Chapter 184:- Rei's Declaration

With that, she walked back into her home, leaving Izuku standing outside, still trying to process what had just happened.

As the door clicked shut behind her, Rei leaned heavily against it, her face flushed with a mix of embarrassment and a thrill she hadn't felt in years.

Her heart raced, and her breath came in quick, ragged gasps as she whispered to herself, "I did it. I really did it. There's no going back now."

Her mind buzzed with the whirlwind of emotions that came from kissing Izuku, her heart was beating very fast, her breathing was haggard, and she was still trying to calm down thinking it was very filmy, that's when she heard a sudden knock on the door.

She thought it was Izuku, 'Maybe he wanted to say something, maybe he wanted to talk about the things that just happened.' These thoughts rang in her head as she stood up and opened the door.

But instead of Izuku, it was Enji Todoroki, her husband, who seemed very furious.

Before she could react, Enji's voice boomed through the house, "Rei, what's going on here?" His eyes were blazing, both with anger and the literal flames that flickered within them.

Rei's heart skipped a beat, but she squared her shoulders, refusing to let him intimidate her. "Enji, I—"

Before she could finish, Endeavour's eyes were filled with flames. "What were you doing out there? And who was that kid?"

Rei felt her anger rising to meet his. How dare he question her after all these years? "He was just helping me. Something you've never done," she snapped, her voice trembling with pent-up frustration.

Enji's face twisted with rage. "Helping you? How did he help you by kissing you? Are you cheating on me, Rei? How could you betray our family like this?"

Rei's face flushed with a mix of shame and defiance. "Yes helping me, and for your information, it was I who kissed him, I was the one who took the initiative, and I enjoyed every moment of it."

"How could you do this Rei? How could you cheat on me? How could you betray our family," asked Enji as his tape recorder seemed stuck on those lines repeating them repeatedly.

Rei's anger boiled over. "Because he saw me, Enji. He saw the real me. Something you've never done. Betray our family? What family are you talking about, Enji? This family? You never treated me like your wife. You treated me like a breeding tool, nothing more! You never looked at your children, all you cared about was beating All Might, you call this a family, all I see are some strangers bonded by blood living together, have you noticed the atmosphere of our so-called family, it's so gloomy and depressing that I feel like I'm being choked here, I haven't seen this is in any other family. This is in no way a family, but a few strangers living under the same roof."

Their shouting echoed through the house, reaching Shoto and Natsuo, who were in their rooms upstairs. They crept toward the staircase, peeking down to see their parents in the throes of a confrontation they had never dared to imagine.

Endeavour recoiled as if struck. "What are you saying? I provided for you, for our children—"

"Provided?" Rei cut him off, her voice shaking with emotion. "You never cared for me, never showed me any love or kindness, do you even know what my favorite color or food is? No, you don't know, because you never asked me, nor did you even once eat food with me, and you even didn't take me on honeymoon, I experienced no such thing a wife would on marrying.

You made me feel like I'm some whore who you purchased from my family for breeding, and creating a perfect child, marrying me was just to show that you aren't having affairs with anyone.

After Shoto was born, you abandoned me. You were so obsessed with your perfect child that you forgot that you even had a wife!

You led Touya to his demise, because you thought he was imperfect, that he pushed himself to his death just because he wanted to be praised by you and acknowledged by you."

Endeavour looked stunned, his mouth opening and closing without a sound. Rei's words hit him like a sledgehammer, exposing the harsh truth he had long ignored.

"When I snapped and hurt Shoto, you didn't care why it happened. You just put me away in that mental hospital and forgot about me. You never once thought about how much I was suffering, did you? Or what led me to do that? As if I wasn't his mother but his nanny who committed a mistake and got punished for it.

I'll tell you this now, I poured that burning water on Shoto's face, because he reminded me of you, looking at him I remembered all the bad things you did to me, I couldn't do anything to you because you are far stronger then I am, and your quirk is also more powerful than mine.

That's why I snapped, I punished Shoto for the things you did to me, had you treated me as your wife, or loved me even little, then Shoto wouldn't have to suffer for you misdeeds, you turned a villain out of me." Rei's voice cracked, but she forced herself to continue.

Shoto and Natsuo listening to this were silent, as they decided to listen more.

Endeavour's face was pale, his eyes wide with shock. "I... I didn't know—"

"Of course, you didn't know! You never asked, never cared! I've been all alone, suffering for years with no one to console me or comfort me. And now, you suddenly care about family and being your wife, just because you saw me kiss someone who actually sees me as a person?

You wanted to know why I kissed him? I'll tell you, he saw right through me, he saw how much I was suffering, and without even me having to tell him anything about me, he saw right through my pain, and didn't wait or think before comforting me, because he realized just how much I was suffering, and just how badly I needed someone to comfort me.

He is someone who loved me for who I am, who sees my pain, who sees how much I'm suffering, and is willing to comfort me, not because he wants to get something out of me but because he actually cares for me, unlike you who wanted a perfect child who can surpass All Might, he thinks of me as his family, something you never did, he made me feel like my life also matters, he made me feel genuine love and care for the first time in life, without anything in return, his words soothe me, something neither you nor any of the kids did.

For all the things he did to me, without even me having to ask him, he's a total stranger, someone whom I have hardly met twice, yet he understood me on such a level, that even my family couldn't with whom I had been living for years, so what if I kissed him, have you ever kissed me?

Apart from the wedding kiss, even that felt empty, you never kissed me." Rei's voice rose, filled with years of pent-up pain and anger.

Endeavour's shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him. "Rei, I—"

"No, Enji," she interrupted her voice like steel. "You don't get to say anything. You've had years to act like a husband, like a father. But you chose your ambition over your family, over me."

She took a step closer, her eyes blazing with fierce determination. "I've wasted enough of my life being your perfect wife, your perfect tool, trying to hold this family together even if no one cared what or how me and Fuyumi felt. You, Natsuo, and Shoto, all of you are the same.

All you care about is the misery they felt, and whether you got your perfect child doing as you say, what about us, did you guys become so self-absorbed that you forget that a mother and her daughter were trying their level best to keep this family together, and what did we get in return, just cold shoulder, and gloomy environment, that makes us feel choked. But no more."

As she spoke, Shoto and Natsuo exchanged a glance, their faces pale. They had always blamed their father for their family's misery, but hearing their mother's words, they realized they had also played a part in ignoring her suffering. They felt a deep, gnawing guilt for not supporting their mother and sister more, for letting things get this far.

Downstairs, Rei took a step closer to Enji, her eyes blazing with determination. "I'm done pretending. I'm done living for you."

Endeavour's face crumpled with the weight of her words. "Rei, please, don't do this. We can fix this. We can—"

"Fix this?" Rei's laugh was bitter. "There's nothing to fix. Our marriage is just a piece of paper, Enji. You don't get to control me anymore. I'm going to be with someone who actually cares for me, who sees me as more than just a tool."

Endeavour's eyes widened in shock and fear. "You can't mean that. You can't just leave—"

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