The husband and wife continued feasting on the desserts, or rather, it was Tsubaki who ate almost all of them while Ren dotingly fed her with the sweets. His wife's ability to eat more because of their little ones still amazed him until now.
After the plates was wiped clean by his wife, Ren put them aside. The air around him turned depressive as he once again was at a loss on how to tell her.
Tsubaki just waited quietly for her husband to gather his thoughts and words. She saw tension lingered in between his brows, showing how uneasy he was.
Ren pressed his lips into a thin line. After a long stretch of silence, he slowly opened his mouth. He locked his gaze on her eyes.
"I want to talk to you about the photo. Specifically, about your mother."
"...Did you find anything?" Tsubaki gasped.
Ren's nod answered her question.
"About the photo, it's true that your mother is still alive. And, I have already found where Mr. Souma hides her."
Tsubaki unconsciously grasped his hands due to her shock. She blinked her eyes a few times.
"...My mother is still alive and... you have found her?"
Ren nodded, "Yes."
Tsubaki's eyes darted to the left and right. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to stabilize her mind after the surprise. Her eyes locked into her husband's, the initial shock was replaced with concern and curiosity.
"Does my mother is really sick? How's her condition? Could I go and see her?"
Ren was amazed by how fast his wife's state of mind changed. She was astounded by the revelation but, contrary to his thought, she didn't falter.
He had a complicated outlook due to her calm reaction.
She could be in this way because she had passed through the countless storms of her life. This fact made his heart ached for her.
Ren opened his mouth, his words flowed out one by one.
"She's at Amamiya Sanatorium, a sanatorium at the east of the city."
One by one, Ren told Tsubaki how did he get to know Fujioka Masami's whereabouts. His wife silently listened to him. He grasped her hands, never once letting them go.
He spoke until the tea in the pot cooled down completely.
"...Other than knowing that she's brought there almost one decade ago, there's no other information. That man hid her traces well. If not for him deliberately revealing your mother's existence, maybe until now, we would think that she has truly disappeared."
Under what purpose for Mr. Souma to hide a woman he claimed he hated, both of them didn't know. But, from the report that Ren read, if not for this man, although he hated to admit it, his mother-in-law would already succumb to her demise.
Tsubaki quietly went through what her husband had told her. Her eyes were in a daze as she had never thought of the possibility that her mother had still been alive or the fact that she could still meet her.
Her adopted mother, Ayaka, last received a postcard from her birth mother approximately one year before the latter's death. During that time, Ayaka concluded that Fujioka Masami would go somewhere far away. The absence of the following postcard was the best evidence.
But, her uncle, Yagi Takashi mentioned someone who might be Fujioka Masami came to their house after the death of Ayaka. With her secretly visiting, she left behind a necklace and a letter. It meant that she was still alive although the reason for her silence in the past year wasn't answered.
"I wonder... at which point did Mr. Souma find my mother?" Tsubaki murmured faintly. She blinked, shifted her eyes from her hands to her husband's face and asked, "Maybe, at that time? When she came to deliver the necklace?"
Ren didn't deny the possibility although it was slim, "If that's true, Mr. Souma should know about you way earlier."
Fate had really joked with them.
At the assumption that Mr. Souma had actually known about Tsubaki's existence since the last decade and him paying surveillance on her, he should also know about Ren hiding in the village. But, it took the man a year before he cooperated with Mr. Sagara under the pretense of tracking him down.
Only after one year, after he married Tsubaki, did Mr. Souma reveal that he was in the village to Mr. Sagara.
What the hell actually happened, Ren cursed inwardly.
"Forget about it," Tsubaki weakly leaned on her husband. Her fingers tugged on his sleeve and fiddled with its fabric, "We won't know the truth, at least not until we meet them."
Ren let his wife snuggled closer to him. He snaked an arm around her waist, cutting the remaining short distance between them. He silently watched her from the top of her head as she continued to play with his sleeve.
Tsubaki didn't ask much about her mother's illness. It brought a sense of discomfort to his heart. Ren was afraid she did not dare to inquire about it because her calm exterior would finally shake.
"...Darling?"
"En?" Ren gently hummed as a response.
Tsubaki lifted up her eyes, staring back at him. Her usually bright eyes appeared misty. It was clear that she wanted to cry but, not even a single tear flowed out of her eyes. Her hands that were fiddling with his sleeve raised up before she grasped his arm.
"I want to meet her. I really want to see her, face to face. Could I?"
"Okay," Ren immediately nodded, "You can meet her. And, if you have any other questions, you could ask her directly."
I hope you are strong enough to do that, sweetheart.
Tsubaki gave him a weak smile. She lowered her head and once again leaning on him.
Ren shifted his hand from her waist to her head. He gently stroked her, letting her felt his touch. Tsubaki scooted closer to him as if she couldn't bear to be apart from him.
After some time passed, Ren persuaded Tsubaki to have a nap inside the lounge that was connected to his office. For once, she refused, saying that she wanted to just lie on the couch of the office. Seeing that she didn't want to be alone, Ren relented.
"When you open your eyes, you could still see me," Ren placed a throw blanket over her after Tsubaki lying down on the soft couch, "Sleep. Don't let your mind wander."
Tsubaki absentmindedly nodded. Under her husband's reassuring gaze, she closed her eyes. Ren was gently patting her head, giving her another sense of comfort. Her tensed brows gradually relax as she was quick to fall asleep.
Seeing that his wife had entered the dreamland, Ren let out a sigh of relief. He was grateful over the fact that Tsubaki's pregnancy made her easier to drift to sleep.
Ren properly tucked her in, dropped a kiss on her temple and silently made his way to his office desk. Matsuzaki had delivered the important files he had to go through before he arrived from the institute.
Even though his focus was directed toward his work, Ren would occasionally lift up his eyes from the stack of papers and let his gaze lingered on his sleeping wife. She was deep in sleep and it made him at ease.
Tick, tock.
Ren continued working until it reached past noon. At the sound of fabrics rustling, he turned his eyes toward the couch. A soft smile curved on his lips.
His wife had woken up.
Ren placed down his pen. He pushed back the chair, stood up and quickly went to the couch. As Tsubaki was still in a daze due to her nap, he sat next to her and helped her to get up.
"Feeling refresh?" Ren straightened her messy hair. He chuckled at the sight of her blurred state.
"...Uhuh," Tsubaki nodded dazedly. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to regain clarity.
"Let's wash your face first," Ren carefully pulled her up. Tsubaki followed along as her husband brought her to the washroom inside the lounge.
Tsubaki washed her face and applied lipstick before coming out of the washroom. The coral color helped to brighten up her countenance. She saw her husband was reading something from his phone.
"Has the result come out?"
Ren shifted his eyes from his phone to her. He slowly shook his head, "We have to wait for another hour and a half."
Tsubaki lowered her eyes and nodded once. A discernible sadness flitted in her eyes as she didn't know what should she feel right now.
Even without the result, she knew what would come next.
Her father was not Souma Shinjiro.
Then, why did she feel so restless?
"...?"
Why her mind was preoccupied with countless thoughts, a gentle breeze fanned on her as she was pulled forward. Tsubaki looked up and saw Ren's gentle gaze.
"Aren't you hungry?" Ren brushed the corner of her lips, the place where a tiny dye of the lipstick had stained on the skin next to her lips, "I suppose our brats have made Mommy hungry again after her nap."
Tsubaki blinked and smiled softly.
"Yes, I'm hungry."
Ren reciprocated her smile.
He was glad to see her being happy, even for a moment.