A Blood Relationship Was The Most Complicated Bond

As the clouds slowly drifting on the sky covering the full moon, the lounge getting dimmer. Kyoya looked at the woman in his arms. Her features were softened under the golden light of the table lamp beside her. He smiled in content as he rubbed her tears away.

"One day, Mother came to our home," Kyoya began. He picked a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. He let his fingertips lingered longer over her earlobe before he slowly retracted his touch. "At that time, you've just known about me. You cried for me like you do this time. I felt so uneasy but, at the same time, I was grateful because you still treat me the same as always."

"En? What do you mean?" Shouko asked softly, didn't catch the meaning of his words.

Kyoya let out a chuckle. His eyes were so tender as they remained focused on her.

"You didn't excessively pity me, Shouko. You didn't try to be careful around me, try to treat me as if I was fragile and for that, I was so thankful."

What Kyoya feared the most after he opened up about his past was to see the unnecessary pity in the eyes of someone who knew about him. He didn't mind for her to be sad but, if she started treating her like he was a glass figurine that should be kept inside a locked cabinet, he would deeply regret his action.

Yet, she didn't do that.

The next day, they talked and laughed, sharing their different opinions over some matters and spending their time together as always.

Shouko chewed her lower lip. For a man like Kyoya, she understood what it felt like to have eyes full of pity being directed to him. He might be indifferent to the most part of his life yet he still didn't want people to look at him with such eyes.

Thinking about his mother made her heart sank.

Shouko couldn't think how could a mother be so ruthless to her own child? The child she had carried for nine months in her womb, the one she fought against her life to give birth to?

Even though her memory of her own mother was hazy, she remembered that her mother was always kind to her. It was only her father who treated her with harshness.

"Then, what did I say to your mother?" Shouko looked at him, slowly leading him back to their main topic. She was really intrigued by it when she suddenly realized something. "Wait! Did she actually come to harass you again over the time?"

Kyoya smiled wearily hearing her question. He linked their hands together as he played with her fingers, seeking comfort through her warmth.

"She has remarried to a businessman in Country M. Most of her time would be spent there but sometimes she would come back here and... whenever she does, she would never fail to come and appear in front of me."

"What? Why does she?"

Shouko frowned, feeling a little angry in his stead. She thought that ever since Grandpa Kashino brought Kyoya to the old house, the woman should be happy because she no longer had to deal with her child whom she despised.

So, why did she act that way?

Under her clear displeasure, Kyoya chuckled softly. He shrugged, answering that he himself didn't know why.

"She would always make a ruckus whenever she comes, saying if I didn't agree to meet her she would have a way to make me come to herself," Kyoya paused, looking away from her, his gaze lingered back on the lake outside. "Over the years, I tried to break away from her clutch yet at the most critical moment, I'd fail."

He loathed himself for it. He was supposed to cut the woman off of his life yet, he was unable to do so. Even the thought of it made him felt extremely helpless.

Seeing that the man's mood turned heavier, an indescribable feeling of sadness seeped in her heart. She somehow understood the conflicts within his mind.

As an outsider, it was easy for her to say something yet the one who bore the pain was him.

That ruthless woman was his birth mother. Although he had never been raised by her love, this man was still clinging on the last thread of his hope to have his mother turn to look at him.

Even Shouko herself was like him.

Her father hated her existence yet deep inside her heart, she dreamed for him to accept her.

A blood relationship was the most complicated bond. Even when you were treated harshly by the other party, it was hard for you to pull away from your own feelings for them.

Shouko squeezed his hand, earning a glance from him. Kyoya looked at the pair of misty eyes, he was deeply entranced by her.

Under the moonlight, her appearance became much more dazzling.

"Please don't think that you're hopeless, Kyoya. Whatever you want to do, I will support you. If you feel like you do not want to have anything to do with her, I would help to guide you. Even me myself still want my father to recognize me but over time, I know I have to accept that he would never have me in his heart."

Kyoya was totally surprised by her unwavering tone when she proclaimed her determination to him. He could even see the resolution in her eyes, prompting him to believe her.

With his gaze locked firmly on hers, his lips moved, blurting out a few words.

"Wife, you are so nice."

"Huh?"

Shouko was dumbfounded. She blinked her eyes confusedly before her face blushed. If not for the dim light of the table lamp and the moon penetrating through the windows, she was sure he would see her face reddened by his sudden words.

"Then... then! Since you think your wife is nice, you have to listen to me, okay?"

Shouko harrumphed, she quickly lowered her face and turned away from him.

What's wrong with him? Suddenly saying such words? Now her heart was beating loudly!

Kyoya watched his wife who had already looked at the other side. Her lips pouted slightly as she was blushing deeply. His eyes softened seeing her cute expression. His heart felt a lot lighter now.

This was the woman he had placed securely in his heart, the one he held so precious more than his own life.

Without her, his life would still be gray in color. After meeting her did a vibrant color splashed onto his gray canvas before the vividness slowly spreading until he could no longer see a speck of gray.

Kyoya laughed lowly, his voice sounded as clear as a stream. Shouko slowly looked back at him. Her face was still flushed red yet she ignored it. This man had yet to answer her question from earlier.

"Kyoya, what did I say to your mother?"

If possible, she didn't want to call that woman a mother because she didn't deserve to be one. But, as long as Kyoya couldn't free himself from his haunted past, she found it rude to just address her as 'that woman'. He was the only one who had the liberty to do so.

The corners of his lips curved up. His eyes deepened as he recalled a scene from five years ago. Her words were still clear in his mind even to this day because it was one of the times he had the thought that he finally had someone who accepted him wholeheartedly.

"You said, even though she is my mother, she isn't entitled to make my life a living hell."

Shouko's eyes widened, her lashes fluttered slightly. Her expression was clearly reflected in his eyes.

Those words... were indeed close to what she had said to the boy's mother this morning.

Did she say them... because of her hidden memory of that time?