Chapter 13: Decisions

Sora walked into the Café feeling very nervous. She was going to meet Yamato for the first time after that horrible time that happened a little while ago. Taichi had offered to go with her, but she said she had to do it alone. It didn't take her long to find him, so she walked to his table.
"Hey."
"Oh, hi!" Yamato quickly stood up and looked at her. "I was afraid you wouldn't come."
"I'm sorry for being a little late." She glanced at their table and noticed he had already ordered a coffee and a snack.
"No, that's fine. I haven't been here for long." He followed her gaze. "I didn't really eat at lunch because I was nervous about this."
"I see."
"Do you want to eat something? I can order it for you." The words came out of his mouth altogether and he looked around his a waiter. It was clear as could be that he was still very nervous and anxious about the meeting.
Sora found the situation a little funny and couldn't help but smile softly. "Sure, but I might look at the menu first."
"Right. Of course." Yamato sat down again. "I think I need to calm down."
"Yeah, that would be wise."
"So…" He drank a sip of his coffee to hydrate his throat. "Thank you for coming. I know we had a tough meeting last time."
"I'm sorry about that." She said seriously and he looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "I admit I wasn't the most polite person back then."
"Well, if it makes it any better, we could have told you we were coming and not show up unexpectedly. It was a chain of mistakes."
"Yeah, you can say that. But it's in the past now, so let's move on."
"Alright. So… I think we have a lot to talk about."
"Yes, we do." Sora called the waiter and ordered a glass of tea and a snack for her. She waited for him to leave before going back to the subject.
"First, I want you to know I would never abandon you pregnant like that."
"It's good to know that. That doesn't mean I'm not upset at you anymore and for years I thought about throwing some things in your face for hurting me like that. I still think we could have worked something out."
"I realize it now. I can't imagine how it must have been for you to raise Yumi alone, especially having to see me and the band on TV all the time."
"It was pretty hard. All I could think about was how you didn't love me enough to try to include me in such important step of your life. I understand you were in a tough position and had to make a choice. I meant it back then and I still mean it now. So, I don't hold anything against you for making this choice. How you made it is what upset me."
"Sora." Before he knew it, he reached out for her hands and held them within his. He couldn't tell if he was more surprised with the fact he did it or with her not taking them away from his grasp. "I am very sorry I got you upset over that. I hope you know that was never my intention. And also, I loved you very much. For days… oh hell, for weeks I couldn't stop thinking about you. About us."
"I was just one phone call away, Yamato." She bit her lower lip and looked away. "Even less than that. You had my number, all you had to do was send me an instant message, you know?"
"I know." Yamato looked down feeling very ashamed. He didn't know what he could say to make the situation better.
"Either way, it's all in the past now." Sora stopped talking for a moment to drink a sip of her water. "We made our own decisions. You are happy with your band and I'm engaged. Our moment is gone. Right?"
"Right." He looked up at her again. "It's not like we would be magically getting back together after so many years."
"True." Sora nodded. "So anyway, I heard you two met already."
"Yeah, it happened by accident in school. It was a couple of days you and your fiancé moved to England. She was crying and upset because she didn't want to go."
"She was crying?"
"Yeah, and I remember I had just asked what her mother's name was, but her friend arrived right when she was going to answer. I kept looking at her for a while after they walked away, thinking it had to be just a coincidence. But deep down I knew there was something about her and everything made sense when Taichi showed me her picture."
"That's your father instinct." She said with a smile and then went through her camera roll for some pictures. "This was taken on her birthday last year."
Yamato bent over her phone and looked at the picture carefully. The place looked like a buffet and he couldn't help but notice all of their friends were there. They were about to sing happy birthday and cut the cake and the smile on his daughter's face was so bright it could easily outshine the sun. A smile unconsciously appeared in his lips.
"She has that effect on people." Sora stated afterwards and he lifted his gaze to her, a little confused. "An unconscious smile."
"Oh." He looked back down at the picture. He wondered if that's how being a father felt like.
"It is too. You're wondering whether what you're feeling right now is what being a father looks like." She added when their eyes met again. "I can tell because I feel the same about her. I had the exact same smile you do right now when I held her in my arms for the first time."
"How is it possible that I feel like I missed a lot of things in her life already when she is only six?"
"That's because a lot of things happen during their first years, especially the first two or three. I was suddenly thrown into this whirlwind I had to figure out on my own and it wasn't always easy. Sometimes I would just go outside on the balcony to breathe and ended up crying because I thought I was a bad mother for not being able to take care of her the way I was supposed to."
"I'm sure you did the best you could. I saw her only for a few seconds, but I can already tell she's such a special and lovely child. Everyone loves her, but it doesn't really surprise me because everyone loves you too."
"I'm sure that's not true at all."
"You know…" Yamato called the waiter. "I'm going to order another coffee, do you want one?"
'No, thanks. I'm good." Sora nodded negatively. "I didn't know you had given in to coffee."
"I was weak, I have to confess." He let out a small laugh. "I managed to stay away from it all these years, but I backed down at Taichi's house a while ago."
"Why am I not surprised?" She couldn't help but smile. "Of course he had something to do with this."
"I suppose some things don't change huh?" He smiled too. "I'll try to cut it down again."
"I'd say it's a very wise decision." Sora looked at her phone to see what time it was. "I didn't realize it was this late. I need to go pick Yumi up at my mother's house."
"Okay." Yamato stood up as she got her purse and threw it on her shoulder. "But first… I also need to apologize to you about Mayumi and everything she's been doing for you and Yumi. I hope you know I never wanted any of this to happen to neither of you. I know how much you treasure her privacy and want her to grow up away from the spotlight."
"Thank you." She said sincerely. "I know it's not really your fault, but I can't help but feel angry at you about this. Since you came back everything's a mess and I just want my… our daughter to be able to decide if she wants to live in the spotlight or not when she's old enough for this decision. So I hope you work everything with this woman for the sake of Yumi. She doesn't deserve to be in the mess."
"I agree completely."
"Good." Sora went through her purse looking for her wallet. She took away some money and put it on the table. "This should be able to pay for the things I ordered. We can exchange phone numbers and talk about you meeting Yumi for the first time, for real."
"I already have it, Taichi gave me a while ago. That's okay, right?"
"Of course. You can text me and we'll be in touch."
"Cool. So I'll see you soon."
"See you. Have a nice day."

.

Yamato walked inside his apartment and found Takeru lying on the couch watching TV.
"Hey." He put his keys on the shelf and went to see what his brother was watching. "What's this?"
"It's just a lame TV show. I have no idea what's it about. It had already started when I put in this channel and I'm really lost."
"Then why don't you watch something else?"
"Because there's nothing good on a Saturday night on TV. It's like they expect you to go out, so they put these horrible shows on."
"That could be a reason. You don't have any dates for tonight, do you?"
"No." Takeru said frustrated. "Somehow, all the girls I contacted already had plans, so now I'll be stuck inside the whole night."
"Come on, it won't be that bad. I'll be here too, so maybe we can order some food and play videogames. It will be just like old times."
"We can definitely do that. It will be fun, especially since we haven't done that in like… seven years."
"Great!" Yamato exclaimed. "So what do you want to eat?"
"Pizza would be nice, or maybe a hamburger."
"Hmm hamburger! I wouldn't say no to that."
"I guess we have our answer then. I happen to know a place that has the best one ever! And it's not far from here either."
"Do they deliver?"
"I think so. I only ate there, but most places deliver food nowadays."
"That's true. What's their number?"

About an hour later, both Takeru and Yamato were sitting on the floor with their backs against the couch, eating a slice of pizza each and drinking soda. Yamato managed to find a really good movie when he was surfing through the channels.
"So, I met Sora today."
"Wait!" Takeru almost chocked with the piece of pizza he was eating and started coughing and punching his chest lightly. "You what?!"
"I had a meeting with Sora today."
"When did you talk? Did she hit or yell at you?"
"We talked a couple of days ago. I actually thought it was Taichi because she called from his phone, so you can imagine my surprise. And no, she didn't hit or yell at me. We had a pretty polite conversation. Friendly, even."
"Wow, I'm surprised she was actually nice to you. That's not what happened last time."
"Yeah, but she was only looking after Yumi. We can't really judge her on that."
"There's no excuse what so ever for treating us that badly. She used to be such a lovely person."
"She still is. She was a complete different person this time. It was like I was facing eighteen-year old Sora again."
"I keep saying you are still in love with her and you won't believe me. You should look at yourself in the mirror e see how your eyes shine when you talk about her."
"And I already told it's not gonna happen, she has a fiancé."
"Yeah, several times, by the way."
"Because you don't seem to understand it. You should stop watching so many romantic movies. It's altering your perception of reality."
"I want to be a writer. It's necessary to be like this."
"True that, but not on this level."
"You'll see I was right all along soon."
"Whatever, let's just keep eating, alright?"

.

Sora was sitting on her bed that night. There was a photo album lying on the empty side of it and she's been contemplating going through it for quite a while. Eventually, she grabbed it and placed on her lap, twisting it open. Seconds later, she heard Yumi's voice echoing in the hall before she appeared in her door.
"Mom?" Yumi immediately stopped talking and her eyes went wide before a large smile appeared on her lips and she ran to Sora's bed. It was a known fact she loved looking at photo albums.
"What do you want, darling?"
"I forgot it now." She couldn't keep her eyes from the photo album. "What are we looking now?"
"These are pictures of when mom was a few years younger."
"Ohhh!" The girl could barely hold her shock and surprise at the revelation. "I don't remember seeing it before. Isn't that uncle Taichi?"
"Yes, it is. As you can see, he had an even funnier and messier hair."
Yumi gave such a spontaneous laugh that Sora couldn't help but laugh along with her. They quickly returned their attentions to the pictures.
"Aunt Mimi has always been so pretty! Wait, that boy over here looks like my music teacher."
"That's him." Sora kept looking at the photo, but she was aware her daughter was looking at her. She knew it was time to slowly tell her the truth, but not entirely yet. "We used to be friends."