Home [Fruits Basket]

Chapter 21: You're Always Welcome To My Home

"I hear another marriage talk fell apart."

"Can't they compromise? The doctor says he's not long for this world anyway."

"That's exactly why! I mean, there has to be a successor."

"True, no one wants 'outsiders' to fall heir to that money."

After hearing these voices coming from down the hallway, the young male who was sitting on the floor beside the window in his room let out another heavy sigh. He looked out of the window and watched the trees shedding their autumn reddish leaves, thinking that very soon one day his life would wither away just like the leaves.

All of a sudden, he realized that someone just walked into the room and now was standing a few feet away from him. The young man looked up and noticed that the individual who just walked into his room was his personal maid. Even though she was wearing the usual light purple-colored maid kimono, she still looked so beautiful and captivating. Her black braided hair swayed a bit to the side as the cool autumn breeze blew into the room through the window and a beautiful warm smile graced her features before she walked over and sat in front of him.

"You must be so lonely and afraid of dying alone." She said in an alluring soft voice, putting a hand on his lap. "And no one else notices."

Tears started to form in her dark purplish-brown eyes as she leaned closer to his face.

"But I'm different." She added with a soft expression on her face. "I see it. Give me all of your pain, every last bit. Because I love you..."

"Obviously this cannot be allowed!" Kiyomi the head maid of the main Sohma house yelled in fury at the young woman who was standing in front of her. "You are a servant!"

"We are in love." The young woman responded back in a calming tone as she leaned closer to the individual standing beside her.

"Silence!" Kiyomi yelled again. "Get out of here this instant. Never set foot on the Sohma estate again!-"

At that moment, Kiyomi was cut off when suddenly that individual besides the young woman spoke up, who happened to be Akira Sohma, the current head of the Sohma family.

"Ren noticed that I was lonely." Akira stated. "She cried for me."

His statement left Kiyomi dumbfounded and the young woman named Ren in complete bliss.

Soon after that the two lovers got married and were living happily in the Sohma estate, but the happiness didn't last long for the young woman when she discovered that she was carrying not one but two of Akira's children inside her; one was the God of the zodiac curse while the other one was a normal regular child. The news about Ren conceiving Akira's twin children spread across the Sohma family like a wildfire and everyone was pleased and overjoyed upon hearing such wonderful news, except for Ren who was utterly disturbed by it.

"Why won't you hold Akito and Akari, Ren?" Akira asked, holding his newly born twin daughters in his arms securely.

"Why bother?" Ren responded and turned away from him. "Everyone else already loves those children, don't they?"

"Akito and Akari were born for them to love. It's only natural." Akira stated the obvious fact.

Ren's breath hitched and her eyes widened in fraction when her beloved husband's words reached her ears. Her worst nightmare was slowly coming true.