For the first time since I was admitted in the hospital I was left alone. Uncle Takahashi and Auntie Chiyo had just brought Sora back home, and Ryosuke had not arrived yet. They had been constantly accompanying me these past week, taking turns.

I tried sitting up and leaned on the headboard then took the cellphone on the bedside drawer. Ryosuke had bought me a new phone with high resolution so that I could see my baby better. He had initiated to take pictures of the baby to let me see his condition by every passing time.

When I was longingly staring onto the picture, the door of my room was pushed open. In came Ryosuke, still clad in his business suit. We met eyes when he looked at my direction. Immediately, he smiled.

“You haven’t slept yet?” he asked, putting his suitcase down the couch, loosening his neck tie and taking off his blazer.

“No,” I answered shortly, looking down my lap to return watching the picture.

I heard his steps approaching, but I didn’t lift my gaze. The stool beside the bed made a low screech as he sat down.

“I took a picture of our son just before I came here.”

His information got me excited, that I turned to look at him, meeting his smiling face. Without a word, he took out his phone and transferred the pictures to mine.

In the newest picture, my baby boy still looked as fragile as ever. Those wires still attached on his small body. My tears welled up as I imagined the pain my baby had to go through to continue living.

Suddenly I felt a soft and warm pressure on my temple. Ryosuke kissed me lightly.

“Doctor said it’ll be okay for you to see him tomorrow morning,” he spoke softly, surprising me.

When I looked up, I met his tender gaze. I sent him a questioning gaze. My doctor told me that they needed me to stay in bed for another two days until they let me see my baby, so what Ryosuke just said taken me aback.

He offered me a grin, “Just think that I succesfully convinced her through some negotiation.”

I could only stare at him for a moment before I found my voice, muttering lowly, “Thank you.”

His grin turned to a smile upon hearing my gratitude; a very sweet smile that warmed my heart.

“You better take a rest sooner than later then,” he adviced me, and I nodded.

He took the phone from me and put it down the bedside drawer while I slowly lowered my back and completely sunk onto the bed. He adjusted the blanket over me, and gave me another peck on my forehead.

“Sleep well, Mirai-chan,” he whispered close to my face before turning the light off.

I heard his steps further away from my bed as I touched where he kissed me. His warmth still lingered, and I felt my heart clenched. I had been confused over the current circumstance.

The first day I regained consciousness a few days ago, I had let him comfort me in a way I would never let him before. I had let him brought me to his arms, hugging me all night long while I was crying. I had let myself drown into his reassuring whispers until I finally drifted to sleep.

I turned my head to look at where I knew the couch were. In the darkness, I could slightly make out his figure from afar. He was lying on the couch with the arm rest served as his pillow. He didn’t take the vacant bed which indeed provided for my companion of the nights. He told me that the bed would make him too comfortable that he probably would oversleep. I knew he was a hardworker, but I never saw him staying up till morning to work until a few nights ago. Perhaps, because now he was a CEO; the acting CEO of Yamada Corporation.

At that thought, I turned my gaze away. Yamada Corporation. That company name recalled the memory of that certain night... the night when Ryosuke came home drunk... the night when I surrendered to my feeling.

That night Ryosuke was sobbing hard in my embrace. We were carelessly sitting on the floor while broken glasses scattered around.

“What did I do... to deserve this kind of life, Mirai?”

He asked me in between his cry, but I remained silent for I still didn’t know what his problem was.

“Why it should be him, Mirai?!”

He tightened his arms around me, hugging me desperately. I responded by making circle motion on his back.

“Why it should be him? The only one I considered as a father figure turned out to be the one I hated the most!”

I wanted to understand his problem, so I asked.

“What do you mean, Ryosuke-kun?”

I remembered his hostile tone when answering me.

“Yamada Shun was not my step father, Mirai. He was my biological father! He was the one that had abandoned me! The fact that he returned years later did not change that!”

At that, I gasped in surprise. That moment I realized why he was such a mess that night. I knew how much he hated his biological father and how much he admired Yamada Shun, so for him to eventually find out that the two figures were actually the same person... I could not even imagine the pain.

“Mom didn’t tell me the truth even in the brink of her death!”

He continued weeping, his voice muffled on my pajamas. I felt my tears welled up as I listened to him.

“And now, Yamada Akai came! He was the one who had made Mom’s life difficult. He had made her suffered, but now he told me to pick up the position Yamada Shun had left. He thinks by threatening me with you, I would yield to his demand. NO! I won’t be a coward like Yamada Shun was! I won’t leave you like he did to Mom!”

His declaration and his broken state, or perhaps it was me that was too weak to bear seeing him crying in pain, I wasn’t sure, but definitely something had driven me to do what would lead us to our current complication: I kissed him, feeling the salty of our tears melted together with our desperations. At a point, we both were lost in the heat of the moment.

I knew I had made a fatal mistake, but a new hope sprouted when he kissed me before he dozzed off, whispering to my ears:

“I love you, Mirai-chan.”