"Wait... don’t tell — were you, by any chance, um... you know." Haji trailed off as his eyes drifted from one end of the room to the other. As far as he could tell, what he was about to say is such an uncomfortable topic so he thought twice before bringing it up. If his hunch was true, then that ans that gumi had it harder than she thought.
"What do you an?" Even gumi was confused. It didn’t even occur in her mind that what she said was totally misleading, as if she was implying that she was previously not part of the Kikuchi family when in fact she was, it’s just that the circumstances were different from then compared to now.
"Were you... you know... um... adopted?" The last word in Haji’s question seed to stretch out, causing gumi to exclaim and almost choke on the curry she was eating. Haji imdiately handed him a glass of water, fresh from the faucet of course.
"I’m sorry, I um... I didn’t know. And here I was thinking that you had it way easier than . Of course, if you weren’t part of the household, then the expectations they had when raising you must’ve been too heavy a burden, right? I guess the two of us both had it rough, huh." Haji sighed downheartedly before taking in another mouthful of curry.
gumi couldn’t tell whether he wiped the sweat off his brows or tears from his eyes but he sure wiped sothing.
"What are you talking about?! I’m not adopted." gumi adamantly rejected the notion, almost as if she was personally attacked. "It’s just that... we were poor back then,"
"Oh, so that explains why you can do simple chores and cook for yourself," Haji comnted.
A nod ca from gumi. "Yes... when I was twelve, my parents started a new business venture. It was just an idea but they managed to make it big, you know what I an? A few years later, I heard that it was all thanks to their friends from college, they were basically the ones who sponsored the entire thing."
"Whoa, that’s cool. Are they like.... insanely rich or sothing? Your dad’s friends, I an." Haji was getting curious now. It was unexpected for him to hear that kind of story, much less from gumi’s mouth.
"Yes, or so that’s what I heard. They died though... they died before my parents could repay them." gumi said with a sigh. "In any case, I thought I would grow up as a normal girl... and then suddenly my parents were owners of a huge company. It didn’t happen overnight, of course, but it takes a long ti to get used to. I was suddenly a huge target for kidnappers so I couldn’t go out on the weekdays. I practically had to beg my parents to let out on weekends just like before. No one would approach in school as well, they think I’m an untouchable or sothing. It’s as if my whole life flipped upside down and there was nothing I could do to bring it back to how it was back then. It’s as if soone’s choking on the neck... you know that feeling?"
"Yes, I know that feeling pretty well. In fact, I think I know it way more than you do." Haji responded. He could sort of empathize with gumi since he too felt like his life was choking him right on the neck, like a noose ever-tightening, depleting the life out of him.
"Riiight~" gumi nodded slowly, thinking that what Haji just said was weird. She wasn’t going to question it though.
"Look, if you ever feel that way, why don’t you talk to your parents about it? It’s not like they won’t listen. Besides, they’re probably worried sick about you... more so that you deliberately ran away from ho. It would be pretty understandable if they felt a modicum of indignation... I guess."
gumi nodded. Because of Haji’s words, she was able to rethink her past actions, realizing that it was unbefitting of her to do that after everything her parents had done for her. She was just running away, she was aware of that, but Haji’s words knocked her down a peg, enabling her to get back to her senses. "I... yeah, you’re right." She mumbled. "Thanks, Haji."
"No sweat, thanks for the dinner." Haji slightly smiled. ’This gumi... I guess I couldn’t hate her if she was like this."
Pause.
"So... are you going ho now? It’s still a bit early so you can definitely catch the last train." Haji said.
"Yeah, I’ll go ho. You can contact Franz-san through the phone he gave you." gumi responded.
"Right, I totally forgot about that."
With gumi’s permission, Haji ssaged Franz-san and told him of gumi’s whereabouts. He didn’t specify what ti she got to his ho, he just said that she was there, without any further details.
"I was just wondering... I still don’t know who that Akiko is... is she your ex-girlfriend?" gumi asked, just when Haji was drinking water.
"Pfwooph~!" Haji was taken aback by the question, so much so that he spat water all over gumi’s face. "Sorry, and what are you talking about?!" Haji wiped the excess water off his lips and proceeded to wipe gumi’s face with his shirt.
"Wow, did you just spat at ?!" gumi asked.
"Sorry, it was your fault for asking such a question," Haji answered before he started laughing.
"What’s funny?!"
"..."
Knock.
Knock. Knock.
Haji almost jumped out of his feet as they were interrupted by the banging on the door. "Oh, that must be Franz-san. He must’ve been nearby." Haji said, peeping through the holes of the door on the off-chance that it wasn’t Franz-san who was knocking.
He was right on the money. It really wasn’t Franz-san. In fact, it was a woman and a man garbed in formal clothing. They seem like businessn, no, from the looks of it, they seem like debt collectors. ’What do I do?’ Haji bit his lips as he stole a glance at gumi.
As for gumi, she didn’t notice Haji’s signal to not move and instead approached the window with the curiosity of a cat. Her reaction was different from what Haji expected though.
"MOM? DAD?!"
Haji could’ve sworn that gumi’s scream was heard throughout the entire neighborhood.
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