Day 5 – Apreehension
Chichi was with Goten, picking some fruit from the orchards near their house when Goten noticed a vehicle approaching. He couldn't tell who it was, because he couldn't yet read KI, although his mother had already promised him that she would teach him some martial arts moves when he got a little older and will also allow Gohan to teach him some tricks, such as reading KI and also flying.
He tugged on the bar of Chichi's clothing and pointed in the direction where the vehicle had parked, right in front of their residence.
"Mommy, someone has arrived."
Chichi followed the direction of Goten's little finger pointing to their house and arched her eyebrow in surprise, recognizing the vehicle.
"Oh, we'd better get back then." she put the rest of the fruit into the basket she had brought, and together with Goten, they returned home.
As they approached the house, she saw a man standing in front of the door, waiting to be answered, which wouldn't happen, since the house was empty. Gohan was out helping his grandpa with some chores at the castle and would only return later.
"Hiro?"
The man then turned around and saw the woman carrying a large basket in her hands with a small boy behind her staring curiously at him. It must be her second son, he thought, who, by the way, looked very much like Chichi's late husband, from what he remembered of Goku.
"Oh! Hello Chichi!" he cracked a bright smile when he saw her. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, how about you?" she smiled in response and he nodded. "This little one here is my youngest son, Goten." Chichi placed a hand behind Goten, introducing him to the stranger.
"Hello, Goten!" Hiro crouched down to stand at the small boy's height.
Goten looked strangely at the man, and then at his mother.
"Who is this, mommy?"
"This is Hiro, a friend of mommy, who owns a cereal stand in town. Come on sweetie, be polite and say hello to Hiro."
"Hello, Mr. Hiro." Goten bows slightly forward as a sign of respect and greeting.
"You can just call me Hiro, Goten, no need to call me sir, I'm not even that old." he chuckled. "It's a pleasure to meet you! You look a lot like your father, you know that?!"
Goten's eyes bugged out, not because of the recognition, as everyone who had ever met his father said the same thing when they saw him, but he was surprised that this stranger had also met his father.
"You knew my daddy?"
"Yes, I did! And he had that crazy hairdo, just like you!"
Chichi smiled sweetly. Goten was a fixed memory of Goku in her life, he was very much like Goku, not only in appearance, but in mannerisms too, much more even than Gohan, who had lived his whole childhood beside his father.
"What're you doing here, Hiro?"
"I was passing through the area, our stand is now working with a delivery system as well." he justified. "Then I remembered that you might have run out of stock, so I thought I would stop by and see if you need anything."
"Oh, that's so kind! Actually, I'm already out of some cereal, this little guy and his brother devoured almost everything I bought last time." she chuckled, amused.
"Yeah, I can imagine. So just let me know what you need, how much, and I'll bring it here for you."
"Sure, of course, let me just put these fruits away." she said as she entered the house and handed the basket to Goten, indicating to put it in the kitchen.
Then Chichi passed to Hiro all the products he needed from his stall and he left, promising to be back in a few hours.
It was already getting dark when Gohan left with the flying nimbus from his grandpa's house, eager to get home, take a relaxing bath and eat his mother's delicious food. What he didn't count on, however, was getting home to find that guy's truck parked in front of his house.
He frowned when he spotted it from afar and then concentrated on his KI reading and managed to locate three KIs inside his house. One from his mother, one from his brother, and one more from Hiro. He didn't like that at all, he couldn't say exactly why, but he didn't feel comfortable with the idea of that man in his house, without his presence.
It had been a few days since that ride he had given to his mother and since then he hadn't seen him again and his mother hadn't mentioned the guy either, but seeing his vehicle stopped there and with his presence inside his house, raised suspicions that his mother might be meeting this man more often than he'd like.
When he entered the house, he spotted Goten on the living room floor watching television while his mother was in the kitchen making dinner and Hiro was sitting at the table. But he wasn't just anywhere at the table, but at the place where his father used to sit, and after his death, Gohan started to sit there. And he didn't like that at all.
"Hi brother!" Goten exclaimed as soon as he saw his older brother approaching, drawing the attention of Chichi and Hiro, who turned to see Gohan.
"Gohan, you're finally here, I was getting worried already!" Chichi commented and went over to her son to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hello Gohan, it's good to see you again." Hiro stood up and went over to greet him as well.
"Hi mom. Hi Hiro." He answered without much enthusiasm. "Sorry, it's just that there were a lot of things there to help grandpa." he mumbled and then shook Hiro's hand in greeting. "What are you doing here?" he asked, trying as hard as he could to not sound rude.
"Hiro came to make a cereal delivery, and since it was close to dinner time, I invited him to join us." Chichi explained. She only accepted the man to enter her house because Goten was there. Under no circumstances would she accept receiving a man in her house without the presence of her children, father or friends. She was a righteous woman, after all. "As an appreciation for the kindness of the last time he helped me and also for today's delivery, since he didn't want to charge the fee."
"Wow, how kind of you!" he sounded slightly sarcastic, which didn't go unnoticed by the man, but his mother didn't catch the subtlety in the air.
"It's always a pleasure to help your mother, I'm happy to do it."
"Yeah, I bet you do."
Hiro was a little apprehensive about Gohan's manner, but he already imagined that he would face this kind of resistance in wanting to get involved with a woman who already had children.
"Sweetheart, dinner is almost ready, go take your shower so we can eat."
"Oh no, I think I'll wait and shower later!" Gohan said. He had no intention of leaving his mother alone again with that man. Goten was there, but he knew he couldn't let his brother be responsible to keep an eye on them.
"Now, now, whatcha talkin' about?!" Chichi put her hands on her waist "You know the rules. No dinner without a proper bath!"
Gohan gritted his teeth and looked at Hiro seriously, but he knew that it wouldn't do any good to argue with his mother, so he had no choice but to obey her order.
But before going to his room, he went to Goten, who was distracted by some children's program on television, oblivious to whatever was going on there. He got some information from Goten about the period when he was not at home and then asked the little one to keep an eye on the two of them, watching for any behavior he found odd. The little one, of course, didn't quite understand what his brother was talking about, but he promised to keep an eye out, which he did.
Gohan took an extremely quick shower and as soon as he got out he went to check with Goten if anything strange had happened and the younger man reported to him everything he had seen and heard, which to the relief of the older, nothing strange had happened, but still, Goten seemed more interested in the TV than in anything else, so he might have missed some detail.
"Gohan, Goten!" Chichi called out. "Come on, dinner is ready! I made lasagna!"
"Lasagna?" Gohan choked, not that he didn't like this food, but his mother rarely made this kind of food, which was usually made on special occasions.
"Yaaay!" Goten ran towards the table and sat down in his usual spot.
"Hiro, excuse me, but could you please sit somewhere else? This is my spot!"
"Gohan!" Chichi looked at him, finding his action strange, but the boy ignored her. "What difference does it make, honey? Take another seat. Hiro is our guest." Chichi felt a little embarrassed by her son's rude and totally senseless action.
"But this is where I always sit, mom!"
"But today Hiro is sitting there!" she warned him, her tone of voice a little louder. "Sit in another chair."
"That's okay, Chichi, it's no problem, I'll sit somewhere else. No problem!"
Gohan then sat down in the chair and Hiro went to the other side, next to Goten. Chichi shook her head, not understanding her son's attitude at all, but she'd leave it at that, for now.
The four of them served themselves, and as soon as Hiro had eaten the first piece of lasagna, he said: "My goodness, Chichi, I had no idea you could cook so well. Your food is delicious!"
"T-thank you, Hiro!" the woman felt her cheeks redden at the comment, she wasn't used to receiving compliments and was always very happy when people praised her cooking skills. Only Kami knows how hard she had worked to be an excellent housewife and to be able to cook well for her gluttonous husband and children.
"I mean it! Your food is fantastic. This way I will want to be invited to dinner more often!"
"You're certainly welcome!"
Gohan watched the scene, once again puzzled. What was this guy up to? Why did his presence bother him so much? He had always been a sweet and gentle boy with a good upbringing, but he felt an absurd internal conflict within himself because as much as his upbringing told him to be respectful to the man, at the same time something inside him was tingling a warning bell, as if he shouldn't let this guy get so close to his mother. He couldn't act the way his father acted with her, the way his father looked at her or talked to her. This was all reserved only for Goku and no one else. This guy didn't have this right.
"You knew that my mom is married, right? You shouldn't call her by her first name. It's disrespectful!"
Chichi stared at Gohan in amazement. What was this behavior all of a sudden? Goten raised his eyes from his plate of lasagna to face his brother, still not understanding anything that was happening, but sensing his brother was upset and annoyed.
"Sweetheart! Hiro is a friend and I gave him the freedom to call me by my first name, like all our other friends."
"I'm sorry! You are right, Gohan! I... I shouldn't call your mother by her first name. I apologize!"
"Hiro, you don't have to worry," Chichi said nicely, but nervously. "You can call me just 'Chichi', as I said before." she looked sternly at Gohan, a little disappointed by her son's inappropriate behavior. This was not the upbringing she had given him. It must be something of that sayan race, it had to be.
Gohan just huffed and resumed eating his lasagna. His mother and the guy were talking, despite all of Hiro's apprehension and the tension in the air. When Hiro said something about fighting, Goten got his attention and curious, asked: "Mr. Hiro, are you a fighter too?" All of his dad's friends, apart from Bulma, were fighters as far as he knew. Natural to imagine that this man could be too.
"Oh, no. I don't fight!"
"Mommy says she'll teach me martial arts when I get older. My daddy was a fighter, they say he was very strong."
"No kidding! I didn't know you were a fighter, Chichi. Now it makes sense when my grandmother said that you helped market traders against wild animals and marauders." he chuckled. "I must say, it's a surprise that a lady like you is a fighter. You're really full of surprises!"
Chichi's face flushed again and Gohan raised a disbelieving eyebrow in Hiro's direction. He was out of line.
"No, Mr. Hiro, my mom is no longer a fighter." Gohan replied harshly before Chichi had the chance. "She was a fighter before I was born. She and my dad even got engaged in a martial arts tournament, if you must know! One that my dad even won! Because my dad was a very strong and powerful fighter who saved the world more than once!"
"Gohan! What's gotten into ya, today?" Chichi gave him a reproachful look.
She was finding it all very strange, her son had never behaved like that, what had gotten into him? She decided that she'd talk to him in private later, she didn't want to make a scene in front of the guest.
An awkward silence hung in the air, and in an attempt to break the tension, Chichi stood up and said:
"Shall we have dessert? I made apple pie!"
Gohan's jaw dropped in the same instant.
"I can't believe you made this dessert, mom!" he shouted, nervously. "This was dad's favorite dessert! How could ya?"
With the pie already in her hands, she stared at her eldest son, not knowing what to say.
Gohan's eyes filled with tears and he ran into his room, refusing to stay another minute in the kitchen, watching his mother interact with the man who was clearly trying to take his father's place.
"Son! Gohan!" she shouted, but he ignored her. She just didn't know what to do and with the pie in her hand, she stood like a headless chicken who didn't know which way to go or what to do first.
Goten was just as surprised, as he had never seen his brother like that. Hiro, on the other hand, realized that it was past his time to leave, so he said goodbye to Chichi, thanked her for dinner, and left.
Gohan was lying in bed, bored, when he heard a knock at the door. He knew it was his mother, if not by the way the knock sounded, he'd know from her KI.
"May I come in?" she asked, but he didn't answer, so she took the liberty of coming in anyway. "Honey, what's going on? Why were you acting like that? I've never seen ya do anything like this before."
She sat down on the edge of the bed and ran her hand through his soft hair in a comforting caress. Then Goten also entered the room and sat down next to Chichi.
"Brother, why don't you like Mr. Hiro?"
Gohan closed his eyes tightly, feeling the tears streaming down his face. How he wished that his father was there, that his family was complete...
"Don't you see Goten? He wants to date mom!"
"Date me?" Chichi squeezed her eyes shut. What kind of absurd idea was this? "Gohan, where did ya get this idea? What nonsense!"
"What is date?" Goten tilted his head to the side, not understanding what it meant.
"He wants to take over, dad's place, Goten! That's it!" he replied, harshly.
Chichi couldn't help it and let out a giggle, which made Gohan turn to her and stare furiously. Goten pouted, annoyed, he didn't want another man to take his father's place, even if he had never met him, and that made him dislike Hiro in the same instant.
"Honey, you don't have to worry about that. That's absurd, where did ya get this from? Hiro is just a friend, someone kind who helped me with some shopping, that's all! And even if he is interested in me, it wouldn't mean anything, because I have no interest in finding someone else." she explained gently as she stroked her boys' faces and hair, now everything made sense to her. "I love your father, whether he is alive or dead, and I'll continue to do so for all eternity. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in this entire universe that can make me forget Goku or take us apart. We..." she sighed. "Even though we're far apart, we're still married and I'll never, under any circumstances, break my commitment to him and get married again. Or have a relationship with anyone ever again. It's impossible to someone steal your dad's place, in my or in your lives!"
Gohan's heart eased at his mother's statement. Now he understood what he was feeling and why he wasn't comfortable with Hiro's presence. He didn't want anyone to replace his father.
"But he was all over you. I'm sure of it." Gohan mumbled as he crossed his arms, still slightly miffed.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, then I won't talk to Hiro anymore, or invite him to dinner, or accept his rides. My contact with him will only be for the purchase of the cereal, strictly professional, nothing more. Is that all right with ya?" she sounded sweet.
Gohan knew it was a selfish wish, but he couldn't deny that he would feel better this way, so he agreed.
"And about the apple pie, that was pure coincidence. I swear it! Goten and I picked some apples today and I decided to make the pie, regardless of whether Hiro would join us for dinner or not."
"Okay…"
"Come here, my sweetheart, give me a hug!" she asked and Gohan bent down to hug his mother, hard, but not too hard, so as not to hurt her. Goten also joined in the hug. "I love you, my babies, and my priority in life will always, always, always be you! Never forget that."
"We love you too, mommy!"