Mirai’s eyes glowered at the unwanted man, Ryosuke, sitting nonchalantly at the dining table, after closing the fridge. “Leave now. You’ve had breakfast, so go.”

Ryosuke, still beaming his wide smile at her, was amused at how this was her nth time trying to get rid of him since their morning, yet he couldn’t be persuaded to leave because something in the tone of her voice asked him to stay. Or it might be his imagination, but whatever it was, he couldn’t let something like this early morning be pushed under the rug. He wanted to build up from there and get their relationship on the move. “I don’t have anywhere I need to go today, so I’m keeping you company. It’s not like you’re going anywhere.”

“I’m busy, mind you.” She walked away from the fridge and back to the sink where she washed two red apples. “Even if you aren’t, go find something to do. At home.”

“This is home.”

“Your home,” she clarified, annoyed. After washing the apples, she gave one to him.

He accepted it. “This will be my home soon.”

She laughed it off, believing him to imply something else. “I’ve bought this place, so I’m not going anywhere.” Her home had access to practically anything vital. About ten minutes away, there was a small drugstore and a clinic, and about an extra ten minutes further, there was a hospital. From five to eight minutes away in the opposite direction, Natsu’s school was there, and northwest of that way, about another twenty or so minutes, her workplace. Everything was aligned just fittingly for her.

He bit into his apple. “What I mean is we’ll be married anyway, so there’s no point in pushing me away. You love me too.”

She kicked him under the table since it was useless for her to repeat what he knew was her usual response. “Go home after you’re done with that apple.”

He touched the spot she had kicked him and while watching her in smiles at her playful push-and-pull, he couldn’t help but think back to when he had asked his brother about her virtual marriage with him. His expression turned blank as he became silent.

She noticed and questioned, “Gomen, did I kick you too hard?” She apologetically winced.

“I had a dream. But it seemed so real. I was sleeping somewhere, in the dark, alone. I was never terrified because I used to sleep without any lights. But after you left me, I have to keep the lights on. And in that dream, I searched and searched for a light, but nothing came to me. It’s like no matter how hard I run or search, that darkness veiled the light. Then, I saw you. You, standing at the corner, the light, and I saw that I’m here. With you.” He lightly chuckled and laid his eyes on the bites of his apple. “I know it’s a dream, but that’s what you are to me. Then and now. When you left me, I can’t go to sleep without the lights off anymore. Do you want to know why?”

She didn’t respond.

“I think I even asked you that in my dream. And my answer’s the same: it’s so that every time I wake up, I’ll be reminded that there’s no you beside me. That I have no light. Because you are my light.” His eyes shifted to the familiar piece of jewelry at her wrist, and she caught his gaze at her worn-out slap bracelet that had lost its color, so she quickly put a hand over the bracelet and hid them under the table. He chuckled at her action. “What about you? Do you still sleep with the lights on?”

“Unlike someone who’s lying about being afraid of the dark,” she sent him a smirk, “nope. I’m a grown woman completely capable of sleeping with the lights off.”

He applauded her, even with the apple in hand. “Ooh, congratulations.” He put his hands down. “Believe what you want to believe then.” He took a bite of his apple again.

She exhaled in irritation, knowing he was slowly eating to stall time, got up from her seat, and said to him one last time, “When you’re done, leave, okay?”

“Where you going?” He stopped her.

“I told you that I’m busy. I have to clean.”

He made a face. “Yeah, you totally need to.” He pointed to the hallway behind him. “I went past your room earlier and saw the huge mess. Since when you became a messy person?” He recalled a pile of laundry stacked on her bed, tons of Natsu’s toys over the floor, and her vanity dresser with piles of papers all over. He had never thought she’d be okay living with such a mess in her life. If they had still lived together, he knew for sure that he’d be the one who’d be okay living like that, and not her.

She gasped. “You went to my room?”

“I had to put the blankets away. But it’s okay. I don’t mind a messy room.” He stood up and put his hands around her waist. “We’re gonna make it messy anyway.”

She sighed and pushed him away.

“Aww, you’re embarrassed.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

She was tempted to bicker but knew it’d end up in a cycle of wasting their breaths, so she walked away, leaving him laughing to himself.

*

“Ryota,” said Kota. “How did you figure out about Ryosuke and Mirai?”

The trio were lounging in Kota’s living room while Natsu was taking a shower before he’d be sent home. Both Ryota and Kei didn’t have anywhere to go—more like yesterday’s talk was still clear in their minds—so they decided to hang out until the end of the day.

“It was quite obvious, actually,” answered Ryota. “He didn’t say her name, but when he mentioned his ex-wife and son, one of the two persons’ faces who looked extremely distraught was hers.” He pointed to Kei. “The other was his.” He inhaled through his nose and looked down. “At first, I didn’t think it was possible. I mean, Mi-chan and I met about a few years ago, and not once had she ever mentioned having another husb—err—man, but then it hit me. Every time my brother invited her over for a party, she always turned down the offer. It wasn’t until recently that I heard why.”

“Recently?” the two older men questioned.

“A month ago, my brother and Mi-chan had a talk, and I happened to overhear it. Although he didn’t mention any names, he said something about the possibility of the “other person” not attending because the “other person” too had occasionally declined the offer. I guess it persuaded her into thinking that if the “other friend” had rejected the invitation, she could attend without worrying that she’d bump into that person. When I pieced together the “strangers” that Mi-chan wanted to avoid and Ryosuke wanted to find, the answer was as clear as day.”

“Ah,” Kei said to Ryota and then looked at his friend. “Then, why did your brother attend the wedding if he had rejected it at first?”

“That’s because I had asked him to attend,” Ryota answered with a bashful smile. “I-I didn’t think such a grand reunion would happen.”

“Reunion or not,” said Kota, “things between them won’t go back to normal. It can’t.”

The other men wait.

“Until she lets herself free from whatever she’s hiding from us, they can’t move forward.”

Ryota scowled. “I’ve been thinking… What’s she hiding, and why is she hiding it? From yesterday’s talk, it seemed that she has grown close to both of you, but she hasn’t said much?”

Both Kei and Kota slightly smiled.

Kei explained, “We might’ve grown closer to her more than Ryosuke and might’ve played a bigger role in what had happened, but…she’s the one who dictates the flow.”

Ryota chuckled. “You make it sound like she’s the mastermind.”

“She may be the mastermind, but…” Kei then turned his attention to his friend, who shockingly flinched. “…someone else is the puppeteer.”

*

“Matte,” said Kota. He had parked outside Mirai’s driveway with Kei, whom he would take home after dropping off Natsu, who was asleep at the backseat.

Before arriving, the three grown men had taken Natsu on an adventurous day—they went to the park to play catch, had lunch at an all-you-can-eat-buffet, and finally to the theater to watch a kids’ movie. Then, they dropped Ryota home.

Kota asked Kei inside the car before they stepped out, “Why did you look at me when you said that?”

“Say what?” asked Kei, confused.

“Earlier…this morning…when you said puppeteer…” Kota became uncomfortable and didn’t know how to ask his question. Maybe he was overthinking, but he couldn’t help but sense that the look his friend gave him when he had said it was a sign of something. But just what? “Why did you look at me?”

Kei laughed. “I-I did?” He blinked and then shrugged. “Hmm, I don’t know…” He looked at his friend. “Sorry, did that bother you?”

“N-no. It’s-it’s I was confused about why—ah, never mind. It wasn’t something you intended.” His hand reached for the car handle to open the door.

“But what if I did?” Kei purposely said with a direct and strong voice. With no change of tone, he repeated it.

Kota stayed silent as he stared quite frightfully at his friend.

Kei laughed out loud. “Gotcha! I’m joking. I thought I should play around with what you’re curious about.”

Kota almost fainted due to sheer fear. Sheer fear that his friend was referring to him. With a light laugh, he said, “Oi, that was not funny.”

“Sorry,” Kei said, stepping out too. “I wanted to mess with your reaction.”

Kota went around his car to open the backseat door to take the sleepy Natsu out of the car and carried him. Right after he closed the door, he caught sight of a well-known car parked on the garage lane of Mirai’s house. “He’s been here the entire day?”

Kei sighed. “I don’t think a day’s enough to settle the problem between them.”

Both men walked to the door, and Kota—carrying the sleeping boy—rang the doorbell. About a minute or so, Mirai with a surgical mask opened the door.

She pulled her mask down and quickly rushed them inside. “Oh, you can put him on the couch here.”

“It’s fine,” said Kota. “I can take him to his room.” And he did so.

“Thanks,” Mirai said to Kota as she greeted Kei. “Have you guys eaten?”

Kei answered and explained their day with the young boy. He also quickly brushed through with what had happened yesterday, though, not trying to assert that there was tension during the talk. He figured that she already had too much on her hands, and he didn’t want to add more.

“Oh, Mr. Helper,” sang Ryosuke, who had stepped out from the hallway with the same surgical mask as Mirai. He removed the mask. “Didn’t expect to see you here.” He purposely sat intimately close to Mirai. “Of course, you’ll be here since you helped—”

“Ryosuke,” said Kota, coming from the same way as Ryosuke. “Don’t be rude.”

Kei smiled. “It’s fine. It’s fine.” He timidly pointed to himself. “I’d do the same if I were in his shoes.”

“But you’re not,” Ryosuke immediately quipped, quite annoyed that this new man was taking his side as if repenting for the crime he had committed.

Mirai casually nudged Ryosuke’s chest with her elbow, pushing him back to the backrest of the couch. She thanked Kota, who had walked to sit beside Kei, for the activities they had done with Natsu. “I hope he wasn’t too much for you guys today.”

“No, it was quite fun.” The older men laughed.

Kei pointed to Kota. “He got lost when he got up on the playground, and we had to direct him.”

Kota embarrassingly jumped into the conversation. “Hey, when we competed to see who’d go through the entire playground, you slid down headfirst.”

The two friends had a silent stare-off. Seconds later, they quietly and sternly stuck out their hands and said, “Truce?” They shook hands and happily dropped the conversation.

“I’m taking it that you guys had more fun than my son,” said Mirai as she laughed to herself.

Kei bashfully massaged the back of his head. “I think we did. Sorry.”

The trio laughed without Ryosuke, who was always left out when her circle of friends got together. It hurt even more when he knew that he could’ve been one of the people happily conversing about Natsu if he had still been involved. But with the years they had lost, it was too much to catch up on. Or to pretend to know. And that was the new darkness he had to face. And accept.

Kota cleared his throat, and the room became silent. “Since Natsu’s asleep…and the important people are present, I’d like to talk about something.”

“Even with him here?” Mirai subtly bogged her head in Ryosuke’s direction.

Ryosuke sat up straight and pouted at her. “Of course, because we’re getting married in the future.” He put an arm around her shoulders and glared at his brother to signify the challenge of yesterday’s talk about “divorce.”

She shrugged her friend’s arm away and ignored his comment as the two older men followed suit. The discussion of marriage would probably be the least of their concerns.

“I’d like to discuss your business proposal, Ryosuke,” said Kota.

Ryosuke perked up. He had completely forgotten about it. In fact, it was probably something he could wait forever for an answer. Better yet, maybe it was better if he didn’t receive an answer. At all. “Why are you involved?”

She answered, “I want Kota to decide what’s best for his son.”

Both brothers irked at the phrase, ‘his son’—Kota awkwardly gulped, and Ryosuke frustratingly shifted in his seat. At the sideline, Kei smacked his lips.

“Okay.” Ryosuke gave in. “What about my business offer?”

“First off,” said Kota, “you’ve never had any concerns about using or having a business mascot, so why now? If it’s a must, why not use another child?”

“Is it not that obvious? Why would I want to use some other child when I could use my son?”

She jumped in. “He’s not—”

“He is, and he’ll always be. There’s no denying that. Even if we’ve only spent a year together.”

“Ryosuke.” Kota gently raised his voice at him. “She didn’t have a choice back then.”

“She didn’t?” Ryosuke scoffed. “We could’ve talked it out, you know.” He sadly gazed at his friend, who had looked down on the floor. He continued, “That’s what couples do. They communicate and work things together. At least, I thought you’d see our friendship as something valid to ask for my help.”

The casual conversation didn’t even last a minute before turning sour, making everyone quiet.

Amongst the silence, Ryosuke gently and softly said the truth, “I want to make up for the years we’ve been apart.”

Kei hadn’t parted his eyes from Ryosuke and wore an understanding smile, Kota apologetically nodded his head, and Mirai glanced at the figure beside her. The three of them could sense the hurt, the desperation, and the honesty the younger man had confessed.

“Nii-san… You asked me back then…about why I chose to manage a business like mine.” The side of Ryosuke’s mouth curled. “It’s so that one day if my family wants to find me, they’ll know where I am. And that I’m always waiting for them.” He then snickered. “And if that isn’t the case, well, Natsu’s always liked toys and since he’ll be a spoiled brat, his mother will have at least come across my business, and that means I’ll always have a chance each day to find her. Although both didn’t happen, I want to mend my and Natsu’s relationship. That brat made this happened, and even though I want to hate him so much, the only woman I love will always choose him no matter what. Since I can’t be called a “Daddy” because that role’s been replaced, I might as well be lumped in with the other so-called Uncles he knows. Can I not even ask for that?”

The tension in the room rose even