Will You Be My Sowlmate? (BokuAka AU)

Chapter 21

*Keiji's POV*
I woke up to my father sitted before me, eyes filled with disappointment and disdain as he stared at me with his beady eyes. I groaned, massaging where my brother had hit me earlier. "I heard from nii-san that you wanted to talk with me." "You ungrateful bastard. You caused your mother's death and you still dare talk back to me!"

"I did not. She passed from an illness."

"That's the lie the maids told you. It was nice being ignorant for the past 7 years wasn't it?"

*Third person's POV*
"You smartly decided not to heed anyone's instructions and headed out to play didn't you? You got yourself kidnapped."

"I did?" Keiji said in mock surprise.

"Your mother rushed to save you. She fell into a trap. She got raped, fed drugs." Something ran through Keiji's mind.

"She suffered till she died. It was all your fault. When we found her it was too late. And you were there staring into blank space like nothing ever happened."

"No...no...Mother died from illness. Tell me she did. No. It's all a lie. It's all a lie..." Keiji's last words faded into a whisper as an avalanche of sealed memories crashed over him.

Flashback to 15 years ago
Keiji had to go out. Mother's birthday was in two days and he wanted to give Mother a surprise. He couldn't tell Brother. Brother never kept secrets well. Keiji headed to the field nearby. Mother loved flowers. She would love a daisy crown. The young Keiji started weaving the best he could, a crown made of the prettiest flowers he could find. Just like his mum, pretty and petite. A man walked over. "What are you doing?" he had asked. Keiji happily replied that he was making a birthday present. The man settled down beside him and offered his help. They started weaving together, the huge sized man passing him the tiny flowers. Then Keiji heard Mother calling for him.

The man as if remembering something grabbed him and carried him away. Keiji kept silent because he knew Mother would get into trouble if she followed after.

But Mother still managed to follow them. The man covered Keiji's eyes as the other bigger sized men grabbed hold of his mother when she burst through the door. He could still hear his mother screaming his name. Keiji tried to call out to her, but he was gagged. He continued to hear his mother shout, each one louder than the next as if she was still struggling. Then she quieted down, calling his name softly over and over again, voice croaking in pain.

After so long, Keiji heard the door crash open and people running away. His mother had stopped calling his name. A policeman untied his blindfold. Keiji opened his eyes, blinded by the light. His mother lay in a pool of blood, naked and bruised. She was just sleeping, Keiji told himself and crawled over to join her. But he had no energy. He fell to the floor, hands still reaching for his mother, trying to call her out with whatever left of his dry throat. Her chest no longer rose nor fell.

Father started crying when he saw her, hugging her close to him. Keiji's mind went blank then snap. The next thing he remembered was lying on the bed with a bag of liquid beside him. The maid said that his mother had died due to an illness and that he fell off a tree trying to grieve for her death. But now, Keiji could not even feel sad for his precious mother's death. Tears could not flow and his heart was empty...

Back to present
Keiji sat on the chair sobbing, his father still staring at him with an unreadable expression. "I'm sorry Mother. I'm sorry." He kept muttering. It took all his will and a deep breath to stop the flow of his tears.

Keiji composed himself. "T-Thank you for telling me this and raising me all these years. It's better if I disappear from your sight. I'll pay you everything I owe in monthly instalments. Goodbye... Father." After saying his piece, Keiji stood up and led himself out of the room. He could hear his father shouting his name and calling him names like "ungrateful brat" but the man didn't chase after him.

Stopping by his mother's ancestors' tablet, Keiji prayed and apologised. He thanked her for caring for him, thanked her for loving him, thanked her for so many things just simple words could not express. He apologised too, telling her his guilt and his sorrow and so many things he was not able to do. He assured her he would lead a good life. Then he stood up and left.

He would never come back into this house. Never again. Away from this estate filled with too many happy but also painful memories. Locking the door to his past 20 years of memories. He would go. Back to where his home was now. Beside Bokuto-san, in that 2LDK apartment right in the heart of Tokyo. He did not know why but in that moment his heart started to erratically pulsate and his face heated up.