“So who wants to speak first?” Rin asked with her hands on her hips.

The tension was so high in the room that you could practically cut it with a knife. There we all stood ganging up on each other in my living room. Taka and Hiro stood next to me, Yuka stood opposite of us, and Rin kept her distance from all of us.

I looked over at Hiro and he nervously played with his fingers. None of us said a word or made eye contact with one another. I let out a low growl and Taka looked over at me with pleading eyes.

“This is ridiculous.” I snapped.

“No. Keeping secrets from others is ridiculous.” Rin hissed.

“It’s not like any of us wanted this to happen.” Hiro chimed in.

“I trusted you. All of you, but mostly you Hiro. Every one of you sat there and lied to my face. I find out that my sister is pregnant and ran away from the gang she was in. What am I supposed to think?” Rin questioned with her eyes full of tears.

Hiro walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged him off. I could see the pain in his eyes.

“Don’t touch me!” Rin snapped at him.

Hiro flinched at her words and walked back towards Taka and I. Taka took Hiro in his arms and held him like he was a small fragile child.

“Don’t be angry at them or hate them Rin. If you want to hate anyone then hate me. I’m the one who told them not to tell you. So hate me but please don’t hate them for it.” Yuka pleaded.

“I don’t hate any of you. I’m just so confused…..and hurt. I need time to process all of this. I need some air.” Rin said as she headed out of my flat.

I could hear Hiro sobbing silently into Taka’s chest. Yuka stood there staring at the ground rubbing her baby bump. I headed out after Rin. Maybe I could be of some help to her.

                                                                         ~~~

I found Rin sitting against a brick wall. I just went and sat down beside her. Her eyes were glassy as she reached out for my hand. I took it and held it without questioning.

“They’re going to come after her, aren’t they?” Rin whispered.

“Yeah. Eventually. I promise I won’t let anything happen to her. Rin you guys are like my family now, and I won’t let anything bad happen to any of you.” I reassured her.

Rin just squeezed my hand and relaxed a little at my words. She used her other hand to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“I just can’t believe all of this happened so fast. What should I do?” Rin asked as she looked me in the eyes.

“You have to figure that out for yourself. Just give it some time. I know you may not want to hear this now, but Hiro is taking all of this far worse than you. He never wanted to lie to you Rin.” I said as I squeezed her hand gently.

“I know. I shouldn’t have yelled at him back there. I’m so ashamed right now. I think I should apologize to everyone.” Rin said.

At that we both stood up and headed back to my flat.

The other three were still in the same places we had left them. Rin cleared before she started to speak.

“I know this has been hard on all of you and I know you all were just trying to protect me. For that, I’m sorry I took out my anger on all of you and I really hope we can all move past this. Thank you all for looking out for me.” Rin said as she smiled at each of us.

The next thing I knew we were all being pulled in for a group hug. Smiles and laughter were being passed around, and we could all breathe a little easier now.

“Looks like we are all going to be one big family.” Yuka beamed.

“Yeah. One big dysfunctional family.” Hiro teased.

We all laughed at that. I caught Hiro and Rin making a quick escape together while their hands were intertwined. I smiled to myself and knew that all was forgiven.

I looked over at Taka. He was grinning from ear to ear. I ruffled his hair a little and he let out a soft chuckle.

Hiro was right. We all really were one big dysfunctional family, and that was okay. No family is perfect, and even though we all have our own share of problems to deal with we always know we can count on each other because that’s what families for.

                                                   To Be Continued….