Chapter 119: Brunch invite
The woman’s eyes widened and her lips parted but words no longer escaped as she looked at Haruki with a hand dramatically on her chest.
Haruki could easily guess that it was someone who entered the wrong room but this time, the woman who entered the room was someone he knew all too well.
It’s been over a decade since he saw her last but she looked younger than she did then. The only imprint of time her body allowed in the past years was the greyness of her hair.
Obviously, she was living well, maybe even more than he could ever have imagined. That must have to do with the money sent to her account every month without fail.
It was quite a large sum after all, she looked after him from the day his parents died until the day his grandfather came for him when they weren’t related. Her years of doing multiple jobs had come to an end as so did the life of the man who made life hard for her.
Her eyes quickly got wet as she looked down at Haruki. He noticed gratitude, sadness, so many feelings in her eyes even those he would not name, so faint yet so powerful. Apology? Fear?
Haruki rose calmly from the sofa now towering over the woman. She gasped as the tears rolled down. "You have changed," she whispered under her breath as she stretched her hands towards him but pulled back and her smile broadened. "You look back in real life."
He swallowed. He was not certain he understood all the emotions he was feeling looking at her. He was even more uncertain that he wanted to figure each of them out, name them, pinpoint their origins and show them.
With a calm almost indifferent expression, he nodded at her and asked, "How have you been?"
Her smile broadened just in time for a muffled sob as she bowed and mopped her face with a little fancy handkerchief she held. "I have been good. Too good to be true."
He was certain she was not lying seeing how well dressed she was with skin well taken care of. "That’s good to know," Haruki’s calm voice resonated in the space before he sat down calmly. So many words at the tip of his tongue but none of them worth saying.
"I am sorry I seem to have come to the wrong room. I brought my daughter-in-law over to buy something for the cat we have at home," she explained to him as though she wanted badly for the conversation to continue.
Her first son married quite young and since either they were scared of Haruki or wanted to change themselves, they all got better after their father’s death. They had decent jobs but their mother had a mansion that Haruki gifted her, her first son and his family lived with her.
Haruki tried to give her the right amount of attention as he held back from picking up the magazine and reading it to escape her presence.
"You know . . . if you are not busy we could have brunch together," she offered cautiously.
"I had breakfast before coming," Haruki replied with a subtle rejection. It was evident she was not trying to feed him but to spend some time with him.
"Then sometime we could meet?" The uncertainty was clear in her tone as she asked him.
"Yes, sometimes," Haruki replied with a hint of warmth. It could be at her funeral decades to come but whatever.
Seeing the small smile on Haruki’s lips, her face brightened and she thanked him, wished him well before she walked out of the room.
With the door closing behind her, Haruki felt his heart race painfully hard and fast as his breath quickened. There was a gentle knock on the door and he quickly adjusted his breathing. The person who opened the door and walked in.
Seeing it was Hiroshi, Haruki felt the need to break down, to discard his façade, but he still held up as he asked the man if he was done. When he got a positive response, Haruki rose up and slightly swayed from a bit of dizziness.
Hiroshi rushed forward and steadied Haruki’s frame. He looked at Haruki worried and asked, "Are you okay?"
Haruki nodded indifferently as though he could not understand why the doctor looked so worried. He took the first step to walk towards the door. His hands trembled slightly on his sides.
Hiroshi noticed very little things about the man’s expression that said otherwise but he didn’t bother asking Haruki. He stretched his hand to Haruki’s shoulder and stopped him. He took a couple of steps closer to Haruki and hugged him.
Haruki was taken aback by his action but he didn’t stop him. He remained frozen in the same position for a few seconds before raising his hands to pat the doctor’s shoulder.
"I am sorry I made you wait for too long," the doctor apologised pulling Haruki tighter to his body.
He sounded like he was making Haruki feel better about the impromptu visit to the pet shop and making him wait for too long but he alone knew he had felt Haruki needed a hug when he walked in and he had to give him that hug.
He rubbed Haruki’s back through the fabric of his casual beige t-shirt and refused to let go even when Haruki made an attempt to free himself from his hug. Haruki didn’t mean it much because he gave up as soon as the doctor insisted on the hug.
"I bought everything we need to take care of these fish, we can go now," Hiroshi explained as he finally let go of Haruki and took a step back.
Haruki did not correct his assumptions. He had some fish in the main house but they were not exactly pets, at least to him. They were in the artificial lake but he had never bothered himself with them but with a few words, Hiroshi has made him a pet fish owner.
When they stepped out of the room, he did not see his aunt. He looked around as he walked behind Haruki. It was only when they got to the car that he could breathe a sigh of relief.
Hiroshi glanced at the man beside him. Since the chauffeur was long gone, he drove and Haruki sat in the front with him when he opened the door for him.
Back at home, they both carried all the bought, together. Haruki had joined him at the trunk and reached for some time without being asked and Hiroshi could not hold back the smile that lit up his face.
Haruki also naturally participated in setting up everything although the doctor did most of it considering he was the only one who listened carefully to what was said at the pet store.
Hiroshi on the side had long forgotten how to keep his ecstasy caused by Haruki’s willingness to participate in everything involving the fish. His brown eyes were lit up and a small smile stayed on his face throughout.
By the time they were done, Haruki had pushed the encounter with his aunt to the back of his mind.