"Lover in your past life?" Kiyohira"s face turns blank. He doesn"t know what he expected. If his son remembers his past life, then he met that child in his past life. Still, it doesn"t make sense. Why would Yuta hate Maddox? "Which era were you born in? Was Maddox enemy in your past life?"
Was Yuki a girl in his past life? Is that why Yuta called her a girl? Kiyohira"s head is hurting. Yuki is a boy in this life. Why would his son beat up his lover from his past life? Yuki might have scratched Yuta once, but Yuta did a lot more to that poor child. Did they have a bad breakup in their past lives?
Yuta sighs. His father is confused. "Father, what if I tell you that there was a life in which you didn"t know about my existence at all, and I was raised by a disgusting man who made me believe that the Interpol killed my mother? Would you believe me?"
Kiyohira furrows his brows. A life in which he didn"t know about Yuta"s existence? For four years, he didn"t know that he had a son. If Yuta didn"t appear at his home that day, he would have never known about his existence at all. At that time, he gave up on Rie. He couldn"t forget her, but he wasn"t going to chase her anymore.
"In my previous life, you and I never met. DH"s leader killed my mother when she threatened to leave. You found her corpse and buried her in the land of lavender. They found your body lying on her grave. I didn"t know the truth until I was fifteen. I killed the man who killed her. I killed Tsuchiya Tsumi for not telling my mother the truth about you. I killed the other members of DH and erased the existence of DH," Yuta tells him in an unvarying tone. He"s numb at this moment. Seeing that woman keeps reminding of his last moment. "I was killed when I was twenty-four. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the past. I wanted to change things. I asked my mother to take me to you. She sent me with Tsuchiya Tsumi instead. You know everything that happened after that."
For a long moment, Kiyohira doesn"t speak a word. It"s a lot to take in. He can see that Yuta"s eyes are honest. There"s a shroud of shadow and pain around his son. For some reason, he doesn"t find it hard to believe that there could be a life in which he didn"t know his son. Rie was always a stubborn one. She believed that he chose Chisa Has.h.i.+moto for five long years until the moment he met her and cleared the misunderstanding. If... Yuta had not come to see him, they would have lived that kind of life.
He grabs his son"s shoulder.
"Was it Maddox who killed Rie and raised you?"
Yuta gives him a quiet nod. "She wanted to leave because she wanted me to have a normal life."
Outside the bathroom, Rie is leaning against the closed door and listening without making a sound. She has sensed the changes in Yuta in the past few weeks, but she didn"t expect it to be something like this.
"I don"t want Mother to know." There"s a pause. "She will blame herself. It"s not her fault. Has.h.i.+moto Chisa and DH exploited her weakness. She will show me the same expression that you are showing me, Father. Promise me that you won"t tell her."
Kiyohira"s heart clenches for his son and wife. He couldn"t be there for his son in his past life. His Rie fought alone and died. Someone also killed his son.
His son is reborn with the painful memories of his past life.
"Promise me, Father." Yuta nudges his hand.
He nods with tears in his eyes. Rie will blame herself if she finds out. "I won"t tell her, Yuta. I will give you and your mother a happy life this time."
Rie goes back to the kitchen. Takes.h.i.+ looks at her. Rims of her eyes are swollen and red. "Sister-in-law, did you cry?"
She shakes her head.
"Then, are you going to cry?" Takes.h.i.+ asks her.
"No, Takes.h.i.+. There"s nothing wrong. From now on, everything will be right." She pours herself a cold gla.s.s of water. She hears her husband"s footsteps. She walks to the sink and washes her face before she turns to face her husband and her son.
Takes.h.i.+ notices that Kiyohira"s eyes are also red. The atmosphere is strange. Rie shows them a bright smile. "Yuta, look, I drew your face on the omurice."
Yuta glances at the omurice. There"s a face, alright. But it doesn"t look anything like him. Still, he"s pleased. His mother doesn"t have an artistic bone in her, just like him. Rie"s eyes s.h.i.+ne when she sees him smiling. "Come here."
Yuta walks to his mother. She puts him on her lap. She checks on the scratch on his neck. "Kiyohira, why didn"t you apply any ointment here? What if it leaves a scar?"
"Men shouldn"t be afraid of scars," Kiyohira chuckles.
"I have plenty of scars that my brother gave me." Takes.h.i.+ points at his elbow. "He pushed me when I was Yuta"s age."
"You threw up on my homework." Kiyohira scowls at his brother.
"You made me drink your share of milk." Takes.h.i.+ glares at him.
"Ignore them." Rie tells Yuta as she feeds him, "Their brains forgot to grow along with their bodies."
Yuta gives her a nod, not noticing any change in his mother who has heard everything. Kiyohira and Rie share a look. She smiles at him. He"s keeping his promise. She"s not going to say anything. Yuta will never know that she knows. They will do everything to give their son a loving life.