Iwaoi | Damaged

Chapter eight: "When I see you again"

       

        It's cold. He always did hate this kind of weather. I'm starting to hate it too...

Iwaizumi tugged at his coat as he exhaled. The harsh cold air thrashed upon him as he walked down the congested sidewalk.

    All of his client reviews had went smoothly and quicker than usual today. He'd even been given the job as head activity director at the facility. Overseeing how to properly treat clientele during their appointments, this was his occupation.

    He lived closer to his job now. Even though he had a car, walking was routine for him. It was the Izumi Garden Residence in Minato-ku, Tokyo. It was luxury and spacious.
A little to spacious.

    He heard a large rattle and glass shattered as he creaked open the door.
He dropped the key in his pocket and set his briefcase and shoes near the door. The apartment was dark. He could barely see as he struggled to find the light switch. He shook his head and sighed heavily. This was a chore every weekday, taking care of Taiko.

   "Taiko, what are you doing?"
The little boy with an oversized tee shirt and shorts wandered out of the kitchen and wobbled into Iwaizumi's arms. "Papa, I want candy." The boy waved his arms around. Flour permeated the air around them. Getting in his shaggy blonde hair. He smiled cheekily as Iwaizumi coughed. Taiko was at it again. Messing with anything he found in the kitchen. His curiosity never wavered. 

    "I told you not to play in the kitchen. Now I've got to clean up." The child bounced happily in his forearm as he carried him to the couch.

"I got this for you." His voice rose an octave. The boy patted his head and kicked his feet back and forth.
"A lollipop?!" He energetically reached out with his short arms as Iwaizumi reached in his pocket and handed him the candy.
Thankfully it calmed him.
Tara would be coming by any minute. He had to clean up quick before she began a fuss about some crazy child endangerment precautions.

A light rhythmical knock sounded at the door. "Papa!", shouted Taiko from the living room. He'd turned the television on. It blared loudly through the complex.

Iwaizumi rolled down his sleeves and jogged leisurely to the door.

"Sup," Tara cocked her head to look inside at Taiko.
"He's okay for now." Iwaizumi sighed and moved aside for her to come in.
"Geez, stop giving him all that candy. He's gonna have hyperglycaemia."
"You should see about getting him a baby sitter. It's dangerous for a three year old to be alone by himself.-"
She waved her hand about.
    "Don't worry I talked to Reiko, she said she'd 'happily accept'."

"MOMMA!" He jumped from the couch and ran into her arms as she crouched down. "Hey little guy. How've you been?" He pulled on his cheeks to make a big smile as a response. She ruffled his hair with her fingers and let him go as he kept looking away towards the television.

"He's a handful?" She moved a strand of loose hair from her face and folded her arms across her chest.

Iwaizumi loosened his necktie and spoke in a low tone.
"You need to tell him about the Papa thing. I'm not his dad."
"I know. But he really does think so. You've been in his life all this time. It's only natural." Her voice trailed as she looked down at her feet.
She was thinking about it again.
How she'd lost her fiancée during her second trimester.
Iwaizumi didn't know what to tell her when she thought those things.
    And she didn't know how to tell Iwaizumi about himself.

She stiffened and turned to face Iwaizumi. Concern clouded her eyes and she gripped the sleeves of her blazer. Her pale eyebrows furrowed.
"Anyway, are you gonna be alright next week? The doctor said that surgery is gonna be a pain afterwards. If you need anything let me know."

•••

The surgeons told him the mortality rate for Inguinal hernia surgeries where slim to none in his case. Iwaizumi wasn't scared.
The only thing that frightened him had happened long ago.
The scars on his heart were still there to prove it.

The last thing he remembered was the bright light that gleamed upon him, impairing his vision. A countdown signalled the dosages of anaesthesia.

One drop per millimeter.
He heard him repeat.
One drop per millimeter...

Iwaizumi sat at the edge of a dock. The sun casted vulgar rays against his fragile skin. He wanted to swim. But he didn't know how. His feet couldn't touch the water below him. He pouted and continued to throw rocks in. Watching as they plopped and created ripples on the surface.
A boy, around the same age as him in vibrant colored swim trunks and a soaked towel stumbled towards him. A pail of seashells accompanied his side. A bucket which was too heavy for him to carry. He had a scrap on his left knee. The boy curiously looked at Iwaizumi. As if he was an alien of some sort. He had been crying. But standing there, in front of Iwaizumi, he smiled.
A smile that warmed his heart.

Then there was a blur.

He awoke not startled. It felt like a dream within a dream. Some of his life had flashes before his eyes. Had he died? He didn't feel dead.
If death even had a feel.

All he took in was that abstract sky. It was like Van Gough had stroked a painting out of anger. The colors danced so violently among each other.

He basked in the sunlight that spewed over him. It wasn't the type of heat from the sun that warmed him.
The wind whistled through the azure, invading every crevasse.
He smelt the nectar. He felt the roots of the tree. The thrashing of gravel and dirt, as though there were animals.

The Cherry tree? Wasn't it here?

White Calla lily buds spouted and bloomed underneath him as he rose his body.

It was truly a scene from a Disney movie. It couldn't have been real.
He remembered this.
Iwaizumi remembered all of it.
He cried.
Not a sad cry. But a happy cry.

He felt relieved. As if the world was lifted off his shoulders. He was no longer Atlas. Nothing like him of the sort. It felt strange for him to smile.
Especially like this.
Such a familiar feel had embraced him.

Iwaizumi opened his eyes.
His brown hair whisked in the wind.
The sweetest smile had crept his lips.
His eyes still glistened, but felt much heavier now.
His voice still welcomed him.
He sounded happy.
He was truly beauty incarnate.
Nothing more. Nothing less.

He stood there, waiting for him underneath the Cherry tree.
Oikawa in all his glory.

After three long years Iwaizumi was where he wanted to be.
Next to the love of his life underneath that Cherry tree.