"Kanda, when are you going to leave him for me?" Lenalee stated earning an eye roll.
"I already told you, soon. I'm telling Allen tonight that I want a divorce." I stated for what must have been the hundredth time. She wrapped her arms around him.
"You don't know how long I've waited to hear that." She mumbled. I patted her short green hair.
"About ten minutes?" I joked. She laughed as well.
"You think he'll cause trouble do you?" She said seriously.
"Even if he does I know the spark between Allen and I is gone. I am a bit worried about him though. He's been acting strange lately. Plus I'm the only person he's ever been with." I said with a hint a worry in my voice.
"Don't get cold feet now, Kanda." She said, pouting. I chuckled.
"I'm not, just nervous." She planted a kiss on me. I cringed at the taste of her sweet lip gloss.
"Alright, well don't forget we're going to the beach tomorrow." She said.
"I won't. Bye, Lena." I said walking towards the door. The thought of going to the beach made me want to sigh. I knew she'd be wearing something much too provocative to get attention from everyone on the beach and then I'd have to put up with the large crowds.
"Bye, Yuu!" She smiled sweetly. I was slightly irritated by the use of my given name but I walked out the door without another word.
Ten minutes later I had pulled into the drive way and walked through the front door to see my husband sitting at the dining room table looking down at his empty plate across from my full one. He shot out of his seat and rushed over to me hugging me.
"Where have you been?" Came his worried, fragile voice.
"Work." I said simply sitting down to eat the soba he had made for me that was now cold. Even in it being cold it still tasted great. I watched as he faked a smile at me and sat down.
"Work, this late, huh? That's not good." I knew he already knew about the cheating on him. What I didn't know was why he hadn't said anything.
"We need to talk." I stated after finishing my food." He flinched at my words and then stood up and gathered both of our plates. I could tell he was hurting and I felt the slightest bit of guilt rising up in me. We had known each other for thirteen years and had been married for ten. We'd even raised our adoptive daughter Kate together. Even though all of this was true, I was bored. Lenalee for some reason brought back old feelings, what I used to feel for Allen when we were teenagers.
"I'll meet you in the room, alright?" He stated before walking into the kitchen to wash off our plates. I sighed and got up to head towards the bedroom. Upon entering the room decorated with photos of our family I walked over to one specific family portrait. It was from a couple days after we adopted Kate a little over eight years ago. I stood in the background with the slightest smile on my face while Allen was beaming holding the beautiful smiling baby in his arms. I walked across the hall to her room and kneeled next to her bed and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"She misses you, you know." I was startled by the sound of his voice.
"What do you mean? I haven't gone anywhere." He just shook his head and headed over to our room. I followed him and changed into my night clothes. After we were both sitting on the bed he turned to me smiling as brightly as ever.
"So, you wanted to talk?" He asked. I could sense the dread in his voice. I also felt the same dread in my stomach. I glanced over at the family photo one more time. I built up enough courage for my voice to be heard.
"Allen I-"
"What? I'm not a Moyashi anymore?" He laughed lightheartedly.
"Listen." I was interrupted again.
"Katelyn told me she has exams about a month from now; you'll help her study for them right?" By now Allen was looking down at his hands as he fiddled with the sheets.
"I want a divorce." His whole body tensed. He face looked like it was about to crumble but he held it together. He pulled himself under the covers.
"Let's talk about this tomorrow. It's late." I sighed at his words.
"Che. Fine." I slipped into bed and laid facing away from Allen. We both fell asleep with our back to each others, both with a million thoughts in our heads.
Right before the son rose I found myself awake and feeling a warmth on my back. As I had been finding a lot lately Allen was snuggled into my back rather than comfortably on my chest. I rose from the bed and dressed myself for another day at work. Realizing I still had at least an hour before I went in I walked to my home office and began typing on my computer. A quarter until seven he walked into the office and mumbled a good morning. With him he carried two cups of coffee. He set mine down next to me and continued speaking, "Kate is dressed and in the kitchen making herself a bowl of cereal. Who's taking her to school today?" He asked.
"I will." I said printing off the document I had been typing. I handed the papers to him. "These are our divorce conditions. It pretty much says you can have everything. Katelyn will be staying with you until I can find a place to live. After that we'll work something out." He clutched the papers and looked at them heart-broken as if he had thought the night before had just been a dream. I felt my chest getting tighter as a few tears rolled down his face. He hugged his robe closer to his unusually thin form.
"Why?" He said with a broken voice. "Can I at least know why?" I didn't respond. The answer wasn't exactly clear to me either. I just knew it had to be done. "You coward! Just be a man and tell me!" He whispered yelled so as to not alert the eight year old in the next room. He pulled the robe to his face and wiped away the river of tears that had begun to fall. He leaned against the wall and hunched over a bit. It took everything I had to not go comfort him.
His hands were shaking furiously. I stepped closer to him and he threw the coffee cup down on the floor and ripped the papers in half. He darted out of the room towards the bedroom. I knelt to the ground and started picking up the broken coffee mug pieces.
"That went well." I mumbled to myself.
About twenty minutes later I was walking Kate out to the car.
"Daddy, why was Papa upset this morning?" Kate asked.
"I don't know," I lied, "but Papa told me you have exams coming up. Tell me about those." The little girl easily distracted started complaining about the school test coming up in just a month. Then she started bragging about some of the things she had learned as if they were rocket science. She was so bubbly and bright; it reminded me of how Allen had been up until a couple of months ago. In so many ways she was just like Allen. Polite, caring, a huge appetite, absent minded at time, innocent- they all described them both. It's not like I wanted for our love to become dull, it just had.
I dropped Kate off at the elementary school and continued down the road to my job as the CEO of a design company. Upon entering my office I was hugged by none other than Lenalee. After spending the day working I went to Lenalee's place with her and we did things a good husband would regret doing. I made my way home and sat at the empty table and ate my cold soba. It had been so long since I was home early enough for it to be warm. I looked down the hallway and saw that the office light was on. Once finishing my food I placed my dish in the sink and walked towards the lit up room. Inside Allen was sitting at Kate's desk writing on a piece of paper. I was curious but just brushed it off and went to the bedroom. When I plopped onto the bed I immediately fell asleep.
Lenalee was a handful at times. She was always super hyper to the point of annoying me. Ever since I had mentioned the divorce she had clung to me for dear life. At first it was a little cute but I quickly grew tired of it. She was constantly going on and on about marriage and children, she had even picked out an extremely expensive house for us to live in. IT seemed as if she'd been planning this for a while.
Hours later I was shook awake by an angel, I mean, Allen. Easy mistake.
"Kanda." He whispered. His pale hands held up some papers with neat hand writing on them. "Here. These are my conditions." Then he tiredly crawled into bed. I looked over the papers and stared at them baffled. I then sighed and set them on the night stand next to the bed. I turned out the lamp and let my body fall back on the bed. No matter what, though, I couldn't get back to sleep. My mind kept wandering over to the white haired male sleeping beside me.
When seven came I was out the door and on my way to work. As usual, when I entered my office I was greeted by the beautiful green haired Chinese woman.
"Oh my God, Kanda. You look rough! I take it that it didn't go to well with Allen yesterday, either." She stated. I shook my head.
"No, it's not that. It's his conditions." I said miserably.
"Wow, did he really demand that much?" She sneered at the thought.
"No, he didn't ask for much. The first condition is he gets a one month notice. He wants us to go about normally until May 30th, and for me to spend quality time with him and Katelyn." I sighed.
"A whole month? Doesn't he realize he's not going to convince you to stay?" Lena stated angrily.
"My daughter has exams in a month. He doesn't want her to have to deal with something like this at least until she completes her school year. IT's a good condition in my opinion." I said irritated. "The second one is pretty odd though." I said deep in tought.
"Really, how so? Well on second thought, that is to be expected. He is a strange character. What with that white hair, creepy scar, and disgusting arm!"
"That's enough." I all but yelled. She jumped at the sound of my voice. "You don't need to insult him. None of those things are his fault. How would you like it if someone was bad mouthing you for something you couldn't help?" I was confused at the anger welling up inside of me. The need to defend Allen was something long forgotten. Lenalee mumbled a quiet apology. "Anyways," I started, regaining my cool, "The second condition is to carry him from our bedroom to the door like I did the day after our honeymoon for the next month." I said contemplating the very thought of it.
"You're right, that is odd." She said, bewildered herself. She then just chuckled. "I'm going to get back to work. Don't miss me too much, boss." She winked and then walked out, her hips swaying seductively in the god awful skirt she insisted wearing on a regular basis. I sighed before looking down at the files on my desk.
"This is going to be a long month."
AN: So I finally edited the horrible writing that was this chapter. Actually I just re did it completely because I was so appalled by it! Enjoy the story!