The Yakuza's flower

Enough is enough

Ume's pov

3 more days until the wedding and I was at my old house getting some last minute things.

My friend rukia was with me helping me since kozue was out, because she had given birth 2 weeks ago to a beautiful baby boy and i didn't want her stressing herself out. I told her she didn't have to come to my wedding but she insisted.

I was wrapping up some plates in the kitchen when I heard someone knock lightly on the doorframe behind me.

I smiled without looking up. "Rukia, can you grab the bubble wrap from the—"

I turned around.

And my breath left my body.

Rey stood there.

For a second, my brain refused to catch up with my eyes. He looked the same—tall, familiar, solid—but wrong in the way people look when they've been hollowed out. Dark circles under his eyes. Jaw set too tight. Like he'd driven straight through exhaustion without stopping.

"Hey," he said.

My hands tightened around the plate before I realized what was happening. I set it down carefully on the counter, afraid my fingers wouldn't listen to me if I moved too fast.

"Hey ...What are you doing here?" I asked.

He took a step inside, eyes flicking briefly to the boxes stacked along the wall. Plates wrapped. Cabinets half-empty.

"Just came to see you," he said. "And Prince."

I looked down at the dinner table and pointed to one of the chairs, a silent invitation to sit.

"He's not here," I said softly. "He's with Hanayama and some friends."

Rey froze for half a second.

"Oh," he said. Neutral. Too neutral. He took the seat anyway, elbows resting on the table, hands clasped together like he needed something to hold onto.

"You leave my son with him," he said quietly.

I looked at him then and whatever softness had been there drained out of my expression.

"Your son?" I asked "I think you lost the right to call him that when you abandoned him."

The silence that followed was brutal.

Rey's hands tightened together on the table, knuckles whitening. For a second, I thought he might snap.

He didn't.

"I was falling apart, Ume," he said, voice rough. "I lost Mari—"

"And I was raising a child," I cut in. "Alone."

The words landed hard.

He went quiet.

"I was waking up every night by myself," I continued, my voice steady even as my chest tightened. "Learning how to be a mother while still grieving everything else I'd lost. I didn't get the luxury of disappearing."

Rey stared down at the table, jaw clenched so tight I thought his teeth might crack.

"Enough," he said suddenly. "I'm not playing this pity party game of yours."

"Oh—my god..." I muttered, dragging a hand down my face before forcing myself to breathe.

I looked at him again

"Why are you here, Rey?"

He didn't answer right away.

"I heard you were getting married," he said finally. "And I came to stop you from doing something fucking stupid."