Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon
A/N: This might be my longest story to be posted! I hope you don't get bored reading it!
Chapter 3
I woke up the next morning with almost no motivation. There was no drive. My wife could be leaving me. She was already mad at me. I tossed around in bed, rolling over to the other side only to see my wife already up. The master bathroom was open and I watched as she brushed her beautiful hair. She did it in the same quick motion from the top of her head down below her shoulders. I watched for a few more seconds until she saw me. "Oh, you're up." She said, going back to her hair. This time, she was throwing it back into a ponytail. "I wanted to tell you before I left that I'll be a little late tonight."
"Again?" I asked. "You've been out every day this week."
"Yes, and I'm going to be late again." She made sure it was placed in the right spot then tugged her hair on the sides to make sure the rubber band was wrapped tightly.
"What for?"
She turned towards me in a sharp motion with her ponytail bouncing. "What do you mean: what for?"
"Why are you going to be late?" I asked a little more firmly. I knew she heard me. She's just surprised that I finally asked.
"I have some work to do," She told me, "so I'm going to take extra time to do it."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Plus, my boss wants to promote someone to manager. Do you know what'll happen if I get that position?"
"You'll work even later." I told her point blank. "I don't think Hitomi would like that."
"It wouldn't matter. She's just a child. If she doesn't like it at first, she'll warm up to it." She turned around and started applying her makeup. "It just takes some time."
"That shouldn't be the situation, though." I objected, getting out of bed.
"Why not?"
"Because children worry too."
"They shouldn't." She put down her foundation and picked up a different brush. "They don't have anything to worry about. And you could just tell her what I told you. I'm working late."
"You know, kids watch a lot of TV."
She put down her brush and looked at me. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, that on TV, there is a lot of talk about couples who cheat on each other. What if she jumps to conclusions?"
She furrowed her brow. "You think I'm cheating on you?"
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to." She went back to her makeup. "Why would you accuse me of cheating on you?"
"Well, you do say 'I have to work late' more times than we've ever done anything together. It's like we live in two different worlds or something."
She put down her makeup. "You're right." She snapped her neck towards me with a disturbed face. "I live in the Real World and you live in the Digital World!"
"Oh, don't start that again!"
"Start what?"
"You know what I'm talking about! Stop treating me like I'm an alien! So what if I'm a DigiDestined…" Oh boy. I forgot…
"You're a what?"
I forgot to tell her. "Nothing."
"No, what is a DigiDestined? Is that some kind of nerd club?"
I sighed. "No, it's not. When I was Hitomi's age, my friends and I were sent to the Digital World to save it from dark forces."
She just looked at me. "Are you sure that's not one of your nerd clubs?"
"I'm sure." I told her. "Point being, you have to stop treating me like I was born there. I live in the Real World like you."
"It sure doesn't seem like it." She said under her breath but loud enough for me to hear, which got me angry. At the time, she was putting her makeup back into her purse.
"Don't you have to go to work?"
"I'm leaving!" She slung her purse over her shoulder. "I hope you can make Hitomi breakfast and dinner!" She yelled as she swung the door open.
"I'd end up doing it anyway!" I yelled back. "I hope you have fun living at work!" Luckily, she caught that before slamming the door. She wasn't even considerate enough to lock the door, so I got up and did it myself. Then, I looked at the window and saw her driving away in her car.
"Dad…?" Hitomi spoke with a small voice, making me turn around as fast as I could. I noticed that she was holding Motimon like a teddy bear. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything's going to be fine!" I lied. "Mom's just going to be late coming home."
"Again?"
I sighed. "Yes."
"Are you guys going to get a divorce?"
"No!" I defended. Two days from then, that would be a lie. At the moment, I just didn't want Hitomi to worry. "Don't worry, we're not."
"But you guys were fighting." She made her way into the kitchen. "Was it because of me?"
"Hitomi, why would you say that?"
"Because I heard you." She sighed. "You were talking about me having a Digimon. Then Mom acted like a rammcat and bizzled."
"Bizzled?"
"Yeah, she bizzled. It means that she went crazy. I made it up."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah." She sat Motimon down at the table and opened the refrigerator. "Dad, can I make scrambled eggs?"
"You know how?"
"Yeah, Mom taught me." She brought out the carton. "So can I or will you bizzle out?"
I chuckled. "I won't bizzle out."
"Good." She smiled before bringing out a bowl and a fork. "Motimon, you're going to like my eggs! Dad, I'll make you some too!"
"That's very nice of you, Hitomi." I told her. "Thank you."
While she got started with the eggs, I stayed in the living room to keep a close eye on her. The last thing I need is for her to burn herself. She's such a precious child. I really saw them in these pictures of the family we had in perfectly aligned frames on the wall. They were taken every year since Hitomi was born. It was ten years of family bliss. We all had joyful faces. Nothing was wrong. We didn't have a care in the world. But that seemed like a long time ago. We were due to take another picture soon, but unlike the old pictures, this one will be a lie. Our smiles wouldn't be real. It'll just be taped together. Fighting in the family affects everyone. I started to consider telling Hitomi what happens in reality. Parents divorce all of the time.
"Hitomi…" I started. I wanted to take it back but I had to talk to her plus I already had her attention and a plate of her eggs on my lap.
"Eat up! Tell me what you think!" She took the fork and shoveled some into my mouth. Her smile was the hugest I've ever seen as she waited for my answer. The truth was that the eggs were wonderful! It was nice and buttery with the right amount of salt and pepper. "Good, right?"
"Very good, Hitomi!" I smiled. "These have to be the best I've ever tasted, and I'm not just saying that because you're my daughter."
"Thanks, Dad." She kissed me on the cheek. "So did you want to tell me something?"
I sighed and put the plate onto the coffee table. "Yes."
She sat down next to me. "What is it?" She asked, filled with concerned.
"I just wanted to tell you that things happen." I was sitting there like an idiot, trying to find the words. "Sometimes, these things happen for the better." I looked at our last family photo. Seeing Kayo's smiling face seemed like a thing in the past. I haven't seen that smile since that day. "When someone's not happy with something, they could always change it."
"Dad, what are you saying?" I looked into those deep black eyes I gave her.
"Mom's not happy."
"I know." She sighed. "It's because she spends all of her time at work and you spend all of her time in the Digital World. I heard you two yelling."
"You did?" She nodded. "Well…" I sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Are you going to make me give up Motimon?"
"No!" I stood up. "Better yet, I'll fight for him."
"Don't!" My daughter shouted, springing off of the couch. "Don't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Don't fight. Just talk." She said. "Fighting always leads to separation."
I knelt down to her level. "Hon, it's only an expression. I'm not going to fight. I'll talk to her." Words, I thought, weren't the only things that could heal a wounded heart. With that, I held out my arms and pulled her in and embraced my daughter's warmth. "Don't worry so much, okay?"
"Okay, Dad." She hugged me back.
At that point, I was worried. What if Kayo and I ended up getting a divorce? Hitomi will be crushed.
Hours! Hours! Hours!
Around eight that night, Hitomi, Motimon, and I arrived home from a dinner date with Mom. Unfortunately, Kayo didn't call and tell me when she was going to be back. I naturally assumed that she would be here around seven seeing as she usually got off of work at five. Two hours should be plenty of time for overtime work. Right?
However, we came home to an empty house. No Kayo in sight. "Mom must be working really late." Hitomi said before stifling a yawn. "I'm tired. I'm going to get ready for bed and digest all of Grandma's food!"
"Okay." I gave her a kiss on the forehead. "See you in the morning. Goodnight, Motimon."
"Goodnight, Dad!" He said before hopping on Hitomi's shoulder. "We're going to sleep well tonight!"
After I brushed my teeth, slipped into comfortable pajamas, and climbed into bed, I noticed something wrong. I couldn't describe the feeling but I knew that something was misplaced. I couldn't put my finger on it as I tossed and turned.
"Daddy…?" I heard a voice say about half an hour later. I turned my attention towards the door to see that it was Hitomi and Motimon.
"What is it, Hitomi?" I asked with great concern as all dads would. "Are you okay?"
"It's just that…" She sighed, not being able to find the words. "Can I sleep with you?"
I nodded before she set a sleepy Motimon on the bed and climbed in herself. "Is it Mom?" I asked her.
"She's still not here." She told me. "I wonder if she's really working. Do you think she might be…?"
"Hitomi," I snapped, making her hush up, "don't say things like that about Mom. I trust her. Now, get some sleep." I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in for another embrace. "Don't worry so much."
"I won't."
"Do you promise?"
She giggled. "No, I can't promise that."
"Why not?"
"I promise not to worry as much, but I will bizzle if there's a problem."
I kissed her on the forehead. "There's no problem."
"If you say so…"
"Hey, I want to get in!" Motimon shouted as he crawled in between Hitomi and me. He sighed. "That's better."
"Is everyone comfortable?" I asked them. Once they didn't answer, I said "Good. Now, let's get some sleep."
Snore! Snore! Snore!
I didn't fall asleep like Hitomi and Motimon. Instead, I was awake, sitting on the corner of the bed with my legs crossed Indian Style and my arms folded. My eyes were closed but I was in a deep thought. Why isn't she home yet? What could possibly take her so long? My eyes sprang open an hour later when I heard the doorknob jiggling. I figured it was Kayo, so I scooped up Hitomi as carefully as I could and carried her to her room. As I crossed the front door, it swung open to reveal Kayo. Once she saw me carrying Hitomi and Motimon, her lips began to press together as she stared at me with anger. I only stared at her back with the same anger for a second before continuing to Hitomi's room. After putting her and Motimon to bed, I stormed out and into the master bedroom.
"Kayo, why are you so late? It's almost ten o'clock!" I yelled once the door was closed. "Hitomi was so worried about you!"
"And what about you? You're not off the hook either! I told you no Digimon, Koushiro!" She yelled back, throwing her purse to the ground.
"I'm not the one to blame here! You're the one who thinks she can come in at all hours of the night! Hitomi really missed you!"
"This is ridiculous. Can we just fight on one thing?" She sighed and unbuttoned her top. "First of all, why did you get her a Digimon when I said she can't have one?"
"You're over reacting! That Digimon has been here all day today and yesterday and you didn't notice him until now. What does that say?"
"It says while I'm working my butt off, you're goofing around with a filthy monster!" She slipped on a T-shirt and started taking off her skirt and stockings. "Koushiro, you deliberately went behind my back and disobeyed my request."
"Request? If it was a request, than you wouldn't take it seriously!"
"Koushiro, that's not the point! The point is that you're not listening to me! You never do what I say! You never consider what I have to say! You just go off and do whatever you want!" She put on a pair of pajama pants.
"I never do whatever I want because you're always off somewhere!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I want to be with you. That's why we got married! Remember?"
"Yes, I remember." She stormed into the bathroom and pulled out her toothbrush. "I thought when we were going to be married that you wanted to compromise with everything before you make stupid decisions."
"This decision isn't stupid! I believe that having a Digimon can do so much for her. It's done a lot for me."
"That was twenty-five years ago! Get over it!"
"No, I won't get over it! That journey changed my life for the better and you're treating it like it's nothing!"
"Well, it's not the whole world!" She started brushing her teeth.
"It is to me! Why else would I be working there?"
She just gave me a shrug and continued to brush vigorously.
"The girl doesn't have any friend besides Motimon. She said so herself."
"How will a Digimon help with that?" She asked after she rinsed.
"A Digimon can help with her self-esteem."
"Just take her to the park. She can meet people there." She grabbed a towel from the towel rack. "In the meantime, you can take that digital monster back from where it came from!"
"No!"
She put the towel down on the counter and placed her hands on her hips. "What did you say?"
I stepped into the bathroom so that she could hear me. "I said that I'm not taking the Digimon back and there's nothing you could do to make me take it back."
She was speechless. I could tell when she didn't answer and went back to washing the makeup off of her face.
"Now, I also wanted to bring up that your working too much."
"What makes you say that?"
"I've averaged the hours. You spend more time in your office than you do in our neighborhood! And like I said, Hitomi started to get worried! Why do you continue to put so much stress on our only daughter? Then you want to take away her only friend?"
"Stop making me sound like I'm heartless!" She yelled louder than I've ever heard from her. The windows probably rattled. "I'm not heartless!" A tear fell down Kayo's freshly cleaned cheek. "I work so I can make enough money for Hitomi to have nice things."
"Did you forget that we're married and that we both have salaries? I can pay for her to have nice things, too. You're not the only one who has to provide for this family." She didn't say anything. Her silence, it seemed, was telling me something. It was something I didn't want to hear. Then, I had to ask. "Are you seeing someone else?" She didn't say anything. It was the silence that said it all. It was the silence that well advertised guilt. "I can't believe this…" I stumbled out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the bed.
"Koushiro, it's not what you think."
"That's what they all say!" Kayo sat down next to me and I immediately stood back up. "Why would you do this? I thought you loved me. I thought you loved Hitomi."
"I do love both of you."
"Then, why?" I asked, feeling that huge lump in my throat.
A tear went down her other cheek. "I was stressed."
"You were stressed? Hitomi and I were worried about you!"
"Yes, I was stressed."
"So, what did you do?" She didn't say a word. Instead, she started sobbing. Usually, I would cower down to those tears and make everything right again, but I couldn't. I had the right to know what's going on. "Kayo, what did you do today?"
She took a deep breath. "I left work at the normal time and hung out with some friends."
"Where did you go for five hours?"
"I don't have to answer that." She stood up and started to walk away from the conversation, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in.
"I said: where did you go for five hours?"
"I was nowhere!" She yelled.
I frowned. I hated getting so angry. It made me feel like a monster. I especially felt like the villain when I snatched her purse and opened it. That's when I saw three napkins with different phone numbers written on them. All three of them had a strong smell of liquor. Plus, there, in small print, read the words "TOM'S KAREOKE BAR AND POOL."
"You were at a bar?" I asked her. She didn't say anything. Again, it was the guilty silence. I dropped the purse and her wrist. "I can't believe you would betray my trust like this." I told her, my voice quiet. "I would never imagine such a beautiful woman like you would do this. You're married and you have a child."
"I told you I was stressed."
"What for? You have a good job and a family."
"That's just it! My boss isn't thinking of promoting someone. He's thinking of firing someone and that someone could be me!"
"So flirting with a guy…or guys…will change that?"
"I'm sorry."
"Well, you weren't sorry enough to not do it." My head was hung low. That's when I noticed something else from the purse. My eyes widened. "Kayo…"
"Koushiro, I was hoping that you wouldn't find out."
"You were going to keep this a secret from me? What are you doing with those other guys?" She didn't answer again. "Kayo, what are you doing with those other guys?" I asked again but she only gave me more silence. It was the guilty still kind that just lingered into the air. I felt like she just stabbed me into the stomach several times. I just couldn't wrap my mind around my wife doing…it…with three other guys. "Kayo, this is the worst thing you could do to a person! You betrayed me and I stuck up for you! Hitomi was right! She deserves to have that Digimon!"
"Koushiro, I said I was sorry. I won't go out with my friends anymore." She sobbed.
"That's not the point! Even if you did stop, you've already done what you did!" I sighed and sat on the bed. "I just don't know what to do."
"We can forget this whole thing ever happened." She said.
"No." I shook my head. "I don't think I could ever just forget it. I trusted you. I loved you." I picked up one of the napkins and looked at it. "Norio?" She gasped. "You and Norio…?"
"Koushiro, I…"
"I don't want to hear any more excuses."
"Fine." She picked up her purse and car keys. "I'm leaving."
"Why are you leaving?"
"Because," She said while putting on a pair of sneakers. "I'm not going to sit around here with a man who doesn't love me." Kayo stormed out of the master bedroom and opened the front door. Then, she just stood there for a while before saying "Plus, Hitomi likes you more." She slammed the door behind her, knocking over the last family photo. The glass shattered everywhere and mostly fell to her side.
"Daddy…?" Hitomi came out of her room with tears in her eyes.
"Hitomi…" I held out my arms as she ran into them. I held her tightly as she began to cry in my shoulder. As much as it pained me to lie to my only daughter, I couldn't help but to deceive her so she wouldn't worry. "Mom's coming back." I told her. But it wasn't a full lie. She has to come back. She left her stuff here. "Don't worry." I continued to say. "We just had a little fight."
So that's the next chapter! Don't forget to leave me a review! If you review, then I know that someone's reading it!
