Epilogue

During the two seconds that it took Eloy to leave the room, he had time to think that maybe he was dreaming, or that he had been more stressed than he realized, and his mind had somehow invented the background that appeared behind Genta.

However, when he stomped out of the room, holding his breath and with his heart hammering against his chest, he realized that he wasn’t imagining things:

Genta was actually there, turning around to face him, and with the most satisfied, affectionate expression that he had ever seen him display.

“I promised I’d come to visit, remember?”

Eloy opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, unable to speak. He only reacted when Genta started walking towards him: Eloy hurriedly reduced the distance between them to enclose his arms around Genta, enveloping him in a tight hug that Genta instantly returned.

“Damn,” Eloy muttered, not bothering to suppress his tears while coming to terms with the fact that what was happening was real. That Genta was there. That he was hugging him. “Damn.”

Genta chuckled, starting to rub his hand up and down Eloy’s slightly trembling back in a soothing way. “I see that you’ve wasted all your loquacity in that thesis defense, huh–?”

Eloy pulled back at that moment to kiss Genta, effectively interrupting his teasing comment. He felt Genta groan softly and shiver against him when he didn’t waste time deepening the kiss.

Probably they were attracting some looks now, but Eloy couldn’t care less. After nine months without seeing Genta, he wanted to savor every bit of that kiss.

“Damn,” Genta exhaled in a breathless tone, when Eloy finally let his mouth go, causing Eloy to smirk at him.

“Who’s the loquacious one now?”

Him mimicking Genta’s previous teasing tone made Genta smile before hugging him again.

“Shit, I’ve missed you so much,” Genta said, now his tone showing unequivocal emotion.

“Me too.” Eloy really wanted to keep hugging Genta and not letting him go, but he made the effort and pulled back again. There would be time for it later. He’d make sure of it. “When did you arrive?”

“The plane landed this morning in Madrid. We took the train here, and arrived like an hour and half ago, but we preferred to wait until you finished the presentation to–”

“Wait,” Eloy interrupted, noticing a little too late a detail in Genta’s explanation. “You’ve said ‘we’–?

Eloy was still talking when he heard a familiar feminine voice calling his name before being tackled from behind in a new hug.

“What the–Cara?!” Eloy exclaimed while looking over his shoulder at his Irish smirking friend. His eyes opened even wider when Mako and Narumi emerged from the same corridor that Cara had come through. They too approached him with happy smiles, ready to join in the hug.

“You have to thank us for stopping Cara from ruining your romantic encounter,” Mako said with a grin.

“Yes, she was very adamant about stomping into the room and giving you a scare,” Narumi chimed in, sharing a playful smile.

“Hey, Genta may be his boyfriend, but I’ve known him longer, so I had the right to do so!” Cara protested with a laugh as they finished the group hug and stepped back.

“She had a point,” Genta admitted with amusement while crossing his arms. “I mean, she even left her job to do this trip.”

“Wait, what?!” Eloy exclaimed, but Cara moved her hand dismissively.

“I was starting to get tired of dealing with annoying customers anyway, and this trip was more important, so when my boss complained about it, I quit.” Cara laughed and patted Eloy’s cheek. “Come on, there’s no reason to be worried! I’ll find another one ASAP when I come back.”

Eloy chuckled in disbelief, even if by then he should be used to Cara’s antics.

“And this is why I was checking the phone.” Eloy turned around when hearing Elia, who had just left the room and was recording everything with her phone.

“Wait, so you knew about this?” Eloy exclaimed, switching to Spanish while signaling towards Genta and the girls, who deduced what he was saying.

“She helped us book the hotel, the trains, and gave us indications to get here,” Genta explained, smiling towards Elia.

“I don’t know what he is saying but basically I helped with everything, God bless English.” Elia said proudly, causing Eloy to smile at her with fondness. “Oh, and about the recording, don’t worry: it doesn’t capture the way you were choking Genta with your tongue–”

“Elia, you recorded that!” Eloy exclaimed, his previous wave of affection towards Elia changing into embarrassment.

“Oops! Well, I’ll censor it, no problem.”

Eloy closed his eyes in mortification while Elia chuckled. At that moment his parents finally exited the room. His father had a knowing expression on his face, but his mother gasped in total shock. It turned out that Elia had told their father about that surprise visit, but had kept their mother in the dark.

“How could you do this to me?!”

“Mom, I love you, but no offense: you would have ruined the surprise.”

“Young lady, you’re grounded for a week.”

“But Laura, hon, she doesn’t live at home anymore.”

“Oh great, not even my husband supports me.”

Needless to say, in just a couple of minutes Laura wasn't angry anymore and was talking with Cara and the girls in English.

“So, now that they’re busy,” Genta said, grabbing Eloy’s arm and pulling them a little away from the group. “I have something for you.”

Genta surprised Eloy by extracting a small folder from his bag, and an open envelope from inside it that he handled Eloy.

Eloy opened the letter and started to read it. By the time he finished the first paragraph, he was frowning with confusion.

“What is this?”

“It says it clearly in the title, Mr. Doctor.”

“Yes, I see that it’s a recommendation letter from Mr. Shin, but I don’t understand what for–” Eloy shut up as his eyes opened wide when he continued reading. He stared at Genta in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”

Genta smiled. “One of the music teachers retired in March, so now there’s a vacancy in the College. I asked around, and learned that they were interested in hiring someone young, with extra points if he was a foreigner, since lately they’re having a lot of international students.”

Eloy opened and closed his mouth. After Hiromi and Genta paid off the debt, Genta enrolled in Kunitachi College of Music at the start of the year. They learned that the College offered scholarships for graduates and doctorate students. However, Eloy couldn’t apply until he had demonstrable experience in music, which was the reason why he started working in the academy where he used to study.

“So, after hearing that, I contacted Mr. Shin,” Genta continued. “You already know how frustrated he was when you couldn’t stay in Tokyo to learn under his tutelage. I explained to him the situation with the vacancy, and he didn’t hesitate to recommend you.” Eloy was opening his mouth to speak when Genta read his mind. “I didn’t tell you anything because I didn’t want to give your false hopes, but now that I have this,” Genta extracted a new envelope from the folder, “I can finally tell you.”

Eloy stared at Genta for a few seconds before opening the sealed envelope.

Out of habit, his eyes automatically detected the ‘We are pleased to…’ sentence, which preceded a formal offer to join the College for the next year's course, with the possibility of enrolling from July to December in a special preparatory course.

“From July?” Eloy swallowed, feeling his heart hammering against his chest. “That’s…in a month.”

Genta’s smile widened. “Yeah, it is.”

Eloy exhaled an incredulous snort, his eyes traversing between the letter and Genta a few times, before being able to find the words. “Genta I…” Eloy had to swallow, since a lump was forming in his throat. “I don’t know what to say.”

Genta snorted. “Well, saying that you’re going to accept it would be a good start–”

Eloy cupped Genta’s face in his hands to kiss him.

He still couldn't believe what was happening. Genta being there, him being able to come back to Japan way sooner than he had assumed… It was too much information to assimilate. But the way Genta's hands easily found their way to his hips, keeping him against him, was a good reminder that he wasn't dreaming.

“Okay, I’ll take that as a yes,” Genta joked when they separated, causing Eloy to chuckle.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to be a teacher in the same college where my boyfriend is a student.”

Genta smirked and winked at him. “Kinky, right? I’ll finally have an excuse to calling you Eloy-sensei when we–”

“Genta…”

Eloy’s warning, slightly embarrassed tone caused Genta to laugh before hugging him.

“Damn, I’m so happy,” Genta said, causing Eloy to smile.

“Me too. Although I prefer not to think how much that preparatory course is going to cost–”

“It’s already been paid.” Eloy brusquely pulled back to stare at Genta, not believing what he was hearing. “Don’t worry: the College was going to return it to me in case you said no–”

“Genta, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t expect me to accept this!”

“I can, and you will,” Genta said with a tone that didn’t leave room for discussion, before placing his hands on Eloy’s shoulders. “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have won ‘Tune it Up’, and probably we would still be struggling to pay off the debt. So you’re going to accept this present. No protests allowed. Okay? And I’m not going to change my mind even if you cry.”

Genta added the last bit, because in the middle of the speech, Eloy had started to cry. Eloy exhaled a light trembling laugh, took a deep breath, and leaned his forehead against Genta’s.

“I love you.”

Genta smiled tenderly. “I love you too. But please, wait a few days to tell your mother. I’d like to visit the city a bit before she kills me for stealing you so soon.”

Eloy burst out laughing before kissing Genta, who was also chuckling.

Genta made sure to hide the letters in his backpack and made their way with the rest, who were eagerly waiting for them.

As the song that they both had composed said, Eloy didn’t know if Genta and him would last forever. The only thing he knew was that, for the time being, he couldn’t be happier for being together again, and about to live and share their passion for music.

And that was more than enough.