Tsubaki glanced at her husband through the corner of her eyes. His expression was sullen as he maneuvered the car on the road back to the cottage. She retracted her gaze, looking at her hands that were clasping the hem of her summer dress.
Ever since she mentioned that she saw Mrs. Souma near Kouichi's flat, Ren turned quiet and insisted to go back to the cottage. She was baffled with his sudden change but she didn't dare to ask him anything despite countless thoughts went back and forth inside her mind.
Sensing his dainty wife's gloominess beside him, Ren let out a sigh inwardly. He released one hand from the steering wheel before he placed them firmly on her hands, startling Tsubaki.
"Sweetheart, we'll talk about this once we reached the cottage, alright?"
Tsubaki's eyelashes fluttered as she felt the familiar warmth from his hand seeping on her hands. She quietly nodded, her heart was put at ease.
The sun was already hanging over the horizon by the time they entered the residential districts. The clouds were dyed with deep orange color, the sky looked so breathtaking at this hour yet none of them had the mood to appreciate the view as they quietly walked inside the house.
Ren watched his wife took slow steps toward the couch. Her back looked pitiful as she hung her head low. A fleeting pain flickered in his dark eyes. He quickened his steps and immediately wrapped his long arms around her from behind. Tsubaki's steps halted.
"Dar... darling?"
"I just want to hug you," Ren's husky voice echoed near her ears. His warm breath brushed past her neck, tickling her slightly.
Tsubaki let her husband embraced her quietly. She noticed the dark waves swirling in his deep voice. As if she wanted to soothe him, she gently placed both of her hands on his arms that were encircling her petite frame.
After minutes passed, Ren brought Tsubaki to the couch. He sat on the coffee table, his slender fingers grasping hers as he placed them on his knees. Tsubaki let him rubbed circles on her palms, her eyes were silently watching the conflicted look in his eyes.
"You said that you saw Mrs. Souma?" Ren asked again. He lifted his gaze and bore it on hers. Even though he appeared calm, Tsubaki still noticed the faint struggle he repressed in his heart.
"Yes." Tsubaki nodded. "At first, I thought I just saw a woman who looked like her but... now, I really think it was really her."
"Why did you think so?" Ren voiced out his question. From the look of it, he knew that she had connected the scattered pieces to the dots.
"I... I don't know..." Tsubaki bit her lower lip as a sense of helplessness tugged on her heart. "I just recalled that even though my mother's maiden family had declined but they were once a part of the upper class. What if... Mrs. Souma knew my mother? What if she knew about me and Hinata?"
As much as Tsubaki thought it was impossible, a shred of hope budding in her heart.
Ren stopped rubbing circles. He stared at her anxious face, his gaze deepening as time passed.
"I know you, sweetheart," He smiled faintly. He further softened his voice as he continued, "You wouldn't say anything if you haven't thought it through. What made you so certain? Tell me."
Tsubaki looked at his face. She could see he was silently encouraging her to speak, to be sure with her own words.
As the dusk approached, the red and amber hues light illuminated his sharp features. He was openly staring at her, bearing everything he was thinking naked in her eyes.
"I..."
Tsubaki was at a loss of words. She felt like everything she wanted to say stuck in her throat. It wasn't that she randomly made a guess but to voice it out in the open frightened her. She was afraid if everything was true.
If they were true, how should she accept it?
A sudden warmth on her cheeks brought her back from her trance. Tsubaki stared blankly at the inky black eyes of his. The corners of his eyes crinkled, her dazed expression was reflected on his clear dark orbs.
"Tell me," He softly crooned in the quiet of the dusk.
As if bewitched by his alluring gaze, she nodded slowly.
As Tsubaki talked, Ren listened to her patiently. Even when she was talking of something serious, her voice was sweet like a melody to his ears. Sometimes, her brows would knit together, another time, her eyes brightened as if she was anticipating over a matter and a faint trace of sorrow would occasionally fleet past her eyes.
It was already dark when she finished speaking. The lights in the living room switched on automatically as the last ray of sunlight penetrated through the windows. By this time, a myriad of emotions conflicted through her gaze as she bit her lips nervously.
Seeing her like this made the deepest part of his heart tinged with pain.
"Sweetheart," Ren stood up from the coffee table, he didn't let go of her hands that he was holding since the beginning. "Let's go upstairs and take a bath. I've brought your favorite body wash and shampoo. Take a breather, alright?"
Seeing how he tried to calm her, Tsubaki nodded with a smile. She silently followed him to the staircase.
He didn't ask her much but from the look of it, he agreed with her views. By seeing how clear his eyes were while he paid her his whole attention made her felt confident in herself.
Ren drew a bath for Tsubaki while she unpacked their small luggage. She didn't even realize when did he take the time to place their luggage inside the car.
"Sweetheart, the bath is ready!" Ren yelled slightly from the bathroom.
"Coming!"
The bath in the master bedroom was quite spacious even though it was smaller than the one in Spring Garden. Tsubaki leaned her back against the cool marble tub as she let her husband massaged her head while lathering shampoo on her hair. Ren sat on a low stool, he exerted light pressure on both sides of her temples.
"I think I need to see Kanako as soon as possible," Tsubaki said, her chin raised up high as she looked at Ren who sat behind her, the tub separating them. His hands were foamy due to the shampoo. "She might have something to tell me."
Recalling how distant Kanako's voice was when she called her earlier, it made Tsubaki suspected something. Her friend was a young maiden exuded with bubbliness so such a tone could easily raise suspicion.
"You should," Ren agreed. He reached out for the bidet sprayer hooked to the wall beside the tub before he started rinsing her hair. "But, be careful. The last time you met her, someone gave you a note of warning."
"En."
She had kept the note with her because she thought it was not a warning but advice.
The sender didn't use alphabets cut from the books or newspapers to make the note but writing it down instead. It was clear he or she wasn't afraid of exposing their identities.
Or rather, they were waiting to be revealed.
Tsubaki was standing at the balcony of the master bedroom when Ren had just finished showering. A white bathrobe hung on his tall and slender figure. He walked in quiet steps toward the lady dressed in a white cotton nightgown. As the night wind blew, her skirt fluttered slightly. Tsubaki was looking far off the distance, the inky night sky was displaying countless stars above them.
"En?"
Tsubaki tilted her head when she was suddenly being embraced from behind. Ren pulled her close to him, her back meeting his sturdy chest. He lowered his head and rested his sharp chin on her right shoulder. His dark orbs went to meet her clear gaze.
"Are you thinking about earlier?"
Tsubaki smiled softly, she nodded without having any intention to hide from him.
"If my assumptions were true, I was thinking of how I should face them."
Ren's gaze darkened once he heard the faint sorrow in her voice, dark clouds were brewing in his eyes. Her happiness would bring joy to him and her sadness would ache his heart as well. Whatever happened in the future, he just wanted her to live in tranquility.
"No matter which path the story unfolds, I would always stay with you," Ren tightened his embrace as he firmly declared his stand.
Tsubaki's eyes softened, she smiled gently. She leaned further in his embrace, marveling in the sense of security that only he could provide to her.
They were back in the city once the afternoon arrived.
Ren brought Tsubaki back to Spring Garden first before rushing out to the company. After he had personally made sure she was safe and comfortable in the comfort of their home did he step out from the front door albeit with a heavy heart. He had promised to return earlier.
Tsubaki sat on the couch in the sunroom. She was fiddling with her phone, her brain was working on what should she ask Kanako. Ever since she woke up this morning, she was already eager to contact her friend.
In the end, she decided to play it simple.
Camellia of the Spring: I'm back~ ／(≧ x ≦)＼ Since you've interrupted my sweet time with my husband, how do you plan to compensate me?
Tsubaki stared at her phone screen for almost 5 minutes yet no reply came. She placed the phone down on the couch before she rose from her seat. Her steps were languid as she headed toward the glass walls of the sunroom.
The sky was clear from clouds, letting the sunlight poured on every inch of the grounds.
Even though the view outside appeared peaceful, it did nothing to ease the turbulence whirling inside her heart.
The other person that was trying hard to keep calm was her husband.
Ren strode inside his office before he swiftly sat on the swivel chair. Hibiki followed him from behind, he closed the door tightly before he quickened his steps toward the vast working table.
"Akashi has found one of the maids working for the Fujiokas?" Akashi called him once during Ren's car ride back to the city but because he was afraid of alerting the tensed Tsubaki, he redirected the call to Hibiki.
"It's Ms. Nakamura who lives in City S," Hibiki briefly reported the findings to his boss.
Ren narrowed his eyes. "Ms. Nakamura?"
Hibiki nodded. "She's in her 70s. She operates a lunch box stall ever since she left her original job in Fujioka Household. She's one of the last helpers who remained with the Fujiokas, even actually unwilling to depart from them."
"Then, it means she's loyal to them?"
"Yes, Master."
Ren unconsciously shifted his gaze toward a photo of her and Tsubaki on the table. A surprise glinted in his eyes once he discovered something new on the frame. There was a pastel yellow Post-It note stuck on the frame, right below the ultrasound photo that he taped on the frame mirror.
Daddy~ Don't work too hard unless Mommy and Baby would be worried 💗
He didn't realize when did his wife write this note. It might be after he left her in the office yesterday, heading to the meeting room. The corners of his thin lips curved upward. Tenderness exuded from his dark eyes.
"Arrange a meeting with Ms. Nakamura," Ren calmly moved his gaze from the note to the waiting Hibiki. "The sooner, the better."
"Understood, Master."
Hibiki immediately left to attend to his job, leaving Ren behind. The man's gaze was shrouded with dark clouds attempting to surge into a storm as his mind recalling what Tsubaki had told him yesterday.
Her guesses and insecurities, she had laid them all in the open for him to see.
It was his responsibility to ease her heart and help her to end this.