"Eiichi, I can walk on my own," Catarina said with a deadpanned look.

"You can never be too careful." Eiichi's words made Catarina sigh. She was glad that Eiichi was taking so much care of her, but holding her hand and guiding her because he thinks she won't be able to walk the stairs is something else. "I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Hey, I'm not so weak that I can't walk upstairs!" She pouted. She was discharged today and the only one free was Eiichi. HEAVENS were still wary about her, so they arranged their schedule in such a way that one of them will be with Catarina all the time. At present, Eiichi was on watch before he switches with Van during lunch time.

The pair entered Catarina's room.

"Do you need anything?" Eiichi asked after Catarina sat on the bed.

"Nope."

"Then I'll be-" Eiichi didn't complete his sentence when he felt a tug on his black sweater. He turned to look at the blonde.

Catarina shyly mumbled, "Stay with me."

The brunette couldn't turn down her offer. So he sat down next to her after she moved to make some space.

"Hey,Eiichi."

"Hmm?" The male turned around only to be very,very,very surprised. Because the instant he turned to look at her, his lips came in contact with hers. Eiichi's eyes showed pure shock. Catarina was on her knees and leaned up to kiss him. Her hands held his sweater tightly.

When Catarina pulled away, she looked at him with burning cheeks. ". . .You didn't like it?"

" I did...I'm just surprised. Too surprised actually."

Catarina bit her lower lip. "I. . . missed this." .....We haven't done this in a while.

"So did I." Eiichi smiled.

"Can I.......do it again?" She timidly asked.

Eiichi blinked to make sure he wasn't dreaming. ". . .I'm not hearing things, am I? It's so unexpected."

"No, you're not." Catarina embarrassedly looked away. "So, can I...?"

"You don't even need to ask,angel." She took off his glasses and kept them on the side-table. Catarina joined their lips after she felt Eiichi wrapping his arms around her. This time, Eiichi kissed back. Their kiss was shy and short but full of love. I definitely missed this...

With Eiichi pulling Catarina, she couldn't but lean too much on Eiichi, causing them to lie on the bed together.

They looked at each other from the weird position. Catarina was on top of Eiichi. It might've been weird but not awkward.

While they were like that, Eiichi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He leaned his head forward and pecked her forehead. Placing a hand on her waist, he gently moved her from above him to beside him. Without warning, he hugged her tightly.

"Eiichi?"

". . . .I was really worried when you weren't returning or answering your calls that night." She felt him shake. . . .You kept your emotions bottled up again. Smiling sadly, she hugged him back.

"I thought. . . . .I lost you...."

She understood, the incident might not have had much effect on her but it had a great impact on him. It must have been when his girlfriend wasn't answering her phone or had not returned home from shopping.

"I'm right here, Eiichi." She ran comforting circles on his back. "I'm alright and in your arms." She heard him sniff. She knew he won't cry. He had his pride. He also didn't like to show weakness. So it must've affected him greatly that he was trembling in her arms. But it also meant that he was able to show her his weakness.And this made her happy because it meant he trusted her enough to show his weak side.

In order to assure him, she kissed his cheek and proposed, "Let's stay like this till lunch." She felt him nod.

After putting the covers over them, Catarina and Eiichi took a nap while holding each other close.

. . . . . . .

"Camus-nii, shall I put it here?" Catarina asked her brother.

"Yes." She put down the boxes of cakes on the kitchen counter. Camus entered the kitchen.

"Shall I make us some tea that will go well with the cakes?" He asked.

"Sure!"

Right now, Catarina was in Camus's apartment. It wasn't the shared apartment with Quartet Night. This was his own place; a two room elegant apartment. The reason of Catarina's presence here is for some bonding time.

Christmas passed two days ago. After their reconciliation, the siblings tried to spend as much time they could spend with each other. They grew significantly closer in that span of time. Deciding to increase their bond, Camus, who was soft on his sister, suggested they do a sleepover in his place on his day off. Catarina happily accepted since it will be a nice opportunity to spend time with her brother.

So, the two siblings who had large sweet teeth were sitting in the living room with tea cups and a variety of cakes in front of them. And their conversation also began with talks of sweets.

"Mm~This cake is so sweet!" Catarina cried out.

"I must agree." Camus nodded.

"Have you tried the cakes from that new shop which opened near Shining Agency?"

"Not yet."

"It's definitely worth visiting! I came across it with Haruka and Tomochi one day and I'm so glad I found that shop!"

"Is that so? I will be sure to pay it a visit."

There topic kept drifting from one thing to another.

"Eh? What did you just say?" Catarina blinked.

" I was thinking of you when I wrote the lyrics," Camus repeated.

"You wrote the lyrics of 'Melting of Snow' while thinking of me?"

"Was it not obvious?"

"No. Not at all. I thought you wrote it with Haruka on your mind!"

"Absurd. What made you think so that I will write the lyrics with a peasant on my mind?"

"Hey, don't call Haruka a peasant!" She glared with a pout. "And as for the reason, I thought you are also a part of her harem!"

The blonde count choked on his final piece of cake and started coughing.

"A-Ah, water!Water!" The female hurriedly passed him a glass of water.

After he stopped coughing, Camus glared at her. "What kind of baseless, absurd thought is that?"

She wasn't fazed by his glare. Instead she looked at him with surprised eyes. "What? You're not in her harem?"

"Why would a count like me be in her harem? An even better question is since when did Nanami have a harem?"

"Oh, actually I came up with this thought. I know for sure that STARISH and Reiji love her. It seems like she unconsciously has her own harem.Hehe," She replied with an awkward smile. "As for your first question, why wouldn't you be?"

"What do you mean?"

"You love Haruka, right?" She gasped when he shook his head.

"Wh-what?!"

"I only see her as a composer," Camus said with a straight face.

"I thought..." She sighed. "That means from Quartet Night only Reiji is in love with her."

"That is correct.Although, why are you do interested in this matter?"

"About Haruka and her harem? I guess it's fun?" The blonde female shrugged. "I find it amusing." Camus sighed at her reason.

"Speaking of Quartet Night, I haven't seen them in a while. How are they doing?" She asked with a smile.

"Those bunch is doing fine."He looked at her smile. "You seem close with them."

"Yup! We are close friends," She chirped.

"Even with fools like Kotobuki and Kurosaki? Mikaze is good."

"Don't call them fools! You really need to stop calling people with such names." She pouted again. "And they are not fools. Reiji is nice and Ranmaru is cool. Same goes for Ai."

Deciding to ignore the first part of her sentence, he spoke, "You are already on first-name basis with all of them?"

"Yup."

Camus looked at her smile before sighing. He went quiet and rested his forehead on his palm.

"Camus-nii?"

"I am glad you can smile around me now," he whispered but she heard.

"Huh?"

"When we met again and for the duets, you never smiled."

"Did I? I never noticed." ....I think Reiji also said something like that.

"I knew it was because of me but I could not do anything. I did not bear the power to do anything. You could not smile in front of me anymore."

"Camus-nii.."

"You may not have smiled when you were alone with me but you smiled brilliantly when you listened to music or in prescense of others, especially HEAVENS. Your smile is always dazzling when you are with them." Camus smiled in a brotherly way that made Catarina smile back.

"Frankly,I was envious of HEAVENS. No, not only HEAVENS. I was jealous of STARISH, Nanami and rest of Quartet Night. You could smile with ease when you are with them. But I know if was my mistakes that led you to not smile around me whether consciously or unconsciously..."

Catarina didn't say anything and waited for him to continue.

"I could do nothing but blame myself for this. I got too blinded with my duties and motives that I ended up doing the opposite. Even when I realised just how much I hurt you in the past, I hurt you again because of my pride, stress and anger. . . I am ashamed for my behaviour." He looked straight at his sister's eyes with sincere eyes. "I ask for your forgiveness, Catarina."

"Camus-nii. . ." Catarina got up from her seat and went towards him before hugging him tightly. "I forgive you, Camus-nii....The wounds from then might not disappear because I was extremely hurt, but like I said, let's have a new start. And I'm really happy at how close we've become.....So, don't keep apologizing to me."

I don't want to see you hurt....

"Catarina...thank you." He hugged her back. She was the only person he could show his weak side to. She always had been that person to not only him. She always accepted people for who they were and tried to help them however she could. This was the kind of person his sister was. A kind and wonderful person. Camus promised to himself, he would never hurt her again.

Some time later, both went back to normal.

"It's almost dinner time," Catarina pointed out.

"It is. Shall we order from outside?"

"That would be great! We can also order more desserts." She smiled happily.

"Yes. Another tea time sounds fantastic."

"It does......but Camus-nii," Her smiley face turned to a deadpanned expression. "You shouldn't take THAT much of sugar in your tea. You'll get diabetes. Even I don't take more than three cubes."

"That means you haven't reached my level yet, Catarina."

* * * * * * *

After dinner, they ate desserts once more.

"There is one topic I am curious about," Camus started.

"What's that?" Catarina asked as she hugged the sofa pillow and shifted to a more comfortable position.

"About your relation with Otori."

"About me and Eiichi...?" Pink blush dusted her cheeks.

"Yes. I have been curious about you two since the Halloween party. Are you two really lovers?" The male asked.

"Yes..." She looked at her lap and a small smile graced her lips, though it didn't go unnoticed by the count.She looked up at him. "We are dating."

". . . .It is actually a surprise."

"Mhmm. It is... I never thought I would fall for him like this..." She gave a shy smile. "Who knew I would fall for him like this? Or that he will fall for me?"

"Do you really love him?" Camus got a nod from her. "I bear no offense but what do you love about him?"

". . . What is there to not love about him? I love every single thing about him.... I love Eiichi..." She whispered the last part to herself as her heart felt warm when she thought of him.

Catarina heard Camus sigh. He spoke again, "But don't you suppose you two are too close for a couple who started going out three months ago?"

"E-eh? N-not really. We may have started dating three months ago but we know each other for almost two years. Even before going out, our bond was strong... Maybe that's why we are so close. . ."

Catarina trailed off with a smile. She unconsciously hugged her pillow tighter while she was talking about her and Eiichi. This ,too, didn't go unnoticed by Camus.

He sighed again. This caused Catarina to worry.

She asked ,"Do you not approve of us?"

"Even if I don't want to approve, how can I disapprove when you are like this?"

"What?" She tilted her head.

"I can see it very clearly that you love him. Just the mention of his name made you smile like that. It is evident how happy you are with him......Also I don't have any right to disapprove of your happy relationship when I was the one who hurt you." Camus smiled at her. "I hope Otori always keeps you smiling like this."

"Camus-nii. . .Thank you!"

Their day-long conversation ended soon after and they headed off to sleep.

. . . . . . .

The next night, Catarina was in her room, getting ready for bed. She was brushing her soft hair when a knock on the door interrupted her. The blonde opened the door to find Eiichi outside.

"Eiichi?"

"Hey ,there." The male entered inside. As soon as she closed the door, her back lightly hit the closed door.

She felt her wrists softly getting pinned on both sides of her head and Eiichi hovering above her.

"E-Eiichi?!" She flushed. W-what is he do-doing!? They had never done this kind of thing. It was the first time he had trapped her like this! And they shouldn't be doing something like this at this hour.

Eiichi leaned down and placed his face right in front of her face.

"Catarina. . ." His warm breath accelerated her heart beat.

"E-E-Eii...." She stuttered his name before losing herself in his jewel-like eyes.

"I missed you..." Eiichi whispered before kissing her lightly. "We didn't get to spend any time with you these days and I won't be able to see you the next two days because of my trip..." He kissed her again.

"I want to recharge before going...." This time he kissed her deeply.

"Mmm.." Catarina felt her knees go weak. Eiichi seemed to have noticed this because he let go of her wrists and held her closely. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"E-Eiichi....." Catarina looked at him with a crimson face. She moved her right hand to stroke his cheek. "I love you."

The sudden confession caused Eiichi to blush lightly. To hide his blush, he kissed her deeply again, this time pushing her against the door.

"I love you too..." He muttered between the kiss.

That night they shared the company of each other for a long time till they had to head to sleep.

The year was ending. This year was hectic, specially emotionally. Catarina never thought she would feel like this for someone other than music, let alone fall in love with Eiichi. Eiichi too wasn't supposed to fall for her like this but he ended up loving her more and more. This year will be memorable for both of them.

To Be Continued.