The kiss at the shopping center had changed something fundamental between them, but Aiko still felt the need for one final conversation with herself before fully committing to exploring a relationship with Hiroshi. That evening, she found herself back on her small balcony, looking out over the Madrid street while sorting through the complex emotions that the afternoon had stirred up.
The kiss had been wonderful—gentle, mutual, full of promise rather than desperation. But it had also made the choice she was facing feel more real, more consequential. Dating Hiroshi wouldn't just be about exploring romantic feelings; it would be about definitively choosing to build her future with someone other than the person who had inspired her transformation.
Her phone buzzed with a message from Isabella: "How are you doing? I've been thinking about our conversation the other day."
"Actually struggling with something related to what we discussed," Aiko typed back. "Would you be available to talk?"
Isabella called within minutes, her voice carrying the warmth of someone who understood complex emotional terrain.
"What's happening?"
"The friend I mentioned—Hiroshi—he's here in Madrid, and we... we kissed today. It was beautiful, but now I'm second-guessing everything again."
"What specifically are you second-guessing?"
"Whether I'm betraying Javier by moving forward. Whether I'm being fair to Hiroshi by starting something when part of my heart still belongs to someone else. Whether I'm capable of loving someone fully when I've never really let go of my first love."
Isabella was quiet for a moment. "Aiko, can I share something that might help?"
"Please."
"About six months ago, I started seeing someone. A colleague who had been patient and kind while I worked through my guilt about Javier's accident. For weeks, I felt terrible about it—like I was abandoning my brother, like I was being selfish for wanting companionship while he lay unconscious."
"How did you resolve those feelings?"
"I went to visit Javier and talked to him about it. I told him about this man who cared about me, about my fears of moving forward, about my guilt over finding happiness while he couldn't. And sitting there in that hospital room, I suddenly heard Javier's voice in my memory from years ago."
"What did you remember?"
"When I was going through a difficult breakup in university, Javier told me that love wasn't a competition or a betrayal. He said that caring about one person didn't diminish your capacity to care about others, and that the people who truly love us want us to be happy, even if they can't be part of that happiness."
Aiko felt tears gathering in her eyes. "That sounds like something he would say."
"It is exactly something he would say. Javier never wanted to be the reason someone else couldn't find love. He would be devastated to think that his condition was preventing you from building a relationship with someone who could make you happy."
"But what if he wakes up someday?"
"Then he'll wake up to find that the girl he helped has become a confident, successful woman who learned to accept love when it was offered. Aiko, the greatest way to honor what Javier gave you is to live fully, love completely, and build a beautiful life. Staying emotionally unavailable doesn't honor his memory—it wastes his gift."
After ending the call, Aiko sat in the growing darkness, processing Isabella's words alongside her own feelings from the afternoon. The kiss with Hiroshi had felt right in a way that went beyond simple attraction. It had felt like recognition, like discovering something that had been waiting to develop naturally.
Her phone buzzed again, this time with a message from Hiroshi: "Thank you for this afternoon. No pressure about anything, but I wanted you to know that spending time with you today reminded me why I came to Spain in the first place."
The message was perfectly him—honest, gentle, supportive without being demanding. As she read it, Aiko realized that her hesitation wasn't really about Javier anymore. It was about fear of vulnerability, about the risk of opening her heart to someone who could actually reciprocate her feelings.
Loving Javier had been safe in its impossibility. Loving Hiroshi would require courage because it could actually lead somewhere real.
The next morning, Aiko woke with unusual clarity about what she wanted to do. She dressed carefully—not for any particular occasion, but because she wanted to feel confident when she made her decision official. After classes at the Instituto, she found Hiroshi waiting for her in the courtyard as they had arranged.
"How are you feeling today?" he asked, studying her face with the careful attention that characterized all his interactions with her.
"Clear," she said simply. "About several things, actually."
"Good clarity or complicated clarity?"
"Good clarity. Hiroshi, I want to accept your dinner invitation. Not because I'm settling or because I'm trying to distract myself from other feelings, but because I genuinely want to explore what we could have together."
His smile was radiant but restrained, as if he were trying not to overwhelm her with his enthusiasm. "I'm very glad to hear that."
"But I need you to understand something first," Aiko continued. "What I felt for Javier will always be part of who I am. It changed me fundamentally, and I won't pretend otherwise. Can you accept that as part of being with me?"
"Aiko," Hiroshi said gently, "I don't want you to pretend that your past doesn't matter. Your experience with Javier is part of what made you the person I care about. I'm not asking you to forget him or diminish what he meant to you. I'm just asking for the chance to be part of your future."
"And I'm not asking you to compete with a memory or prove that you're somehow better than someone else," Aiko replied. "I'm asking if you want to build something new with me, something that belongs entirely to us."
"Yes," Hiroshi said immediately. "That's exactly what I want."
They stood in the Instituto courtyard, surrounded by the afternoon energy of students finishing classes and making evening plans, and Aiko felt a profound sense of rightness about the decision she had made.
"So," she said, taking his hand, "tell me about this restaurant you found."
As they walked through Madrid's streets discussing dinner plans and getting to know each other in this new context, Aiko felt lighter than she had in months. The weight of carrying impossible love had been replaced by the excitement of exploring possible love with someone who could actively participate in building it.
She thought briefly of Javier, lying peaceful in his Valencia hospital bed, and felt a sense of gratitude rather than guilt. His kindness had taught her that she was worthy of love. Now she was finally ready to accept it from someone who could love her back.
The dinner date they were planning wouldn't just be their first official romantic evening together—it would be Aiko's first step into a future built on mutual affection rather than impossible longing.
And for the first time since arriving in Spain, that future felt not just possible, but genuinely exciting.