Possibilities

chapter 5

No one's pov

They arrived at Yuzu's apartment. When they opened the door there was Ume and Sho waiting at the dining table for them. When entering Mei said "We're home". Ume quickly stood up to see her daughter and was shocked, worried and angry all at once as she asked looking them straight in the eyes "What happened? Why was she at the school?" Harumin answered Ume with a cold tone in her voice as the cause was standing next to her still bitter as to what she has done to her best friend Yuzuchi "She some how got her hands on a bottle of tequila and drank herself in this state and as for the school guessing due to her drunken state she decided it was a good idea to go for a swim naked." Harumin glared at Mei while she spoke to Ume not loosing eye contact with her. Ume sighs and takes a deep breath and spoke in a stern tone while Sho was still at the table dumbfounded at the state of his Stepdaughter "Harumin can you please take her and put her in bed? I'll deal with her tomorrow. Then you both should go get ready for bed as well you will be sleeping here its late and not safe. Mei me and your father will talk to you after we all have slept." Mei nodded and went to her old bedroom to get the futon's and some of Yuzu's clothes to wear for her and Harumin. After they've changed clothes got Yuzu into bed they fell asleep. During the night they woke up due to hearing sobbing. Harumin stood up to check on Yuzu she was crying in her sleep and kept on repeating "Mei no please?...Mei?...Mei?" Harumin cuddled up to Yuzu to comfort her and glared at Mei who was breaking due to the guilt and jealousy she was feeling at that moment. After settling down sleep took over once again.

Ume and Sho were in the kitchen and dining area busy with lunch/ breakfast and setting the table. When Harumin walked in and greeted them it was 12:00 am in the afternoon they all went to bed at 3:00 am in the morning so they were pretty tired "Good morning Mrs and Mr Aihara" They greated back in unison "Good morning" Ume then went to asked "How did you sleep and how was Yuzu?" Harumin answered "I slept fine thanks and Yuzu is still sleeping she will have one hell of a headache when she finally wakes up." Sho answerd "We will just leave some asprin and a glass of water on her night stand for her." Ume sigh and said "I'll give her a serious talking to today. Harumin you must be hungry? Why don't you eat with us before you leave?" Harumin answered and bowed "Yeah I'm pretty hungry and thanks a lot for letting me sleep here and the food." She proceeded to take her seat at the table. Not long after Mei woke up wiping the sleep from her eyes she looked around and saw Yuzu was still asleep and Harumin was not. The futon was already folded along with the clothes she wore. Mei heard voices outside and the smell of food hit her nose. She got up, got dressed and put the futon's back in the closet quietly not to wake Yuzu as she did not want to face her at the moment. She proceeded to the kitchen and dining room area. She saw everybody was eating and greeted them as she took her seat.
"Good morning."

Harumin with her eyebrows knitted and a cold tone greeted back "Good morning prez."

Ume:"Good morning sweetie."

Sho:"Good morning Mei."

Harumin stood up and bowed and thanked them again for their hospitality and asked "Please tell Yuzuchi to phone me once she has woken up as I have to leave now or else my sister will scold me." Ume replied "Thank you for being there for Yuzu and helping her I will give her your message." And with that Harumin left and silence filled the apartment as Sho, Ume and Mei were sitting finishing their food not one of them sure how to address the elafant in the room. Soon Ume broke the silence "Mei sweetie what happened yesterday between you and Yuzu that she got herself drunk?" Mei's eyes were filled with guilt, uncertainty and pain as she looked down sighed and answered her mother "She told me how she felt and that everyone supports us our relationship but I pushed her away out of fear and not believing her as the real world hardly works that way. I have two questions I need answers for. Did she really tell you and our friends and what did Maturi mean when she said Yuzu freed me?" She looked up at this moment and to her father waiting for the response. Ume sighed she was torne as her daughter was hurting after getting her heart broken for the second time but Mei was also hurting fighting her inner conflicts as she can see she loves Yuzu. She is both their mothers and does not want either of them to be hurt, she has to be there for them both as they need her. "Mei I'm not happy that my daughter's heart has been broken again as I fear this will change her, that being said you are also my daughter and I'm here for you too as you are hurting as well." With this Mei's widened as she heard what Ume said and appreciate it as she never had this amount of love and care given to her until Ume and Yuzu came into her life.~So this is a mother's love.~ She was snapped out of her thoughts when Ume went on speaking in her stern but caring voice "As for your questions yes we all know about you and her and we have nothing but love and support for you. As for the second question I will leave that up to your father to answer as I will take asprin and water for Yuzu." Mei nodded and with a soft sad tone apologies to her mother "S-Sorry mother I did not mean to hurt her I-i do- " she got cut off by Ume "I know" with that she left to take the asprin to Yuzu. There was an awkward silence again for a minute or so as Sho with his elbows on the table and thumbs under his chin with his index fingers on his mouth sighed looking his daughter in the eyes and spoke "I know I'm a poor excuse for a father. I left you when you needed me the most to fulfill my own happiness and left you with my father and the burden of the family obligations. I'm sorry we both failed you and you had to suffer all alone due to my selfishness and your grandfather's pride instead of us realising what's most important." Mei was beyond shocked her eyes widened with tears starting to form with no words to say she kept listening to her father speaking as she couldn't believe what he was saying. "Thanks to Ume and Yuzu I have realised that you are my happiness, my family and that I want nothing but the best for you and want you to be happy. As for your grandfather he also realised that your happiness and the smile on your face is more valuable than his pride or his money, that 'you' his family is the most precious thing to him and doesn't want to see you suffer any more." Mei couldn't hold back any more as the tears starded to fall down her cheeks. Sho looked at his daughter with a stern face but with concern in his eyes he knew he had to say it and she needed to hear it. "So to answer your question me and your grandfather had confronted the board and took a 'Yuzu' aprotch as we talked to them straight without any regard for the fallout. We told them about you and her and presented them with a new policy for you taking over as the heiress of the family weather you get married or not it's your choice and whomever that my be. We asked them if they would put their own children or grandchildren through the same suffering. Wouldn't they want their own children or grandchildren to be happy? With that they agreed and signed the policy so you are free." Mei was full on crying at this point she could not stop the tears kept on coming. Ume came back and sat beside her and comforted her and looked at her husband with a saddened face. He nodded as he understood what his wife was telling him without words that she needed to hear what he had to say and was proud of him for saying it. Mei in between her sobs "I ....*sob* screwed *sob* up! *Sob*
What am I supposed....t-to d-do *sob* now? I should've b-believed *sob* her!
~sobbing~

Ume just kept on rubbing her back in circles while holding her in a hug to comfort her. Sho sighed stood up and went to comfort his daughter as well while he spoke "You truly are my daughter. You don't know how to express your emotions. If you truly love her as she does you, you need to show her by fighting for her and not giving up as she did for you." Mei let go of the hug and wiped her tears as she nodded to her father and thanked him "Thank you father for everything that you have done. For supporting me and Yuzu. For giving me my freedom to be happy." Sho blushed at hearing his daughter call him father and scratch his neck in embarrassment as he stuttered "I-it's th-the least I could d-do." Ume just chuckled at the sight. Mei went on to say "And thank you mother for also being supportive of this and always being there when I need you for showing me what motherly love is." She bowed to both of them and blushed slightly as she spoke the next few words "I love you both" while she stood back up looking at her parents. This was the first time except for Yuzu that she has shown her emotions. Ume was crying as this was the first time Mei told her she loved her and Sho just blushed even harder hearing his daughter say those words. He hugged his wife to calm her down as he replied "We love you to Mei" Ume went to wipe her tears of joy and said "Now that we have cleared up everything we should clean the dishes and wait for Yuzu to wake up and see how she is." Mei sighed and answered "I should leave she won't want to see me." Ume went to say "No your still sisters and if you truly want to be with her you will need to face her at some point. No one said this would be easy and what better time to start than now." Mei nodded in agreement and they proceded to clean.

A/n sorry for the late update hope you like the story so far sorry for any mistakes this is my first attempt at writing. I'll try to update more frequently.