"I think..." she said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "I think I would have convinced myself I was happy. I would have been grateful for your love and tried to be the partner you deserved. But there would always have been a part of me wondering what might have been possible."
"And that wouldn't have been fair to either of us," Hiroshi said, his voice gaining strength.
"No, it wouldn't have been."
Hiroshi nodded, wiping his eyes but maintaining his composure. "Then I'm glad you're being honest now instead of years from now when we might have built a life based on settling for less than what we both deserve."
He turned to Javier one more time. "Take care of her. She's extraordinary, even if she doesn't always believe it herself."
"I will," Javier promised solemnly. "And Hiroshi? Thank you for taking care of her when I couldn't. For showing her what healthy love looks like. That matters more than you know."
Hiroshi managed a small smile through his tears. "Just make sure she never forgets her worth. Don't let her go back to being invisible."
"Never," Javier said with absolute certainty.
As Hiroshi prepared to leave, he looked at Aiko one last time. "I want you to know that loving you, even for this short time, has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I don't regret any of it."
"Neither do I," Aiko whispered. "You taught me that I deserve to be loved gently. I'll never forget that gift."
They embraced briefly, both crying but without bitterness. When Hiroshi finally walked away into the evening, Aiko turned to Javier with tears in her eyes but certainty in her voice.
Aiko felt the profound sadness of ending something good combined with the overwhelming relief of finally following her heart's true direction.
She turned to Javier, who had remained quietly respectful throughout the entire exchange.
"How do you feel?" he asked gently.
"Sad. Relieved. Terrified. Excited." Aiko laughed through her tears. "Like I just stepped off a cliff and I'm either going to fly or crash spectacularly."
"Which do you think it will be?"
Aiko looked into his eyes—the same eyes that had seen worth in her when she couldn't see it herself, that had haunted her dreams for three years, that now carried her mother's messages and promises of a future she had never dared imagine.
"I think," she said, stepping closer to him, "we're going to fly."
Javier's smile was radiant as he reached out to cup her face gently in his hands. "Half close your eyes."
As their lips met in a kiss that tasted like destiny finally fulfilled, Aiko knew she had made the choice her soul had been calling toward since that rainy day three years ago. The girl who had once been afraid to want anything had finally claimed everything she had ever dreamed of.
The future stretched ahead of them, unknown but full of promise, powered by a connection that had survived years of separation and would now have the chance to grow into whatever it was meant to become.