Corpse Bride || Haitani Brothers/OC

24 - cruel

a bloodied man walked in the club as if he didn't look like he came from a slaughterhouse. he was tall, and he turned heads as he passed. they'd stare at his face instead of the blood on his clothes—just like his wife did the first night they met.

one thing was clear, however, to those who observed the red blotches on his dress shirt and blue suit. it wasn't his blood.

he walked in the room he knew his companions would be, scanning his eyes for the particular woman he'd been thinking about all day. Mikey smiles as he took notice of him standing by the doorway.

"come in, Ran," he says.

"where is she?"

"she went with your brother."

he grimaces, reminding himself to knock some sense into his younger brother who didn't even care to mention where they were. ignoring Mikey, he heads to the club's exit for some quiet as he pulled out his phone to call Rindou.

"what?" he answers.

"is she alright? where are you?"

"we're at home, and she's fine."

for now it was enough so he ends the call. he heads back to where Mikey and the others were, sitting down across Mikey. to his surprise, he found Hikari's purse on the couch, and Kaku gave it to him muttering something along the lines of, "wonder if she's fine."

he opened her purse to check if all her things were there before he sets it down on his lap. then he gazes at Mikey, slightly tapping his finger on the arm of his chair. there were so many things he wanted to ask and find out.

being the perfectionist control freak he was, he wanted everything written down for him to know. what she ate for lunch, what kind of work she's accomplished for the day—was she tired—and obviously, there was the nagging questions that made him so afraid to ask. did she contact Red Flower again and actually try to infiltrate, was she scared out of her mind—he should've been here, he wouldn't have let that happen—

"does she know?" was the first thing he's said.

"know what?" Mikey almost teases.

the rest of the executives were listening, Ran knew he couldn't talk about it here.

"what you promised you'll never tell her," he says, leaning his elbows on his knees as he rests his chin against his laced fingers.

"she went to contact Red Flower," Mikey responds, stubbornly refusing to answer his question.

"I told you I was against it."

"oh Hikari knows you're against it, it's why she did it without you around."

"you plotted with her."

"she plotted with me," he shrugs, "you know better than anyone how your wife is."

he smiles, pretending like he wasn't worried to the point of wanting to race home and see her for himself. but he still needed to know.

"did you tell her?"

because what if he came home to a broken woman who couldn't even look at him for the life of her? he's not sure he'd even know what to do if it were the case.

"why don't you listen to this."

Mikey pushed the recording in his direction, Ran looking at it skeptically. he put the headphones on, then he pressed play. her voice filled his ears almost instantly, like honey as she talked to Kenji. he could make out her uneven breaths. she was a pro, he thought, but she was also slightly nervous.