It came as no surprise to anyone that Mai refused to go back to her house. She agreed to move into the villa with Nambu and the team, and the doctor let her have her own bedroom, although it was a badly kept secret that she often shared Nambu’s bed. Jinpei was naturally delighted, and Jun was pleased not to be the only female in the household any longer.
Mai recovered from her ordeal, and their lives returned to some kind of normality. Nambu was able to use his influence to get her a secretarial job in another department within the ISO. They all knew she would be as safe as possible working there.
It was a rare evening, several months later, when all the team had chosen to stay home that night. Nambu perched on the arm of Mai’s chair.
Clearing his throat to get their attention he spoke to them all, “This is something I’d bought for Mai some years ago. I’d planned to give it to her after she’d graduated, but since that didn’t happen, it was just locked away and forgotten.” He pulled out the tiny box from his jacket pocket. “I remembered it last night, after the boys had gone off to bed, and found it. For a long time, I wondered why I hadn’t given it to her sooner, but eventually it occurred to me. If I had, then there wouldn’t have been any cause for Mai to take Jinpei to the Jupiter Mountains, and he would never have found Jun. I think we can all agree, our lives would have been much worse off if that was the case.”
The group murmured with agreement, as Jun blushed with embarrassment.
“Well, I think it’s now a case of better late than never.” Nambu continued, chuckling, “And I hope after all this time, it’s going to fit.” He opened the box, displaying the cluster of diamonds on the white gold mount.
“Mai, I’ve waited a long, long time to ask you… will you marry me?”