Upon hearing this story both Rin and Haruka turned to each other to exchange looks. It seemed somewhat ridiculous to both of them. It sounded like a part of a romantic drama, but somehow they still believed the story. After all they did have different surnames, and where else would the name Nanase come from?
Rin then turned to look at Gou's – their – mother. "This still doesn't explain how we ended up in the orphanage," he said.
The woman nodded before continuing the story.
She and one of her friends had gone to register both Rin and Haruka as her rightful sons. Of course she had the intention of giving both her sons the same surname as her, Matsuoka. However…
"I'm sorry ma'am, but actually both boys appear to already have been registered in our system. However one of them has a different name than the one you request," the man in charge informed her.
"Who is it and what name have they got?" she asked with a slight hint of frustration in her voice.
"Haruka-kun. He has been named Nanase Haruka. There is no problem with Matsuoka Rin though, that is al correct," the man smiled kindly, unaware that he had just shattered her world.
It appeared what he had gone out to do that day was to register both their sons in the system and make sure that Haruka would actually be his son. A name change was expensive, and it was certainly nothing she could afford. Therefore it was impossible for her to change Haruka's surname to Matsuoka even if it was all she wanted.
Around a month later she discovered that she was pregnant once again. It wasn't easy to take care of Rin and Haruka who were now 7 months old and craving more and more attention for each passing day. On top of that, she was now earning money on her own as a single parent and when the bill from this month came it had been a shock to her. She was having some huge financial trouble now with barely any money left for herself. How would she be able to afford having another child? Even keeping the shop was getting expensive.
"I say you send one of your kids on the nearest orphanage," her best friend told her one afternoon when she asked for her advice about the problem.
"But I can't, Both Rin and Haruka are dear to me and they need each other, and I don't want to send the third one just like that," she said.
"Then send both the twins to some orphanage. Thereby they won't be alone and you can take care of the third one, after all, two children are more expensive than one," her friend stated.
She had to agree. She could see no other way out, but she had to make sure that Rin's and Haruka's father never got his hands on them. Therefore she searched for any orphanage that was as far away as possible. It took a long time but finally she found one in Iwatobi.
She headed inside the orphanage, holding both her baby boys close to her. A staff member quickly approached her with a kind smile on her face.
"What may I do for you, miss?" she asked.
"I want to leave these two boys on this orphanage," she said to the staff member.
"For what reasons?" The staff member asked.
"I'm pregnant with my third child and since I became a single parent I haven't been able to afford taking care of these two. So to ensure they have a better life, I have to let them go,"
Rin and Haruka, who were barely one year old, exchanged looks. They didn't understand a word of what their mother was saying, but they could sense that she didn't want to do what she was about to do. Therefore they started to worry a bit.
"I see," the staff member said. "Follow me please," she said and she followed the staff member to a room where she was asked to fill out a couple of documents. She had to write the names of both the boys, their date of birth and how old they were by now. A stray tear fell down her face as she finished the last paper.
"That should be all," she said.
"Thank you, Miss," the staff member said.
She handed over her sons to the staff member and took one last look at her boys, preparing for the fact that she would most likely never see them again. "Please…" She trailed off, a lump was stuck in her throat. "Please take good care of them," she said.
"We will," the staff member promised. "They'll be in great hands, and I'm sure they'll be adopted into a very nice family someday,"
If that was what made an orphan the happiest then she hoped so too.
Not long after this happened, she gave birth to her third child. This time it was a small girl who looked similar to Rin, thank Goodness. Rin looked similar to her too, almost like her spitting image, while Haruka was the spitting image of their father, unfortunately. A couple of years passed and she adjusted to only living with herself and Gou. She managed to reestablish her economy, but the thought of how her boys were doing and where they were would always be in the back of her mind. Even if she never told Gou about them, she knew that she certainly won't ever forget her first born sons.
Rin and Haruka both nodded. Now they finally understood everything that had happened back then and why things were like they were now.
"Now if possible, I'd like to talk to your foster father," she said.
"About what?" Haruka asked.
"We need to agree on what you two are going to do since you now know your biological family you get a lot of options that can change your lives," She said.
Rin checked his phone. "He's at work right now, in fact he is only seeing friends on Sundays unless it's his childhood friend," Rin explained.
"I see," she said. "You know, give me his phone number and I'll tell him by that," she said.
Haruka wrote down Makoto's phone number, along with his full name before handing it over to the woman in front of him.
Shortly after this, Rin and Haruka went home. Both of them felt really weird finding their biological mother, knowing where they came from and why they didn't share the same surname. It was relieving, but also a strange change that it would take time to adjust to.
It's so sad! There is now only one chapter left of this story! I'm gonna cry!
This is the second part of the chapter I split in two so well... I hope you don't mind that I did that.
I'll see you all tomorrow (I hope) for the... *starts crying* Okay I can't say it but you know what I'm talking about.
Jackie