Observant || Oikawa Tooru ff

6. Expected meeting

Nakamura Ume's POV

My family was rather like anyone else's . A loving father, a good mother and a caring brother. Well at least that was the gist of it up till 8 years ago. 

When I was eight years old, dad said he didn't want to do this anymore. He filed for a divorce. Mum could not believe that her apparently flawless marital life was not all that it seemed. 

The years after the divorce were I think, the darkest days this house had seen. Dad had moved out with my brother and mum found this place very suffocating. She found traces of dad everywhere. 

She began to have hysterical episodes. Blew up at the most random things and coped with her loss in the worst ways possible. I remember the eight year old version of myself fumbling around the house as I  tried to get out of her eyesight.

But in the confines of my own room I could still hear her heart wrecking sobs. She was breaking down. There was nobody else in the house. I should comfort her. I should not be so selfish. 

So every single time I ended up running away, yet every single time I would also hug her to sleep. In her dazed state she would mumble out so many things. Things that were so hurtful to my younger self. But I still ended up comforting her. She was my mother and I loved her. I must not be selfish.

As I grew up more and my intelligence bloomed, I realised this was not how everybody else's mothers were. Never once had I heard Noya's mother say that she wished he'd never had been born. Never once had she said that she regretted his existence.

I realised that my mother was very unstable. Though over the years she had gotten over the divorce, if things that upsetted her the slightest bit were to occur... we were sure to have another episode. Things were fine now, even though it was at a surface level, it was all alright.

I was glad I had my father to go through it all though. I was happy he made time to come to Miyagi just to meet me. He was a businessman, a rather successful one at that. Well, that happens if you put too much time into work to avoid being at home. 

He used to live in Miyagi in a separate house with my brother after the divorce. After my brother had finished his highschool at Karasuno both of them had moved to Tokyo.

Yet he was at my beck and call. If I ever mention being even a little upset, down to Miyagi he was, ready to spend some quality time. Sometimes I thought, he did it more out of guilt than paternal love. 

A self deprecating smile appeared on my face as I pushed the door to the restaurant open. The back of the man appeared into my view who once I had seen as so strong and resilient. It seemed very sturdy as a child, now it looked a little hunched and time worn. I strain to maintain the smile on my face.

When I come into his view, his face instantly brightens. He greets me with those smiling eyes of his. My brother inherited those eyes. A faint ache grows in my heart as I sit opposite of him.

"You're here." He starts gently.

"I'm here." I reply albeit a bit dryly.

"You've got eyebags again. Haven't been up reading all night, have you?" He asked concerned.

"But the books you gave me were absolutely wonderful. I got so invested in them. I even took notes from a few of them, I'll bring them to show you the next time we meet." I say in a mild voice.

"I'd like to see them." He says smiling. 

He'd never really taken any interest in what I did when I was child. Now, these small instances showed me how sincerely he was trying to make amends. When he had realised that I was actually interested in the business like him, he seemed rather surprised. 

He had always assumed that I'd want to do something like being a lawyer, like my mother.

So imagine my surprise when the next time we met, I see him lugging around a large stack of books all about business management and stock investment. 

Our conversation slowly took a turn towards how markets went up and down during different points of a crisis. I was listening rather interested. He always had strange views that swayed from the textbook way of doing things. We had finished with our main course till we were done with the topic.

The dessert was arriving and I was chugging down some water when my dear father thought to mention my brother.

"So your brother says he won't be able to make it this time either." I choke on the water and my father hurriedly hands me some tissues. I angrily wipe myself and glare at my father. He gets the message and shuts up. I won't let the topic go as he wants though.

"He will come if he wants to, you need not force him." I state sternly. I can tell by his expression the idea that's been brewing and I make sure to nip the issue at it's bud.

"And I am not going to Tokyo to meet him either. I've had years to think about what happened and though I agree both sides should not have behaved as they did, he will always be the one who was more in the wrong." I reply harshly.

Still in a huff, I get up and thank him for having a meal with me and storm out of the place. In my anger I miss out the pained sigh that escapes him as he laments over the state to which his family and his children had come. All due to his negligence.

Outside I almost instantly regret getting riled up at the mere mention of my brother. If it was my brother I was raging at, I had no right to take it out on my father. But my petty pride keeps me from going in and apologising instantly. I promise myself that apologising will be the first thing I do the next time I meet him.

Almost in a daze of my thoughts I reach the bus stop to wait for the bus that'd take me home. In my reverie I bump into the huge figure that stands in my way.

"You need to stop doing this." Ushiwaka scolds as his hands steady my shoulders and leave instantly. I look at his stoic face that peers down at me.

A slight smile forms on my face as I stuff my hands into my coat pockets.

'Right! Exactly what I need.'