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"I"m here for him, and for you."

Rina's skin grew goosebumps under the man's intense stare at her when she announced her answer. But Tooru's unwritten eyes were replaced with astonishment that she wasn't done explaining. They were hard to read, showing how confused he was at her statement.

"But that was until I saw your recent post on your social media," then her charcoal pools aimed down at her feet shuffling together over the plush grass.

Tooru furrowed his brows. "My social media?"

"I was curious about what you've been up to," she admitted shyly. "When I saw a picture of [Name], it made me realize that I have no right to take you away from what you already have. So then, I am here for Tetsu only. At least, I want to do my part as a person who gave him his life, if you can let me."

His shoulders slumped, feeling the tense atmosphere coming down into a solemn one. Tooru had mix emotions about the idea of Rina entering back into their lives since it hasn't been a full day with her yet. But he can't deny the honesty in her tone. He realized, she is starting to admit her faults and intentions which it was something she never did before.

Should he let her take that chance?

"I see now."

The dark blue clouds and the white moonlight masked the evening skies when night approached fast. Tooru finally gave you your explanation like he promised of the gist of his day, but most importantly on what he and Rina discussed about. After making dinner and putting Tetsu to bed, you sat across from the professional athlete on the bed in his master bedroom and studied his placid face.

He was telling the truth.

By your stare, he felt completely vulnerable and then stiffened his shoulders while he sat with crossed legs. "I promise. Tetsu doesn't know, and she agreed not to tell him anything either. He's not ever going to know."

You let out a quiet breath and leaned your face into your laced hands, elbows connected over your knees. Tooru cocked his head to the side and scooted himself next to you with a hand rubbing your back, pulling your head for him to kiss at the top of it.

"Thank you for telling me," you whispered against him with fluttering eyes but you immediately frowned at a sudden thought peeking your interest. "Why didn't you say anything to her then?"

"I just thought we should make the decision together," he replied shamelessly. "We're a couple, aren't we?"

You didn't know what kind of answer you had in mind, but it nothing like that. Just by hearing it, it awfully made you feel so secure in your position and you couldn't be more grateful to find such an honest and strong man like him.

He seemed to noticed your twisted expression, pulling an inch away to gaze at your wondering profile. "What's wrong?"

"Well," you began and looked away from him, "it's not like we can keep it from Tetsu forever. He's going to know sooner or later."

"Don't worry," Tooru dismissed with a calming voice, needing to comfort you. "He's still a kid. He's not going to understand anything."

"He won't always be a kid though," you reminded him sadly. "He's going to grow up and will understand when he looks back on it."

The mood suddenly became shallow at the idea of your little, sweet Tetsu changing. Time became short and limited, so every day and every minute with him counts. You just wanted him to not have any misunderstandings or resentment towards anybody. You don't want him to grow into that person, so overprotecting him won't change that.

"What do you think?" he questioned openly. "Should we ask him?"

Your heart clenched at the thought. His answer will be unpredictable because no matter what answer he gives, it will change things.

"He has the right," you let out.

Tooru cocked a brow in concern, blinking to make sure that your eyes are still fixated at him. "Are you sure?"

"At the end of the day, it's all about Tetsu. It's his decision to make, not ours. If he wants to know, we should help him, shouldn't we?" Your sight began to fall to your lap at the last part. He just knew you felt uneasy but the day is going to come soon whether you like it or not. "I'll give them another day. Then we can ask Tetsu if he wants to know who his mom is."

Tooru's lips grew thin while giving you a deep stare before he pulled you into another deep hug. His large hands rubbed up and down on your back, lowering his head close to your ear to whisper sweet words.

"Everything will be fine," he uttered. "If anything, I don't think he's interested in knowing his mom. Even with Rina, he doesn't seem fazed."

Letting out an amusing breath, you had to agree. Tetsu wasn't affected at all since she arrived.

"And by the way, Piercings and Mr. Refreshing got nothing on me! Who do they think they are?" The random outburst caused you to pull away to glance at his face. A grown man like him shouldn't be whining and putting on a pouty expression yet here he is, making a childish face.

You simply laughed at his childish attitude before cuddling next to him in assurance. Listening to him rant about the men in your life made you feel ulteriorly flattered just by seeing the slight jealousy in his pools. Somehow his reaction gave some sort of comfort to you, seeing that you weren't the only one who is worried about somebody else stepping into the picture.

He loves you just as much as you love him.

"I love you," you muffled against his shirt and snuggled tighter as you two laid down on the bed, entangling yourself with his body.

It was sudden to him that you would say such a strong statement and stared down at your sprawled form on top of him. By brushing his curled finger across your cheek, he brought your head up to look at him and see his calming, boyish smile. The love in it is so apparent.

He cupped your head to make you crawl and kiss him. His finger traced over your lips after he pulled apart and then muttered, "I love you."

With your arms wrapping around his neck, Tooru shifted to get you on your back and pulled the covers over you two as he dove in for another kiss. The clicking sounds erupted between your lips the more he continued to suck on them and throwing his tongue in your mouth.

He hummed against your mouth with closed eyes, breaking apart from you to resist himself from doing more than he should.

"Do you want to move in with us?"

You paused and opened your eyes at him, seeing that he is staring back at you with a glint of hope and nervousness. But you can still distinguish the confidence on his face.

"Here?" you asked in surprise.

"Actually, I was thinking we should look for a place together," he corrected with a shy smirk. His arms held around your waist to press himself against you, being mesmerized by your swollen lips. "A decent-sized house. Not too small or too big. A little more home-y and warm. I'm not saying this isn't home but..."

Tooru trailed while scanning his eyes around the room above you, reading the outlooks of his extravagant penthouse that is the complete opposite of his previous description.

"I would like something more realistic and functional; a place where we can raise a family together." His sentence shocked you that it made you slightly choke for words. The pupils in his eyes widened when he turned to look back at you again, showing the familiar warm and tranquil brown color you once recognized. "Do you want that? With me?"

The word 'family' can make you feel things you've never felt before. You just knew he was planning his future, but most of all he is planning his future with you in it.

You almost felt your eyes watering at the sweet gesture, and Tooru knew that you were overwhelmed with emotions so he waited patiently. You never thought of it before, but now you can - a house of your own kids playfully running around with Tooru sitting at the dining table and watching you cook.

It was a beautiful image that you wanted to come true.

"Yeah," your voice shook. "I really do."

His smile stretched into a wide grin with teeth showing. One of his hands slid across your stomach in anticipation, letting it linger for one second before he found your left hand. Your heart was racing and your body growing warmer at the touch of his lips pressing at the back of your fingers, your left ring finger especially.

"You're literally meant for me," Tooru peered down at you while placing your hand on his chest, Underneath your palm, you can feel his heart beat steadily. "I was about to call you something else, but I'm saving that for later."

"When?"

"When we get married."

You waited for an explanation but there was none.

He refused to say what it is but you can already speculate what he meant, and that bothered you in a teasing way. But he soon made you forget his sneaky comment by locking his lips with yours again just to silence you and succumb you into his love.

The night ended after he gave you another hickey at a place where his son couldn't see as you had done the same to him. He practically begged you to give him one just to show off that he is taken. His clingy behavior brought you the attention that he doesn't want anybody to interfere, not even Rina.

With that thought in mind, you were more than assured but you were happy that he's always thinking about you - on what you think and how you feel. You never realized how considerate he is of you.

It's been a few days since the first time Tetsu met Rina and it's been considerably normal like usual despite of you keeping in touch with her. You were lovestruck once again and the idea of Rina coming into the scene doesn't scare you as much as it did.

You gave her the benefit of the doubt and send a few updates on how the little Oikawa is doing and what his normal schedule is like, but you tried not to give away so much since it is her job to get to know him through him.

So you've set up an opportunity for her.

"Are you ready, Tetsu?" you peeked into the boy's room with wondering eyes.

He was on the floor, trying to stuff the remaining books in his backpack and his pencil case in a messy manner. Seeing his cheeks puff stubbornly, you gave him a hand and bent your knees on the white carpet to arrange the items in his book bag to let everything fit all together.

"Now I'm ready," Tetsu glanced back you to give his little thumbs up, signaling that he is ready for school.

"Okay, let's go wait in the living room," you gestured him to run out of the room to meet his father who is fixating his windbreaker jacket, also getting ready for another volleyball practice.

You followed after him, seeing Tooru picking up him off the ground to give a little poke to his stomach as Tetsu cackled in glee. The man fixated his striped blue shirt underneath the denim overalls he wore.

"So Tetsu, someone is going to drop you off to school today," Tooru started which brought the boy's huge eyes onto him.

He blinked curiously, "Isn't Mommy taking me today?"

"Well, I'm about to start work soon so someone is going to take you instead," you explained casually, although that is the half truth you told. "They should be here any minute."

Like a good kid you expected him to be, he simply nodded and didn't make no complaint about the change in plan. He wasn't too thrilled of the idea by how silent he gotten.

Your phone vibrated in your pocket, signaling that you have received a text message from a certain dark haired woman. That was your queue to let the woman into the complex while Tooru went ahead and fixed Tetsu's lunch box that you prepared this morning.

A few minutes later, a knock came from the front door and the security screen shown Rina's complex face. The discomfort on her is obvious but she also looked excited. Reluctantly, you opened the door for her to see that she is dressed in pastel green blazer, beige ankle pants, and nude block heels.

"Rina, good morning," you greeted formally with traveling eyes at her clean outfit. "You look nice."

"Morning," she waved back with a smile and entered Tooru's penthouse. "Thanks. I have a meeting today for my new clients."

"It's Ri-chan!" Tetsu's voice sang through the roof, catching the attention of everyone in the room. His little form came running to the front entrance to greet the beautiful woman with a wide grin. Arms wrapped around his calf, he hugged her dearly. "You're here!"

"Good morning, little one! You look so cute in your outfit," she sang softly and bent her knees with hands over them to lower herself. He laughed shyly with red cheeks.

Just when you had the confidence in yourself, you felt it wilting away by Tetsu's gleaming face at her. You were amazed, honestly. It's a different interaction with her from the first day they met. He seemed to be more relaxed and energetic versus his past self.

By the looks of his embrace around her leg, it simply reminded you of a time when he first tackled you with a hug.

Then you began to press your lips together.

"Are you taking me to school?" the boy asked.

She nodded eagerly. "That's right. We should go soon so you're not late. Do you have everything you need?"

And just like that, it seemed natural to her to talk to him like he's her child - what a mother should sound like. You were getting anxious.

With the help of Tooru handing you the packed lunch, you lended it to Tetsu who sought for the bento and happily grabbed onto it with his two hands, pressing it against his chest as if it's something dear to him.

"Make sure to finish it, okay?" you instructed, tapping underneath his chin to make him look up at you.

"Okay, Mommy!" He shouted in delight.

The tension was there, even Tooru can feel it. It was quite immature to think that you and Rina are indirectly fighting for dominance, marking a territory that is yours. It is exactly that and you know your ego is getting the best of you.

Just by that name directing towards you, you felt like you already won.

"Bye, love," the older Oikawa stepped close to you and sneaked a quick kiss to your lips. "I'll make sure he gets to school safe."

When he outstretched the word, you knew he meant something else, meaning he will watch Rina closely and making sure the plan is still in motion. Hopefully, nothing she does will change that direction.

His hand squeezed your side before he lifted a teasing smirk and turned to lead the two out of the front door. Tetsu grabbed onto his book bag and hoisted over his shoulders, waving at you.

"Bye-bye!" he cheered.

His smile is addictive which caused you to smile right back at him.

Just when you were about to reciprocate, Rina lend her hand out to him for Tetsu to take. "Care to hold my hand?"

The small child blinked. There was a small hindrance in his face but the hesitance instantly went away as he grabbed onto hers willingly.

"Okay!"

It didn't seem like a big significance to him, but it was to you. Because seeing him holding hands with another woman who isn't you, you couldn't ignore the sudden drop in your stomach the second he touched her. It was definitely hard to watch it unfold, but you just have to suck it up for now.

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Posted: 07-16-21

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Next chapter... Rina showing her face at Tetsu's school, Y/N's major anxiety, and Tetsu's answer.