Ren closed the door behind him properly. He looked at left and right, searching for Kouichi's father. There was no one in the hallway. That man shouldn't have gone far, he thought.
Ren walked over to the balcony overlooking the small playground at one side of the apartment. It didn't take him long to spot Mr. Nagao who was currently sitting on a bench in the park.
The man was facing the rundown slide, his shoulders slumped as his eyes were looking at the ground blankly. Ren silently approached the man. Yuuto sensed that someone was standing behind him when a tall shadow looming over him. He raised his head and turned around. When he saw Ren, he immediately stood up from his seat.
"Mr. Fuse... I..."
Ren calmly lowered his body down to sit on the bench. He gestured for Yuuto to sit beside him. Even though the man before him exuded an unapproachable aura by the look on his cold face, Yuuto couldn't say no to his invitation. In the end, he sat down but with quite a distance between them.
"I'm sorry if we have caused you discomfort," Ren said as he threw his gaze around the playground. There were no children playing with the slides and the swings since the weather was still hot.
"It's nothing..." Yuuto replied in a small voice. "My mother has told me about you. I just didn't expect..."
Yuuto heaved a sigh. He rubbed his hands together, trying to stop them from shaking. Ren noticed the man beside him was trying hard to calm himself down.
The look on this man's face when he saw Tsubaki was clear to say how dearly he had missed his late wife. It was the same look Ren had been trying to hide from everyone before he could meet her again. It was the same look he saw on himself whenever he was alone, looking at the mirror.
The pain that accompanied the longing was unbearable. Some times, when he woke up at night and saw she was sleeping peacefully in his arms, he wondered how did he survive the sleepless nights without her. It felt like a long nightmare.
Then, he realized.
Ah... It's because he loved her too much he was able to withstand the pain. Only when she came back to him did he think back of how much suffering he had endured. But, all of it was worth it when he could hear her heart beating next to his.
Ren took a deep breath. He shook his head slightly before he began to speak.
"My wife was so shocked too when she saw the picture of your wife for the first time," Ren's eyes landed on the wedding ring around his finger. A soft layer of tenderness softened his expression, chasing the dark memory away. "It was incredulous at first but she has come to accept it."
"Hinata was an orphan," Yuuto replied in a quiet voice. "Does your wife an orphan too?"
"She's adopted," Ren replied swiftly.
"Then..."
"She didn't know that she was adopted until a few weeks ago," Ren turned around, looking at Yuuto's frantic eyes. "My wife and yours were twins."
Yuuto almost fell down from the bench once he heard Ren's words. His lips quivered as one of his hands gripped the edge of the bench tightly. A few incoherent words came out of his mouth but nothing was clear. His eyes were full of doubt and disbelief over Ren's calm gaze.
"I've done a DNA test between her and Kouichi. They are related. I am sorry for doing it in secret."
Ren chose to not dilly-dallying any longer. It was better if he straightforwardly told the man about the potential secret hidden behind Tsubaki and Hinata's birth. There might something that Hinata only shared with her husband before she passed away.
"You're sure?" Yuuto was still in disbelief when Ren told him about the relationship between Hinata and Tsubaki and now, he said he had done a DNA test? Was he so desperate to uncover the truth?
Ren nodded. His expression remained calm in front of Yuuto's conflicted emotions.
"It's the fastest way to know the truth but I know I should have told you before. I'm sorry."
Yuuto shook his head. He saw how earnest the man before him was from the way he talked and carried himself around him. Even though this was the first time they met each other, Ren had been truthful to him by not saying things that could lead to a misunderstanding. He had even owned up to his mistake by carrying the test without his permission as Kouichi's legal guardian.
"But, I don't understand."
Yuuto took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He paused for a moment to gather his thought. When he opened his eyes back, Ren only saw the clarity in them. The doubt had vanished.
"I'm sorry if this sounds rude, Mr. Fuse," Yuuto scanned the man from head to toe. His outfits looked simple but he knew the overall cost would exceed his annual income. The expensive car that was parked among the residents' vehicles looked out of the ordinary, further clarifying that this man was a man of standing.
"You look like you're from the upper class. You and your wife could live as nothing has happened even after knowing my wife's connection to yours. There should be no emotional attachment between them since they have never met before There are no benefits for you to get to know us so... So, why?"
Ren didn't immediately reply to Yuuto's question. He stared at the man who was younger than him by a few years. In his perception, Nagao Yuuto was an honest man with a good upbringing. There was no deception lied behind his eyes.
"I'm not even close to people in my class so your question is not wrong." When he said that, he didn't appear arrogant to Yuuto. He was just speaking a matter of factly. "If it's related to someone who I don't deem their importance, I'd just brush this matter off but I couldn't. It involves my dearest wife, someone who holds my heart. How can I act like nothing happened if she would cry herself to sleep once she's doubtful over her birth? And... Even though they have never met, they were still family."
Yuuto pursed his lips in silence. It was true. Why did the man beside him want to involve himself in such a troubling matter if not for the person who had touched the softest part of his heart?
"I don't mind how did my wife was raised up or if she had hideous secrets behind her birth because that won't decrease her value in my eyes," Ren continued. "If she wanted to know her origin, I'd support her."
Both of them sat in silence. Ren had finished what he wanted to say while Yuuto was still gathering his thoughts. The sound of children's laughter came from behind them when a group of children ran to the playground. In just a moment, the quiet playground was filled with children playing happily.
"Okay... I understand," Yuuto said after a long period of silence. "My mother also has told me about the bad things happened to your wife 5 years ago. I reckon you'd want to ask me questions about my wife, right? Since she too had her share of misfortunes 5 years ago."
Ren nodded curtly. He slightly gripped the hem of his shirt.
He wondered if there was something Hinata had hidden before her death.