My Soul Will Find Yours : The Fulfillment of the Promise

Trauma

I heard the sound of a car arriving and stopping outside. While fervently uttering a prayer, I ran downstairs and wasted no time. My foot just landed on the last tread of the stairs when the front door opened. From there, a laughing Charles and a smiling Kaname entered, each of them carrying a paper bag. When he saw my tear-drenched face, Kaname dropped what he was carrying and ran towards me to envelope me in a hug.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked worryingly.

"Anata, don't scare me like that!" I accused as I bawled on his chest.

"Ha?"

"I thought you were gone, I thought I'd go crazy!"

"But I'm here," he said softly, his fingers frantically wiped my tears.

"You weren't around when I woke up," I looked at him and saw something flash in his eyes. "I searched the entire house but I couldn't find you."

"Riku and I just went out for a bit," he started to explain. "I woke up early and since you were sleeping so soundly, I didn't wake you. When I went downstairs, I saw that Riku was also up. We decided to exercise but we got hungry afterwards. Because I didn't want to wake you, he offered an alternative. We drove over to his favorite shop and bought breakfast for a change."

"But why did his room look untouched? Why were his clothes and bag gone?" I sobbed. "When I saw no trace of the both of you staying here, I thought everything was a dream... I thought fate was being unfair to me again."

"Hina," he hugged my trembling body tightly. "I'm here and so is Riku."

"I was so scared," I repeated. I sounded like a child but I couldn't help it, their disappearance really frightened me. I was so shaken, my tears wouldn't stop and my chest still ached. So this was how deep the trauma of our parting was, I never realized it was this severe.

I felt myself being lifted by Kaname's strong arms. He wordlessly carried me upstairs and gently laid me on our bed.

"Please stop crying," he begged, his beautiful face was contorted in anguish. He took one of my hands and placed it on his left chest. "Seeing you this broken pains me, too. It hurts here."

I bit my quivering lip and fought my tears but my tear ducts continued to stubbornly empty themselves. "I c-can't stop," I choked.

Charles entered the room with a pitcher of water and a glass. He poured me some water and handed it to his father. He looked so contrite I immediately felt guilty.

Was I overreacting?

"I'm s-sorry," I hiccupped.

Kaname shook his head and lifted the glass closer to my lips, "Drink, it will help calm you down."

I took a couple of sips of water obediently.

"I'm sorry," Charles knelt on the floor and buried his face on the mattress. "I never meant to frighten you, mama. I swear I wasn't pulling a prank."

"Hey," I looked at Kaname helplessly then at his trembling shoulders. While running my fingers through his hair, I comforted, "I'm not angry. Maybe... Maybe I just overreacted."

"You didn't," Charles said stubbornly, he pulled away and assumed the dogeza position.

"What are you doing?" I almost jumped out of bed to stop him.

"Riku..." Kaname tapped his son's shoulder. "Don't. Your mother will feel even more guilty."

"But..."

"Remember what I told you before?"

Charles' lips tightened into a straight line before nodding his head reluctantly, after awhile, he shifted into a sitting position. With his head lowered, he spoke, "I didn't want to be a burden so I cleaned my room and asked father for the clothes he borrowed. I intend to wash them as soon as I got home, they're all in the car."