"I see…Thanks for all your help, Mrs. Hitachiin." Aoi hung up, and stared at her mobile, biting her lip.
Hikaru messed with his hair for the millionth time, observing the results in the mirror of his hotel room, frowning, and messing with it again. He was ready for the charity event but still had an hour, and he knew that Aoi had just asked his mother about Kaoru. But it was easier to just pretend he didn't know.
Aoi looked up, watching Hikaru pretend not to notice. "Your mother just told me everything. Do you want to hear?"
He paused, his hands entangled in his hair, eyes set on staring holes into the wooden dresser beneath him. After a moment, Hikaru reached into the dresser and pulled out some hairspray, ignoring his P.A.
She huffed. "So you don't even want to know if you really had a twin all this time?"
Hikaru continued to ignore her, attempting to drown out her words and stare by obnoxiously spraying hairspray all over his mess of orange spikes. The foul substance caused Aoi to choke, even though she was sitting a few yards away and near a window.
Standing, Aoi narrowed her eyes and began, after Hikaru had set the can back in the drawer, "Well, as you know, your mother was rather young when she became pregnant. Her family was just getting out of a scandal, and news of her giving birth would ruin them completely. However, she couldn't stand the thought of abortion or adoption, so her parents compromised and said she could keep one baby. If there were any more, she would have to put them up for adoption."
His hands clenched into fists, and Hikaru was tense. He's not my twin. I have no twin. I have no one close enough to hurt me.
"…She gave birth to twins. She kept you and had to put Kaoru up for adoption."
That was it, then. The glitch was permanent. Hikaru stormed out of the room, Aoi shouting after him, "Hikaru! Hikaru!" She chased after him in her heels, watching as he stomped down the hotel hallway. "Please, it's not the end of the world. Isn't this good news? Even if you don't like it, you'll have to face it!"
Only once he was almost at the elevator did he turn around and face her. "No I don't!" he snapped. "What, just because he's my twin now I have to love him?" He clasped his hands together, chiding in a falsetto, "Oh, the world is just sunshine and rainbows now that I know I have a long lost twin!" He frowned, throwing his hands to his sides. "He doesn't have anything to do with the Hitachiins, especially me. Mom gave him up for a reason, didn't she?"
"For Christ's sake, she was forced to!"
"I don't give a rat's ass! The point is he's not a part of my life, and he never will be." He seemed to have calmed down, at least enough to cross his arms and quit yelling, instead looking off to the side.
Aoi took a deep breath, and then went into business mode. "Okay, here's the plan. We don't tell anyone. I'll call Kaoru and ask him what he wants to do about it. I don't want this turning into a big scandal when you're at the height of your career. I do want you two to at least get to know each other, though. You need to acknowledge the fact that he's your twin."
Hikaru responded with a glare. "He'll never be my twin." He rushed past her, Aoi only rubbing her temples, listening as he stomped back down the hall and reached the door to their room. She expected to hear the door slamming any second, but instead heard Hikaru struggling with the handle, and then spouting profanities.
She turned around, walking closer to the ginger and seeing that he didn't have the key and was instead relying on brute force to open the door.
He stopped, stating simply, "I don't have the key."
"Obviously."
"Oh, just open the door, Business Lady."
Aoi rolled her eyes, reaching into the pocket of her olive green blazer. Her hand fumbled around for a bit, but she went grim after a few seconds.
Hikaru noticed her silence and the extreme lack of opening doors and looked at her, raising a brow. "Well…?" he questioned, looking rather annoyed. He was supposed to have slammed the door, ending their conversation with a sort of dramatic rage, and yet here they were, locked outside of their room.
She checked her other pocket, but already knew what had happened. "I don't have the key."
"…What?"
"I-I went running after you and left my key in my other jacket."
"You've got to be shitting me."
"Oh god, we're locked out! Now I have to go and ask someone to unlock our door; do you know how embarrassing that is? I'm a grown woman and I'm locked out of a hotel room." She pointed an accusing finger at Hikaru, who blinked. "And it's because of you."
"How is this my fault?"
"If you hadn't stormed out like a spoiled brat we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Don't put the blame on me! You need to keep track of your things better."
"Hikaru, sometimes I swear-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, who works for whom, in this situation?"
Aoi only grumbled, walking back to the elevator, Hikaru looking quite smug at his mini-victory. At least some things never changed.
Kaoru rubbed his eyes as he entered the kitchen, having just woken up, enjoying the fact that he could get the sleep he was deprived of. Thank god for Saturdays.
"How did you sleep?" He was surprised to see his mother, or rather, non-biological mother in the kitchen, up already and making coffee and eggs. She was smiling, watching as he took a seat and then turning back to her cooking. She was a fairly pretty woman, with long, straight black hair and brown eyes, but her face wasn't memorable.
He blinked, pulling his chair closer to the small table and seemed to ignore her question, saying, "I thought you were helping at a charity event for the hospital today."
"Oh that doesn't start until much later."
"But isn't it…?"
"Isn't it what?"
"What time is it?"
"Eight."
"…In the morning?"
"Why else would I be making scrambled eggs?"
Kaoru only gaped. "That's impossible, I should've slept longer."
His mother slid the eggs from the pan to a plate, setting it in front of him along with a fork and some hot sauce. She poured herself a cup of coffee, asking, "Well, how late did you stay up last night? Couldn't have been too long, you were fast asleep by the time your father and I got home."
Oh, that's right; the stress and worry of yesterday's encounter had left him drained and he had ended up falling asleep before dinner, which meant…
"I still have homework." His head hit the table, and he groaned, knowing he might not be able to survive spending the entire day struggling with arithmetic and physics.
"Kaoru, slamming your head against things kills brain cells; now eat up." She took a sip of black coffee, watching s Kaoru lifted his head slowly and began to pour copious amounts of hot sauce on his breakfast. She asked after he took his first bite, not even panting from the spiciness, "It's only the third week of school; surely your homework isn't that hard yet?"
"Math."
"Ah."
A comfortable silence settled between the two, and it was only broken by an especially loud snore from Kaoru's dad in his parent's bedroom. "Honestly, we're going to get noise complaints one of these days," his mother chuckled, setting her mug down.
Kaoru only smiled, taking one last swallow. He paused before standing up to put his plate in the sink. Yesterday, he had been worrying about whether or not to talk to his parents about the twin mess he had gotten himself into. He hesitated, not sure why he was so nervous, but not any more eager than he was yesterday about the subject. "Hey, mom, can I ask you something?"
"Anything." She smiled, which only made the lump in Kaoru's throat bigger. He wasn't sure how she would react to his question. Would she see it as him betraying her somehow?
He took another breath, before asking, "Who's…who's my real mother?"
His mother only closed her eyes. "Let me guess; Hikaru Hitachiin?"
"How did you-"
"I overheard our landlady telling half the block that you were dropped off in a limo yesterday." She opened her eyes, letting her finger trace the lip of her coffee cup absentmindedly, watching, seemingly in a trance. "You know, before I got a job at the daycare, I was a maid for Mrs. Hitachiin."
Kaoru paled. "So then…it's true? We're twins?"
His mom sighed, her finger stopping and her eyes looking up to meet his. "She was in a tight position. She was young, too young, and she had to give you away. But I was one of her more trusted maids, and I already knew I could never have my own children."
He only sat, avoiding eye contact with her, trying to register everything. His mother stood up, taking his plate and fork along with her cup and rinsing them in the sink, the sound of running water soothing and the early morning light giving the room a nice glow.
She turned the faucet off, and stood still, but Kaoru could tell by the way her fingers twitched while they were on the counter that she was bothered by something. He was right when she spoke up, admitting, "I should have told you sooner. You had a right to know, but you didn't want to talk about it, and…" She trailed off, turning around to face him, putting on a brave face. "I understand if you want to live with Hikaru; he's your real family, after all. I have no right to keep you from-"
"No, mom, I just-" Kaoru had rose from his chair, and taken a few steps forward. Closing the distance, he enveloped his mother in a hug, whispering, "I just wanted to know. I'm not leaving. You're my real family."
He didn't need to see her face to know that she had a tear sliding down her cheek, and she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him. She had been the one to raise him, teach him right from wrong, and that setting tablecloths on fire was a no-no. To Kaoru, this was his family, and nothing would change that.
Pulling away from the embrace, his mother wiped at her eyes, laughing. "Well now I've gone and made this all so emotional." She smiled up at him, giving his cheek a peck and walking towards the door, grabbing her things and telling him, "I'm going to meet up with some friends before the event. I'll be back before dinner, lunch is in the fridge. Wake your father up if you're planning to go somewhere and tell him."
Kaoru waved, watching her go out the front door. He was glad that was out of the way now, but what next? He couldn't just sit around and do homework; his mind was racing and he was itching to go outside and enjoy the nice spring weather.
After he took a quick shower and changed, he left a note for his dad, grabbed his cell phone, and headed out the door, not entirely sure where he was going, but not wanting to stay still a second longer.
The angst! The drama! What's the categories? Humor and Romance? Are you sure?
Well, next chapter will be more light-hearted. As always, suggestions are being taken.
Until next time, read and review!