Hi~ This is psychotichauthor! I am back from my long hiatus and finally continuing this story. To all those people who keeps on reading this fic, thank you! Thank you for being patient with me even though I rarely, and by rarely just twice or thrice a year, update this fic. Being away from this story for so long resulted to some inconsistencies, please, if you find any, tell me so that I can correct them.

I will edit the entire fic if I finish this. I am not sure if I'll end it on two chapters or will continue, but my focus is to make sure that Ruki will not get hurt from anything that I will write. My precious baby.

Anyway, please enjoy this another chapter of CDEN, and do not forget to leave a review! *wink*

The room was silent once again when Yuki slammed the door closed leaving a baffled Toru on his seat, grasping for breathe. He could not breathe especially when Yuki was throwing all the questions at him, all the pain and hatred that she has for him. He wanted to retaliate, to even answer most of her questions but his voice was caught in his throat, as if he was afraid that whatever would come out from his mouth would hurt the woman before him even more. And the last thing he wanted to do was to add more pain to whatever Yuki was already feeling.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to no one in particular but his eyes lingered on the closed door.

"I'm really sorry," a tear slipped from his eyes and all he could do was bury his face on his palm and sob away all the regrets he was feeling.

Toru only lifted his head when he heard a knock and a small voice asking if he was okay when the door opened by itself. Well, not really by itself because Akane and Aoi were behind the door and were peeping inside.

"Come in," he got up from the couch and went near the twins. "Do you need me for something?" He crouched in front of the two.

The twins did not speak and only looked at his blood-shot eyes. He was about to speak again when Aoi kicked his knee, quite painfully.

He hissed. "Aoi, what did you do that for?" He asked while rubbing the part where he got kicked.

"You made Yuki-tan cry!" The little boy kicked his other knee. Just when Toru thought that he was already satisfied kicking both of his knees, Aoi started firing him consecutive hits which made him fall on his butt.

"Aoi!" Akane pulled her twin brother which made the twins stumbled on their backs. "Stop hitting other people!"

"But he made Yuki-tan cry!" Aoi screamed at his sister's face which scared the little girl causing her to start crying.

"But… but… but…" Akane tried to talk in between her sobs but she could only form incoherent words.

Seeing his sister wailing in front of him made Aoi regret what he had done, "I'm sorry," he held Akane's hand and tried to wipe the tears from her face. "I didn't mean to make you cry," he pouted.

Akane held Aoi's hand too and smiled form ears to ears, "I'm sorry, too." She even gave her twin a kiss on the cheek.

It warmed Toru's heart looking at the twins in front of him; he questioned himself why was it so hard for him to actually utter his sorry to Yuki. Why? Was it because he hurt her to the point of pushing her away? Or was it because he knew that she would not believe him even if he tried to explain himself? Or was it because she did not love him anymore and that pained him the most?

"I'm sorry, too."

Toru felt a tug on his sleeves and saw that Aoi was looking on something interesting on the floor while saying his apology to him. He smiled, how cute. He ruffled the little boy's hair and assured him that it was fine so he need not to worry.

"But you still made her cry," the little boy still insisted and pinched his elbow. "Say sorry to her," he looked Toru in the eyes and instructed the older one with determination.

Toru chuckled and ruffled Aoi's hair even more. He looked at the hallway and back to the twins, "I will. Thank you."

"Why are you packing up, Yuki-san?" Shiharu was frantic when she saw Yuki putting clothes inside a duffle bag. "Don't tell me this is because of Ishikawa-san?"

"Yeah," she answered as honest as possible not looking at Shiharu.

The girl stopped her from putting Ruki's clothes mid-way and held them tightly. She searched for Yuki's eyes and when they met she saw that they were red from crying. "What happened?" She sounded worried and concerned.

"Nothing," Yuki smiled weakly. "It's just that…" she sighed. "I'm tired of waiting for his answers. Apologies."

"What… happened..."

"I asked him things, he did not answer."

"Did you give him the chance?"

Yuki glared at Shiharu but softened her eyes when she saw the girl flinched from her glare. "Did he give me the chance before? To fight for what we had?"

Shiharu fell silent, she did not know how to console Yuki not when she, herself, have a man as understanding as Matsunaga. However, she did not want to see Yuki hurting so much, she tightened her hold of her hand and squeezed it, giving her the courage and encouragement she needed that moment.

"You know, I heard from Ishikawa-san that he really wants to be a father to Ruki," she smiled.

"And –"

"Yuki-san, I know that I'm not in the position to say this, and maybe you will hate me. But, I know how it feels growing up without having my parents beside me. No matter how much love I received from the orphanage I cannot help feeling that there will always be this empty space in my heart and life that can only be filled by feeling the presence and love of my parents."

Shiharu smiled at Yuki. "Why don't you try giving him the chance to fill that budding void inside Ruki. Just for Ruki?"

Yuki averted her eyes and looked at the baby beside her, "He'll only leave her."

"What if he does not?"

"What if he does?"

"You are here beside Ruki. If he leaves, I know you'll make sure that whatever he leaves will be filled by your love and support and stuff," she squeezed Yuki's hands tighter. "We are here," she beamed. "Just give him this chance to prove his self. Don't be the one who would cause the emptiness in Ruki's life?"

Yuki shook her head and turned to Shiharu with a smile, "You're always positive, huh? I think that is why Matsunaga-san loves you dearly."

Shiharu blushed and was about to say something when they heard a knock and the opening of the door. When they both turned to look at who it was they saw Ishikawa Toru standing on the doorway.

"Shiharu-san, may I talk to Yuki?" His voice was so soft as if not wanting to wake up the sleeping Ruki.

Shiharu looked at Yuki for permission to leave them both alone; when Yuki nodded her head she left her one last squeeze and a smile. "You'll be alright," she whispered and hurriedly left the room, locking the door in the process.

Yuki stood up and looked at Toru straight on, "What do you need?"

"I'm sorry," he said in a firm voice.

"For?"

"Always making you cry," he walked closer to her and stopped when their shoulders were almost touching. He was standing beside her and looking down on his daughter. He squatted to take a look closer. "For making you go through a lot," he reached for the cheeks of his Ruki, he could not contain his happiness when Ruki smiled from the touch of his finger.

"I hate you," Yuki spout each words like a poison in her mouth while keeping her eyes glued to the empty space just behind the door.

"I know," he said with a sigh. "And I know it would take a long time for you to forgive me," his heart squeezed when Ruki reached for his finger and held it inside her tiny hand.

"I will never forgive you," she said with finality.

"That hurts," he grimaced, realizing how much hate she put in each of those words. "But I deserve that," he laughed bitterly.

"You deserve all the painful things in this world, Toru."

"I know."

"You also deserve not seeing Ruki," she finally turned around and looked down on the man beside her – the man who countless of times made her feel that she was never enough.

"I know," he smiled bitterly.

"But Ruki does not deserve to grow up not knowing you, not feeling your love or presence. She does not deserve to wake up every morning asking what happened between her mother and father," Yuki tried to hold back the tears building and tried to control the quivering of her voice.

"Do you mean – "

"I mean, I will allow you to see Ruki. I won't take your right away," she explained still looking down. "But, once you try to leave her, it's over."

Toru does not know how to react he could only cry from so much happiness, his heart was swelling because of what Yuki just said.

"Thank you – "

"Two conditions," she cut him off. "One, you'll only see her from Saturdays to Sundays, I need to be there while she is still a baby. Second, once you forget about visiting her during weekends without informing me before hand, this agreement will stop."

He wanted to retaliate and protest, to be honest, it was really unfair on his part. He lived almost three hours away from where they were, and that would take almost six hours of being with his daughter, but Toru knew that he needed to gulp that all down.

"Okay," he agreed, eyes still fixed on Ruki's sleeping face. "Anything for my daughter," he smiled.