Facing Mr. Souma's crooked smile, Tsubaki felt goosebumps all over her body. The obvious malice in his eyes supported his claims. While he was still smiling, the intense hatred exuded from his whole being made Tsubaki swallowed a lump in her throat.
Once she couldn't bear the ensued silence, Tsubaki opened her mouth to speak. She kept her gaze on the same level as the man sitting opposite her. Even though there was Kenzou standing beside her now, she could care less. If Kenzou knew better, he wouldn't go shooting his mouth around.
"You said, my father was a fool because he fell in love with my mother," Tsubaki endured from clenching her teeth, "Thus, it made you hated my mother. Why don't I see any sense in it?"
"Because he was involved with your mother, he was bounded to die early," Mr. Souma easily answered her, "If not for her, my friend would still be here. Why can't she just accepted my brother as her husband?"
Tsubaki's pupils dilated in raw surprise. What nonsense was this man spouting right now?
"The one you should blame is your brother, Mr. Souma," Tsubaki fought hard to not spewing out curses to this man, "You've also said that you hate your brother. I don't know if what happened to my father is the sole reason or you have more nonsensical reasons but, my mother is not for you to blame. As a friend, you should be happy that your best friend got to be happy before his death."
Mr. Souma clicked his tongue. He didn't mask his displeasure as he stared straight at Tsubaki with the expression 'look at how pretentious your speech is?' as if he wasn't the one who started these baloneys.
Tsubaki struggled to keep down the disgust she felt toward this man. The nauseating feeling made her couldn't stand the sight of this crooked man. Yet, she persevered.
"Enough. Just tell me what you want to tell me. I don't want to know of your baseless hatred," Tsubaki spat out her next words, "Seeing that you know who I really am, did you also know about my twin sister? The failed kidnapping attempt, was it you who planned that?"
What Director Ayanokouji disclosed to her some time ago was still embedded in Tsubaki's mind. Before Mrs. Souma came to the orphanage disguising as their late mother, there was a kidnapping attempt on Hinata one month earlier.
Was it this man doing?
At Tsubaki's questions, Mr. Souma burst into laughter as if he was hearing something funny. His shoulder trembled as he tried to press his laughter down but it took some time before his laugher subsided.
The sight of it further infuriated Tsubaki.
"Well, I've never thought that I would find someone who looked so much like that woman," Mr. Souma covered his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes bent in curves, "To find that her age coincided the year your mother disappeared, of course, I have to find the truth about her, wasn't I?"
Before Tsubaki could retort, he resumed with another disgusting smile.
"To see a young girl with your mother's face, I was excited when I thought I could threaten that woman to come out of her hiding if the young girl was indeed her daughter. At the same time, I wanted to check who's the father. Unfortunately, all of my efforts go down the drain because of someone but, I didn't expect to encounter you five years ago."
Another chill went down Tsubaki's spine when Mr. Souma leaned over and laughed cynically.
"We're fated, aren't we?"
A jolt of anger crashed into Tsubaki's mind. Her whole body shivered in cold fury as the man continued saying couth-sounding words.
At this time, Tsubaki really wanted to slap him until he could no longer speak. The threads of her patience were stretched out, they could snap in no time if she continued to listen to this man.
No... No...
If she lashed out, it was her loss. She had to keep her patience in check.
Tsubaki took in a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize the hard pounding of her heart. After it subsided a bit did she open her mouth again.
From what this man said, it seemed like he was looking around for her mother who was nowhere to be found. Besides, as fate joked with her, this man subsequently found her after giving up on messing with her sister's life.
"How could you find me? Was it through Mr. Sagara?" Tsubaki drew a sneer with her jaw went rigid, "I've known that Mr. Sagara accepted help from someone to locate my husband's whereabouts at that time. You were the one who helped him."
It wasn't a question instead, Tsubaki outrightly pointed the truth.
Mr. Souma answered by clapping his hands and smiling.
"I praise you to keep being level-headed at this time," A peal of laughter came out of the man's mouth yet both of the sound and his words tinged with mockery, "As you've said, I helped the sneaky old man to find your husband."
A frown marred Tsubaki's forehead. She intently focused on this despicable man for fear of missing listening to anything important.
Mr. Souma was as languid as ever. His carefree expression was a stark contrast to how tense Tsubaki looked.
"I offered my help because I wanted to reap benefits from him. There's a project I was aiming for from him at that time. Well, that's that. Hehe, I finally understood what it meant like offering kindness. If not for my generosity, I might have never found you."
Once he finished the last sentence, Mr. Souma bent down and picked up the teapot. He hummed while he pouring himself another cup of tea. With a lift of his eyes, he chuckled at Tsubaki.
"Ah, I'm thirsty," Mr. Souma swirled the cup in his hand. His posture right now made him looked like he was enjoying a tea session, "Why don't you drink too? This tea could help to soothe your feelings. Try it."
Tsubaki ignored him. She directly asked, "You were the one who bribed my uncle and the village head to separate me and Ren that night. I've heard that I was supposed to be brought to the abandoned factory by you two as well. Well, how about it? Don't tell me that what I've listened to is just lies fabricated by those men. There were doctors there who wanted to draw my blood. Were you trying to get it for a DNA test?"
When Ren told her before, Tsubaki raised up her suspicions. If that man's true intention was conducting a DNA test, why must he go to an extreme length?
For a man of his caliber, it wasn't weird if he just sent someone to rummage through her house to get any of her belongings while guiding it as a house robbery. Instead, he chose to directly capture her.
"Hurm... To tell you the truth, it was fun if I brought you to my brother and let him meet you. Especially since he would believe that you are his daughter. If he found out that your father was Takahisa, won't it be a spectacle to be watched?"
Mr. Souma cackle evilly at his own words. He happily clapped his hands as if he was watching a funny performance.
"Then, why did you let me go after my accident? Wouldn't it be easy for you to manipulate me since I've lost my memory?"
Tsubaki kept pressing on him. To her, this man's explanation was filled with loopholes.
He seemed like a maniac who keened on playing with people.
His next string of sentences further imprinted his image as a lunatic in Tsubaki's mind.
"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?"
Once again with the bullshit of fate!
"You said it turned boring?" Tsubaki gnashed her teeth, "You have almost endangered my sister's life! Mine as well! If I didn't survive the accident, would you finally be happy? I lost my memories because of it!"
Mr. Souma deliberately showed Tsubaki a stunned expression before his lips curled into a smile.
"Sweetie, do you think I was the one who planned the accident? Tsk, tsk, I've done a lot of bad things but not that one," Mr. Souma raised up his index finger and waved it left and right, "It's purely an accident. Although, well, it helped in the process. With you losing your memories, with a benevolent heart, I decided to just let you go."
Incredulity sparked in Tsubaki's eyes. Her entire face turned ashen in an instant.
How could he... Although he didn't orchestrate the accident, it had scarred her terribly!
Mr. Souma gave her a lopsided grin, "If only we met when you were a child with your father was still alive, I'd gladly be your favorite goofy uncle but, I couldn't help but hate your face who resemble your mother's."
Drifting in between loving your father who I deemed as my blood-brother and hating your mother who made me lost him, I couldn't accept your existence.
But, you are still his child.