Returned home early, saw my wife embracing another man - Chapter 9- Don\'t abandon her

I was staring at Asuka.

She was sleeping peacefully—probably the first real sleep she’d had in days.

It was all over the news: Fujiwara Mikoto had been hospitalized after a heart attack.

What struck me as odd was that, no matter how hard I had searched in the past, I could never find anything about the young heiress of the Fujiwara family. Nothing—no photos, no articles.

The only information out there said she was studying abroad and never showed up at public events or family gatherings.

Now I understand why.

She was scared.

I could see it in her face. In her eyes.

She’s terrified that we might grow distant.

And honestly, I understand. I wasn’t any better.

Even while I was getting angry at her, a part of me kept wondering if the love and passion she showed for me—for us—was real, or just a long, convincing act.

But deep down, I always knew.

No one could pretend to love someone like that, for so long, and so completely.

I don’t doubt her anymore.

But now… I just feel empty.

Guilty.

For the past two years, she had to keep herself away from her family because of me.

She believed I would leave her if I got to know whose daughter she was.

She chose not to trust me. Maybe I was too unreliable in her eyes.

I accept that initially, I was quite hot-blooded and angered at the man, but slowly, I stopped talking about Reiji as well. He was a phase of my life; Asuka should have realized that my reaction to her family wouldn’t just outright push me to break up with her.

But she didn’t trust our love.

‘Haah…this is complicated.’ Running my fingers through my hair, I decided to calm down a little.

Getting up, I was about to get some water when I heard Asuka’s phone buzzing.

I checked the caller’s ID and found it was from an unknown number.

I thought for a moment before picking up, “Hello?”

[…]

There was a long pause from the other end, urging me to check whether the other party had ended the call.

However, they still were on the line.

“Hello? Who is it?”

[Ah…] They finally spoke, it was a man,

[C-Can I talk to Asuka-san?]

Nervous voice. I frowned, “Is it Fujiwara Satoshi?”

[…]

Another long silence.

I breathed into the phone, “She has told me everything. Is everything alright?”

Thankfully, the man spoke this time,

[She told you? About us?]

“Yes,” I confirmed, “…things happened and she told me about you and everything she had been hiding.”

I shouldn’t have said it like that. Guh…

A brief silence before the other person asked,

[I am near your apartment. Can you come down to meet me?]

I glanced through the window and saw that same car parked in the distance.

Glancing at Asuka, I said, “Okay. Wait a minute.”

I disconnected the call and first covered Asuka with the blanket.

“Mm…Yuto…” She mumbled in her sleep, her hair falling over her face.

My heart calmed down, seeing her face.

She is like an oasis for me; bringing relief to my heart at the hardest times of my life. But the difference was, this time the source of my relief was also my reason of concern.

Soon, I left the apartment and climbed down the stairs before finding a man in a black shirt and trousers standing there, near the entrance.

His build and that long hair told me that he was the one whom Asuka was hugging that day.

‘Just like his father…’ his face gave me bitter flashbacks, but I forced myself to remain indifferent.

Seeing me, he suddenly lowered his head, “Good evening, brother-in-law.”

I was flustered by the formal greeting.

The people passing by started taking notice of us that’s why I hurriedly told him, “Ah, Good evening. Please raise your head.”

He did as I asked.

Heaving a sigh, I asked, “How is Mikoto-san?”

A soft smile lifted the edges of his lips, as he said, “She is better now. She woke up an hour ago.”

Oh. That tells why he seemed so excited to meet Asuka.

“Well, should we tell her?” I suggested, but,

“If she is resting, then let her be. She has been restlessly taking care of her and staying by her side for the past two days.”

“Yeah, I know.” I nodded, “…she told me.”

His smile hardened as he suggested, “Can we take a walk?”

I glanced at the apartment…I did lock the door, right? Yes, I did. That’s why I nodded in assent.

We started walking down the street in silence for a few moments before Satoshi-san spoke up,

“She talks a lot about you. We barely chat but when we do, she mostly talks about her life with you.”

I didn’t know how I should respond to that, so I just hummed.

Then a question clicked in my head, “Why…did you never try to stop her? Like…I wasn’t an impressive guy by any means and I held a grudge against your father. Yet…you allowed her to marry me?”

His gaze drifted past me as if he was reminiscing about something as he said, “Asuka…has gone through phases which made her distant from us. We failed her as a family, and at the age of fifteen, she left home to live alone overseas.”

…I didn’t know a single thing about it, except for the fact that she was bullied during her childhood.

She told me subtly about it and cried while resting her head on my shoulder.

Heaving a sigh, he added, “So when she returned and demanded something, we didn’t even think twice about objecting to her wish. We just wanted to give her whatever makes her happy.”

“Handing her to a man you didn’t know?”

He chuckled, “You think I didn’t search your background before your marriage?”

“…” I didn’t say anything about that.

He continued, “I knew you had a difficult past and a struggling present but what I cared about was the fact that you loved my sister dearly. You were her support when she didn’t have her family by her side. And that alone was enough for us to agree to your relationship.”

We came to a pause under a streetlight before Satoshi-san turned to me.

“I know I might sound demanding and arrogant, but brother-in-law…you are her everything. Her emotional support, her happiness…so please, don’t abandon her.”

******

A/N:- Thanks for reading.