It was a cold windy wintry night.

So cold was the night, that by rights, no one should have been out and about , but should have been indoors, maybe in front of some warm fireplace, or some warm electric heater, with something hot to drink, but unfortunately fate, or to put it more mundanely , work kept some people outdoors.

One of those fated to be out this cold night was heading back home on his trusted motorcycle. It was not his original intention to be out in the cold; infact he had hoped to be home much earlier than usual, but, as they say, if things must go wrong, they will, and an hitherto unnoticed problem in his latest work project had decided to make itself known, in a big way...and fixing it had taken time, and effort, and even with all the effort, it was going to be some time before any headway was made.

But the worst thing , in the eyes of the man, was that all these things meant that he would be late, and that meant that she would be worried, and he did not like making her worried.

Years ago, when he was a young man, he had worked late into the nights for the better part of a week to make sure he earned enough to buy her a beautiful gift. A thank you gift,so to speak. While she had been very happy with the gift, she had spent most of that week worrying, and he had felt bad about it...especially as he could not tell her why he had to work that late as the gift was meant to be a surprise. But her joy at receiving the gift, a simple ring, that had never ever left the finger that he had placed it on since that day had made everything , even his worry over her feelings worth it. And that day, he had made a secret vow...never ever to make her worry like that again.

A vow that he had kept for the most part...except tonight.

As he rode home, he suddenly saw , ahead, some lights on the highway. A car, from the looks of things. On getting closer, he saw that it was a snazzy looking sports car, with the hood open, and the driver bent over the engine looking stressed and tired. A breakdown,he thought. He thought of continuing on, but decided to stop and see if he could help. He parked his bike up the road, and approached the driver.

The driver of the car turned round on his approach, and looked at the biker. In the light of the car's headlights , both men blinked and looked at each other. With a burst of surprise, each man recognized each other.

The driver of the car spoke first 'Morisato'

The biker replied 'Aoshima'.

No words were spoken for a few moments, then the man called Morisato said , politely, 'Seems like you have some problem with your car, Aoshima'.

'Ah, yes, Morisato, seems to be from the engine'

'Mind if I help you look at it?' Morisato said queitly.

'Of course' the other man said, almost distractedly.

Morisato went back to his bike briefly, and retrieved some tools from his beemer, the same motorcycle he used to ride back when he was just another college then bent over the engine and worked queitly. He soon isolated the problem, and then got to work on it.
There was silence for some time

'Tell me Morisato, are you still married to that gaijin girlfriend of yours..what was her name again...bell..erm'

'Belldandy' , Morisato said', and we have three children. , he added with a smile. 'How about you?'

'I am now Vice -President of Research for my father's company' .Aoshima said with some pride. 'Have been doing a bit of international travel , particularly in Europe, exploring some new business opportunities. You know..the usual.' He spoke with the air of a man of business...serious business that the chap in front of him could not ever hope to understand, or achieve.

'I was in France this week, when I got a call from home. Urgent business' he added languidly, and breifly. 'But enough about me. Are you still working for Chihiro sempai'?

'No , Keiichi replied, his mind still on the engine' 'I run my own business now. Mostly custom motorcycles. You could stop by and see us sometime'

Both men continued in ths way, for a few more minutes, with their discussion eventually focusing on the car, which problem Keiichi was able to solve. As he closed the hood of the car, Keiichi smiled at Aoshima, and said 'Well, that's your problem fixed, for now. I'd advise that you still have it looked over by your usual mechanic, but this should do for now.'

'Thanks, I am sure I appreciate this, of course' Aoshima said. He was about to say more, but they were interrupted by the sound of one of the doors of the passenger side of the car slamming shut. A figure had stepped out of the car. The figure turned out to have a feminine shape, wrapped in warm , expensive furs. She did not pay attention to Keiichi, but instead, asked Aoshima, rather impatiently in good, but slightly accented Japanese, if the car problem had been sorted out.

'Yes dear' Aoshima responded ' I was fortunate that a former schoolmate of mine happened to be passing by, and between the two of us, we got the car fixed'

The lady turned around and looked at the said schoolmate a bit closely. In the clear moonlight (the wind had stopped while the car was being repaired), Keiichi saw that she was a tall, brown haired , blue-eyed foreigner, with perfectly styled hair and a frown on her lovely face. Keiichi noted that she had some resemblance to a certain lady he knew...only that she was taller, and the face, though beautiful, was hard, and there were no markings visible.

'Morisato' Aoshima said ' This is Monica, an international supermodel, and my girlfriend. Monica, this is Morisato Keiichi'

'Nice to meet you, Monica-san' Keiichi said, with a smile.

'Oh the pleasure is all mine too' Monica said , before turning to Aoshima and saying 'Well, shall we?'

'Er yes dear.' Aoshima said, before he turned towards Morisato and said 'Thanks'.

And on a cold wintry night, two former antagonists, who were still by no means best friends...parted .

Keiichi Morisato arrived home some minutes later. It was late in the night, but in the Morisato household, it was all quiet, warm and well lady of the house, having heard her husband come in , came to meet him at the doorway, just as he was taking off his stuff. She greeted him with a smile and told him that his supper was waiting for him on the table.

As Keiichi Morisato ate his very very late supper of warmed over miso soup, he thought back to his meeting with Aoshima, and realized something .

Aoshima was successful, that was certain, And he was still his proud, smug self. But even with all the success and the posh gaijin girlfriend, Aoshima still gave off the air of not being satisfied, of trying to be better than the next man, and of looking for the next accomplishment. Keiichi could not help but feel a bit of regret that had he taken some chances,or worked harder, maybe he might have become succesful enough to provide a lot for his growing family...especially for Belldandy

Belldandy.

Keiichi looked at Belldandy, who was quietly sitting down opposite him doing a bit of sewing with a smile on her face, and realized that for her, he would exchange a lifetime of success and riches, just to be by her side..and she would do the same for him...

Forever.

Apologies for the delays in updates to my stories. Have bee EXTREMELY busy with work, stress at work and a professional exam to write.