You Must Fall In Love

Chapter Sixty-Seven

He'd only known her for a few weeks. He didn't even particularly like her. He thought she was annoying, and insufferable, and threw tantrums for no reason.

Those were all still true, but the points in her favor were mounting. Despite all his efforts to the contrary, despite everything he told himself — he couldn't deny that there was something that disposed him...

Disposed him less poorly to her?

It was just a matter of finding the right words, but as his amateur poetry career had showed him, he wasn't even very good at that.

It didn't matter. She was right there, sitting up in her bed, arms folded, glaring at him.

"What?" she demanded.

Rob felt his lips spread in an involuntary smile. Her look grew even more suspicious.

"The fact that you're looking at me like that means you're almost back to normal," he said. "Unfortunately."

"How am I back to normal?"

"By being annoying. Insufferable. Throwing tantrums for no reason."

"I am not throwing a tantrum!"

But that was too ridiculous even for her, and she broke out in helpless laughter. He stood and watched her, feeling hopelessly soft inside, his heart as tremulous as a hurting tooth.

"See?" he said. "This is what they don't get."

"What who don't get?"

"August and Yusuke," he said brusquely, deciding that the time for tact was over. "They're not interested in you as a person."

"Pfft. I wouldn't be interested in me as a person. Besides, I thought you were out of the race."

"And I thought you didn't want to be in it."

They locked eyes for what seemed like five minutes but was probably more like five seconds. Rob couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking for some sort of sign.

"I still don't want to marry you," he said.

"Good," said Christine. "I'm probably going to have to marry someone, though."

"Why?"

"I swore to Ming," she said. "It was what gave me the power to save your life."

It was like she had dropped an anvil on his funny bone. He stared at her, completely aware that he was gawking, that his vaunted composure had shattered like a crystal glass on concrete.

"You... did that," he said.

"Of course I did."

"Why?"

She colored red.

"Because I didn't want you to die! What type of stupid question is that?"

Rob squeezed the siderail until it squeaked.

"I thought we were going to find a way out of the marriage thing!"

"Shut up, idiot, not so loud!"

"I thought we were going to find a way out of the marriage thing."

"That was the plan," huffed Christine. "It's not going to work. Look, I weighed it up, okay? It was either I accepted my role, or I let you die. And I didn't like my role, but I don't like you less."

Rob opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out except a tiny whine. He looked around for help, found no-one except a bored ward nurse, and then shook his head violently.

"Then I'm back in the race," he said.

"Wh... what?"

She looked outraged, as if he had made a comment about her underwear, but this was actually quite a bit worse than that. He could feel himself heating up as well — it was like the inside of a dog kennel in his cheeks.

"You heard me," he said. "I'm going to vie for your hand in marriage."

"But you just said the complete opposite! You're not making this easy, you know?"

"Christine," said Rob, "I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time, but the only thing I think is less appealing than marrying you is seeing one of those other two do it. Okay? Just let me have this one."

If her jaw were any looser, she might be able to fold her sheets with it. He spun around before he could embarrass himself any further and walked away.

"And call your mom, for crying out loud."

No, it was all useless. He knew he had gotten himself into more trouble than he could possibly imagine, but he couldn't keep himself from grinning.