That night, after dinner, Tsubaki called Mrs. Souma. She comfortably leaned against the couch while making the call.
Tsubaki conveyed the unexpected meeting she had with the latter's husband. Mrs. Souma was quiet throughout their call. She only spoke when Tsubaki finished talking.
"No wonder he looks so distressed in the past few days, especially after you met him at the banquet," Mrs. Souma let out a sigh. She sounded so tired, "And, today, he summoned Hisato to meet him. I don't know what they are talking about, but their argument has spiked his blood pressure."
President Souma was known to have a weak constitution since he was young. The family's doctor would always be on standby to avoid anything bad fell on him.
"Since Ren deliberately mentioned keeping a close watch on Mr. Souma, I think he would start to connect the loose ends together," Tsubaki made a conclusion.
President Souma would seriously disappoint her if he didn't use his intelligence to investigate his own brother. To Tsubaki, the former kept one eye close regarding Mr. Souma.
If President Souma knew that his negligence caused her mother to be in his brother's palm, how would he react?
"Hisato acts as usual so far. I want to confront him about Masami's whereabouts, but... I believe it should be left to you."
The curiosity kept gnawing her mind, making it Mrs. Souma hard to control herself. Even so, she had a hunch that her young brother-in-law noticed that she knew about the photo. He often threw her a meaningful smile. The sight of him smirking irritated Mrs. Souma terribly.
"After we get the DNA test result, I want to meet Mr. Souma. By hook or by crook, I want him to spill the truth."
Tsubaki was determined to get to the bottom of this matter from the crafty man. Since he had generously sent her the photo of her mother as a surprise, why should she not reciprocate his kind gesture?
"I'll go to the National Genome Institute tomorrow," Mrs. Souma made the decision, "Let me see how laughable my husband's face would look like."
"Aunt... You don't have to," Tsubaki was worried when she heard that. She was happy if she got more support but, this matter was a thorn in Mrs. Souma's heart.
No matter what, her husband loved another woman for more than two decades and she, was the woman's daughter.
"Let it be my path to get closure. I've been blinded by my love for him. Now, I want to love myself more," Mrs. Souma chuckled softly yet it sounded sorrowful, "Only after we love ourselves could we love others."
Tsubaki was perplexed. She cautiously asked, "Aunt, do you mean..."
"I will divorce him," Mrs. Souma announced firmly.
"You're really... Are you sure, Aunt?"
Although Tsubaki understood their marriage wasn't a happy and blissful one, the two of them had been married for more than two decades. For Mrs. Souma to slash the knot tying her to President Souma whom she loved, it was not an easy decision to be made.
"I am sure. I've asked my lawyer to draft the divorce papers. After divorce, I'll get my share of our combined assets, buy a comfortable house on any hill or near a beach and settle down there. Well, I should as well live the life of a rich divorced madam until the end."
Mrs. Souma continued laying out her plans. It seemed like she wasn't affected by the divorce but, Tsubaki still heard the faint sadness in her voice.
"Aunt, no matter what, I will support you," Tsubaki seriously declared her stance.
If leaving President Souma would make Mrs. Souma be happy and free again, Tsubaki would wholeheartedly support her. She shouldn't be chained down by an unhappy marriage.
"Haha, it's good to hear that. Well, if one day your husband annoyed you to death, I'll gladly open my doors to you. You can stay there as long as you want."
Tsubaki burst into laughter at the mention of Ren vexing her, "If he heard that, for sure he wouldn't let me be close to you ever again."
The two ladies laughed again. After talking for a bit more, Tsubaki hung up the call. She lowered the phone to her lap. Her earlier bright eyes turned dull when she thought of what would happen tomorrow.
"What makes you laugh like that? Did you think of something funny?"
Ren's voice came from above her head. His arms encircled her neck from behind as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
Tsubaki gave him a smile, "Aunt Shiori wants to settle down at a beachfront villa or at the hilltop one. She said, if you wronged me, I could seek refuge with her."
Ren scoffed. He smugly countered her, "You don't have to go and hide with her. I know ways to make your anger toward me softens."
"Oh, how would you do that?" Tsubaki raised up her brows and looked at her husband in a skeptic.
Ren smiled mischievously. He brushed his lips against one of her earlobes and whispered next to her ear. Tsubaki's face grew redder as time passed. In the end, she turned around and pinched her husband's shameless face hard.
"What a scoundrel! Can't you learn even a little bit of shame?"
What should she do if their child learned to be as shameless as their father so early in age?
"Sweetheart, I'm just telling you the truth. Why can't you believe me?" Ren purposely slumped his shoulders down and threw her a sad look as if he was being wronged by her.
Tsubaki didn't know whether she should laugh or cry. It seemed like, he had grown more childish.
"Alright, alright. Let's see how you would coax me later when I got angry at you," Tsubaki shrugged while laughing.
Ren seized the opportunity to pepper her face with kisses. Tsubaki was helpless at how sneaky her husband was.
He really knew to not shortchange himself!
After a short session of playing around, the husband and wife retreated to the bed. Even though Tsubaki had slept in the afternoon for nearly two hours, it was still easy for her to feel sleepy again.
"Sweetheart?"
"En?" Tsubaki hummed without opening her eyes. She found her favorite spot and nestled her head comfortably on her husband's chest.
Ren ran his fingers over her long hair. He watched the strand of her hair fell through his fingers. Tsubaki looked fine on the surface but, he still felt uneasy.
The unexpected meeting with President Souma this morning had left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Nothing," Ren swallowed his concerns. He tenderly stroked her face and dropped a kiss on her forehead, "Have a sweet dream, sweetheart."
"..."
Ren smiled when he realized his dear wife had already fallen asleep. Her steady and rhythmic breathing helped to put his worries at ease.
This was good. At the very least, he hoped her sleep wouldn't be troubled because of the following issues.
Ren pulled up the quilt. He carefully tucked her in. After making sure she was really asleep, Ren quietly got out of the bed. His steps leading him to his study.
Ren fished out his phone from the pant of his pajama pocket. A string of numbers appeared in his line of sight. He had never called this number before.
Ren pressed the call button. He brought the phone close to his right ear and waited for the call to be connected.
"Hello, who's this?"
Ren narrowed his eyes. He curled up a cold smile.
"Even when you don't know who's the caller, you still picked up the call," Ren sneered. His dark eyes flashed with cold fury, "Mr. Souma Hisato, should I applaud you for this lame acting skill?"
"Hahaha!"
Mr. Souma burst into laughter as if Ren had said something funny. Although Ren was vexed by this man's eccentricity, he didn't let his annoyance got to his head.
"I won't beat around the bush. Where do you hide my mother-in-law?" Ren straightforwardly told the older man the purpose of his call.
"Your mother-in-law? Ah, do you mean that Fujioka Masami? I don't know what you're talking about," Mr. Souma let out a snicker. It seemed like he really was enjoying this pretense.
"Amamiya Sanatorium, does it ring a bell?" Ren's smile deepened.
Mr. Souma stopped laughing. He was quiet for a moment before he cackled, "Ah, it has only been a few days yet, you've already found out about it?"
Ren lowered his eyes to the working table opposite him. He stretched out a hand and took a thin file out of the stack of the others He had just received it from Hibiki before returning from work today.
"You are so generous to leave a clue so, how could I disappoint you?"
Tsubaki didn't know about it but, Ren noticed there was a faint logo inside the photo. It was small and couldn't be seen with naked eyes. Only after Akashi's analysis did Ren come out with the truth.
The logo was added after the photo was taken. It was obvious that Mr. Souma deliberately marked the photo with the logo.
"Heh, you're smart to not let the simple photo fool you," Mr. Souma praised the young man. He laughed again, "But, I think you haven't told your wife that you have found her mother. Haha, don't tell me you want to seek permission from me first?"
"Does Fujioka Masami, my mother-in-law, already suffer from the illness at the time you got her?"
Mr. Souma answered Ren ambiguously, "If you wanted to know, come to the sanatorium tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you and your wife."
Ren clenched his hands.
If Tsubaki was to know the real situation of her birth mother, he was afraid, it would cause another blow to her.
What should he do?