As the air inside the private tea room grew heavy, Tsubaki repeatedly shook her head in an attempt to chase away the lingering fear. She took a couple of deep breaths. Once the ringing sound of her heart pounding hard receded, she opened her mouth to ask again.
"I don't understand of his hatred toward my mother," Tsubaki was still confused about it until now, "To me, it doesn't make any sense. Just because his best friend was killed in the army, he pushed the blame to my mother. Wasn't he supposed to sympathize with my mother instead at that time?"
Tsubaki understood Mr. Souma Hisato was a man with a twisted personality but, his actions still didn't sound logical in her view.
As his best friend's lover was pregnant yet the man had died, wasn't Mr. Souma ought to feel sorry for her mother? But, he outrightly said that he had hated her.
"I know, it doesn't add up but, he has always been like that," Mrs. Souma twisted her brows as she racked her brains on how to start opening the story, "For you to understand for a bit... I have to tell you about him first but, do you want to hear it?"
Tsubaki frowned. She listlessly shook her head, refusing to listen to Mr. Souma's sob story.
"He isn't important right now," Tsubaki thought it wasn't good to be swayed by that man's cunning tricks. She resumed in a quiet voice, "I just want to know if, Aunt Shiori, did you find my sister's existence because of your brother-in-law?"
From Mr. Souma's story, he openly admitted to kidnap Hinata but the attempt failed and he didn't reattempt it. A month after the failed kidnapping, Mrs. Souma first appeared at the orphanage, looking for Hinata while donning her birth mother's name.
If this was the truth, Mr. Souma was the first one who found Hinata.
Realizing what Tsubaki meant, another flash of guilt flickered across Mrs. Souma's face. A weary smile hung on her lips.
"At that time, when I said I chanced upon your sister's photo, it's true. It's just... I found it after I discovered Hisato was acting weird at that time."
Tsubaki's expression was unfazed. It was as she had expected. Mr. Souma was really the first one to know about Hinata, as to how he had claimed to her.
"As I've told you, I discreetly tried looking for Masami even though never did I find any clue about her," Mrs. Souma pushed the next words out of her mouth. Instead of waiting for Tsubaki to ask her, she resumed her story.
"I got to know that Hisato suddenly became interested in the orphanage. Out of curiosity, due to one of his short conversations with his subordinate, I checked on the orphanage, and... that's when I found about a girl who looked like Masami."
Mrs. Souma paused, regaining her breath as she continued speaking nonstop with pressure weighing her mind. The conflicted look in her eyes made Tsubaki felt uneasy. Before she could say anything to calm the older lady, Mrs. Souma continued.
"I confronted him and managed to deter him from harming your sister. As to how I made him agreed, I..."
Mrs. Souma stopped again. It was a crucial part. A person as crafty as Mr. Souma, how could she make him stop?
Her look of ashamed downed a realization to Tsubaki. She was perplexed. It was only a silly assumption but...
"Does he loves you, Aunt?"
Before Tsubaki could stop herself, the words had flowed out of her mouth.
Mrs. Souma was stupefied by Tsubaki's question. Her reaction solidified the latter's conjecture.
"Is one of the reasons why Mr. Souma hates his own brother because of you?" Tsubaki asked seriously, "He has never mentioned why does he hates President Souma but, I could see the obvious hatred he holds on your husband whenever he spoke about him earlier."
"Tsubaki, that..."
Mrs. Souma wanted to deny it but Tsubaki quickly cut her off.
"And, before we left the room, I don't know why but, he looked sad as he stared in our direction. He has the same look... as to how my husband used to have before our relationship deepened."
Even though it happened months ago, Tsubaki still clearly remembered the occasional look Ren would throw in her direction whenever he thought she didn't notice it. At that time, Ren was still being cautious. Although he had revealed about their marriage but, her man's self-confidence was low.
He was afraid to think that she might not love him again.
"You are being absurd, Tsubaki..." Mrs. Souma turned her head to one side. Her tone turned weaker as she refuted, "There's no way... It's not how you think it is."
Seeing that Mrs. Souma didn't want to indulge deeper in the topic, Tsubaki didn't plan to press her. Whether it was the truth or not, only the parties involved knew.
It seemed like, there were countless loose strings regarding the generation above her. From the love triangle between her parents and President Souma, the unrequited affection held by Mrs. Souma to President Souma and the unknown feelings of Mr. Souma to his supposed sister-in-law.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Shiori, if I've made you uncomfortable."
"No... It's nothing, really," Mrs. Souma waved her off with a smile on her face yet, to Tsubaki, it appeared forceful.
Tsubaki rethought her words. She didn't want to touch on the subject if Mrs. Souma was reluctant to talk about it.
Since that was the case...
"Aunt, there's something I would like to know."
Mrs. Souma looked at Tsubaki in bafflement. Deep down, she was afraid of what would the young lady ask her. Tsubaki's assumption about her brother-in-law still stunned her.
"Ever since he failed to kidnap my sister, have Mr. Souma tried again but it didn't succeed because of you?"
"...Yes," Mrs. Souma nodded sullenly, "There's one time I found that he wanted to bring your sister out of the orphanage under the disguise of adoption but, I intervened with his plan."
"Did he want to adopt her?" Shocked, Tsubaki asked again which Mrs. Souma answered with a nod.
This man... She couldn't understand the way he thought. What did he want to do by adopting her late sister?
Was it for...
"Did he plan to bring my sister to Souma household?" Tsubaki gasped, "And, let her met President Souma? For sure, your husband would be interested to know about my sister's past and..."
Then, what was about her own attempted abduction? Did it happen, as he said before, to make sure of her identity too?
What Mr. Souma really said was, "When I saw you five years ago, ah, at first I thought to just make sure who you really were but, it's a waste to not use you in my game too. Then, hehe, I lost interest. I just didn't expect to see you again after five years. We're fated, aren't we?"
For the nth time, Tsubaki felt deep disgust toward Mr. Souma. She still couldn't comprehend why must he make matters worse for her family just because of his own hatred?
First, he tried to lure out her late mother.
Then, he wanted to use her twin sister.
And, he didn't even waste the chance to try making her as his pawn as well.
Didn't he feel sorry for her late father who he deemed as his best friend?
"Tsubaki," Mrs. Souma let out a long and heavy sigh, "At times, hatred couldn't ever be justified. He used you, your sister and even your mother as outlets to vent out his resentment. If he ever brought any of you home, I believe it would make my husband recalls his regrets and thus, Hisato would succeed."
Tsubaki drew her lips into a tight purse. She carefully listened to each of Mrs. Souma's words and weaved them into an understanding.
"By that, do you mean, President Souma has ever regretted on the matter happened on that year my mother disappeared and my father died?"
Mrs. Souma affirmed by nodding her head. Her answer made Tsubaki laughed cynically.
"I thought, President Souma would just hate my mother and father," Tsubaki helplessly shook her head, "I didn't think, he would regret his actions. If not for him... my parents would still be here with me and, I wouldn't lose a sister I have never met."
Bitterness overflowed from her eyes as Tsubaki confessed her indignation.
This was all a joke to the brothers, that was what Tsubaki concluded. The young one was consumed in his blind hatred while the older one only regretted the aftermath. The two of them had really dragged her family down.
Mrs. Souma sullenly lowered her head. She was ashamed to face the lady sitting opposite her. As one of the parties involved in the two-decades-long matter, her remorse was clogging in her heart, making it hard for her to breathe.
Only after meeting Tsubaki openly did she manage to loosen the choking feeling.
Yet, it was far from over.