Forced Marriage, True Love

45. Bitter Truth

I spent the whole day with Taki and Sakura-san, trying to calm down both of them. However, unlike Taki, Sakura-san seemed to be faking her tears. Nevertheless, I couldn't tell her that directly on her face. "I can't believe my own husband would do such a terrible thing!" Sakura-san cried. "Taki-kun. Can you ever forgive your mother? From now on, I promise I'll be there for you." She spoke. "You'll forgive me, right? You know I love you." Yeah. Not happening you old hag. Being ignorant of your husband's crimes might be understandable. But if you really say you know nothing, that means you're innocent, right?

If Sakura-san really knew nothing, she wouldn't ignore Taki-kun whenever he felt abandoned. Neither will she force Miki to become Taki-kun's fiancée. Maybe her not knowing anything is true. But forcing your son to do things he doesn't want to clearly shows how she 'loves' him. I'm surprised Taki-kun didn't turn out to be a twisted person but a kind man instead. Maybe Tsukasa and Shinta left a big influence on him. How sad. They both cared so deeply for Taki... only for them to be broken apart by Taki's parents just because they weren't rich.

Taki looked down, unable to meet his mother's eyes, while my heart clenched. Although I had a hunch about all this, I truly wanted to hold onto that faint hope that it was just my speculation and might not be true. But given how things have been recently, it just might not be the case.

"Mitsuha-san," I heard Sakura-san call me, making me turn around and look at her. "Mrs. Tachibana." I said while bowing. "Oh my!" Sakura-san held my shoulders and straightened me again. "Please don't bow to me. I'm so happy Taki has such a cute girl like you as his fiancée." I smiled as the two of us started talking.

***

That evening, I went to Sakura -san's door and stood in front of it for a while before knocking it. The door opened after a while with Sakura-san standing on the other side. "Mitsuha-san. What a pleasant surprise." She said with a smile. "Good evening Sakura-san. I was wondering if I could talk to you." "Of course. Please come in." She replied as she closed the door.

"So, what is your reason to meet me?" Sakura-san asked as she poured me some tea. I stared at her face, directly into her eyes for a short moment. Just as I expected, there was resentment and hatred in them, although she kept a sweet smile on her face. No matter how hard you try to lie, your eyes always give away the real emotion you're feeling.

"It seems like Sakura-san really doesn't want me to be here. So, I'll make this short." I said, making Sakura-san's smile melt, being replaced with an ice-cold, stone face. "The real reason behind Shinta's death wasn't Itsuki-san. It was you, right?" "Why would you say that?" Sakura-san asked.

"Any mother would want their child to be happy. They'd even sacrifice their life just to keep their children happy." I said simply. "However, yours and Itsuki-san's wasn't a love marriage. It was an arranged marriage. Also, your maiden name is Hanajima, right?" Sakura-san didn't reply and simply kept looking at me, not being fazed at all. "The Hanajimas were a very powerful family and one of the biggest rivals to The Tachibanas. However, when The Greyrat Industries came to Japan, you lost all your power almost instantly. In two months, an empire which could've overtaken The Tachibana's was crushed into dust."

Although Sakura-san didn't say anything, I could see her shaking in rage. "In order for your family to save themselves, they forced you into a marriage with Itsuki Tachibana. After the birth of Taki, you two mellowed down for Taki's sake. However, you could never bring yourself to love Taki because he was Itsuki-san's son and more importantly, a Tachibana.

"You and Itsuki-san raised Taki to be a perfect model student and didn't even give him a normal childhood because of that. And so, when you suddenly saw Taki laughing and having fun with Shinta and Tsukasa, you couldn't accept it and got jealous. To break Taki's friendship and to always keep him under your control so that you could rebuild The Hanajima Industries, you didn't oppose of Itsuki-san's training of him. You managed to instigate Itsuki-san against Tsukasa and Shinta, making him create a meticulous plan to kill both of them.

"Well, either way, Itsuki-san didn't like Tsukasa and Shinta that much due to being poor, and after finding out even you and Miki were against Taki's friendship with them, he created a meticulous plan to kill them. However, what you didn't expect was that Shinta would find out the truth behind your scheme and try to stop it.

"Although the impact lessened, it was still enough to destroy the friendship. Now that Shinta and Tsukasa were out of your way, you could control Taki-kun again. You were the one who made Miki Taki's fiancée against his will so that you could get the support of the Okuderas as well. The Okuderas and Tachibanas, two of the richest families in Japan coming together would make things easier for you to build The Hanajima Industries again. Am I right, Sakura-san?"

I completed as I looked at her, my face being as blank as a white sheet of paper. Sakura-san smiled. "You're a very smart woman, Mitsuha-san. You are indeed right." She said, making me look at her blankly as she stood up and walked towards one of the drawers. "Honestly, I can see why Taki chose you as his fiancée. But... I'm afraid you know a bit too much." Sakura-san said.

Just as I had expected, Sakura-san pulled out a gun and aimed it at me. Seriously, just what is it with this family and their obsession with guns? "Don't you know the saying, too much of anything is bad? You knowing this much... will just ruin my reputation. And it will even destroy Taki's life."

"Taki is a smart, rich and handsome man. I'm sure there are many people out there who want to be his fiancée. Don't you know he can replace you with a snap of his fingers?" She said making me look at her. "Are you saying you're going to kill me and say it was an accident to Taki? So that you can manipulate him again into your poisonous traps?" I asked.

"Shut up! He's my son! I know what is best for him! How can someone who knew Taki for barely a year compare to me?! His mother?!" Sakura-san said angrily. "You're no mother of mine, Sakura Hanajima." Taki said coldly as he pressed his trigger against his mother's head.

I smirked while Sakura-san quickly spun around, only to see Taki standing in front of her along with a mob of policemen with him, his eyes looking like two small, stormy oceans, pouring out salty water from them. "Mrs. Sakura Tachibana. You're under arrest." The police said as they handcuffed Sakura-san. "Arrest me for what?" She shouted. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you at court. We have all the evidence that proves you and your husband Itsuki Tachibana were the ones who caused Shinta Takagi's death."

"You useless police! Let me go! I'm innocent! Taki! Taki! Help me! Help me you useless bastard!" Sakura-san shouted as she kept struggling to break out of the police's grip. However, the police didn't listen to her and dragged her out of the house, leaving me and Taki inside the room. The next moment, Taki had a shocked expression on his face as he fell down to his knees before tears spilled out of his eyes, pouring out like a waterfall.

I quickly knelt down next to him and hugged him. Last time, Taki wept like a child. This time however, Taki was completely still. His tears stained my frock while his warm breath fanned my neck.

"Mitsuha?" Taki spoke up after a while as he wrapped his arms around my body. "Hm?" I whispered softly. "Get me out of here. Please?" He begged, making me hum in agreement as I ruffled his hair. "Let's go home." I said and kissed his forehead, trying to calm him down. I knew this was a huge emotional damage to Taki. Given how he just found out his father's crimes and almost immediately figured out his mother's crimes, I'm afraid Taki would take a long time to recover from this shock.

The Taki right now... was no better than a very fragile, cracked glass doll... ready to shatter with the wrong breath.