Notes:
Sorry for the delay, here is the next chapter.
P.S. Happy Mother's Day.
Here Maki realizes that she is pregnant.
Chapter 16. Where is the love? Part.2
Continued
The clock was already striking 12:40 a.m. and after refilling those cups of coffee, those two ex-lovers decided to resume their conversation.
"Well, I've already started this conversation, so now it's your turn to ask what you want to know" replied Maki a little calmer and returned to take a seat in front of Yuta.
The sorcerer took a breath and, in passing, drank some of the coffee that his hostess had served him again.
"Well, now answer me Maki san, how did you realize you were pregnant? And why didn't you tell me at that moment?" asked Yuta, looking her straight in the eyes. His tone of voice was serious, but genuine curiosity could be seen in his eyes.
"Isn't that two questions in a row?" Maki asked, raising an eyebrow.
Yuta applied the same move she did minutes before.
"Consider them as one question"
Maki twisted her mouth at such a response.
"Please, I need to know!" he sounded desperate, "What was it that I didn't see that time to notice you were pregnant? I want to know what would have been different between us if I had known seven years ago?" he pleaded, clasping his hands together.
Maki sighed as she lowered her shoulders and put her hands on the table. She felt cornered, but she had to answer. If she had talked about her pregnancy seven years ago, maybe her whole life would be different.
"Okay" she leaned back in her chair and stared at him, "Do you remember that Friday we were supposed to meet here in Kyoto to celebrate our anniversary?"
"I remember it very well"
Maki let the air out lazily.
"That same day I realized I was pregnant..."
Flashback.
Seven years ago.
That medical result couldn't be wrong, could it?
Maki did not take her eyes off the results of the medical sheets that Shoko had recommended her to undergo since she had been feeling more tired than usual for several days, she looked quite pale and, also she had headaches and very intense vomiting.
So, faced with such symptoms, the Jujutsu doctor sent her for tests, which she would check on Monday when she saw her at the academy.
But the curiosity to know what she might have, made Maki read those results at that instant, while waiting to board the train that would take her to her hometown, Kyoto.
At first Maki thought it might be an acute stomach infection or perhaps early anemia as Shoko had told her.
All those symptoms were definitely something rare for a woman with a heavenly restriction. Maybe her body was just asking for rest from her arduous workouts and grueling missions. She thought.
However, those results revealed that the cause of her ailments was the least expected. Every line and number on the medical chart ruled out other possible diseases, marking them in the negative.
But Maki's whole being trembled once she read that result at the bottom of that medical sheet.
Positive for possible pregnancy.
"It can't be..." whispered Maki, feeling her whole world come crashing down on her shoulders.
She felt as if she had made the worst mistake of her life and it was not for less, she was a rising sorceress and only a year ago, she had just been awarded the first degree in sorcery.
By the way, she was a very young woman, only a few months ago she had come of age.
"Seriously, this can't be happening to me..." she whispered again with her eyes still focused on those leaves, which her trembling hands were holding with difficulty.
The nausea returned, with great intensity for having discovered that.
Her right hand rested on her belly, there where a baby unplanned, let alone wanted at the time, was gestating.
"This must be a joke!" the poor girl shouted in frustration, she was quite confused and upset.
"Am I really pregnant? This stupid sheet only says "possibly" but it's not definite, is it?" Her denial was so great that she couldn't assimilate the news.
Maki's mind began to do the math, she remembered that several weeks ago she had had her period, but as far as she remembered it had been very scanty, besides that in the last two weeks she had not had sex with Okkotsu.
But she felt that something was wrong and the accounts did not start to match either when she noticed her calendar on her cell phone and even more when she read that result again and remembered a certain romantic and sensual encounter that happened between her and her boyfriend shortly after Valentine's Day.
Something inside her was alarmed.
Such anxiety caused her to vomit in one of the station's garbage cans before boarding the train, which prompted her to enter a small pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test, which she decided to take inside the bullet train's bathroom.
Once the train started moving, she locked herself in the small bathroom in the aisle of that car.
"Ok, let's do this quickly..." she said to himself with that test in hand, which she had taken out of its box and began to read the instructions for use.
Just as the train began to move at a faster speed, her heart was also beating very fast in her chest as he waited for the result.
Perhaps she needed more than one piece of evidence to confirm that she was pregnant.
But once the final result was marked with the two lines in that test on the sink, she discovered that it was not a bad dream.
"Seriously, this can't be happening to me!" she muffled her scream with her hand as she continued into the bathroom. She felt frustrated. Even with the impression, she had to lean her back against the door, as she clenched her fists in anger with herself.
Going from denial to anger was a huge leap for her. And even more so when she was alone. Maki didn't know who to call. She felt that everyone else would judge her for such a huge oversight. Plus she knew that Yuta must be busy enough to answer the phone at that moment.
Maki tried to calm down, but it was impossible. The more she saw that test, the more frustrated she became, the more she cried with anger and covered her mouth so that her screams would not be heard.
It took her fifteen minutes to regain her composure. She take one last look at that test before throwing it in the trash can.
Now the negotiation stage had entered through the small door. Sowing in her the doubt about what she should do with that being that was growing inside her. If she should keep it or if she should abort it.
She washed her hands, washed her face, fixed her ponytail and then left to return to her seat on the train, which still had about an hour to go to Kyoto.
Maki was also in another dilemma and that was whether she should tell Yuta OR NOT.
Especially since she knew that he was the father of that baby.
Maki put her hands on her belly as she looked out the window of her seat.
"What am I going to do with you" she whispered in frustration.
At Present
"So I practically found out that Friday at the Tokyo train station, because out of curiosity I saw the results of the tests that Shoko had sent me to take. And in the face of my denial, I took that pregnancy test before arriving here..." her hands rested on her belly "And so I realized I was pregnant..."
Yuta let the air out with resignation.
"If you found out since Friday, why didn't you tell me that same day?, or why didn't you tell me between Saturday and Sunday?"
Maki was annoyed by those questions.
"You didn't remember what else happened that weekend?" her fingers tapped the table, "You arrived until Friday night, so you practically had dinner and slept, well half slept because early the next day you went on several missions in the morning and in the afternoon you wouldn't let go of your fucking cell phone because everyone at headquarters was looking for you, and Sunday was..." - sigh with frustration – "It was when that idiot of Satoru convinced you to leave the country that same day…"
Maki tried not to raise her voice "So all the way here I was thinking about whether or not I really wanted to have this baby and I was also in the dilemma of whether or not to tell you..."
Yuta sighed and lowered his shoulders. "Still, in the time we were together you could have told me..." he said seriously.
"If I confessed it to you, but what if I decided to have an abortion?" asked Maki annoyed, "Were you going to support that decision?"
Yuta tensed up at such a question which made him uncomfortable. So he decided to remain silent for a moment.
Maki continued speaking.
"So practically that weekend I was struggling with myself to make a decision"
"But before you saw those results, did you notice any other signs that made you think you were pregnant weeks ago?"-Yuta asked with obvious confusion, "because I don't remember seeing you sick weeks before I left the country..."
Maki twisted her mouth, and then began to explain.
"The other symptom I presented, but which we didn't give importance to at the time, was the delay in my period. However, both you and I knew that my menstruation was always irregular due to my demanding training routines" She placed her hands on the table, lightly moving her fingers on the wood
"I even experienced light bleeding, which at the time I considered to be my period, but the doctor who attended me during the entire pregnancy explained to me that it was implantation bleeding. So weeks before our separation, there were no more previous symptoms"
Yuta brought his hand to his mouth, looking thoughtful about something.
"What's wrong?" questioned Maki when he saw the sorcerer's pose.
"It's just that now, thinking back, I remember at times seeing a strange gleam in your eyes. I don't know if that could have been a first indication that you were pregnant" commented Yuta, drinking some of his coffee.
"A strange glow?" Maki raised an eyebrow, "I guess you mean because of my glasses, right?" she said, taking them off and leaving them on the table.
Yuta shook his head.
"It wasn't the glint of your glasses" he took her hand for a moment.
The unexpected touch caused Maki to startle slightly, forcing her to look him in the eye. His hand, warm to the touch, ran over hers sending a shiver through her body. It was a unique touch, even after seven years of absence.
"I don't mean the glow of your glasses, but something I could only see in your eyes when you weren't wearing them. A different glow, unique, that even haunted me in my dreams for years, especially in those moments when it hurt the most to have lost you. It's hard to explain, but it was something special that only you possessed"
Maki lightly squeezed Yuta's hand.
Then she rolled her eyes at those poetic words.
"Well, if that was a symptom, I guess we really overlooked it" she took a breath and let go of his hand.
"And after your departure, I felt completely lost, I was so out of my mind that I could have done something crazy... Fortunately, Mai found me that day..." Her chest rose and fell in a deep sigh.
"To tell the truth, I don't know what would have become of me, if she hadn't sensed that something was wrong with me..."A soft smile appeared on her lips at the memory of her sister- "She was the first one to find out that I was pregnant" she confessed.
Yuta was struck by those words, "Did it happen like the trick that Yurika and Yuudai did earlier? Are you talking about that kind of Telepathy that the twins have?" he asked out of curiosity since something about that, Mai had also told him in the letter she gave him.
Maki shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess it's some kind of telepathy" she said, "maybe she sensed that I was having a hard enough time and that's why she came out to look for me at that station" she looked at her guest seriously.
"Because as I said, she found me, she comforted me and was the one who supported me the most during the whole pregnancy and she was even with me during the birth..." Maki's hands tightened on the table, her nails dug into the wood "Because of everything she did for me and my children, I am indebted to her, and for that very reason I have promised myself that I will save her from the hell where she is..."
Yuta looked at her seriously and again his hands traveled to Maki's hands, which he took between them firmly.
"We will save her... I promise"
Maki nodded her head yes. She felt that she was gaining Yuta's trust as physical contact was happening and that was a very obvious sign of rapprochement between the two.
She knew that if she wanted to save Mai, having Okkotsu on her side would be favorable in that regard.
Feeling those hands between his, made Yuta remember so many good times they had spent together in the past. But even so, there was one more question that he wanted to get out of his mind and even more with what she had told him moments before. It was a question that in a way had broken his heart a little.
He gently let go of Maki's hands, placing them gently on the table, "So you thought about having an abortion?" he asked seriously.
Maki sighed, first pursed her lips and then moistened them slightly to answer that question.
"Yes, I did consider it and even more so because you had abandoned me..." She confessed.
"I will not abandon you!" Yuta replied, annoyed by those words, raising his voice a little.
But Maki ignored that answer and just kept talking.
"With or without you, I still had to make a decisión!"
"So, during the first week you left the country, I was thinking seriously whether or not I should have that baby"- She pointed at him accusingly.
"While you were enjoying the first country you ever got to, I" -She pointed at herself–"I was dying of anguish and more that I should decide soon!" -She waved her hands furiously –"I even investigated how and where I could have an abortion, but…"
"But?"
Her chest rose and fell again, releasing the air in a long sigh.
"Something inside me wanted to keep something of you, something of that love we had, but at the same time I confess that I was letting myself be carried away too much by my resentment towards you, which at that moment was greater than any other feeling" her voice rang with total truth and sadness.
"So that grudge was leading me to make a rash decision with this issue of terminating the pregnancy, especially because at the time I hated you so much that I was thinking well, if I abort, you will never know that we were going to have a child, it would only be a secret between Mai and I and that we would carry to the grave" Maki look Yuta in the eyes.
The sorcerer was unmoved by everything he was hearing. That confession of truth had struck him hard to the heart.
Maki kept talking, she was keeping a firm stance –"I admit it. I was prepared to carry out the termination of the pregnancy. But for that, I needed to have an ultrasound, I needed to know how many weeks pregnant I was to know what amount of dose would be the most effective..." - Her hands went to her belly, she held her clothes tightly over that area and her eyes were full of feelings.
Sighing again, she couldn't stop looking Yuta in the eyes as she continued talking – "But in the end, at the last moment before going in to see that little being growing in my belly through that monitor, was when I changed my decisión" sigh and a soft smile was marked on her lips.
"And in the end I decided to have this baby. Because I knew that baby was mine. He was a part of me, he was blood of my blood and I felt that maybe he could have a better life than mine. Besides, that I had the illusion that this baby was identical to me"
She smiled sweetly, "The very idea of having a mini-me running around got me all excited" she seemed to have remembered something else, "Even Mai questioned me several times about whether I was sure about having him and more than that, as I said, she was with me throughout the whole process. And in the end, I was sure about having our son. Although it was a big surprise to find out that it was a twin pregnancy"
"I imagine it must have been a nice surprise to find out we were having two babies instead of one" Yuta replied with a soft smile.
"It was actually an unexpected surprise" she took a sip of her coffee.
Yuta at that moment remembered something he had read in Mai's letter. And it was something he wanted to check now that he had Maki in front of him.
"By the way Maki san, now that you mentioned the twin pregnancy, may I ask the question- How did you feel when you found out that we were going to have two children instead of one?"
"Isn't that already your fifth question?" she questioned with a grimace.
"Consider it also as part of the first question" he looked excited to know.
"I really need to know what it was like for you to know we were having two babies instead of one" he answered as he sipped more of his coffee.
"Because I confess that I'm still quite surprised to learn that we had twins" he smiled slightly.
Maki also took a sip from her cup before continuing speaking. "I'm not going to lie to you Okkotsu, it was a total rush, at the beginning I felt too much panic knowing that there would be two babies instead of one and more than well they say that twins are a bad omen in the world of sorcery" a small smile manifested on her lips.
"But also when I found out that they would be a girl and a boy" she put her hands on her belly – "I felt that things could be different and better for my little family, especially because I had Mai on my side" she leaned her right elbow on the table and rested her face on her hand.
"Also, being pregnant with twins and in a natural way is something that not every woman can boast!"she replied flattering herself with a big smile. Remembering how all the women were surprised about her being the mother of those two.
"Then we can say that Yurika and Yuudai were a blessing and in a way, I feel grateful that they were born here in Kyoto" said Yuta with a big smile for hearing that last one. Then he took one more sip of his coffee, which was about to be finished.
But at that moment. The name of the city caught Maki's attention and now it was her turn to ask.
"And speaking of Kyoto, Okkotsu, answer me something" she took a pose of total seriousness, leaning her back on the chair again, "Why seven years ago did you want us to come here to Kyoto on our anniversary?" She asked with her eyes fixed on Yuta.
That doubt gnawed her inside, and she needed an answer. Especially because it always seemed strange to her that Yuta's request to go to that city which she had hated a little in her youth.
The sorcerer's eyes widened in surprise at such a question. He even coughed slightly.
He took a big breath, holding the air in his lungs as he took courage.
"Well... I..." he let the air out suddenly "There is a main reason why he wanted us to come here to Kyoto in those days seven years ago..."
"And what is it?"
The sorcerer removed from his neck that necklace where he always had both rings "The answer is here"- he said in a barely audible voice, while he extended his hand on the table.
"But that's the engagement ring that Rika gave you, isn't it?" replied Maki, raising an eyebrow.
"But this other ring is not Rika's..." He took between his fingers the other ring that he always carried with him. The one that had a tiny but beautiful diamond "This engagement ring was going to be for you..."
Maki's face tightened. Her hands loosened on the table and her eyes widened enormously.
Quickly, her hands reacted and went up to her face –"Okkotsu tell me it's a joke..." her hands came away from her mouth to say that –"Tell me it's NOT what I'm thinking it is!" whispered Maki with surprise.
Yuta shook his head.
"It's no joke Maki... seven years ago I was thinking of proposing to you" he answered with melancholy invading his being. His lips curved in a sad grimace "But... in the end it couldn't be..."
Maki stood up quickly, took several steps while running her hands over her face. Then her hands gripped the chair tightly. She was controlling herself not to break it over that sorcerer's head.
"Marriage?" her breath caught as she asked that question. She felt a thousand emotions at that moment.
Yuta continued to sit, while admiring that ring.
"This was the main reason I wanted us to come to Kyoto. I wanted to propose to you in your hometown. And to make it more symbolic, I had bought this ring in my hometown, Sendai, that's why I was late that Friday. Because I was looking for the perfect ring for you"
Maki's lips tightened tightly and her brow contracted in annoyance, she really wanted to scream.
"Were you seriously going to ask me to marry you?" came out of her throat in a growl.
She had gone from surprise to anger very quickly.
Yuta stood up, hung that necklace with those two rings back on his neck and took a few steps towards her.
"That's right, I wanted to give you this ring somewhere nice here in Kyoto. I was planning to propose to you in the geisha quarter or" sighed with disappointment.
"I thought of asking you somewhere else that I thought we would visit on our weekend, but nothing was going as it should" he held his hand over those rings for a moment.
"And then Satoru showed up and well, he asked us to leave the country immediately. Even if we were both leaving Japan. I was planning to propose to you at the first destination we reached"
Maki looked him straight in the eyes, while Yuta was still standing in front of her. Then her honey-colored gaze lowered for a moment to the one that would have been her engagement ring. She felt so many emotions and feelings when she saw him up close, but of all of them, the one that stood out was the hatred she felt towards those who ruined their happiness.
"And now with everything we have told each other tonight, I am certain that if we had been honest with each other in that train station seven years ago, our present would be completely different..." Yuta, bravely, brought his hand close to Maki's cheek.
She gave a little startle, even an electric sensation ran through her skin when she felt Yuta's hand on her.
But she didn't push him away, on the contrary, feeling his hand on her skin made her heart skip a beat. As she lost herself in his gaze.
"At this moment they only torment me endless What would have happened if... said Yuta in a hoarse voice. He was hurt by everything that had happened between them.
He continued speaking without taking his eyes off Maki and without taking his hand away from her cheek, while he caressed her affectionately. -
"Perhaps if at that train station you had confessed to me about your pregnancy..." He lowered his shoulders.
"I would have asked you to marry me at that moment and I would have given you the freedom to choose whether you wanted to stay here in Japan or to flee abroad. And in either case, I would have made sure that you and our little ones would have all the comforts.."
Maki swallowed saliva to try to undo the lump in her throat, while she put her hand on Yuta's hand, caressing him gently. She had to be firm in her feelings, even though all this was affecting her and moved all those feelings that she thought she had buried under so much hatred and contempt towards him.
"If everything would have been different..." Yuta sighed with a lump in his throat "If seven years ago, you had said yes to me the instant I had asked you to marry me, I would have seen you wearing a beautiful wedding dress of the color you had chosen, and we would have said our vows in front of an altar..." his feelings were overflowing painfully in his throat as he said all that.
His mind filled with false images of those memories that never existed, stabbing like daggers into his hurting heart.
"I would have even had the privilege of seeing you pregnant..." It pained him to imagine that image of Maki with a bulging belly.
"And if fate had not taken another course, I would have witnessed the moment when you learned that not one, but two little beings were growing in your womb" a small smile appeared on his face, reflecting both illusion and pain. He felt that again he would burst into tears.
"And not to mention the birth, I would have done everything possible to be present at that important moment for our family" he sighed regretfully, trying to calm the lump in his throat that hurt like thorns stuck red-hot against his skin.
"Truly, I would have done anything to be with you, Yurika and Yuudai, at all times and at every stage of your lives, giving you protection and everything necessary..."
Maki swallowed hard, a lump had formed in her throat and one in the pit of her stomach. Her eyebrows contracted and her eyes glazed over. She too ached to imagine that perfect life by his side but which unfortunately could not be.
Yuta let the air out with too much sadness just imagining that life they could not live.
"Even if we had made the decision to flee the country, most likely the four of us would have traveled the world together... we would have visited so many countries and known so many cultures as a family..." - he sighed again "at this moment, I can only think of so many what's if..."
A faint smile appeared on Maki's lips when she heard all that, she let out a few tears as she caressed Yuta's hand on her cheek.
"Although something tells me that you would have fainted the moment you knew we were going to have twins, and most likely you would have fainted at the moment of delivery." She lowered her gaze and her free hand went up to Yuta's chest, as she dared to touch that ring that would have belonged to her. Running her fingers through that material, which was smooth and well cared for, even the tiny diamond still kept its shine.
Maki could swear she felt Yuta's heart beating through that ring.
"I definitely would have cried and screamed with emotion when I heard that we would be parents of two babies" Yuta answered with a slight chuckle when he felt her finger touch that ring hanging against his chest.
"And you're right, maybe I would have even fainted at the moment of delivery. But I would have been standing by your side giving you everything you deserved"
"It would have been a good life..." she whispered gently removing Yuta's hand from her cheek, intertwining her fingers a little, while she turned her eyes towards his eyes.
"But we still have time to make that life a reality... we could try it from scratch... we could be that family we were always destined to be" whispered Yuta without losing herself in her honey-colored gaze.
Both could not stop looking into each other's eyes, it seemed that they had imagined at the same time all those situations that were taken away from them.
Those glances were charged with too many feelings. It seemed that this magnetism would bring them together, as their faces began to meet delicately, their foreheads touching first.
"Yuta..." Maki named him in a very low voice.
"Maki... I just want us to try again... I want that love to come back to us..." he whispered.
The words could no longer come out of Maki's mouth, her breath had been cut off as she felt Yuta's lips very close to hers.
Only their breathing and the sound of the hands of the clock, which showed that it was five minutes to two in the morning, was the only thing that could be heard at that moment in that kitchen.
Maki felt that her heart would jump out of her throat, as she lost herself in that blue-gray gaze. The one that was slowly approaching her as they both closed their eyes. She felt she had to stand her ground as the cruel and cold killer she was.
But it was no use, her feelings for him were bubbling up again.
Their lips were very close at last after seven years of being cruelly estranged. Their light touches made them desire each other more. At the same time they awakened in them those feelings they still felt for each other.
Maki could tell that she was Yuta's weakness, and she had to take advantage of it if her plan was going to work, both for her sake, her sister's sake and her children's sake. But she also felt herself falling and losing at her own game.
They were millimeters away from finally joining in a kiss, but Maki's resentment towards those who had separated them, made her react, putting her right hand between her mouth and Okkotsu's mouth, to separate from him quickly and coldly, but with her cheeks softly tinged with carmin because of how close they had been.
She calmed down –"Really... they took care of send... fuck our happiness..." she whispered with her voice half cut off, interrupting that first encounter, while she took a few steps backwards to get away from Yuta.
The sorcerer looked at her with intrigue at those words. And more so that Mai had not been clear on that subject in her letter.
Yuta also took a step back. He had to behave himself and appease his feelings until the talk was over.
"Did they take care of it? Who? Maki san What else happened that day when we got separated at that station?"
Maki sighed. She hugged herself, running her hands up and down her arms to give herself enough courage to finally talk about it after seven years.
"In that station several things happened at the same time... it's a little difficult to explain..." she moistened her lips as she took her seat again.- "But I can confirm that while I was waiting for you, one of those people who is involved in our separation came to talk to me..." she looked at the sorcerer – "That person made me have many more doubts about whether it was a good idea to follow you or not..."
"Did anyone else talk to you after I left to buy that bottle of water from you?" Yuta asked intrigued.
"That's right, and that person showed up only a few minutes after my cell phone was stolen" Maki invited Yuta to take a seat once again.
"Who was it? Maki, who made you doubt me?" questioned Yuta, with a seriousness that chilled the blood. His eyes, fixed on hers, left no room for doubt.
The sorcerer took a seat across from her once again. He was not ready for what he would hear.
Maki swallowed saliva, trying to calm the waves that threatened to drown her. A lump formed in her throat, and the words refused to leave her lips.
"Who spoke to me at the station seven years ago was..." he finally said, his voice trembling and his gaze lost in Yuta's eyes.
That truth that was to be revealed would only bring more pain to Yuta.
Your favorite family drama To be continued in the next chapter...
Notes:
I hope you liked this second part❤
How are you liking the story? I'll be reading your comments, as well as your theories.
I know that in the previous chapter I had said that they were finally going to find out who was the one who talked to Maki, but I decided to leave this topic exclusively for the next chapter, which will be focused both from Maki's and Yuta's point of view about what happened in that train station the day of their drastic separation, so it will be a chapter almost entirely showing what happened seven years ago.
The only thing I can assure you about the next chapter, which I already have almost in its entirety, it only needs to be edited since it is twice as long as this one, is that it will make you hate one character in particular.
Maybe I will upload that chapter at the end of this month or at the beginning of June, it will depend on the time I have available and I want to prepare the following chapters, which will be important for this plot, especially since an important plot twist is coming that will make you wonder who is really to blame for all this? And does the end justify the means?
Anyway, seriously, thank you very much for the support, I hope you continue to like this story❤and more action is coming and incidentally, to focus already on the case of the new warlock killer.