Trouble

Chapter 16

April

Saturday, 5:00 pm

Okay, I can do this. I thought to myself as I walked up to the door of my parent's house. I hesitantly reached out and knocked on the door. Nii-chan was the one who answered. "Aki," He looked surprised. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with us." I frowned.

"I did, but I want to set things straight. I don't think that what you or mom and dad did was right, but I'm not going to continue to live with their being bad blood between us." He nodded and let me in.

"They're in the living room."

"Thanks," I said going that way and he followed me. Mom was reading and Dad was reading the newspaper. "Mom, Dad?" Both of them looked up, shocked to see me. "I want to talk if that's okay with you."

"You're not trying to move back in are you?" Dad asked me. I so wanted to just glare at him and walk out. That's the first thing he wants to say to me after not seeing me for months?

"No, I have my own apartment and a job, so I don't need to depend on you guys." Again, he looked shocked. "I came here to talk about what happened. I understand that it wasn't easy for you to have to take care of me with the way I am, but I won't let you mistreat me because I'm weird or... unnatural. I don't want there to be bad blood between us anymore. So, I'm not okay with what you did, but I'm willing to just let it go." Mom was quiet for a minute.

"I'm sorry for hitting you." She said quietly. "That was wrong of me. I shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you like that. I understand that you don't plan on coming back to live with us and I support you on that. I'm glad that you've found yourself your own place, a job, and good friends. That's all I've ever wanted for you." I could tell she was being genuine, but that was seriously pissing me off because she blamed me for everything that went wrong. Well most of it was my fault but I couldn't control it! Instead of blowing up on her, like I wanted too, I calmed myself down and nodded.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me to hear that." She smiled. Dad grunted.

"I guess I'm sorry too. I wasn't exactly patient with you." He said sitting his paper down finally. "I have a horrible temper and I regret not being able to keep in control. So for that, I'm sorry." Really? That's all you're sorry for?

"I'm sorry, too." Nii-chan said looking down. "I hurt you pretty badly and never believed you when you were telling the truth. I wasn't being the older brother I should've been. I ended up pushing you away when you needed help and I also regret that. I'm so sorry for being a jerk and for not standing up for you. I even caused you to get bullied when we were younger out of spite. I'm a horrible brother." I smiled. Well, at least I know Nii-chan was genuinely sorry. He knew what he did wrong. That's the only difference between him and Mom. She didn't recognize the fact that she blamed me for everything.

"You're forgiven." He smiled back. "That's all I wanted to say." I said turning to Mom and Dad. They nodded. With that awkward note, I left the house. For the time being, that is the last time that I will ever step foot into that house. As I was walking home, I ran into Ryuu and Yuma.

"Aki!" Yuma greeted and hugged me.

"Hey guys." I said hugging her back. "What are you guys doing out so late?"

"We were going to the café to have dinner with Nee-san. What are you doing?" Ryuu asked as we continued to walk.

"Oh, I went to visit my parents."