"Toji... I don't understand this." You put the letter down on the table in disbelief. You look at your husband, whose mouth is slightly open. He doesn't know what to say at all. He isn't going to say anything until you speak again. "Toji, what is this?"

He doesn't say anything. Your hand slams on the table, anger quickly filling your body, "Answer me, Toji!"

"I-" He begins but he stops himself. He doesn't know the right words to say. So he lies. "I don't know what those are."

"Oh, so Misaki hid them under the guest room mattress? Because she likes hiding things from me, right?" You begin, and Toji doesn't know what to say or respond. He doesn't know if you're serious, but you make it clear with your next sentence, "Maybe Megumi did it. He picked up the letters and managed to put them under the mattress."

"Look, I'm sorry. I just- I didn't know what to do." He stutters, clearly nervous. He doesn't know the right words to say. These aren't just words he can read off a script. He's given this much thought, but he's never thought about the words to say for when this finally came to light. He's never known what the right words for this moment are.

"Tell me. Show me that Shiu was sending letters to my daughter! How did you even get this?!" You raise your voice. "Does he know our address? Did you give it to him?!"

"No! I didn't!" Toji answers. He knows he didn't, but he doesn't know if he's partially at fault. "Please, I just didn't want to ruin things."

"Did you find these a couple of days after her birthday?" You ask. So many questions are going through your mind but you don't know how to ask. Anger blocks your thought process. You can't put all the questions into words. The fact that he's quiet fills you up with more rage. "Answer me, Toji!"

"No. They were left at the doorstep of our home the day of her birthday. Both times. At night." He reveals, and it makes your heart drop even more. You close your eyes for a split second, and he continues talking, "They came with a gift too."

"A gift?" You question. You repeat it once again, a harsher tone and a slightly raised voice, "A gift?!"

"Yes!" His voice matches yours in volume. He doesn't do it intentionally, it's just natural to him to match the loudness of the person talking. "Two dolls. He sent two dolls. One doll each year."

"Why didn't you tell me?! She's my daughter!" You yell, standing up from the chair. You grab the letters and turn around, not waiting to hear an explanation, even if you just asked. Toji stands up to follow behind you. His hand grabs your wrist, stopping you from walking.

"I was scared." He confesses. You don't look back at him. You can't bring yourself to look back at him, while he confesses his vulnerability. "We were finally getting together. We realized we had each other. I finally got a family. I was scared that it'd ruin everything."

"Why would that ruin anything? You don't have anything to do with it." You slightly turn your head to look at him. Your eyebrows furrowed. It's clear that you're angry and Toji doesn't know exactly how to deal with that. In the time that you've actually been together, you've never gotten mad like this. "Or do you have something to do with it?"

"I don't." He answers. "But I was still scared. I didn't know how you would react."

"Toji, I wouldn't be reacting like this if you hadn't hid the letters from me." You tell him. He knows he's wrong, but he has no idea how to redeem himself. What could he possibly say that'll stop you from being mad. "You know how scared I am of him coming back. I at least expect you to tell me that he's been sending my daughter birthday presents."

"I'm so sorry- I'm just scared-"

"Scared of what?! I'm the one who should be scared because maybe one of these days Shiu will be the one to show up at the door!" You yell. You try to escape his grasp but it's too strong. "And you know what hurts? I thought we could trust each other with everything. Isn't that what people who love each other do?"

"It was a dumb mistake." He says, and you wish you could just laugh about it. The anger that flows through your body stops and overpowers any other emotion. Plus it's no laughing matter, although you wish it was.

"Take me home, Toji." You demand. He doesn't want to leave yet– So much has yet to happen. He made sure your favorite food was made, and dessert as well. He got a room set up for after. He has so much to tell you, so much that he saved up to tell you tonight. He doesn't want to let go.

"Please, let's stay and enjoy our night." His voice cracks a bit. You almost even feel bad for hearing your husband like this. Maybe if this wasn't about your daughter, you'd let it slide.

"Toji. Take. Me. Home." You repeat. It breaks his heart, but he brought it upon himself. He lets go and he follows behind as you walk towards the door. Countless nights have been ruined because of time, the kids and/or responsibilities. But tonight he can only blame himself for ruining the night.

"I'm sorry." He says, making you sigh.

-

You get home early, which surprises the babysitter. Toji pays her, and she leaves. Misaki is still up, and she tilts her head, watching as you take a seat next to her. Toji stands in the living room, his arms crossed as he watches you two.

"I thought you said you couldn't tuck me in tonight?" Misaki says, and you smile at her. Your arms wrap around her, pulling her into a hug.

"You know I love you and your brother more than anything in this world, right?" You ask her, and she hums in response. She looks up at you, and you look back down at her, a weak smile on your face. You want to give her a sense of security, hoping no worries infiltrate her mind. Your hand runs through her hair, patting her head gently.

"Misaki, honey, will you go to your room?" Toji speaks up, and you glare at him. You don't want to yell at him in front of Misaki, so you let her go. She walks over to Toji and hugs him before walking to the stairs. Toji crosses his arms, staring at you from the same place he's at. "What are you planning?"

"I'm not planning anything." You tell him, standing up from the couch. But he doesn't believe you. He's spent too much time with you not to know that you're planning something. You do constantly remind Misaki that you love her, but you don't phrase it like that.

"Sure you are." He responds. He tries to think of what you'd possibly do. He furrows his eyebrows before asking, "Are you sending her away somewhere?"

"No, I'm never leaving my baby's side." You answer. He bites his bottom lip, squinting his eyes as he looks at you.

"You're not leaving this house." He claims, trying to maintain his composure when he finally figures it out. "You're not leaving our family!"

"We're not talking right now, I'm mad at you." You say, standing up from the couch. You begin to walk towards him– No, towards the stairs. You're not going anywhere near him.

"You're not leaving." He repeats, his voice harsh.

"You don't have the right to tell me what I can and can't do." You respond before you reach the stairs and begin to walk away. Toji follows you. He's not going to let you go just yet. He hopes you can talk it out.

"I'm your husband. We've been married for two years. I have some rights. We have a family together." He keeps talking, and you want to roll your eyes. You keep quiet, knowing Misaki is wide awake and listening. You walk into the room, finding Megumi asleep in the bed, but this time with his pajamas. He probably chose to sleep in here. You're glad to find him in the bed because it'll make Toji silent.

You walk into the bathroom, and before you can lock the door, Toji walks in too. You pinch the bridge of your nose, a sigh escaping your lips. You can't believe he'll bother you in the bathroom. You clearly don't want to talk to him at the moment.

"Look, Toji. I'm mad at you. Very." You begin. "But what I'm doing is not to hurt you. I love you. I don't like the fact that he knows where my daughter lives."

"It's been three years, he hasn't come back and he won't come back." Toji tells you, trying to bring you comfort, but it doesn't work. It does the opposite because at the moment you feel like you can't trust him.

"You don't know that, Toji. You don't know Shiu." You begin. "Shiu knows I can't afford this house on my own. He'll figure out eventually that my dad didn't buy me this house. He'll figure out eventually that I got married, and he'll take her from me."

"Why would he take her from you?" He asks, and it feels frustrating to have to explain yourself. He's not doing anything wrong by asking– You're just mad. At Shiu of all people.

"He loves Misaki more than anything, he probably hasn't taken her from me because of that. But the fact that I got married will make him mad and make him take her away from me, and I can't afford that." You explain, and Toji understands but he won't let you leave. He's not allowing you to scare yourself like that.

"He clearly hasn't found out." Toji answers. "Or maybe he has, and that's how he found out the address. He just doesn't care."

"Toji, you don't know what you're talking about." You reply, and he notices how agitated you look. "Shiu is a cruel man."

"I don't want to belittle you, but you're making it too big of a deal. Shiu doesn't care. The only reason we're married is because he didn't care enough about you and Misaki." Toji argues, making your hands ball up into fists. You push him out of the way and open the door.

"He cared enough to send a birthday present with a letter each birthday." You half-whisper. Toji knows better than to keep going. He sighs, and takes a seat on his side of the bed, loosening his tie before leaning down to kiss his son's forehead.

"What are you doing?" He asks, watching you open the closet door and pull out a suitcase. It's no surprise that he didn't get you to change your mind. Toji inhales and closes his eyes for a second. "You're not leaving Megumi and I."

"It's temporary, not permanent. You still have to work here. Meanwhile I'll find a place for us to live in another town." You tell him.

"With what money are you counting on?" Toji stands up, slightly raising his voice. It's Megumi's fault for choosing to sleep here tonight. "You don't have a job. You don't have the money, and I hope you don't expect to use my money. We can't move anywhere else."

"Why can't we, Toji?" You question.

"My family employs me in this town. No other job will pay as much as this one, unless you want to stop being a stay-at-home wife and get a job so we can both afford to pay the bills." Toji points out, which is logical but nothing is making much sense to you. "You're overreacting."

"You wouldn't call it overreacting if it was someone you knew that had the power to take your son away!" You snap, and you take a deep breath, remembering that Megumi is sleeping in the room.

"I love Misaki as if she were my own." He says. "I'm just not worried about Shiu because him coming back is impossible."

"How would you know?" You ask, and Toji closes his eyes for a split second. He tries to think of what to say, and he decides that the truth is the best thing

"Before we were actually together- I-" He stutters, not knowing how to word it. You're already mad at him, what he'll confess will most likely make you want to kill him. The doorbell rings, and he swears the babysitter is his salvation. "I'll go get that before Misaki comes running to the door, telling us someone rang the doorbell."

He walks away and you walk over to Megumi, leaning down to kiss his forehead. You make sure that his blanket stops right at his chin, "I'm sorry. I love you, Stinkgumi."

You walk out the door as well, just to check what the babysitter forgot. Packing everything in one night isn't possible, especially since you're hungry. You'll check, eat something, then go back upstairs.

"Can I help you?" Toji asks. You watch him tense up, making you realize that it isn't the babysitter at the door. You furrow your eyebrows, thinking about who it could possibly be at this time.

"Happy anniversary." You hear, your eyes widening at the voice. You want to run upstairs and hide your daughter, but you can't run or he'll hear you. Toji receives the white lilies that are handed to him, and that's when it hits him,

"Those aren't for you. They're for my girlfriend, y'know... The one that you took."