Feather Bound

Chapter 52

He hurried through the hallways of his agency, his footsteps echoing through the empty walls. Tears burned in his eyes, a sensation he refused to yield to just yet. His cheek was warm and swollen, and his head throbbed with the pain radiating through it. Although the meeting had lasted only half an hour, he couldn't bring himself to go home.

The only alternative he could think of at the time was the office. It was the first day back from their holiday break, and it was still early enough that nobody should be there. The night shift wouldn't return until later that night, and he had a few hours before the day shift really started. He needed time to think, to formulate a plan, to let out the frustration and pain, because he didn't know what else to do anymore.

He had wanted to go home, yearning to fall into her arms and let her hold him until the pain subsided, just like after the landslide. But how could he now? How could he face her and confess about Himari? How could he meet her gaze and reveal that her beautiful baby girl had been abducted from her father, confined to a grimy, moldy basement cell? A cell the Commission had designed to torment him when he was just a child himself.

What had he been thinking, pursuing this relationship? He should've known it wouldn't work, that a happy ending just wasn't in the cards for him. He was the son of a criminal for fucks sake. His unhappiness, his service to the Commission, it was all he could do to atone for his father's sins. He was a fraud, parading around as a hero while the very institution he worked for was responsible for an innocent child's tears. He should have known better, never even attempted this.

This was all his fucking fault.

But, he couldn't change it even if he wanted to, not now. He was mated to her, Fierce Wings cementing the bond they shared within him forever. She was his, just as much as he was hers. They belonged to each other. He needed her like he needed air to breathe, because without her by his side, he would be nothing. He couldn't stand the thought of not having her in his life anymore, but when she found out about Himari, that his plan hadn't worked and they had no choice but to have a baby, was she going to want to leave him? What was she going to say?

He burst into his office, forcefully slamming the door shut behind him, struggling to breathe. He bent over, chest heaving as he fought to contain the churning turmoil within him, but the effort was excruciating. The room seemed to spin around him, walls closing in until he couldn't bear it any longer. A scream erupted from him, finally releasing the pent-up anger he couldn't use in Jiro's office. Straightening up, he stormed into his office.

In one sweeping motion, he cleared his desk, sending the contents crashing to the floor. The desktop shattered on impact, fragments of the monitor and keyboard clicking as they scattered across the room. Yet, it wasn't even close to enough to calm him.

Feathers swirled around the room, collecting various objects as he systematically launched them at his office walls in a cathartic outburst. Mindful to spare Haruki's desk, recognizing she wasn't to blame for his predicament. He had truly done this to himself.

Paper danced through the air, glass glinting all over the floor in the morning sunlight, creating a chaotic mosaic on the floor until he reached his breaking point. Turning toward his desk, wings spread wide, feathers catching the sunlight streaming through the office windows. He wasn't the mightiest hero when it came to brute strength, but this task was easy enough for him. Clenching his jaw, he seized the desk, pushing it up and tossing it over as if it were nothing.

It crashed to the ground, the impact shaking the office walls and causing the painting Y/N had made for him to plummet to the ground. Drawers flung open, spilling their contents and creating a cacophony of various items – files, papers, pens, paperclips, and staples – clattering and scattering across the floor. Amidst the chaos, one item, in particular, drew his attention as it tumbled to the ground. The sound of its impact seemed to slice through everything around him, echoing in his ears as he involuntarily sucked in a breath.