The Couple Bicker

In all marriages, there are good days and bad days.

In most, there’s more of one type than the other.

With Alex, there has been nothing but good, no perfect, days since the moment I married her.

However.

“You forgot our anniversary again!”

“No, I didn’t! Our wedding anniversary is-”

“Not that one, idiot - the anniversary of when we met!”

Sometimes, you fight over the tiniest things.

I sighed and rubbed my brow. “Alex, why would we celebrate that? Our marriage or the day we started dating would-”

“You’re an idiot!”

“Huh? How am I the idiot for not forgetting such a trivial thing?”

“Trivial?”

Uh-oh.

I know that tone of voice, and I hate it.

Alex, with daggers almost leaping out of her eyes, glared at me and yelled, “You’re the worst, Haruki!” and then stormed off.

I was speechless, and scared out of my mind.

I didn’t understand why she was so upset and-

No, that’s not entirely true.

I exhaled and stepped outside to get some fresh air, lazily grabbing my sword before swinging it onto my back.

If it’s important to Alex, it’s important to me, but it’s not like it’s the happiest memory we share. I was happy that day too, of course I was, but I honestly don’t remember when that happened.

With enough time, I’d probably even forget where and what we said - all I remember is how I felt that day, and every day since.

“Isn’t that enough?”

“Daddy.”

I turned around and found one of my two little angels behind me, tears in her eyes.

“Oh, Yelena, did you-? Sorry, come here.” I bent down and opened my arms. “Mummy and daddy didn’t mean to upset you.”

With a small sniff, my daughter ran over and hugged my neck tightly, almost painfully so. However, I couldn’t help but smile and hold her back, before standing up again.

“…Are you and mummy fighting?”

“…No, we’re…we’re…” I sighed again and kissed my daughter’s cheek. “We’re…daddy did something to make mummy upset, and…he’s not sure what to do. But don’t worry; he’ll figure it out.”

“Really?”

“Really. I mean, don’t I always?” Yelena giggled and nodded her little head. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

Although I said that, Yelena didn’t release me and so I carried her into the village. I didn’t really stop and speak with anyone outside of just a few casual greetings, but it was a refreshing trip nonetheless. Yelena didn’t really say all that much, other than say how she hoped mummy and I made up.

“Of course, we will,” I told her each time, though I started to worry she didn’t believe me.

Had my daughter’s rebellious phase come early?

After an hour, I settled down on a hill overlooking our village and Yelena happily lay down on top of me, resting her head on my chest. I stroked her hair as we lazed about, though all I could think about was the anger in Alex’s face.

I’d seen my wife angry before, I’d seen her give looks that could kill Demons (yet her father is still alive), and I’ve seen her genuinely angry with me before many a time.

But today felt different.

“Daddy.”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“What did you do to upset mummy?”

A direct hit.

Oh, small child, how you wound me.

“…Daddy forgot something important that mummy treasured, a lot, and…that’s a very bad thing to do.”

“A very bad thing,” Yelena repeated, wounding my soul even more. “Mummy and daddy shouldn’t do things like that.”

“…I didn’t mean to.”

“Bad dad.”

“Dad, not daddy?”

Yelena sat up on my stomach and nodded. “Bad dad.”

“S-sweetie, you might not know this yet, but your words can hurt daddy more than your fists.”

“Do you feel bad about it?” I nodded. “Then, you should say you’re sorry.”

“I will once we get home, but.” I sat up, cradling Yelena so she didn’t fall off and hurt herself. “I want to show mummy I’m really sorry about it.”

“Chocolate! That always makes me happy.”

Sadly, your mother prefers tarts and cakes from the finest confectioners of the capital.

Ultimately, I decided to ignore my daughter’s charming advice and instead consider other ways of showing my sincerity to Alex.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried to remember it, I just couldn’t. As we walked home, hand in hand, Yelena suddenly spoke up and said, “When we get home, we’ll say we’re sorry together!”

Somehow, I don’t think that will work.

And yet.

“We’re sorry.”

Alex and George were waiting for us, hand in hand, and they immediately apologised to us before we could open our mouths.

“We’re sorry, too!” Yelena shouted. “Aren’t we, daddy?”

“Y-yeah, we’re sorry.”

Awkwardly, Alex and I looked at each other as our children held hands, spun around and sang about how they’d made mummy and daddy make up.

Not wanting to crush their dreams, we kept up the façade until they’d gone to bed and we were alone outside.

“I’m sorry - honestly, for not remembering why this day’s so important to you and for everything I said this morning,” I told her, without daring to look her in the face. “I know it doesn’t make it better, but I’m an idiot, through and through, and…yeah.”

I didn’t know what else to say and so I stopped myself before I dug a bigger hole to die in.

After some time passed, Alex sighed and turned to face me. “…Do you remember when we were in the Peaks of Titam and we were trapped in that cave all night?”

“…Vaguely.”

Alex laughed, though it was one that made me really depressed to hear. “We were holding one another to try and keep warm when we saw the aurora in the sky. When I saw that, I remembered that it’d been a year since we’d first met and…I told you I loved you, there and then you told me you loved me too. We kissed and it was.” Alex blushed. “The most romantic night of my life.”

“Oh…yeah.”

Now, I finally remembered.

It was shortly after we’d slain the dragon, as we were making our way back to the capital, when we needed to take shelter from a blizzard. I didn’t think that that day had been a year since we’d met, but it really was.

Those memories had all sort of blurred into one for me, and so I truly didn’t remember that at all.

“I feel awful,” I muttered without thinking. “I had…I mean, I know I was there but…I can’t believe I forgot that, all of that.”

“…You really don’t-?”

I shook my head. “I’d rather be honest with you than lie to your face, Alex. I only remember the pain in my joints and the agonising journey home - I remember we started properly dating not too long after that, but…” I felt tears come to my eyes. “I’m pathetic, to forget something like that.”

“…I did try to remind you last year, but you were busy with the kids.”

“…And the year before that?”

“Same again,” Alex said with a light laugh, though I could tell she was definitely on the verge of crying. “I married an idiot.”

“…Yeah.”

“Hey.” Alex’s fingers softly grazed my cheek before she locked her lips with mine. “I knew who I was marrying and I love him more now than I ever have.”

“…I love you just as much.”

“I know.”

We kissed again before I finally asked what I’d been meaning to for hours.

“Is there anything, and I do mean anything, that I can do to make this up to you?”

Alex took less than 3 seconds to think, before impishly smirking at me and pushing me onto our bed. “I can think of a few things.”

I won’t go into details, but my wife woke up the next morning beaming from head to toe.