It was early in the morning, perhaps a little after six or seven, when a ringing phone broke the tranquil silence in Iwaizumi's apartment.

Oikawa awoke due to the noise, but Iwaizumi remained still. Soft snores could be heard from the male.

The brunette blinked groggily a few times, exhausted after getting only a couple of hours of sleep. He frowned at the ringtone and decided to ignore it. It must have been an alarm that one of them forgot to turn off. He nestled back in and pulled the comforter over his head.

The ringing continued.

He cracked one eye open, grumbling. Stupid alarm. He ripped the blanket off of himself and sat up, but a heavy weight around his torso clung on to him.

He glanced down and his lips turned upwards a bit, seeing Iwaizumi's arm wrapped around his body. Gently, he pulled it off and left the warmth of the bed.

Shuffling his feet, Oikawa felt like a zombie. After their talk last night, they stayed up for another hour to watch a movie. It was only halfway through when he begged Iwaizumi to turn off the blasted dinosaur movie and to go to bed with him.

Iwaizumi agreed somewhat begrudgingly, and together, they fell asleep in the other's arms, and he wished he could've stayed longer. Oikawa huffed, annoyed. Whoever's phone was ringing, it had better be important.

He eventually found the culprit in the living room. A phone sat on the couch, ringing and vibrating and interrupting Oikawa's peaceful morning.

Throwing himself over the top of the couch, he quieted his fall by catching himself with his arms. He snatched the phone—his phone—and stared at the screen.

Mr. Mori's number stared back.

At first, he didn't recognize it due to his tiredness, but the last four digits snapped him out of it. As a child, he thought it was the coolest thing that Mr. Mori's phone number ended in his birthdate. It was the only thing about that Mr. Mori never changed, even though the male was basically another person by the time Oikawa reached his preteens.

He had never saved the Mori's phone numbers. Maybe once, but it was quickly deleted after one of Mrs. Mori's beatings. As he continued to stare at the phone number, he felt a pit in his stomach. He reached with his thumb to hit decline, but a nagging voice stopped him.

Didn't you want your family back?

He grimaced. Answering a parent's call was something that most families did.

Just answer, Tooru.

He sucked in a breath and tapped the accept button. Holding his breath, he put the phone up to his ear and waited.

Silence.

He glanced at the screen and saw that Mr. Mori had stopped calling. He must have accepted it too late.

Oikawa called the male back. The latter picked up on the first ring.

"Hello—"

"Tooru," greeted a sad voice.

"Mr. Mori," he greeted back. It was weird to hear his adoptive father's voice so heavy. "Sorry, I took a while to answer. I was still sleeping—"

"Tooru, you need to get here. Now."

He sighed. So early in the morning, and the older male was already ordering him around. "I'm at Iwaizumi's. What's wrong?"

"I sent a driver already. He should be there in a few minutes. Get ready."

"How'd you—" he cut off his own question and cleared his throat. "Never mind. What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Instead of answering, Mr. Mori sighed and hung up.

Oikawa blinked, letting his arm fall to his side. His phone slipped out of his fingers and slid off the couch, landing with a thud on the floor.

The pit in his stomach grew.

Maybe I shouldn't have answered, he thought to himself.

But what was done was done, and there was nothing Oikawa could do about it.

He scooped his phone up off the floor, and lied back on the cushions. He checked the time; it was 7:16. Still early, too early to wake Iwaizumi without Oikawa feeling bad, but after the phone call, he felt too.. awake? unsettled? to go back to sleep.

But it's not like he could've. Supposedly, Mr. Mori had already sent a driver to pick him up.

Oikawa didn't even want to think about how his adoptive father knew where he was. Either it was a tracker placed in his phone or maybe the older male had hired someone to keep track of him. Both ideas creeped him out, and he swore to get a new phone soon.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and he realized, with a little panic, that the driver was already here, and he wasn't even dressed yet.

He jumped up off the sofa and ran to open the door. A man dressed in all black greeted him with a cold expression and gestured toward the parked car in front.

"Um, hi," he started, glancing nervously behind the man. "Can you wait a few minutes? I need to get dressed." He motioned down to Iwaizumi's clothes that he was wearing.

"It's fine. We need to go now," responded the man in a deep voice.

Oikawa pouted. "What's the rush? Just let me change my shirt, and we can go—"

"We leave now." stated the driver. "Mori-san has ordered it."

Knowing that there was no use in convincing the man, Oikawa rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let me get my shoes on. Where are we even going anyway?"

"Hospital," the man grunted.

Oikawa stopped in the middle of tying of shoes. Hospital?

"W-why do we need to go there? Did something happen?"

His driver didn't answer, but instead started walking towards the car. Oikawa hurriedly slipped on his other shoe and ran after the man.

"What do you mean hospital? Is everything okay?" He asked again, bounding up to the driver.

The latter opened the backseat door and gestured for him to get in.

Oikawa climbed in, grabbing the door handle so he could slam it himself. Why could he never get an answer out of anyone?

He sighed and glanced out the window at Iwaizumi's apartment. He wished that he would've woken his soulmate up earlier, so that Iwaizumi could at least go with him.

"Wait," he said to the driver. "Can I go grab my phone real quick? I forgot it in the house."

"You're not going to want it."

Oikawa frowned. "Or can I at least tell my friend that I'm going? He's going to be worried if I suddenly disappear from his house."

"I can't delay this any longer, or else Mori-san is going to have my head. Sorry."

He huffed frustratedly. "Fine, fine. Whatever. Neither of you even told me why we're in such a rush, and why we're even going to a hospital. What, did Mr. Mori get hit by a car too?"

The man didn't answer. Instead, he started to drive, leaving Oikawa's question hanging in the air.

Oikawa, who wished that he didn't bring up the incident from last night, fought off a wave of nausea. He shifted uncomfortably in the seat, adjusting his seatbelt over and over again. Goosebumps trailed his skin as his thoughts began to fly.

What if Mr. Mori did get hit by a car? That wouldn't be good; his campaign would go down.

"Can you drive faster?" He asked the man. Whatever was awaiting him, he wanted to hurry up and get it over with. Overthinking never did any good for him.

"I am going to the speed limit."

"Well, go over," he commanded.

His driver complied, and they sped up, going on their merry way.

•

After ten minutes of driving in silence, they arrived at the hospital from the previous night.

A swarm of people were crowding the front doors. Oikawa saw that they carried cameras and microphones.

"What's going on? Why are there so many reporters?" He asked.

"It was leaked that someone got hit by a car."

"Yeah, me," said Oikawa. "Mr. Mori said that he paid off the reporters last night and told them that it was me."

He pressed his forehead against the window. "I was never formally introduced as Mr. Mori's son, so the reporters can't be that interested in me. So then, why..."

His voice trailed off as a realization hit him.

"They found out," he gasped. "They found out it was Mrs. Mori, didn't they?"

His driver nodded. "We're not entirely sure how, but one of the reporters from last night must have spread the news."

"Or the onlookers," he said. "There were a lot of people there, and there's no way Mr. Mori could have paid them all off."

They drove passed the front entrance and to the back where a secluded parking lot sat. His driver quickly found a spot to park and then cut off the engine.

The man exited the car and walked to the backseat door where Oikawa was. He opened it, and waited for the brunette to get out.

But Oikawa didn't move. He sat like a statue in the seat.

"Sir, Mr. Mori is waiting for you—"

"Something happened to the witch."

"The witch?"

Oikawa turned to face the driver, staring with eyes as dead as...

"I'm right, aren't I?"

He stepped out of the car. Placing one foot in front of the other, he made way inside the building, going through back exists and hallways until he stopped in a familiar one.

"Mr. Mori."

A man looked up at the sound of his name, but Oikawa didn't recognize him. The man in front of him looked worn and battered, as if beaten by a storm minutes before Oikawa had arrived. He looked nothing like the powerful politician that was Mr. Mori.

But it was him.

"Tooru," breathed Mr. Mori. "You're here."

The older male stood up and took slow steps toward him. Mr. Mori was walking like a man double his age.

Oikawa took a step back once they were only a few feet apart. The pounding in his heart had become a constant thundering in his ears, and he felt cold.

So cold.

Mr. Mori suddenly engulfed him in a hug, clutching him tightly like he was the last lifeboat out in a dangerous sea. And then the man did something unexpected.

Mr. Mori broke down into a sobbing mess, soaking Oikawa's shirt with salty tears and snot. Meanwhile, Oikawa stood stiff like a board. His racing heartbeat had begun to slow down as it broke into pieces.

"Where is she?" He whispered.

Mr. Mori couldn't answer, but his eyes trailed off to a certain door down the hall.

Oikawa followed them and gulped, his heart in his throat as he broke away from his sobbing adoptive father.

Like a zombie, his feet brought him to the door and without thinking, he opened it. His feet continued walking until he was directly in front of a bed.

An empty bed.

He whipped his head to the door where Mr. Mori was standing. The male was holding the wall, as if he no longer had the strength to stand on his own.

"Where is she?" He asked again, voice cracking.

Mr. Mori shook his head.

Oikawa covered his face with his hands and crumbled to the ground, his entire body shaking. Whatever hopes he had, whatever beliefs he had, whatever dream he had of some silly future where him and the Mori's were a happy family crashed.

He didn't know he was crying until he felt pools of liquid in his palms.

"She's still here," he blubbered. "She can't be gone; I haven't even gotten to talk to her yet!"

He looked to Mr. Mori, hoping that the male would break out in a dazzling smile and tell him that this whole thing was a poor joke meant to play with him, but the male remained somber, stray tears still slipping down his cheeks.

The scene caused Oikawa to cry even harder. "I didn't even get to say goodbye," he wailed.

"I didn't either," whispered Mr. Mori.

•

heyy 😎

If anyone's thinking about making a Tapas account, use my code DRSH558U for 500 bonus ink when you sign up :D

Hope everyone's well <3