Recap

"So…how are things going?" the person asked on the other end of the line.

Thanking the heavens for keeping the crowd busy, the tennis prince slipped outside to answer the not-so-unexpected call.

"Oya? Silent much?" the voice teased with a laugh. "Should I rescue you?"

After a pause that seemed to have lasted forever, the green-haired boy finally spoke when his gaze landed the wobbly figure approaching his way. "Betsuni," he turned off his phone, and stepped forward only to catch her vomiting.

So maybe he needed a little help.

End of Recap

0.0

Chapter 7: Truths

Sakuno wondered if she was stoned. She thought she could actually make a good impression on the child's father, given that she had been nothing but the girl with the long hair to him before, and be of actual use this time but she guessed it was not just meant to be. God must have hated her.

"Sorry," she profusely apologized but was answered by his cold side glance and shrug.

It really did not help that Ryoma-junior, her sole shield and refuge, was currently asleep.

She could not really do anything; it was not like she vomited on him on purpose. No one would want to sit inside a car with smell of bile reeking through the air after all, but she just thought she should inform him that his child was already tired and that maybe they should call it day. Her thoughts never reached the fact that she might be actually too dizzy to move, or walk for that matter, and that she might actually throw up out of sheer wooziness.

"I really didn't mean it," she said, thinking that he might consider her explanation.

"Ne," Ryoma said sharply, the car making a surprising halt that made Sakuno's head bump against the dashboard.

"Itai," she muttered as she rubbed her forehead; every cell in her body could really feel his anger wafting through the atmosphere.

"I'll take the child inside, you take care of yourself," his eyes glared at her one last time before he went out of the car.

It did not take long before he reached their side. Opening the door, Ryoma scooped the boy up in his arms and turned immediately to leave.

"A-Anou…" Sakuno said, stopping him by his arm just like what she did early that morning. "I'll wash your clothes. It's my fault after all," her head bowed, she waited for an answer.

When she did not hear any response, she raised her head to ask only to find him raising a brow and looking at her as if she was the most idiotic person in the world. At least that was what she gathered from his expression.

"What?"

"You want me to strip here?" Ryoma asked innocently…suggestively.

"N-No!" she said, letting his arm go with a start in the process. "I-I'll just get it in your room later," she whispered and looked away, not able to hold his teasing gaze.

She heard a sigh before he finally walked off, his steps slow but steady.

"What's with him?" she whispered to herself, blushing lightly. "Treating me like an idiot—" she did not know whether it was because of the alcohol or her anger, but she thought she needed to throw up again.

0.0

There were three things that her grandmother taught her about love when she was young. First, a girl must never ever give up everything for love; one must learn to save something for herself. Secondly, a woman must never be a mistress of any married man. If the man already has a family, her grandmother said that it would be foolishness to continue. Lastly, which Sakuno thought to be neglected but almost equally important, a woman must never, unless the circumstances deemed it necessary, enter a man's room - whether it was forced or permitted.

"Ryoma-kun," she had been knocking on the door of his room for the last five minutes but still got no answer.

Normally, five minutes would not be too much, but her head just aches badly after those few shots at Kawamuras' that she just had to get things over with. She guessed that times like these were the circumstances that her grandmother was talking about. And it was not just Ryoma's room; it was technically his and his wife's so she thought there should be no problem.

"I'm coming in," she announced, pushing the heavy oak door open. "Ryoma-kun?" she called uncertainly as she found no signs of his presence.

If that would be the case, then it should be better as she just had to retrieve the shirt and leave. It would definitely save her from any awkward encounters that would require her to explain herself.

"Where is it?" she whispered as searched for the hamper.

Now that she thought about it, it was her very first time to enter the master's bedroom. It had the same style as Ryoma-junior's room though quite larger in size. At that, her eyes found the queen-sized bed on her right. The very bed where Ryoma and Kumiko-san slept together, whispered sweet nothings and held hands, things that Sakuno had secretly dreamt off when she was still in junior high. Odd, she thought, it was kind of disappointing but not as painful as it was when she first learned of Ryoma's marriage.

"Want to sleep here?" someone whispered behind her, causing her to tumble over bed.

It was wonderful that her clumsiness works on the right time.

She rolled awkwardly to face her intruder, "I…I…" she stuttered, trying hard to look solely at his face and no where else.

She must not look at his half-naked body. Everyone knows that she already committed a hideous crime of entering his room.

"You what?" he asked with a smirk, leaning forward and letting his hand prop him up so that he would hover above her body.

It almost took all of her willpower before she could have turned her head to the side to stop herself from further examining his face – his body. This must be what her grandmother was talking about. By entering this room, she might actually fall into the sin of covetousness and worse…losing her virginity to a married man.

No. She was determined to keep her conscience clear.

She nodded to herself and returned her gaze towards the man pinning her down (well, not exactly), "Ryo-Ryoma-kun."

Sakuno could not believe it. Even determination could do nothing against the smirk of Echizen Ryoma; it was not even helping that she took a few shots of sake earlier. It was bad; she could not move her muscles to push him. The bed was too soft…too inviting for her to resist. She would not deny the fact that the thought of pulling him closer crossed her mind. God, she was sinning.

"I'm here to get the—"

"You're here to get what?" he interrupted with a raised brow, purposely stopping her from further remembering what she was really there for so that she would actually be able focus on him better (at least that was what she thought).

Really, liquor is bad for her heart.

"Uhm," she trailed to get the right words and to compose her mind. "The shirt," she murmured almost inaudibly.

"Hn? But I'm not wearing one," he breathed on her right ear, his chest almost touching hers.

Sakuno's hand twitched as she battled between her urges and what was just. It would probably be as easy as breathing had it not for her confusion (and Ryoma's teasing). No one could really blame her, after all, it was not everyday that someone like Echizen Ryoma would be arms, no, pinkies-length from her.

But there was still the fact that Kumiko had been so kind to her. The woman, Sakuno remembered, did nothing but trust her. She would not be able to stand it if she would betray such a kind soul who was just deeply in love with her husband.

"Stop this," she said with renewed resolve, putting her palm against the tennis prince's bare chest but neither pushing nor pulling him.

Just as he was about to say something to reply, the door of the room suddenly swung wide open, revealing the old face of the head of all maids, Sakuno's known mentor, Kyoko-sensei. Sakuno could only stare blankly at the woman's flabbergasted expression.

"Thi-This is not like what you're thinking," Sakuno tried to explain to no avail and pushed Ryoma to avoid creating further confusions.

"I," Kyoko-sensei paused to breathe, attempting to keep a straight face as much as possible. "…apologize for entering so suddenly. I was knocking on the door, but I heard no answer," she continued slightly uncertain.

"Sensei, you're misunderstanding things," Sakuno waved her hands in front of her as she stood up, only to lose her balance in the process.

"Kumiko-sama called while you're away."

As soon as Kumiko's name was uttered, a pair of hands held Sakuno's arms to support her wobbly frame, "I'll call her tomorrow," Ryoma answered.

Sakuno could only wish for her death; the way he offhandedly answered Kyoko-sensei make things seem normal when it just screamed and spelled abnormality.

"I shall excuse myself," Kyoko-sensei bowed and, with one last glance at them, closed the door to leave.

Sakuno grew nervous as the room fell silent once again, 'What is he, really?' she could not help but ask herself.

"You should really talk to your wife," she said as she turned to him; maybe he just missed Kumiko-san so much that he was driven to do such impulsive actions.

With a raised brow, the tennis prince answered, "Hn, sure." He went across the nearby table and grabbed his blue phone, punching the speed dial of his wife.

"Yo," he said when the other line picked up. "I'm with your son's girlfriend," Sakuno knew that he would not be too cheesy with his wife, but she thought he could have at least greeted her with a sweeter tone.

Tired, Sakuno settled herself above the red mattress as she strained her ears to hear more of the conversation.

"I know," she heard him say and, when she raised her head to confirm, she was sure, her eyes never fooled her.

Echizen Ryoma smiled.

0.0

Sakuno wished that everything was a nightmare. No one could really hold her of doing so; after all, wishes were made free. Just that, not all of them would work in the realm of reality. And yes, she was sure of that. It wasn't working in any way now that she realized that her bed was bigger than the way it used to be before and that it was softer. Her head was aching still, and she could clearly remember what had happened last night.

Last night, when she had broken her principle and boldly entered a man's room.

It really seemed like a nightmare that she dreaded to reminisce. Not that Ryoma's body hovering above her was such a bad idea, but the fact that she knew that she almost committed an external sin –if there was such a sin – last night and had Kyoko-sensei catch them made her really shiver in fright. It didn't help that Ryoma called Kumiko-san.

The call and the smile.

She could only vaguely remember parts of their conversation, but she definitely knew that Ryoma put on a genuine smile on his face in the middle of their phone conversation. Echizen Ryoma, the person who could be at par with Tezuka when it comes to being nonchalant at everything other than tennis and the person who doesn't really enjoys phone calls. That, of course, was something that she inferred from talking with him whenever Ryoma-junior would tease and allow her to. Or maybe she just had to realize that she was nothing but an outsider who doesn't know who the real Echizen Ryoma was. And probably, sadly, he just sounded so busy whenever he talks with her before simply because he didn't like to converse with her. Unlike in Kumiko-san's case; they were married and they love each other. It is but normal for them to enjoy and be comfortable talking with each other.

Her eyes closed and her right arm reached upward so that it would cover them, attempting her best to push back the tears that were building up. She wanted to get up, note that she still had work to do, but her body refused to listen. Maybe her incompetent brain was the reason why her body – and her heart – would refuse to listen. It was dramatic and clichéd and she, for a lot of reasons, hated it. Sakuno rarely hates things; she would usually try to analyze before she would make judgments, but, this time, she knew for sure that it went beyond her patience. She was starting to detest herself, of all things, because of her well…incompetent brain.

"How long are you planning to sleep here?" someone whispered from her left.

She twitched; she still refused to wake up. Her head was aching and her whole body was sore; she felt feverish and she wasn't in the mood for orders or mockery. She just wanted to rest.

Ryuuzaki Sakuno wanted to be stubborn and there would be nothing to keep her from doing so.

"Nee-chan," the child nudged her. "Did anything happen between the two of you? This is making me jealous, you know?" Ryoma-junior asked, tapping the bed to refer to her act of sleeping in Ryoma's room.

She jolted up, remembering her blunder, "Ryoma-sama!" she exclaimed, a little rattled and a little embarrassed from being caught not just by Kyoko-sensei this time but by her master-slash-contract-boyfriend as well.

That aside, he was not worried that she slept there and had probably attempted to snatch his father from his mother. No, he was there mumbling because he was jealous. If she wouldn't know it, she would probably think that the child was not in the least bit concerned whether her father commits adultery or not. Call it childishness or selfishness; she just completely doesn't get it.

"I apologize!" she said, rushing to get off the huge bed. "I-I," her head was spinning, causing her to fall on the bed as soon as she thought she was on her feet.

She reached for her head as she felt another wave of pain thrust through it, "I'm really irresponsible," her voice broke as she tried to explain. "I got drunk last night and I fell unconscious here…inside Ryoma-kun's room."

"I know," the child replied and sat beside her. "So," there was a pause before he continued, "Did anything happen between the two of you?"

At that, Sakuno whipped her head towards Ryoma-junior's direction –causing yet another wave of pain – her hands waving about as she tried to form coherent words to answer the child's accusation, "Of course not!' she exclaimed. "Ryoma-kun is already a married man."

Ryoma-junior raised a brow, "He slept with you." It wasn't a question but a statement.

"Wha-What?" Sakuno asked to confirm; she couldn't believe it would come a time that she would have to explain herself to a child. "He didn't—"

"You were snuggling his neck lovingly when I came here first thing in the morning," the child said as if it was the most normal situation to see when he enters his father's room. "Nee-chan, we should do that too," he grinned.

"E-Eh?" she blushed, uncertain if it was because Ryoma happened to sleep with her – if it were even possible – or because of the child's suggestion.

Ryoma-junior just knew the right words to say.

"No, Ryoma-sama," she spoke firmly, her palms ironically sweating; she knew she was quite sure that Ryoma didn't sleep with her not until the child mentioned it. "Ryoma-kun did not sleep with me," she said however, her voice a wavering slightly.

Ryoma-junior seemed to think for a moment, pursing his lips as if considering and staring at her for the longest time. Sakuno fidgeted, her gaze landing to anything but the child's. What she was nervous about, she has no idea.

"Oi," Sakuno's head snapped upwards at the sound of the door opening; she could tell that voice apart from anyone. If there was one sound that a girl should remember in this world, it should be the voice of her first crush (or that was what at least she thought).

And when she finally had the courage to open her mouth and say something, "I don't want to go to school today," Ryoma-junior stood up, his fist clenched and his eyes burning with determination.

Sakuno wondered why the child was so fired up; he usually has no objections with going to school before.

The child's father, however, seemed unperturbed as per usual. Not losing his brain cells over it, he opted to shrug and go straight to his closet, "You're going to school," Ryoma said as he pulled a clean white shirt, taking off his sweater. Right then, Sakuno had to tear her gaze away from him.

"I'm allowed to stay at home," Ryoma-junior said with an air of defiance. To further emphasize his point, he opened his bag and turned it upside down, causing all of his things to come out of his bag, and throwing said object on the floor.

Sakuno could only stare; Ryoma-junior could actually be a brat sometimes.

"Ryoma-sama," Sakuno interrupted feeling that the child would get an earful if the act would go on. "I'll come with you to school so please," she put on a smile to convince the child, picking up the books and sliding them inside the bag as she spoke.

Really, she didn't know that she would have to babysit the child just when his father is present.

"You can't come," Ryoma cut through, surprising Sakuno as he approached them. "He's already late enough."

At that, he grabbed the bag, half-dragging the mumbling kid. Of course, he wouldn't allow her to go to school with them. One could only get the wrong idea that they are together. He would just have to shove her off by saying that the child is late enough and that she should not go to school with them as she currently looked messy.

She indeed looked messy; she would have to admit that. But he should have thought that the child would get more stubborn if she wouldn't come with them – or so she thought. She doesn't know what the reason was for the child's being stubborn that day, but she just felt that it had something to do with her sleeping in his father's room which she thought was certainly a little suspicious but not a big deal at all, especially since they were talking about the Echizen Ryoma. The extra cold man, the man who could make a woman swoon with just a smirk without getting in the least bit bothered about it and the man whom she had a crush for God-knows-how-many-long-years but never get to realize the fact.

Sakuno let out a sigh as felt herself getting more depressed of the fact. Somehow, she wanted him to remember her; she wanted to believe that Ryoma did let her sleep with him or at least considered the thought of sleeping with her. Now she knew she was on the verge of coveting someone else's husband; she was perfectly aware that she was sinning, but the man's constant presence was already a temptation enough. She wished that he would just leave and let her live her life at peace. She was already prepared to leave by the end of the vacation; he would just have to wait for that time because, really, she needed the money that she gets from her work for her college. The only way for her to get a decent job with good salary was to get her college diploma.

Her feet dragged her towards the door, her shoulders slumped and her hair all over the place. Just when she was about to open the door, an unfamiliar sound rang through out the room. If her energy wasn't drained enough, she would have jumped out of pure surprise.

With a sigh, she spun around to look for the source of the sound. She guessed it was a cellular phone, but it could always be an alarm. It only took her a few moments to realize that her former guess was correct when her gaze landed the bedside table.

'Ryoma-kun forgot his phone.' It wasn't her business, but she just thought that maybe it was an urgent call. Or maybe she was just curious, but it doesn't matter anymore. She already picked up the small object and looked at the caller identification on the screen.

Alyssa-chan, it read.

0.0

He was pissed off. But of course, he knew the older man beside him was pissed off as well. Then again, if Echizen Ryoma is angry, he would be angrier. He kicked his shoe off to make this fact distinct. He would do whatever it takes to return home, even if it means a sermon from his mother afterwards.

There was no response. He should have expected that, but having a mute person beside him when he is angry is not really what he could call ideal.

A tear roll down his face. "Fuck," he whispered frustratingly, wiping his eyes with his left arm. He never understood why he was always a crying baby in front of this man.

"Watch your mouth," the older Echizen said, getting his handkerchief and putting it lightly on the child's lap. "Your girlfriend would get upset if she hears you."

"You like her, do you?" Ryoma-junior prompted, his blue eyes blurred with tears staring at the man, still upset. "I saw you last night."

"I only remember her," Ryoma said as he stopped the car. It was then that Ryoma-junior realized they arrived at the school. "She was drunk, so I stayed."

Ryoma-junior bit his lips to formulate a retort, but just when he was about to say his thoughts when Ryoma spoke again, "I don't care if you play Ryoga's games, but you still have to go to school."

"Che," Ryoma-junior muttered. "Don't tell her anything about tou-san."

Instead of answering though, Ryoma tapped the child's shoulder, urging him to go out. "Go."

It was still a wonder to him why the child wanted him to pretend to be his father. When Ryoga told him to come to Japan, he flatly declined the request – nothing good comes from that man's plans after all. But when he heard that his nephew wanted to see him, believe or not he did not expect that the child would want to set him up with his own girlfriend, he agreed, reasoning out that since some advertisement companies in Japan have been offering him projects lately, he might as well come.

It only took him a few hours to figure out the aim of the child.

How the he turned out to be a matchmaker was really beyond him. He understood that his mother was adamant in persuading him to get married (according to her, a world filled with Ryoma-s is such a beautiful sight; said reason was also her grounds for naming her child 'Ryoma') but such acts from the kid and, God forbid, Ryoga was clearly something that he did not expect.

He frowned as he turned on the car's engine. Seeing the child cry out of frustration because he could not watch them from the school really astounded him – not that he would admit. Kumiko had been setting him up with dates before but he wondered why the younger Ryoma went all his way to get Ryuuzaki to be his babysitter and have her to be his girlfriend only to set her up with another man, in this case, with him. Sure, he does remember her with the help of their visit at Kawamura's but he couldn't quite figure out why the child thinks that the girl was special enough to have him put all his efforts just to make sure that his uncle would fall for her.

Not that he doesn't like Ryuuzaki, but he was just trying to make something out of the child's messed up plans and reasons. Ryoga must have a lot to do with it.

"Che," he muttered as he sped his way through the highways.

He was only left with one week to figure everything out.

0.0

"Yo, how's life my dear brother?"

'Brother? Ryoma-kun has a brother?' Sakuno thought, wondering why 'Alyssa-chan' sounded like a man.

…To be continued

0.0

*TLDR*

A/N: So yeah, it is finally revealed XD Took me long enough, huh?

I really apologize, yet again, for the delay. I attempted to update a lot of times but college is always getting on my way. Since I dearly wanted to make it up to you guys, I decided to forget about school this time and update. And, yes, I have to tell you that finishing a chapter is so much fulfilling than doing projects. It's really so much different if you're doing something that you really like, won't you agree with me? Yeah, I'm whining. I would try my best to update faster, I mean, I always try, but God knows that professors and readings are really harsh. They tend to make you go insane that you would forget what you really love to do. I love you guys from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being with me until this time! Thank you for reading and reviewing. :)

If anyone is interested to know, the story is not yet finished. XDD I mean, some of you might think it is since Ryoma-junior's secret is already revealed (I'd like to acknowledge "Ceyrai" for giving me the wonderful idea. Truth is, I really didn't know what the story's future would be like until she reviewed. So yes /bows her head/ thank you very much!) but there are a lot of things that I still think would happen. :) And yeah, I'm interested to know if Ryoma and Sakuno would end up together (I still don't know) Let's find out that together, shall we?

Again...thank you a million times Kemi-chii for giving your precious time to edit my fic. I was really expecting to publish this next week but, since you're kind enough to skim through it, I was able to update earlier. Thank you very much! /claps and bows her head/