Ryosuke squeezed Mirai’s hand he was holding weakly. At this, she turned to look at him. He saw exactly the expression he had expected. He knew Mirai was anxious, and probably dreaded to face the moment later. They were currently in his car, parking in Yamada family’s yard.

“I’m with you, remember?” he mustered a comforting smile for her.

She squeezed back, and put her other hand on her chest. Inhaling a deep breath, she eventually replied, “Okay.”

He released their intertwined fingers and opened the car door lock, getting off the vehicle. He stood while sizing up his family house. Somehow it looked bigger than the actual size. Truthfully, he, too, was as anxious as Mirai, but he had to compose himself for Mirai was counting on his support.

It was early night time, and he bet his mother was preparing dinner. Now, he and Mirai, was going to tell them everything. He had faith in his family, but still he couldn’t lie that there was still a little doubt.

“Let’s go in,” he led by walking ahead of her.

Opening the door, he hollered a greeting, “We’re home!”

Soon, he heard a choir of reply, “Welcome!”, and the first person to appear was Chihiro.

“Ryosuke, why didn’t call first?” she asked as she spotted him, but before he could answer, she exclaimed in a more cheerful tone, “Eh, Mirai-chan is here, too?”

Mirai bowed, “Sorry for imposing.”

“Not at all,” Chihiro waved her hand. “C’mon, everyone’s just gonna have dinner.”

Chihiro beckoned them to follow her. He gestured Mirai to walk close by his side as they entered diningroom. He saw his mother was setting the last plate of her menu in the middle of the table while his father and Mika was sitting on their chair. Soon, Chihiro, he, and Mirai joined them.

“It’s so nice to have all the family members gather for dinner,” his father started.

When everyone had started eating their meal, he noticed Mirai did not make a move to take anything to eat. He knew she always could not eat when she was too anxious about something, but she could not refuse when his mother gave her a bowl of rice. Sometimes Mirai was too careful about the possibility of hurting someone by her act or words, just like this time when she could not decide on what to do with the food his mother had served her, worrying that his mother might feel upset if she did not eat. That’s why he took a smaller bowl of the vegetable soup and replaced the bowl of rice she was holding with it. That way, Mirai would still manage to eat without being uncomfortable.

“Soup is better to warm yourself,” he smiled gently when she sent him questioning look. “Trust me.”

She replied by muttering a gratitude to him then started spooning the soup little by little. He caught a glimpse of his mother giving him a look of understanding and his sisters giggling before he himself digging into his meal.

“Ne, Ryosuke could be so sweet sometimes,” the remark came when they had finished eating.

He arched a brow at his older sister who said that.

His father grinned, “Of course, Ryosuke is a gentleman. He definitely takes after me.”

“Both Dad and Niichan can also be narcissist some other times,” Mika rebutted.

“Oi, Mika-chan!” he and his father grunted in sync.

Mirai smiled at this, giving a bit relief to him. She had been so uptight ever since she found out about her mother a few days ago.

“Mirai-chan, if Ryosuke make you sad, make sure you tell me so that I can beat a sense to him,” Chihiro jokingly adviced.

Mirai shook her head, “Ryosuke never makes me sad. He always makes me happy.”

“Aww!” Both his sisters exclaimed.

Being praised in front of his family members, he got really embarrassed that a blush shadowed his face, making his family laugh at him.

“Woah, you’re so lucky to have a girl like Mirai-chan, Ryosuke,” his father remarked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” his mother glared at his father.

“Honey, honey, don’t misunderstand,” his father frantically explained. “Of course, I’m lucky to have a wife like you, too.”

As the family bicker kept going, he sensed that Mirai got more and more tense by every praise they said about her. So, he decided to bring up their real intention immediately.

“Actually,” he interrupted, drawing all the attention. “We come to tell you all something.”

His mother shot him a look of warning, like she was assuming that he would tell his sibling about his broken engagement or such. She hadn’t known yet that he had reconciled with Mirai and got the engagement kept as planned.

“Let’s talk in the livingroom after this,” his mother stood up and started taking the dishes to the kitchen sink. His sisters immediately helped, so did Mirai, while he and his father walked to the livingroom.

When everyone had gathered, and he had Mirai sat beside him, he saw the worried look on his mother’s face.

“Somehow it feels rather tense,” Mika confusedly remarked while they arranged their selves to sit.

“What do you want to talk, Ryosuke?” his father directly asked when they all had settled.

He enclosed Mirai’s hand with his, to comfort both her and himself, then started, “You all have known that Mirai was an orphan since she was a child and adopted by Shida family, right?”

They all nodded and confirmed it.

“However, you all may haven’t known about her real parents,” he added.

“We knew that her mother left and her father committed suicide,” Mika bluntly answered, and when Chihiro nudged her, she widened her eyes, “Sorry, Neechan, I didn’t—“

“It’s alright,” Mirai mustered a small smile.

“Are you going to talk about that?” his mother knotted her brows, building assumption.

He looked at Mirai. She did not look back. She looked like she was composing herself. When she inhaled a breath and he felt her fisted her hand, curling her fingers to hold his, he returned it with a weak squeeze.

“I...,” she sounded hesitant in his ears when she answered for him. “Yes, Okasan.”

“Alright, go on, Mirai-chan,” his father said, giving Mirai a tender smile to encourage her.

“My biological parents... they lived in a small town in Sendai. I never know why they got married when they were so young. They had me when my mother was still twenty. The only I remember is that they always fought and shouted at each other. My mother said something like she could not get the life she wanted. She said she wanted to be an idol, but father didn’t allow her to take audition in Tokyo. Much later I would understand why he didn’t allow her... because she would need to pretend that she hadn’t married,” Mirai paused to take a breath.

“Everyday I had to watch them fight,” she resumed her speech. “Even there were times when father hit mother and mother did not return home for days. That day, I thought it would just be like the usual. When mother brought a big suitcase, she only said sorry, and then left me alone. When father returned and did not find her, he too, left me alone only to return two days later. That happened when I was seven years old. I was scared to be alone in the house, so I kept myself in my bedroom and did not even make a single step out, even I did not eat for I was too afraid to move.”

“You did not eat at all?” Mika interrupted, eyes widened.

Mirai shook her head, then resumed, “When father returned, he was drunk. After that day he always got home drunk. He stopped cooking for me, he stopped walking me to school, he stopped doing anything for me. I did anything by myself... cooking, washing, cleaning the house... But father also stopped giving me money, so I stopped coming to school. He kept telling me that I should’ve gone with my mother and her boyfriend; that he didn’t want to see me whose face only reminded him of mother and her betrayal.”

Mirai’s voice started wavering, so he brought an arm around her shoulder.

“Then... one night, he came home with so many bruises. He threw everything that the house became a mess. I was crouching down in the corner of the room when suddenly he...,” Mirai trailed off, seemed so difficult even just to utter a word.

“You don’t need to tell the detail,” he wishpered to her, rubbing a hand up and down her arm.

Mirai took another breath before resuming, “I saw my father hang himself. I had begged him not to, but he didn’t listen.” Tears started flowing down her cheeks. “My neighbour came because of the noise, but he already died. And after that, they put me in the orphanage. The nightmares started haunting me, and they said my behavior changed. They said I was emotionally unstable, so they included me in the rehabilitation program from which I met Tachibana-sensei. The story from then on... you might have known about it...”

“Yes,” it was his mother who answer first. “Ryosuke told us, and we understood. We’ve given our blessing to your relationship with Ryosuke, then what did you worry about, Mirai-chan?”

He knew her mother was insinuating about the act of Mirai breaking their engagement.

“Okasa