208 Father, we are hungry

he halts the car in front of her house. he glances at her and snickers. he leans closer to her ear and whispers, "iori."

his breath is tickling. it holds herself from squirming and screaming at him for doing that. the man does whatever he wants. he hasn't changed at all. she pretends to wake up and looks at him with 'sleepy' eyes. "are we there yet?"

"yes, we are in front of your house." the smile on his lips is rather ambiguous. iori looks back and sees ren gazing outside the window and sighing. he and takeshi didn't talk about nina's death once. she's not giving up yet. she will extend her vacation. there's something going on and she will find it out. 

"then, i will see you later." iori smiles at takeshi.

"yes, definitely." takeshi returns the same smile.

awkward. she doesn't want to leave, but she has to. she gets out of the car and walks toward her house. at the gate, she turns around and sees takeshi watching her with the same smile. he waves his hand. she grins and waves back. she's not used to seeing him smile so much. takeshi has changed. sighing, she walks into the house and comes face to face with her mother.

"where did you go?" her mother asks her with a frown. when she notices iori's face, she widens her eyes. "what happened to your face?"

"what happened?" confused, iori runs to her bathroom and looks in the mirror. after one long minute, her mother hears her screaming on the top of her lungs. "takeshi, you… i hate you, you shit!!! you haven't changed one bit."

it seems that takeshi had a good time drawing on her face when she was asleep. 

***

"you are telling me that you saw him sneaking out of the house and you didn't stop him?" rie slams the table in rage. "he's four."

"multiply that by six." kiyohira tells her, "that's how old our son is. you can't treat him like a child."

"kiyohira." she knits her brows. how could she treat her only son as an adult? "even if he's twenty-four mentally, he has the body of a four years old child. the world sees him as a four years old boy. he doesn't have the strength to defend himself if something happens to him. what if someone kidnaps him? what if someone tries to hurt him? didn't you see what happened to nina? did you forget what happened to me? the world is full of people who only know how to hurt."

kiyohira stares at her with a solemn face. he understands her points and the causes behind her fears. "should we lock him in the house? i once thought that keeping you hidden from the world can protect you. but, i was wrong. you were still taken away from me. we can't stop living just because the world is dangerous."

she becomes still. she only wants to protect her son. after hearing what kind of life yuta lived in his past life, she wants to give him the best life. she wants to keep him safe and raise him to be a man who lives a life untainted by crimes and blood. is that too much?

"we can't stop living because of what happened in the past, rie." he takes her hand and squeezes it. "yuta is smart. remember that he is the reason why we are together again. we need to trust him. we can't expect him to forget his past or the people from his past. this life is also his life."

"it's true that i can't expect him to forget his past life. regardless of that fact, he will always be my child. i will do everything to protect him as his mother." she looks down and sighs. "he's still four years old. we shouldn't let him wander alone in a new place until things are clear with maddox."

"i will talk to him." to be honest, even he doesn't know how to treat his son. should he treat his son like an adult or a child? there are times when they talk like friends more than father and son. there are times when yuta looks at him like a child. 

she can't speak to her son about these things without revealing that she already knows. it's up to kiyohira now. she's still anxious. after nina's death, there's a growing fear in her heart. she wonders if she can protect her family. maddox ruined her family once. he has the ability to ruin it again. his only weakness is his child and that weakness is also hidden away. there must be something else. the cult? she exhales. kiyohira gives her a glass of water.

"stop thinking and relax for a moment." his voice is commanding and yet coaxing. only he can make it sound this way. "we will find out where maddox is."

"is finding him enough?" she wants to teach that man a lesson for raising her innocent son to be an assassin in his past life. 

just then, the doorbell rings. kiyohira goes to the main door and opens it. two beautiful children are standing while holding hands. yuta looks up at his father. "father, we are hungry."

kiyohira glances at their joined hands. he eyes his son who shrugs his shoulders. under kiyohira's scrutinizing gaze, yuki hides behind yuta. it seems like his son is befriending the child. things are going to be complicated. he wonders how his wife will react. "come inside."

yuki is hesitant. she follows yuta without a word. she's not good with adults. her father told her that it was better to be quiet if she didn't know how to act. the house is bigger than her home. inside the house, she sees yuta's mother who glares at them.

yuta can sense her flaring temper. he also knows how to appease her. he lets go of yuki's hand and runs to his mother before she could yell at him. he raises his arms and grins at his mother, looking at her with wide round eyes. "mother, did you miss me? i am sorry that i forgot to give you a hug before i went out to play. you must have been heartbroken. i am here now."

rie has the urge to flip the table. her son knows how to play her heart. when he's urging her to hug him, how can she say no? she squats down and lets him coil her arms around her neck with a grumpy face. he pecks her cheek. "mother, i brought a friend. you don't mind, right? she is here to taste father's dishes."

his father, who has been watching the interaction from a distance, shakes his head.  isn't his son taking him for granted? who says that he will cook for his son's friends?