What We've Missed Without You

chapter 15

*sorry for mistakes*

Adam felt like he was going crazy.

Now hear him out: He felt like there was something more going on than what he and the rest of his siblings were led to believe. Of course, he would never doubt his own mother, the woman who single-handedly raised him and his other twenty-one siblings and tried to give them a normal life. But he couldn't help but feel that there was something off about that smile she gave him when she told him and the other Komori siblings that:

"Ah, Momoi and Airi got caught somewhere in the rain with a relative of ours. Don't worry, I'll go pick them up when the rain stops."

That wasn't like her at all. She would get worried if one of them used the bathroom without telling her in public. How is Yui so calm when a supposed 'relative' picked up Momoi and Airi after coming into the diner soaking wet and weak searching for them? Adam knew better than that, he knew that his mother would hide the truth with a smile to make him and his siblings worry less. It only make them worry more because of how often she did this. From lying about hospital bills, why other adults whispered about her, and other things she didn't want them to worry about. Hell, Adam can still see vividly that fake smile when he asked her possibly the most serious question, at the time when he was around six:

Flashback:

"Mother." Adam set down his book, a fourth grade-leveled novel he checked out despite his kindergarten trying to tell him he couldn't read at that level yet when he actually could. Yui was right next to him, currently nursing one of the quadruplets while the other three were crawling on a blanket on the floor, Harue watching and playing with them. She turned her head towards her second-eldest son with a friendly smile. "Yeah?"

"Do I have a father?"

Adam saw the smile drop from her face for a moment, Yui gave out a nervous laughter while turning to the infant who greedily sucked her nipple for milk.

"Well, of course you do...All children have daddies."

"Then what happened to mine? Is he dead?" It was strange that Adam knew about the concept of death at this age, he hasn't even been to a funeral yet. What are they teaching him at school? What kind of friends did he have? Never mind that, Yui didn't expect him to ask about his father this early. Yes, she knew perfectly well that her children will start to wonder why they all looked different from each other and why they didn't have dads in their lives like other children. She knew that this was coming, she should of been more prepared for it. With a dry gulp, Yui gave a smile to the dark-haired boy and said gently:

"Sometimes...Daddies and mommies will go away for a while-" Before Yui could lie anymore, the baby in her arms let go of her breast and started to cry out. She cradled the small bundle of life, shushing it and rocking to to calm her down. In Yui's mind, she was actually relieved. She was relieved that she didn't have to go on about some lie, relieved that Adam understood that she needed to perform her duties as a mother right now and went back to reading his book. She wasn't ready yet, but she'll tell him one day; she'll tell all of them the truth. Just when they're old enough to understand.

Unbeknownst to her, Adam got his first taste of Yui's gentle lies.

End of flashback:

Adam hasn't questioned her since then, but he always knew that she was lying to his face. He knew that Yui just wanted to protect all of her children and give them a relatively normal childhood without their father by their sides, so Adam tried to move on with life. But ever since this incident happened, he just couldn't ignore it anymore. There was something going on and he had to satisfy his curiosity or he won't be able to sleep at night. Adam sat in the employee break room, sitting on the worn leather couch and flipping through The Curse of Eve for what seemed like the twentieth time this week. It was ludicrous to seek solace in a fictional novel during this time, his sisters mysteriously whisked away and their mother giving off a misleading calm stature. However, Adam couldn't help but notice the similarities going on in his life and the information printed onto the creme-colored page, it was like this book was meant for Adam to read and to figure out what was happening. Of course, there were no such things as vampires in real life, but it should help him find some kind of foundation to build off of. After a couple of minutes of flipping pages and skimming through the black text, Adam set the book down in his lap and let out a drained sigh. He was letting this eat him alive, it wasn't good for him. After placing a book mark on his page and setting on on the coffee table in front of him, the dark-haired boy collapsed onto the worn leather couch face-down and closed his eyes. As he let his body relax, Adam felt something poke at his face through the cracks of the couch cushions. He lifted up his face and dug his fingers into the crack to pull out an open yellowed envelope with a card behind it.