Was it fear? Anger? Such questions flooded her mind as she struggled to make out the words she wanted to say. Her father whom she had not seen for almost a year with not a single call or message had suddenly appeared on her doorstep.
"Could we talk for a bit?" Her father said, pulling Mei out of her trance.
She felt her knees getting heavier and her hands started to shake. Suddenly, a shadow sets upon Mei and her view from her father was blocked. She looked up to see,
"Isaac?"
He'd noticed her discomforted behavior and decided to step in between the two.
"Mr. Ohara! Long time no see, how have you been doing?" Isaac awkwardly asked.
"Oh, Isaac! It sure has been a long time. Look at you! My, you're taller than I am." Mr. Ohara responded after being stunned by his sudden action.
"Well, you seem like you haven't aged a day since we last met. So, what brings you here?" Isaac asked as he leaned on the door frame.
"I wanted to talk to Mei. We hadn't been in touch for a while and I have some important news to share." Mr. Ohara peeked behind Isaac but he continued to obscure his view.
"She actually had some important meetings for today and was just about to get ready to leave. We could sit down and talk if you want."
Isaac put his arm over Mr. Ohara's shoulder and took him down the walkway.
"Isaac! It's fine. You don't have to do this." Mei caught their gazes.
"But…"
"It's okay, really. And besides, you have that 'conceptualizing' thing you have to do, right?"
Isaac surrendered. He waved both of them goodbye and left.
"Come in, Dad. Isaac made a lot of food in case you're hungry."
They settled down on the table. Mei finished the rest of the cleaning in the kitchen while Mr. Ohara was left alone in the living room. He looked around and noticed how different and messy the place was.
"So you and Isaac are a thing now?" He asked and suddenly a loud banging noise as if a metallic object was dropped resounded from the kitchen.
"N-No! What makes you say that!? We just have a project together and I thought we could talk about it better here." The flustered Mei said as she served her father coffee.
"Love what you've done with the place though." Mr. Ohara gestured towards the floor with books and news articles scattered around.
"So what brings you here all of a sudden?" Mei sharply asked.
Mr. Ohara's face grew somber along with the shifting of the mood. A long silence followed before he spoke.
"Your mother and I, we started seeing new people since you left."
"Is that what you came all this way to say? Yeah, I figured you guys would look for other people because CLEARLY, you didn't like your previous relationship." Mei raised her voice.
"Mei, your mother and I… We already talked about this a long time ago."
"Well how about me!? Did you ever think to tell your one and only daughter that her parents were getting separated the second she walked out that door?" Mei turned sharply to her father.
"For such a long time I've been trying to hold this family together. So that if I ever left, you two would find a reason to stay together. I… I understand that you separated because both of you wanted to be happy, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to accept."
Mei stopped and looked down. She wanted to cry but her emotions were also flooded with anger and confusion that she didn't know how to react. Her father stared at her with a mournful look on his face. He knew of the mistakes he made and had no intention to make excuses for his sake.
"Is that all? You can leave now if you're done." Mei said as she turned her back on him.
"I'm… Getting married again."
Mei doesn't answer.
"We've been seeing each other for a while now. She's a teacher for a kindergarten. We met when her school requested a doctor take a look at the children. We met and one thing led to another. She told me all about herself. Her work, her hobbies… her daughter."
"Get out."
"Mei, I…"
"GET. OUT." She raised her voice again without turning to look at him.
Mr. Ohara realized that saying anything would only anger her more. He drank the last of the coffee and thanked Mei for the hospitality. There was not a single peep from Mei as her father walked to the front door.
"Do you love her? She and the kid?" Mei asked.
"She's grown on me. And she reminds me a lot of you." He smiled in response as he exited the house and walked away.
When she was sure he had gone, Mei collapsed to the floor. She stared intently at her palms and asked herself what this meant.
Should I be happy for them?
Should I hate them even more?
Am I the bad person here?
The questions in her head made her shiver. She held herself tighter as her fingers started to shake again. Suddenly, a warm feeling came over her.
"You're gonna catch a cold if you keep lying on the floor there."
Mei looked up and was surprised to see,
"Sydney?! W-What are you… How are you…"
"Isaac told me to come to rescue you. He figured you'd just get angry if he showed up so he asked me." Sydney responds as she knelt beside Mei.
Mei suddenly leaned in and gave Sydney a deep hug. There, tears finally escaped her eyes as she felt safe in the arms of her friend.
"Geez, what am I gonna do with you, Mei? Feel free to use the jacket to wipe your snot, it's Rikki's" Sydney jokingly said to lighten the mood.
~~~
"How goes the painting, Mr. Aikawa?"
"What are you doing outside my apartment?" Isaac responded.
"Oh nothing, just wanted to check up on one of the department's star students."
"Well, you can go back now seeing as I'm all well and fine."
Isaac walked past him and motioned to open the door to his apartment.
"The annual competition has their submissions deadline for next week. I and the other members of the department are so eagerly awaiting your entry. I trust that you've been hard at work these past few weeks? Your last presentation was… lackluster at best."
"I'll make the deadline. You can be sure of that."
"Fantastic! And here I thought you've been messing around with the paper club all this time."
"How did you…"
"Oh! No need to worry, Mr. Aikawa. If what you say is true, then there's nothing to worry about."
All Isaac could do was watch as Ozwell walked away from his apartment building. Even though he knew Mei and the others had dealt with these kinds of people before, he felt an ominous air about Ozwell that rocked him to his core.