“I was waiting for your mom to come back.”

He still had no idea what had gotten into him, but he’d said it. And he’d meant it. Of course, he’d been waiting for her to come home, come back to him. How could he not? He loved her. He’d always loved her, and he knew he would always love her.

So a child’s innocent question—although the look in the kid’s eyes hadn’t indicated it had been a spur of the moment question—had prompted an utterly honest reaction in him. No pretenses, no subterfuge, no beating around the bush. He’d gone with the flow, with what his heart was telling him to do. He’d grown serious, and he’d told the truth.

Why was he single? Because he was waiting for Kaori. He knew that, Saeko knew that, even Momoko had realized that fact in the end. Everybody knew he was still waiting for Kaori. That he always would.

And what had she done when he’d told her that? She’d laughed in his face.

He’d expected anything else, but the laughter. A blush, a stammer, a punch, a kick, a mallet...Anything would’ve been better than the laughter.

It had cut. Damn it, it had cut like a knife. And he had been unable to stay there, underneath that cherry tree a moment longer. He’d fibbed he had something to do, and gotten the hell out of dodge.

Now, here he was, back in his office, swiveling in his chair, contemplating the day as he watched over the night-shrouded Shinjuku.

He sighed and leaned his head back. He’s never wanted a cigarette more that he wanted it now. Unfortunately for him, he’d thrown his last pack—with six cigarettes left in it—away a year and a half ago. He was all about healthy living these days, and he fucking hated it. He wanted a smoke. He wanted a drink as well, but the latter was even more improbable than the first.

He’ll just have to endure.

And think about the day sober and smoke free.

Fuck, it hurt. His heart, his soul...Everything fucking hurt. And he let it. He let it hurt, because he could. Because he could let his guard down now that he was alone. Now, that nobody could see him.

It had hurt seeing her there in the park, standing underneath the cherry tree. So incredibly beautiful it took his breath away. It had hurt seeing her sitting among their friends, laughing, and joking. It had hurt seeing her run her fingers over and over again through Noemi’s hair.

Noemi...Her daughter.

That was what hurt most. She had a child. She was happy with another man, she loved another man. Loved him enough to give him a child. She had a new family, a family that didn’t include him.

He suddenly stood, and moved to the window, watching his own reflection superimposed to the view of the city. He watched as a single tear slowly ran down his cheek. It figured that Makimura Kaori was still the only woman who could bring him to his knees.

He frowned at his reflection. Something didn’t quite fit. The guy. The man who fathered Kaori’s child. Where was he? Ryo couldn’t believe a guy was stupid enough to let his two women cross the ocean without him. He wouldn’t be that stupid. And neither Kaori nor Noemi had mentioned him earlier. Kaori had never mentioned a husband or boyfriend, and Noemi had never mentioned a father.

No one had wanted to pry, that had been obvious, but they had all been curious. It was weird for a child not to mention a daddy even once.

What was going on? Had the bastard abandoned them? In that case, Ryo wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. What kind of asshole abandoned his child? What kind of asshole abandoned the mother of his child? What kind of asshole abandoned a wonderful woman like Kaori, an adorable little girl like Noemi?

A dead one…

Ryo clenched his fists. Jesus, was the guy dead? Was that why they hadn’t mentioned him? Because it was too painful?

And now he felt like shit for calling the guy an asshole.

He felt like shit, period.

The ping of his phone brought him out of his shitty reverie, and he grinned as he read the message. Hello, there, do over.

He replied to Miki’s message, grabbed his jacket, and went home, his mood lighter, and his heart eased.

X Y Z

“I was waiting for your mom to come back.”

Kaori was still processing those words the next day. Those nine damn words. Yes, nine. She’d counted. Counted them over and over throughout the night as she couldn’t sleep, because that sentence played on loop inside her head.

After he’d said those words, you could hear a fly fart a mile away, that’s how quiet everything had become underneath that cherry tree. Everybody had been watching her, waiting for her reaction. Some with smiles, some with grins, some with flaming and steaming bald heads...And one with an unreadable expression, utterly and completely serious.

Seven years ago, she would’ve gone all blushing maiden on the lot, looked away, stammered...But she wasn’t that girl anymore, so she’d laughed in his face.

Not the most graceful of reactions, she could admit that much, but that was the only thing that had come up in her reaction set that would not have made her look the idiot that deep inside she still was.

It had been evident her companions, her daughter included, had been expecting an utterly different reaction. He had been expecting anything but laughter. Because he hadn’t joined in. Quite the contrary. He’d gone completely blank, slamming that stupid inner door of his shut—she hated that inner door more than anything—said he had something to do, and left without even a ‘Fuck you, too’.

She’d tried playing it down, pretending it had been a joke, but it hadn’t really worked.

“Was he really joking?” Mick had inquired gently.

“Yes, he was,” she had snapped back.

When he’d tried saying more, she’d told them all to drop it, inhaled the rest of her ice cream, grabbed Noemi, and gotten the hell out of dodge.

And if she’d had trouble sleeping that night it had all surely been because of the too-quickly ingested ice cream and had nothing to do with those fucking nine words.

She’d finally fallen asleep in the wee hours of the morning, after deciding not to think about those words anymore. She would repeat the don’t-think-about-what-he-said-don’t-think-about-what-he-said-don’t-think-about-what-he-said mantra all day if needed be.

She absolutely wouldn’t think about those words. Nope. Up yours, Saeba. She wouldn’t think about him either.

And thanks to Miki and Kazue arranging an all-day outing with their husbands and kids, and inviting Kaori and Noemi along for the fun, she wouldn’t have time to think about him.

A day spent in Tokyo Disneyland, finished off with a visit to the Jiyugaoka Sweets Forest. Even with four kids high on sugar, it promised to be a wonderful day. She’d get to hang out with her friends, and Noemi would have some more fun. What could be better?

Anything, really, Kaori mused an hour later, when she realized Ryo had been invited to tag along. The boys have demanded that he be invited as well, Miki and Kazue explained.

Perfectly understandable and fully plausible.

Pity Kaori didn’t believe a single word.