Sinner and a Savior

Ch. 14 - A Mother's Torment

After a while of decompressing, you slowly got up. Your muscles ached and you felt sticky from the sweat. Toji had been in your restroom for quite some time to a point of suspicion. 
You carefully approached the door and gave a few gentle knocks only to receive no response. After a few seconds of listening to silence, you slowly turned the knob and entered. 

All that you could find was an empty bathroom with an open window. He had left you completely alone without a care in the world. You had no idea why this somehow hurt, a pain in your chest and knot in your throat to prove it.
You opened your medicine cabinet as a next move only to find that he had, for some reason, stolen your headache medicine. Everything else appeared to be in its place.

There wasn't anything left to do but go to bed. You supposed what happened tonight worked because your mind had stopped racing.
You cleaned yourself up and went right to bed, waking in the middle of the night to care for Megumi, but otherwise sleeping through the night.

You woke the next day and went about your regular routine, shoving yourself in a tight-fitting yukata and caring for Megumi before starting your afternoon chores. You thought it'd just be another day as it had been for the past several weeks. But today was different.

One of the attendants came to you with your mail, a regular occurrence. And it was opened, inspected for malicious content, also a regular occurrence. 

"Zenin-sama would like to see you this afternoon, as soon as possible," the attendant muttered and gave a light bow before returning to their duties. 

You furrowed your brow in confusion, watching them leave as you took out the paper that was in one of the open envelopes. You looked down to read only to find words that you never wanted to see. 
Right at the top in Japanese, followed by its English equivalent in a fancy looking font, "Petition for Dissolution of Marriage."

You clenched your jaw in an attempt to keep composed, letting your hands fall to your sides but clenching your fists to the point where you crumpled the papers.
You couldn't believe he had beaten you to it. First of all, you wanted to be the one to serve him papers. Secondly, you also just didn't want to believe it was over. You had built your life with this man and he not only betrayed you, but he ripped your heart out. 

But now Naobito also wanted to see you? You had no idea what it could be about. If it was about your divorce, you worried what it could mean. Did they care about your divorce in that it could get you fired? Or was it that they knew Toji was there the night prior? Your mind began to race yet again. At this rate you felt like your hair could turn gray with all of your worries.

There was no reason to delay. You made your way to the main room of the estate where Naobito could usually be found. The attendants at the door granted you entry and you found him on his zabuton just like when you were first interviewed. 

He sat cross-legged and cross-armed with a sour look on his face. You felt your palms begin to become clammy but you did your best to maintain your professionalism, making sure to keep your steps small and to give a polite bow when standing before him.

"Y/N," his rough voice began, "thank you for meeting with me." You remained silent out of respect, waiting for him to continue. "I've brought you here to discuss what was in your mail this morning." You were slightly relieved to know that it wasn't about Toji being there the night before. "You received...papers regarding a divorce, correct?"

"Yes, sir," you mumbled, squeezing your hands that you were holding in front of you tighter out of nerves. 

"We would like to take care of anything regarding this...divorce," there was a sense of reluctance in his voice. "From fees, to paying for a lawyer, anything that you need."

"I'm sorry, sir. Are you sure about that?" You were completely baffled by his offer. Maybe Toji wasn't lying after all?

"Yes," he answered abruptly, "we would like to support you in this difficult time. This would include covering any time off needed to care for your daughter, take care of legal affairs, and process things emotionally." His tone felt a bit forced, but you couldn't argue. It was too good to be true!

"Th-thank you, sir," you bowed deeply, "this means a lot to me. And it continues to be a joy caring for Fushiguro-sama."

"Please, no need for honorifics with that bastard's child," Naobito's tone was suddenly incredibly harsh. Your face flushed bright red out of embarrassment as you came up from your bow. "Now carry on," he demanded. 

You wasted no time getting out of there. You nearly wanted to cry from mortification. You continued to tend to Megumi per your usual schedule feeling a little less lost knowing that you now had some support, powerful support.
When you finally told your parents about the divorce, they sounded almost relieved and as if it was something expected. Just like the Zenin's, they, too, were all about supporting you in any way that you needed.

You were almost excited to tell Toji about it during his nightly visit, you especially realized that you needed to thank him as it was likely whatever he did that made Naobito provide such a service.

You felt impatient as you cared for Megumi, going through the usual schedule with only Toji on your mind. It almost felt like you were a schoolgirl again, gushing about your crush. But this was just excitement about something going right in a sea of things going wrong, right?

You pleasantly hummed as you prepared Megumi for bed after his nightly bath. He was really starting to emote more and more as the weeks went by, growing like a weed!

"You seem cheery," Toji's voice suddenly appeared in the doorway. He had a pleasant grin on his face, damaged a bit by the scar on his lip. "What's going on?"

"Hey, ditcher!" You giggled in greeting. "I received divorce papers in the mail today," you explained.

"Ditcher?" He stepped further in the room and cocked his head, "and why are you so cheery about that? Last time I heard, you were all doom and gloom about it."

"Naobito is going to take care of everything financially for me, and I have a freer schedule to deal with the whole thing, it's like a dream come true!" You shrugged with a smile, picking up Megumi, who was now dressed in his pajamas.

"Good," Toji declared shortly, watching as you went over to the crib and laid Megumi down, making sure to turn on the mobile above him to help him fall asleep.

"And I wanted to say thank you for it," you turned back toward Toji once you had finished putting Megumi down. "You mentioned that you 'took care of things' with him, so I figure that their decision to help had to come from whatever you did."

Toji stood silently, not really giving any sign of a response. "Yeah," he finally nodded, "I'm glad they actually listened...for once."

"So why'd you ditch me the other night?" You now asked with a bit of sass, going as far as crossing your arms and leaning on one hip. You stared at him expectantly for an answer.

Toji looked as though he'd been caught off guard, something you'd never seen in him given his usually calm and nonchalant demeanor. "I, uh, didn't want to stay."

"No shit," you rolled your eyes and smiled, "what's the real reason? Did I scare you away? Was it that horrible?"

"No, definitely not, you were...perfect," he quickly confirmed, "I don't usually stick around after..." he trailed off.

"Right," you sighed, feeling somehow disappointed, "it's not like we're dating or whatever, I'm technically still...married," you muttered. "But next time...if...IF there is a next time, just leave out the door. Don't trouble yourself, I understand." You turned away from him and continued your nightly routine, cleaning off the changing table and picking up toys and whatnot.

"It's not because it wasn't good," Toji grumbled, trying to fix the situation as if that were the issue to begin with.

You giggled at his response. That was not the issue. In fact, there really wasn't an issue. You were two separate people on two separate paths that just to happened to cross, it meant nothing more. "We should decide our next little adventure," you mentioned happily.