Chapter 10 : The Arrival.
" I'm pregnant..," Kyoko said in one breath. Soujiro jolted up and walked around the room as a sign of relief. " Thank goodness! You're not ill. You don't have any disease, you're just…….," Soujiro stopped walking. He turned his head slowly towards Kyoko's direction. " Pregnant," Soujiro blurted. Kyoko nodded. She was grinning and her face was glowing with happiness.
Soujiro nodded uncertainly. He was still trying to digest the information he just received. " Oh my God! I'm going to be a father," Soujiro told Kyoko. Kyoko nodded enthusiastically. Soujiro yelled at the top of his lung. " I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!." All the workers in the shop heard his sentence, word by word. They looked at each other and smiled. Most of them had already been through the joy of being a father.
Soujiro grabbed Kyoko and ran outside the office. Kyoko was forced to follow him. " I must tell Kazuma and tell him to tell everybody. Everybody! I want them to know I'm going to be a father," Soujiro explained as he pulled Kyoko's hand. Kyoko was forced to keep up with him but she smiled. She knew her husband was feeling really happy, nothing can stand in his path.
Kazuma's office door flung open. Soujiro was at the door, panting. Kyoko was behind him, panting too. " Kazuma, I have something to tell you. I'm going to be a ……" " Father," Kazuma finished Soujiro sentence before Soujiro could say more. Soujiro was shocked. " How did you know?." Kazuma smiled kindly, " I could hear you screaming it from your office. And I know what to do. Tell everybody, right?." Soujiro smiled and nodded.
Soujiro started running again. Kyoko followed him since her hand was still in his arm. Soujiro stopped at the hall where his workers were busy loading supplies in the carriage. All of the workers were looking at their boss. Soujiro grinned to them. He raised both of his fist into the air and shouted " I'm going to be a father!." The workers just smiled and congratulate him. Out of the sudden, Soujiro fell on the ground. He fainted after shouting that he was going to be a father. Kyoko was horror-struck. The workers rushed to him and carried him back home.
The doctor was called to the house. Soujiro was resting in his bed. Kyoko sat next to him; she was very worried about her husband condition. The doctor was checking his pulse. He put Soujiro's hand down. The doctor cleared his throat and said, " He's fine. He fainted because his body is not used to so much adrenaline running at one time. Simply put, he never felt this much excitement that his body was shocked. He will be fine when he wakes up." Kyoko nodded and thanked the doctor. The doctor was leaving so Kyoko told the maid to walk him out. The maid and the doctor leaved the room.
Kyoko put Soujiro's left hand between her two hands. She rubbed it gently. Her eyes were filled with tears. " You scared the hell out of me… I thought that you're leaving me. My hearts stopped when I saw you fell to the ground….," Kyoko whispered. She closed her eyes and her tears dropped out. She was crying on Soujiro's chest. Soujiro's hand was still in hers. " I don't think I can live without you. Only the thought of it makes me crying my heart out….." Kyoko said between her sobs. She was still crying.
It was dark but Soujiro could hear Kyoko's voice. ' She's crying.' Soujiro could also felt her warm tears on his chest. 'Kyoko, please stop crying…' Soujiro tried very hard to open his eyes but it was too heavy. He tried to move his fingers but he felt like he was paralyzed. He couldn't stand hearing Kyoko's cry. He wanted to get up, be by her side, comfort her in his arm but he was helpless. He couldn't do anything to help ease Kyoko's worries. Soujiro made on last effort to open his eyes. He used all the strength left in his body. Finally, he made it. He managed to open his eyes. The images were blurred at first but it got clearer. He can see Kyoko's face was buried in his chest and tears were still running out. Soujiro lifted his right hand and placed it on Kyoko's head. Kyoko felt his hand. She stopped crying and lifted her face.
Soujiro could see the traces of tears on her face. Her eyes were red and puffy but filled with relief when she saw he had regained his consciousness. Kyoko wiped her tears and smiled. Soujiro smiled back to her. Kyoko kissed Soujiro's forehead. " I'm glad you're awake; probably to comfort me but you have to rest, okay," she whispered into his ear. Soujiro nodded weakly. He closed his heavy eyelids and fell asleep again.
Kyoko watched Soujiro until he fell asleep. Then she kissed him on the cheek before she got up and left the room. The maid was outside. She told Kyoko that dinner was ready. " I'll eat dinner alone. He's still sleeping," Kyoko instructed her. The maid obeyed and served the dinner for her Mistress. Kyoko had no appetite but she still eat some food for the sake of her baby. She rubbed her belly. ' Papa and Mama love you very much although you weren't even born.'
Soujiro woke up in the middle of the night. Kyoko was asleep by his side. Soujiro sat up. He glanced at Kyoko. ' She's so beautiful especially when she's asleep.' Then, he noticed Kyoko's belly. Soujiro smiled to himself. ' My child is in there… .' Soujiro placed his hand on Kyoko's belly. Kyoko opened her eyes when she felt Soujiro's hand. She saw Soujiro and smiled. She sat up. " Are you hungry," Kyoko asked. Soujiro nodded. " I'll prepare the food," Kyoko stood up and left to prepared the food. Soujiro followed her. Soujiro ate his late dinner accompanied by his wife, Kyoko and they talked the future plan for their baby. Sometimes they laughed and argued a little but it was nothing serious.
' It felt like yesterday Kyoko told me she was pregnant and I fainted. It's been eight months. Now, we are just waiting for the baby arrival.' Soujiro was sitting at the balcony. It was midnight and he didn't feel like sleeping. He was excited, like something was about to happen. And it did.
" Soujiro…..," Kyoko shouted her husband name from inside the bedroom. She was in pain. Soujiro rushed to her side. " What is it," Soujiro asked when he arrived. " It's time. I'm going to give birth," Kyoko answered in pain. " Now? The carriage is not her," Soujiro remembered. " I have to go to the clinic now. How," Kyoko screamed in pain after she finished her sentence. Soujiro remembered what he used to do when there was no carriage. He did what he did at the riverbank. He carried Kyoko all the way to the clinic. Kyoko was holding her belly and groaned in pain.
Soujiro knocked the door. The doctor opened the door. " You two again? Did your wife cut herself again? I told you to take good care of her!." The doctor was referring to the previous time Kyoko was wounded in her fight. Soujiro explained anxiously, " It's different this time. She's in labour!." The doctor quicly opened the door. He called his wife, who was a mid-wife. Soujiro placed Kyoko on the bed and the doctor pulled him out from the room. The doctor said his wife would handle Kyoko. Soujiro paced outside the room anxiously. The doctor made tea and offered it to him but he was too worried to even drink. Soujiro could hear Kyoko's screaming from outside. Each time she screamed, he would look at the door and wished he could do something to ease her pain. Then came her loudest scream followed by a baby's cry.
Soujiro somehow knew everything was going to be fine. The mid-wife came out from the room after a few minutes. She was smiling. " Congratulation, you got a baby boy. Both baby and mother is fine. You can go in and take a look." Soujior was speechless. He walked into the room. Before him, was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.
Kyoko was sitting on the bed, cradling the baby boy, his baby boy, their baby boy. Kyoko noticed him and smiled to him. She looked tired with sweat all over her face and she was a little pale but she was glowing with bliss. Soujiro approached the bed. When he reached the bed, Kyoko gave him the baby, his baby, their baby. Soujiro carefully cradle the frail creature. His heart was fill with emotions he can't interpret. He kissed the baby and the mother.