Latched

Chapter 70: Weekend at Baji's

"Hello...?" A certain golden-eyed man spoke while holding two small luggage bags. He walked ahead of a certain brunette inside a familiar apartment.

"Anybody in here? It's us, Kazutora and Yukino." He calls out again and put down the bags.

"Seems like she's not yet around." He blurted out and turns to see Yukino, who is quietly looking at a certain pair of slippers in the house.

"Yukino...?" he asks again. This made the brunette turn to him. At this point, the woman's eyes got even more swollen. She looks so tired. Aside from the fact that they rode a train for more than two hours and it's now 11 o'clock in the evening, the woman in front of her went through so much today. When will she stop going through hell?

"I wish I could turn back the time...Kazutora-kun. I would forgive her and..." she answers and starts to tear up again. The man once again walked towards her and wiped her tears.

"Stop blaming yourself now. Please, just take your rest."

"Yu-chan...?"

Both pair of eyes turn to the direction of the door where a certain woman in her 50s stood while holding a bag of groceries.

"Yu-chan, is it really you...?" The black-haired woman asks and steps closer. Seeing this woman up close, Yukino once again couldn't stop herself from crying and walking towards her.

"How have you been? Wait, are you crying?" The woman asks, still couldn't believe that the child that she helped raise is now in front of her, after years of being apart.

"I missed you so much, Ryoko-san." The brunette childishly says while in the arms of her best friend's mother who is also like her own.

"I missed you, too, Yu-chan." The older woman replies and rubs the younger's back. Kazutora could only watch the two women comfort each other with a small relieved smile. Suddenly, the older female catches a glimpse of him staring so she narrowed her eyes and parted with the brunette momentarily.

"Wait. The two of you being here together means..."

"Did the two of you elope or something?"

Silence.

The two young adults gaped upon hearing the older female, unable to come up with a decent reply.

"Aren't you supposed to walk away from your parents when you're eloping, not the other way around?" As she added that, the golden-eyed man couldn't help but snicker.

"It's not like that, Ryoko-san. I just missed you, so I decided to come back." The black-haired woman smiles and reaches for the young woman's cheek.

"Have you two eaten?"

Now that the two have thought about it, they haven't eaten ever since they left the hospital. Due to adrenaline kicking hard, they forgot about their hunger.

"Thought so. Why don't you sit in the dining table? I'll prepare you something." She offers and walks to the dining area while holding the younger woman's hand.

--