Do you regret it, mom?

They'd be fine

The weeks turned into months after Ikeda's death, and her husband seemed to just get worse.

Gakuhou had started disappearing for long periods, isolating himself from them.

It was becoming more and more common to come home and the only ones there were the boys and the maid on her way out. It started feeling like she was a single parent and a bad one at that.

"Boys, come sit down and eat," she tried to get the boys to sit down and eat the food Ishii had prepared.

The living room looked like a mini classroom, with textbooks on the door and the coffee table. Gakushuu was busy trying to complete the sheets of tests on the table while Karma was running around the room pretending to be one of the superheroes he saw on tv.

She sighed, feeling tired. "Boys, come on it's time to eat."

Gakushuu frowned. "But daddy said we have to do the tests before, before he gets back."

"That can wait." She walked over and then took the pencil from him. "Come on. It doesn't matter."

Gakushuu looked reluctant still. "But—"

She pulled him away from the work. "Come on." Then, she tried to get Karma. "Karma, it's time to eat."

Her youngest kept spinning around. "Am not hungry!"

Kairi sighed again, letting go of Gakushuu's hand. "Your food's on the table." She nudged him towards the kitchen. "Go eat."

"Yes, mommy," Gakushuu said, going to go eat.

"Karma." Kairi turned around and crossed her arms. "Stop messing around."

Karma kept moving around like a snake in a box. "Am not hungry," he kept saying, holding his blanket around his shoulders. "Eat later."

"Nope. I'm not re-heating it." She grabbed his hand. "Come on."

His brow furrowed, getting worked up. "No, mommy!" He tried to twist his hand out of her grip. "I don't want to eat!"

"Karma." She tried to pull him to the kitchen. "Come on, stop it."

"No!" He complained, stamping his feet. "No!"

Kairi gritted her teeth and let his hand go. "Fine." she snapped. "Then you can eat it when it's cold."

She was too tired for this and she already had a report that had yet to be reviewed since she'd been stuck in meetings all day.

She left Karma to his play and went to go eat with Gakushuu. "Where is your father anyway?" she asked, grabbing some ground-up chili before she sat down at the table with her plate.

Gakushuu shrugged. "I don't know." He ate his meatballs. "Is Karma eating?"

She sprinkled some chili on her meatballs and rice. "Doesn't look like it." Kairi sighed, checking her phone while she shoved a meatball in her mouth. "He hasn't even tried to call," she murmured, scrolling for any missed calls or messages but the only recent ones were from work. "Where is he?"

"Mommy?" Karma came into the kitchen, blanket now curled up in his arms. "I want strawberries milk."

Her gaze narrowed. "No." She pointed at the smaller plate next to Gakushuu's. "If you're hungry, come eat."

His face scrunched up, shaking his head. "I don't want that."

Kairi heaved a sigh, burying her face in her hand. "Look, if you want strawberry milk, then sit down and eat."

Why was this so hard for him to understand?

Karma's face crumbled. "No!" He buried his face in his blanket. "I want strawberries, strawberries milk!"