Chapter 25

Kairi wasn't sure how to describe how she was feeling at the moment. Hurt? No, too soft. Depressed? Confused? Terrified? None of them seemed like the right word. She couldn't believe Sora would take this so lightly. It was a long time ago was not an excuse for what he had done.

"Kairi…"

"Sora, don't talk to me right now!"

Sora slept on the couch that night. Kairi couldn't stand to be near him. How could he go out and cheat on her like that?

He said it was about six years ago when he and his friends went out to a bar. They got drunk and he did a few things with a girl there, not even knowing her name. Kairi had a feeling he cheated on her before, but never actually believed it was true. Sora said that was the only time he had ever kept something like that from her, but she didn't know if she wanted to believe that either. She just needed some time alone.

Kairi never actually thought this would happen. Sure, Sora had his good and bad times, but she never thought it would go this far. Should she leave him? No, she couldn't do that. She loved him too much, and plus they had kids. Was that really an excuse? Kairi didn't know. What she did know though, was that their relationship would never be the same again.

The next couple days, Kairi stayed over at Selphie's house after work. She didn't tell Sora where she would be, so he was probably worried about her. She figured he'd just forget about it and watch TV or something. Like she mattered.

"Kairi… Sora loves you!" Selphie tried to explain to her. "And you love him, so stop crying over something that was clearly in the past. Sure, he cheated, but he probably feels really bad about it!"

"Who's side are you on, here?" Kairi asked. "That's the whole point of this! He cheated on me! Doesn't that mean anything?"

Selphie blinked a couple times. Obviously she had never been in this kind of situation, or she would be saying that Kairi should kick him to the curve or something. No offense to Selphie, but Kairi was starting to think Namine would have more experience in this dilemma. However, Kairi stayed there.

She ate dinner with Selphie's family. Kairi couldn't even stand to sit across the table from Sora. She did, however, wonder how the kids were doing. They didn't know why she was so angry with Sora, and Kairi knew that she could be hurting them too.

"So Sora cheated on you?" Riku asked at the worst time.

"Yeah." Selphie answered for Kairi. Kairi stared at her plate for a moment and then nodded.

"Leave him." Riku said.

"I can't."

Riku rolled his eyes and dropped the subject. Hanna and Joanna gave them all strange looks but continued eating.

"Jo, clear your plate." Riku told the older girl. She had picked out all of the things she didn't like and had moved it to the side of the plate. (A/N: I do this all the time!)

"You don't have to. You're excused." Selphie glared at Riku.

Jo and Hanna left the room, leaving Kairi, Riku and Selphie at the table. They were all finished, but wanted to talk a little more before Kairi headed home.

- -

"Dad, where's mom?" Asked the twins at the dinner table. They were the first to say something after a long period of silence. Sora shrugged and continued eating.

"She hasn't eaten with us for the past few days." Kosuke said.

"What's going on?" They both said in unison.

"Let's not talk about it." Sora got up and left the room. All three kids exchanged worried looks with each other.

"Are mommy and daddy going to get a divorce?" Kiyori asked anxiously.

"No." They both said.

- -

"Thanks for dinner." Kairi waved to Selphie and Riku and got into the car. She sat there for a moment, debating on whether she should go directly home or not. Kairi let out a big yawn, which gave her the answer.

She pulled into the driveway. It was almost nine-thirty, which meant at least Kiyori would be asleep. When she walked inside, it was all dark except for the light from the TV. Sora was asleep on the couch while the twins flipped through the channels.

"Hi mom." They whispered. She waved and walked into the kitchen. There were some dishes in the sink. A pan was still on the stove with a little bit of macaroni and cheese left in it. She sighed and turned on the water. Kairi started humming to herself as she washed the dishes.

It's nice to know that you were there
Thanks for acting like you cared
And making me feel like I was the only one…

Her humming got louder until she actually started singing. A tear rolled down her cheek and into the sink. Sniffling, she wiped it away with her arm quickly.

"Mom?" Kairi jumped. Akira and Kosuke came into the kitchen. Kairi couldn't hide her tears in time for them not to see, so she just gave up.

"What's wrong?" Akira asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine." She lied.

Akira and Kosuke exchanged disbelieving looks. "Dad won't tell us either."

Kairi dried her hands off without facing them. "Oh really?" She tried not to yell, even though there was a hint of aggravation in her voice.

"Where have you been?" They asked. "You weren't here for dinner."

"Out." Kairi went to her room, leaving them in the kitchen. She knew that they were going to be angry at her for not telling them, because even Kairi hated it when nobody would tell her what was going on. However, this wasn't something they needed to know… yet…

- -

The next day, Kairi got off work early. Namine wasn't home, so she'd have to deal with Sora for the time being. He was in the kitchen when she got there, cooking himself some lunch. Kairi didn't even bother to say hello as she went to the bedroom to set her things down. A few minutes later, Sora came in.

"How was your day?" He asked casually. Kairi hesitated before answering him.

"It was fine."

Sora leaned against the door, as if he was trying to prevent her from getting out or something. Kairi sat on the bed and turned the TV on, hoping to avoid anymore conversation.

"Kairi, I'm sorry…"

"Sorry isn't good enough." She could tell Sora was starting to get angry with her, but she didn't care.

"Kairi… I had no idea what I was doing! I was drunk!"

"You weren't even supposed to be drunk in the first place!" Kairi yelled. "Let me guess… it was one of those pressure things, right?"

"Kairi… no… listen to me…" He begged.

"No Sora, I won't. I'm angry that you would keep this from me. I'm angry that I had to stay home and raise three children while you went out and had sex with another woman!"

"It wasn't sex!" Sora fought back.

"Oh, then what was it? Wrestling?"

"I stopped myself!"

"I thought you didn't know what you were doing! See Sora? You don't make any sense!" Kairi headed for the door. Sora ran after her and grabbed her hand, falling to his knees.

"I had no idea what I was doing at first… but after about ten minutes I was able to snap out of it! I'm so sorry, Kairi! I really am! I love you!"

"You know, Sora? This only makes me wonder what you did on tour, or on those nights that I had to stay home alone with the twins when they were just babies. Now get off of me!"

"I swear that was the only time!"

Kairi broke free of his grip and stomped into the kitchen.

"Kairi! Listen t—"

"FUCK OFF!"

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A/N: Anger… ouch… heh. Will Sora ever be able to get Kairi's trust back? Review!