The nagging feeling didn’t left me until Toushiro brought me home. As I lay in bed pondering all the things that had happened in the theme park, I couldn’t help thinking about my dad and Toushiro was talking to each other. No matter how many times I replay the scene in my mind, I only came into one conclusion that they were fighting. With that I decided to confront my dad about it or better yet find out about it on my own.

            I closed my eyes and willed myself to just focus on Toushiro and when tomorrow comes I will have to deal with my father.

            The first thing that greeted me tomorrow morning is the endless ring of my phone and it was Misaki calling. She’s been trying to bombard me with questions about how my date with Toushiro ended up. I told her everything and thanked her.

            So, I got dressed and grabbed a taxi that will give me a ride to our real house. I haven’t been there for ages and I tried not to go there unless I really have to. I never wanted to stay put on the place ever since my mother died, it just opens wounds of the past. Right now, things were different. I need to know the truth and my instinct is telling me that I will find something there.

            The taxi parked right outside the big gate and I paid him for more than he earned and got out of his car. I rang the doorbell outside and a voice in the intercom answered.

            “How may I help you?” said an old voice.

            “It’s me Hyotei-san, Tehru.” I replied in a bored voice.

            “Tehru-sama?” the man stuttered. “I-I’ll be there in a second.”

            The intercom went off and a few minutes later, an old man with a rather formal outfit went to greet me. Hyotei-san is my father’s assistant and he tends to the house whenever my father is in a business trip.

            “Tehru-sama, what an honor to have you back!!” Hyotei-san exclaimed and he led me inside.

            “I’m only visiting.” I replied.

            The old man’s face fell a little. “Oh well, I’m still glad you came to visit.”

            “Is my father home?” I asked indifferently.

            “Your father is in a meeting right now, in Tokyo.” the man replied. “Would you like some tea, Tehru-sama?”

            “Iie, I need a book from his study.” I said casually.

            “Uh…but your father’s study is off limits Tehru-sama.” the man said nervously. “Surely you know this.”

            “Of course I do.” I snapped. “But I really need something from his study. I need to read that book.”

            Sorry, Hyotei-san, I really need to do this.

            “Your father insisted that I let no one on his study.” Hyotei explained nervously.

            “Are you saying that I am to steal from my father?” I said testily.

            The man gulped and then, “Of course not. I will bring the keys immediately.”

            I led myself in my father’s study room and waited for Hyotei. The door looks regal and imposing just like my father and I tried hard not to smirk. Hyotei opened the door for me and I dismissed him, locking the door after me.

            The study is big and the walls were covered with books and many adornments, which is my father’s prized possessions. I approached his table at once and found a picture frame glaring at me. A pain of bitterness bit me as I look at our family picture. It was taken when I was four, my mom and dad with their arms around me, smiling happily. We were happy then and now it’s just a mere memory.

            I tried to focus on the other things on my dad’s table but there nothing peculiar in it. A few business proposals and unsigned paper reports. I was about to give up searching when the bottom drawer at my father’s table caught my attention. The drawer is a little ajar and I knelt down to open it.

            It’s a good thing that I am already kneeling on the floor because I might’ve swayed on the spot and fell. I felt a shock of numbness in my brain as I stared at the contents of the drawer.

            Scattered inside it was a bunch of pictures of me but that wasn’t what shocked me. Inside the drawer were a bunch of pictures of a boy who is so familiar to me. I took the pictures, my hands shaking and spread them on the table. The pictures of me in different ages were the same as the boy…and we have pictures together in a park that I know so well. It was the Sakura Garden where Toushiro brought me.

            There was a torn piece of paper in the middle of the picture and it was written in an untidy scrawl that must’ve been from a kid. I brought the two pieces of paper together and read.

            “I will leave now if that’s what you want. But one day, sir, I will come back for her. Tehru is my greatest friend and I will come back for her.”

-Toushiro S.

            I glanced at the other pictures and I saw Toushiro all grown up and on top of all the pile is the recent picture of him and me together at the theme park.

“Tehru…” a voice said from a distance and I looked up. My father is back, standing in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”

            I stared at him in silence before demanding, “What is the meaning of all these?!”

            “I told you not to go inside my study.” my father said firmly, as he tried not showing his anger.

            “Answer me!!” I shouted as I throw the pictures at him. The scattered on the floor with a thud.

            “There’s nothing to say.” he said evasively.

            My hand shaking, I pointed at the pictures. “Why do you have Toushiro’s pictures? I thought you don’t know him.”

            “It’s none of your business and I’m saying this one last time: Stay away from that boy!!” my father shouted.

            “I won’t and I have all the right to know.” I yelled. “The time is past when you kept me in the shadows. I’m not a kid anymore!”

            “You will know nothing from me.” my father said more firmly and he sat on the sofa.

            “I need to know my past.” I said my chest heaving.

            “There’s no need for that.” my father replied.

            “Okasan wouldn’t keep me in the shadows.” I said bitterly.

            My father looked up suddenly and I can see his face with fierce anger. “Your mother dies because of that boy!”

            I flinched. “Nani?”

            “You will do better without that boy.” my father growled. “He’s leaving and he will not come back, I’ll make sure of that.”

            “What do you mean, Toushiro is the reason okasan died?” I whispered. “You made him leave?”

            “He’s done nothing good for you..!” my father shouted pacing back and forth.

            Pain shot up in my head and my eyes went blurry. I gripped the back of the sofa for balance as the pain continued to sear in my brain. I can barely hear snatches of my dad’s monologue.

            …I will do everything to keep you from him…he’s nothing…can’t have him in the family…

            Images flashed in my mind like an open projector and I hear voices..

A/N:

    update at last.. >:) sorry for the wait. been busy at school and other things..here it is an interesting chapter for you guys.. :))

 stay on the look out for my next update. This is where the truth comes out.. :))

    hope you like this one. >.<

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