Chapter 1

I am not a morning person, not one bit but my lovely wife of only a year certainly is. I rolled over, her side of the bed move dipping down as she sat up with her legs over the side. She turned to me with a big smile on her face. “Morning sleepy head,” She giggled, leaning over, and giving me my morning kiss. She turned back around, leaning over and grabbing her t-shirt to throw on.

“Excited for today huh?” I mumbled, forcing myself to sit up straight.

She nodded rapidly. “I get to meet our baby today,” she giggled, standing up with fists bawled in determination. “What do you want for breakfast?”

Ah that is today, I laughed to myself. “I feel like eggs this morning,” I grinned.

“Eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs,” she sang skipping away to the kitchen of our one-bedroom apartment, the shirt she wearing bouncing to show her bottom.

I stretched by arms outwards, trying to loosen my muscles. Today is an early appointment, all because a certain someone can’t contain her excitement. I got out of the bed, heading to the dresser to find something to wear. Let’s see, I scanned my options pulling at a pair of jeans and a white jumper. These will be appropriate enough for today while being comfortable and warm.

The smell of eggs hit my nose. Akemi certainly is one hell of a cook, well compared to when we first got married. I laughed at the memory bringing up the first time she tried to make some simple rice balls. Burnt and crunchy, it added to the flavour.

After dressing, I followed my nose, seeing the table already set with coffee and juice on the table. I sat, bringing the coffee up to my nose, made just how I like and tasted just right as well. Akemi had her hair tied up as she finished off the breakfast. She set it down in front of my followed by a plate of toast and some honey too. “Just in case you wanted something sweet,” she commented. I never do but the thought is always there.

She sat opposite me, saying our thanks for digging in. “I wonder if we’ll get a boy or a girl,” She mused, before taking a bite of her toast.

“Do you have a preference?” I asked.

Her scrunched up as she thought about what she would want. “Maybe a boy,” she answered, after swallowing. “I think he’d be fun and energetic; I might get jealous if we have a girl.”

“Ah honey,” I laughed. “You know you’re the only girl for me.”

“You were a looker in college,” she pointed out. “And that was only a few years ago, you are still a looker now. I don’t want any other girl getting all your attention.”

I laughed nervously; she can be quite scary when she’s getting hyped up like this. “I appreciate you thinking I’m still a looker but I think you’re over thinking things.” Akemi slumped in her chair, pouting and giving me the puppy dog eyes. I leant over, giving here and assuring smile as I touched her upper arm. “You are my number one.” Saying that seemed to help perk her up as she sat up straight, continuing to eat with a proud smile on her face.

After breakfast it was my duty to clean the dishes while Akemi got dressed. Just as I finished putting the last plate in the dish rack she appeared from the bedroom, her hair down, doting a red beret, a white jumper that came to her knees and tights underneath. I am the luckiest man in the world. I dried my hands, bending down to wrap my arms around her legs, my arms supporting her bottom and lifting her into the air. She squealed, holding onto my shoulders to stable herself. “Toshio,” she laughed screamed. “We have to go! Stop!”

I didn’t really want to listen and continued to spin her around for a while before putting her down. She slapped me on the arm playfully before giving me a kiss full on the lips. “Let’s go meet our baby,” she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the door.

Lucky for us, the centre wasn’t a so far that we would need a car and we could take a nice walk. All the time Akemi holding onto my hand tightly. I could feel her shaking in my touch but I couldn’t work out if it was the chilled wind, excitement or even nerves. I squeezed her hand back as we reached the centre. “Ready to go meet our baby?” I asked.

Akemi nodded as I lead her in. The sound of barking filling the air as we walked in. This pet centre was certainly a popular one and today is the day we get to meet the puppy we would be taking home in a few weeks. “Ah, Mr and Mrs Nakamura,” the receptionist greeted us. She pushed the sign in papers towards us as she made a call to the back room for someone to get us. One of the volunteers came through the double doors, calling us through. “Good luck.”

Akemi’s eyes lit up as we passed the other rooms, looking through the large windows and seeing the dogs of various ages play and being looked after by the staff. We walked into the room sat at the end, the vet who worked at the centre greeted us. “The puppies are very excited to meet you,” he said, guiding us to the play pen. Akemi was careful not to squeal to loud as not to scare the puppies but she was already in love with all of them. “You can go in and play with them.”

The vet let us go in, Akemi sitting down and the six of the seven puppies immediately going over to her making her giggle. The seventh puppy, chocolate brown fur with white patched gingerly came over to me, using its paw to see if I was safe to approach. I held out my hand for him to come closer and he seemed to snuggle closer to me. “Aw,” Akemi cooed. “He likes you.” I laughed picking up the puppy and letting him snuggle against my chest. Akemi leant over, using the tip of her fingers to pat his head. “I think we found our little guy.”

“Yeah, we have,” I agreed.

After spending a some more time with the puppy and signing the documents, we paid the fee and arranged our take home date. Akemi already chose his name “Pochi,” she beamed, holding onto my arm as we walked down the street, deciding to head into town. “I think he’ll fit in perfectly into our little family.”

“Not going to get jealous he came to me first?” I joked.

“I’m still number one right,” Akemi shot back to me with a wink.

“Hey,” a stranger stopped in front of us, a cap covering his eyes and his hands in coat pockets. He stopped us in our tracks, blocking us from proceeding forward. He pulled his left hand from his pocket, revealing a gun pointed towards us. I panicked, moving Akemi in a way she was behind me. I could feel her holding onto the bottom of my jumper sleeve tightly. “Now, if you just give me your wallet no one gets hurt.”

“Toshio,” Akemi whimpered behind me.

“It’s okay,” I assured her, reaching for my wallet and throwing it to the ground for the robber to pick up. I could see his sadist smirk as he bent down, the gun still pointed towards us as he used his other hand to pick it up. “That’s all I have, so we’re going to walk away now.”

We turned around to walk down a connected pathway, grabbing hold of Akemi’s hand tightly as we walked. A sound of a gunshot echoed; Akemi’s hand fell from my own. I turned around, the robber screaming as he threw the gun down and turned and ran. Akemi fell to the floor, blood gushing from her stomach. I leant down, grabbing her shoulders and shifting her body to look up at me. “Toshio,” she whimpered, a hand holding onto wound.

My adrenaline kicked in, grabbing my phone to call for an ambulance. “Yes, please come help,” I cried, tears streaming down my face. I looked down, seeing Akemi’s eyes starting to shut as her breathing got slower. “Please my wife, I can’t lose her.”

The tears came hot and fast as I felt her become cold to touch. No, please. This isn’t how our love story ends.