It had been four months, two weeks, one day and eighteen hours since Karma had last poked his head into Gakushuu's life. Gakushuu tried not to think about how easily he kept track of the time like this. He didn't want to think about how he counted off every day to every hour he and Karma spent apart. He didn't want to have to not think about it and yet, here he was, thinking about not thinking about it.
"Gakushuu, darling, what do you say about this?" His mother, Haruyo Asano, asked from his left.
Without missing a beat he pursed his lips lightly and nodded.
"I must say I agree with you, mother."
"How interesting that you say that..." His father, Gakuho Asano, hummed with a slight tilt of his head. "Why exactly do you take that stance?"
Bastard. That was what Gakushuu longed to call him although he did not. They both knew he hadn't heard a thing his mother has just said.
"I simply believe that in this matter, mother knows best." He replied smoothly.
"Really now?" His mother blinked in surprise. "You believe I know best in regards to your love life? Well, that is quite different from how you usually feel, Gakushuu."
He froze to keep the panic from creeping on to his face. It seemed he had just dug himself a very deep hole and then cut his one ladder to freedom.
"Oh, darling, calm down." His mother slapped his shoulder lightly with a musical laugh. "I was only making a joke. Even I have some boundaries, you know."
Gakushuu swallowed his sigh of relief, pointedly ignoring his fathers insufferable, smug expression.
"And since it is my birthday you really should at least put in the effort to listen when I speak to you." She added.
"Sorry, mother."
They did this every year just as they had dinner together for him. Only they celebrated his mothers birthday with a lunch at her favourite cafe as she knew it would force both her son and husband to take a day off work.
Haruyo Asano didn't have a light schedule herself by any means. As the top Biomedical Engineer in Japan she was actually rather busy. She just seemed to have an easier time removing herself from her lab than either her son or husband did from their offices.
"So, what is it that has you so distracted then?" She asked.
"Nothing of note."
"Trouble at work?" His father arched a brow at him.
"No." He replied a little too quickly for his own liking.
"Really? I only ask because I thought the Aoyama Company might have been giving you a hard time. They have the reputation of fierce competitors."
Gakushuu's violet eyes narrowed ever so slightly. The impending deal with Aoyama was supposed to be a secret, not that he was surprised his father had heard about it. He just squared his shoulders and gave his best, polite, businessman smile.
"Fierce though they may be, we will win out in the end."
"Oh, I'm sure you will." His father assured him with a matching smile, one just as fake. "I never meant to suggest you would not."
"Boys, boys!" Gakushuu's mother tutted at them. "What have I said about work talk at the table, particularly when we are supposed to be celebrating my birth?"
"Ah, forgive me, darling." Gakuho turned his gaze to her apologetically.
"Very well." Haruyo sighed sarcastically and reached forwards to pinch her husbands cheek sweetly. "I suppose I shall forgive you."
Gakushuu bit back a smirk at the tick of his father's brow. Gakuho Asano had never been one for public displays of affection and his wife knew that. It was punishment for trying to rile up Gakushuu at her birthday lunch and her son loved her for it.
Although he hated to admit it, there were very few people in this world who could hold anything over his father. He had often wondered why he had decided to marry one of them. He had an inkling that his father simply enjoyed the challenge and Gakushuu never envied for him a single moment whenever his mother picked up said challenge.
The server and came and left with their meals and Haruyo was talking about how one of her lab assistants dogs had eaten an entire gumboot. Gakushuu and his father feigned interest. It was her birthday after all. The least they could do was listen to how the lab assistant had caught the dog just as it was starting on the second boot.
Then out of the corner of Gakushuu's eye, he spotted a flash of glaring bright red. Hair it certainly was and somewhat unruly. His stomach clenched tightly and before he even knew what he was doing, he was searching it out.
Then the man standing near the front counter turned to wave to someone on the other side of the cafe and Gakushuu caught sight of a pair of brown eyes. Red his hair may have been, but a certain assassination with blazing golden eyes he was not.
Gakushuu sat back in his chair, quickly wiping the frown off his face before it could fully form. He was being ridiculous. Why the hell would Karma be in a place like this inboard daylight? Karma might have been fairly ridiculous himself but he wasn't stupid. What the hell was wrong with him? Immediately assuming some random person who had red hair to be Karma. He thought for a moment that he must have had a momentary lapse in sanity.
He felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and the sensation of a familiar gaze. He lifting his eyes to his father's questioning.
Gakuho was already looking his way. Watching. Unblinking. Gears in his head turning like the dangerous steel trap that it was.
Gakushuu tried to force the quickly building tension from his body but the reactions his father caused so easily were hard to deny. They were rooted in basic human instincts after all.
"Gakushuu, darling, are you alright?" His mother was then staring at him as well. "You look pale."
"Do I?" He replied seamlessly. "I feel fine."
Haruyo narrowed her eyes.
"Have you been skipping meals again?"
"I haven't."
"Hmm." She pursed her lips, studying his face as though deciding if it was a full truth or a half one- it was a half and of course, it took her mere seconds to decipher. She pushed the sandwich Gakushuu had ordered and not yet touched closer to him. "Eat up, now. It's my birthday."
"So, you've said."
"Yes, and still you disregard that by starving yourself!"
"You're being dramatic. I am not starving myself. I would never do anything so idiotic." He picked up his sandwich and took a bite to prove his point.
Haruyo watched him for a critical moment longer before returning to her own meal.
The three eat in silence for a time, Haruyo making a passing comment at this or that which they simply acknowledging with a nod or a hum of agreement.
Gakushuu chanced a glance at his father. His eyes were no longer pointed his way but that alone didn't stand for much. If his father did notice something of interest- which he definitely did- he wasn't going to just let it go. Gakushuu was fairly certain that he wouldn't even know how to do so.
After a few minutes, Haruyo excused herself to use the bathroom and Gakushuu made a point to take a causal sip of his tea to show his father- who he knew was watching whether he was looking in his direction or not- that he would not be rattled by this.
Gakuho seemed to have the same idea and pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced down at his screen. Then he said;
"So, redheads, is it?"
Gakushuu, who's still had a mouthful of tea, nearly choked on it in utter shock. He slapped a hand over his mouth and forced himself to swallowed it all near painfully.
He tried to set the cup down as gently as possible but the 'clink' still seemed to echo mockingly.
His father smiled at him cordially from across the table.
"Don't worry now, Gakushuu. I won't tell your mother. If she has even an inkling of your personal taste you'll be going to dinner with every redhead in a hundred-mile radius."
Gakushuu glared, teeth gritted.
"Redheads are not my 'personal taste'."
"Oh? And here I was trying to do you favour." Gakuho pouted.
"I do not need a favour from you."
"Well, that's convenient. Because I just sent quite the interesting text to your mother."
Gakushuu's face dropped and over his father's should he could see Haruyo practically skipping back to the table, grin on her face.
"You'll pay for this." Gakushuu hissed lowly.
"I look forward to it." Gakuho was still smiling.
