Markus went straight to his room as soon as he arrived at their house. He closed the door and crawl under his blanket curling in fear, sobbing in distress. He didn't move a bit, wary of anything that might get him out on his safe haven.
A few hours later, his mom arrived from work. She called Markus upstairs, but he didn't respond.
"Marky?... you there? Get down here. I've got some cookies for you." she exclaimed but, the cookies didn't work. She knew he's at home. She saw the shoes on their doorstep and the door wasn't locked when she entered.
The dinner was set and she went upstairs to get Markus and knocked on his door.
"Marky, dinner is ready. Let's go and dig in.." She said softly.
He didn't say a word.
"Marky?" she repeated. When there is still no answer after the second call, she began to worry. She thought something is off.
"Ne, Marky?.. are you alright?" she opened the door and saw the room with no lights on.
"Why didn't you turned the lights on?" she searched for the switch and turned it on. "What's the matter? Are you not feeling well?" she reached her hand on his head covered with the blanket. She uncovered him and saw the pale face of her son. "What happened?" she asked warily. Markus did not answer her question, instead, he dashed and buried himself into his mother's arms.
"Did something happened?" she said to Markus. There is no other reason why Markus would have his panic attack at this moment, she knew he saw the man and she began to get pissed off that guy.
She knew she would have to do something to stop his attacks, if not now, she asked herself when. She then remembered what the doctor said when she asked what she can do to erase the fear her son is having.
"Confront him with the sad reality..." the doctor said as what she remembers. "It's better if he will face his fears, of course, you should be there to assure him that he's not alone."
She knew it will be difficult for Markus, but she can't think of any other way.
"I had no other choice, Marky...I'm sorry but Mom will do a bad thing to you, okay? I hope you'll forgive me for doing this..." she said softly.
She took a deep breath and started raising her voice saying, "Why are you crying, huh, Markus!" she pushed him away, but he held into his mom's hand. "Let go!" she tried to get off with his hand.
Her heart felt like crumbling but she endured it. Her nose started to tingle hot as if her tears are piling on her face.
"....Mom..." he cried. He desperately held on to her arms.
"What are you afraid of? If you won't stop crying, I will definitely send you to that man!" she said meanly and dragged him outside his room. Her tears form in her eyes.
"NO!... Mom, please not that!" he continued crying. Markus turned red. His face is smudged with tears.
"No,,," she sternly replied and paused "I guess you have to see him and stop these ridiculous panic attacks. I'm sick and tired of all the times I must take care of you that I have to sacrifice my work just to attend to that pathetic emotional problem that you have! C'mon Marky, grow up and be a man." She tried not to cry and swallowed all the emotions. "...in the first place, it was your fault to wrongly choose your opponent, to hack ORION. Of all things?! That's being insane!" she looked away and her tears fell.
Markus hold her shirt's hem trembling, tears falling but he remained silent.
She would like to comfort him and hug him until he calmed down, but she knew that would not do him any better. She must be strong to make his son stronger and better.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
"No, Mom, please..." he whispered. He reached his mom's lips to shut her from speaking. "please stop...I'm sorry."
"Ja, I don't have any choice" Charlotte grabbed his wrist, with force. Markus flinched in pain. "I'll bring you to him. You better talk to him and get over it."
"No way!!" he cried even louder. He struggled to get off his mom's grip. "Mom, please no."
She dragged him by his left hand and bring him to her car. Markus struggled not to get inside but he was pushed strongly by his mom. She had decided to end it that night.
"Hey, Charlie, what's happening?!" Ned shouted from his shop but Charlotte just waved at him and she drove fast to ORION.
She parked at the very entrance of the building while ignoring the guard at the gate. She went off the car and opened the backseat door to drag Markus out.
"No Mom, please let's just get out of here,, Mom...please!!" he cried out.
But she hadn't thought of a second to back down. She got his left arm and dragged him out of the car. She didn't care if they are making a scandal in front of the company building. She went straight to the reception desk and people around the open area stared at them. Markus kept struggling to escape from his mom's grip. On their way, they were halted by the security guards who kept on following her since they came.
"Ma'am, what are you doing here. You are making a scene in this building. Get out in an instant before we call the police."
"Stand down, guards. I'm with the police" she showed her ID and they paused in their feet. "... this is an important matter and I need you to tell me where your Boss is?"
"The Boss? Why do you ask?"
"I have something important to talk with him." He tightened her grip in Markus' arm.
"Mom, please let me go,, Mom....please... it's hurting me..." he continued wailing.
"We cannot let you pass through, ma'am. We need to have you restrained..."
She did not wait any time longer, she run through them and left them behind. She was running faster, holding Markus, as their pursuers were tailing them. She went straight to the meeting room, the big room at the end of the hallway where she guessed Reiko is at the moment.
"Stop them!" the guard shouted.
They kept running and passed through employees until they've arrived at the meeting room.
She opened the door and went straight inside. Everyone was shocked upon their entrance.
Reiko was seating at the end of the long table listening to the presentation when Charlotte and Markus entered the room, exhausted. His blood froze and unconsciously stood from his seat.
"What are you doing here?" he asked "... and why are you dragging Markus?" he didn't know what to do. "What's happening?"
Charlotte collected her breath and took a deep sigh "We need to get this over, I need your help." her eyes are filled with compassion and tears.
The moment she said those words, he knew it was something important, something about his son.
"Everyone, please get outside. Let's continue this meeting some other time..." he stood up and went to the two who placed themselves at the corner of the room.
"But... sir..."
"No complaints... the Boss just said to continue this some other time. Go now." Louige said, leading everyone towards the exit.
Everyone left the room, except for Louige who was asked to remain.
"I want you to be with us, Louige-kun. Help us out."
"Hai... I'll do my best."
The moment Louige was about to close the door, the security arrived and told him about the intruders.
"Let them be, it's the Boss' business..."
They exchanged looks and got more confused about what Louige said to them but they followed their orders. "Hai,... sorry for the intrusion..." with that, the guards left the room.
When the door closed, Markus slipped from his mom's grip and went to the corner in the middle of two cabinets on the left-wing of the room.
"Marky... c'mon, get out of there," Charlie said. She followed where her son slipped himself in.
"Your mom's right. You don't have to hide there, Markus." he slowly walked towards him. "C'mon, no one's gonna hurt you here," Reiko added. "You see, I've got many cookies here."
He didn't move a bit and continued crying. He stayed there, curled himself inside the cramped space. Charlotte and Reiko sat in front of the cabinets and waited for Markus to calm down, to stop crying.
"Ahh... when I thought of it, I still have cookies here, you know... it will be a waste not to eat it, ne, Marky?" Reiko sounded like he's bribing him. He stood and get the cookies he left under the drawer of his table.
"That would be nice... let's eat it together... sa,,, get out of there now... Mom's not mad anymore." Charlotte sounded cheerful.
"Ahh... me, Markus..." Reiko reached the box of cookies near his feet. "I'm really sorry,,, it's all my fault. I didn't know it was you. I'm just a bad dad. Would you be able to forgive me, ne, Marky?" the room suddenly felt cold
"...when I met your mom, ORION was still on its budding stage. I can't get my own decisions because of the ties I have with other companies. I left your mom knowing that we didn't stand a chance with each other because she had her own business to take care of. But, now that I think of it. It was my choice to leave you two behind. I'm really sorry, dear."
He took a deep breath, looked at Charlie, and continued saying "A few years later, I was told that we came to have a child, and that's you... but I wasn't able to take care of you. I've lost the chance to have you as my son and be a father." He looked down and went silent.
Markus moved the box with his foot back towards them.
"You know, when you first talked to me in front of the vending machine, I really can't explain the feeling. Remember the time when you called me "Sir"?, I was about to cry, you know. How foolish I was to cry in front of a stranger, I guess, so I kept all my tears. Remember that? You lend me a coin to have my juice." Reiko continued. "...I'm sorry I was not able to tell you that I'm the same person who was about to hit you back then at the Bureau. That is why," he brought his head to the floor, bowing to his son.".. gomenasai... honto ni gomenasai, Marky." He cried "...would you forgive me?"
The kid gave a silence in response though they can hear him sob.
"...If it's all about the thing you've done at ORION, that's nothing compared to what I have done to you. I guess it was my punishment to have left you and your mom alone. You can do anything you want, just let me know. I guess I can spoil my own son, right?" he looked at Charlotte again.
The kid crawled outside the darkness, still looking down.
"Ne, Marky..." Charlotte said as tears fell from her eyes, she reached her hand on him.
"Mom..." he looked in Charlotte's way "...Dad..." he said to Reiko.
Their eyes met, and tears didn't stop falling from Reiko's eyes.
Markus hugged them both and cried hard. He continuously said Mom and Dad as he cried himself out.
"I'm sorry!.... I'm really sorry.. Mom....Dad..."
"Yosh...yosh... don't cry, don't cry anymore.. It's alright, Marky... Mom's here, don't worry... Now, your Dad is here, too.. together we will protect you." Charlotte said as she hugged him tighter. "I'm so sorry about what I've done in the house. I'm so sorry mom had raised my voice. I'm so sorry to hurt you, dear."
Reiko can't express his feelings. He can't say any word, overwhelmed by the fact that Markus is calling him Dad for the first time and not Sir. He just cried and cried and hugged them both, not minding the thought that they were sitting on the floor and cookies were all over them.
Louige stared at them, moved by their faithful reunion, and took a picture. Then, he remembered something important.
"Ne, Boss, maybe it's time to give him our present." Louige gestured as if he's holding a controller.
"...what present?" Markus asked, wiping his face from tears, sweat, and snots "Who are you, anyway?"
"Soo... this is Louige.. my faithful assistant, my adopted son, your Onii-chan (big brother)."
"Louige Rosenwald.... Well, he adopted me a while back but never mind that. All you have to know is I'm someone you can depend on."
"Hm... so... in that case, can I call you Nii-chan?" Markus asked still crying.
"Ahh... fine by me..."
"About the present, hand it over Louige. Onegai shimasu!" Reiko asked
"Hai..."
Louige pressed a button on the wall on the right side of the room. The wall suddenly changed from projecting a night scene into a big computer monitor. The LCD brightened up the whole room and the monitor flashed the ORION's logo. They went near the computer monitor wall and Louige opened the program. He hit keys on the round table's touch screen keyboard. Markus approached the computer hesitantly, but Reiko noticed, and he said,
"It's alright, Marky. We got this."
They all took a seat in front of the monitor and the program ran.
"Whooa... awesome..." Markus said, still sniffing.
"Right? Ja, I will start it by doing this..." Reiko hit keys on his keyboard and his avatar moved in the screen.
"Mean,,, what move is that?" Louige said trying to defend his own avatar who was losing ground from the enemy.
"I told you,, you should not let your guard down, Louige-kun." Reiko gave him a grin.
"So, you have to do it this way?" Markus hit some keys and run his avatar better than Louige.
"Ehh, that was great, Marky. That's my son!" Charlotte bragged.
They played the game Reiko made for this special moment. The time that he would be able to be with his own son and play it together with him made Reiko satisfied after all the hardships both of them had been through. They were so happy being together and reunited at that very moment. Smiles and laughter flooded that night that engulfed the whole room.
"I can't believe it worked," Charlotte whispered.