
After dinner, they take a stroll along the same street where Lilli had first met Kit, where she had seen him sitting on the stone wall facing the river below, charcoal all over his face. She remembers as if it happened yesterday.
It’s different now, it’s not the middle of the day. The sun has set, and the stars are coming out. She looks up at the sky, thousands of stars twinkling above them.
“What are you thinking about, Lilli?” Kit’s question snaps her from her thoughts.
She turns her eyes to him, seeing him looking back at her. She’s always noticed how beautiful his eyes are since the day they met. The kind of eyes she can drown in.
“I-I’ve been wanting to tell you something, Kit.”
“Are you going to berate me again?” Kit chuckles teasingly.
“N-No!” Lilli blushes. “I’m so sorry about those times, I don’t know what came over me-"
“It’s fine, Lilli. It’s in the past.” Kit reassures her, placing his hand on her back.
“Listen, Kit, what I had been trying to say those times,” Lilli feels her heart racing, thumping against her ribcage. "I didn't mean to end up yelling at you at all. You had said something first, and then I got caught up, and my mouth reacted faster...I really had been trying to tell you something else...”
Kit peers at her in curiosity, not saying anything, waiting for her to continue.
“I-“ Lilli takes a deep breath, turning to face him, taking both of his hands with hers. “I love you, Kit.” The words spilling from her lips finally feel like a weight that had been lifted, her shoulder dropping that she hadn’t even realized was tense.
His lips are on hers, quicker than a rabbit being chased by a fox, soft and wonderful. Lilli’s eyelids flutter shut, pulling at his tie to bring him closer as she returns his kiss. The world around them seems to fade away. She never thought she’d get the chance to kiss Kit like this. It’s a dream come true, and now that she’s living, the reality is sweeter than the dream.
He separates their kiss a moment too soon, his face still lingering close to hers. “I’ve been wanting to hear you say that for years.”
“I’ll say it as much as you want.”
“Not before I say it back. Lilli, I love you. I’ve loved you for so long.”
Tears spring to Lilli’s eyes, smiling, happy that she finally got the words she had wanted to say out, and also hearing him say it back.
“You were right, Kit. You really are going to be my husband.”
He laughs, and she laughs. Laughter soon fades, and she’s the one leaning in and kissing him. Their future looks as bright as the stars above them.