Drabble G: Golden
Title: But My Eyes Still See
Rating: K+
Genre: Family/Tragedy
Cu/Au: Au
Pairings or Characters: Hikaru, Kaoru, Mr & Mrs Hitachiin
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Should he tell them or should he keep cool?
But My Eyes Still See
He made the discovery by accident, searching through the waste paper basket belonging to his dad.
A number without a name, and the symbol for “woman” etched over and over, like the way people drew stars and flowers obsessively in a notebook.
‘Did you find it?’ asked his dad, entering the study.
Hikaru jumped, then smiled, and gave his dad the invoice. As he strolled down the staircase, he looked again at the number and entered it on his cell-phone.
A woman picked up, surprised.
Startled, he ended the call and went to rejoin his twin Kaoru, while somewhere in the mansion, another cell-phone was ringing.
***
‘Dad,’ said Hikaru, standing near the doorframe, ‘is there something you want to tell me?’
‘What do you mean?’ asked the calm-faced man sitting in his father’s chair and typing away at an email.
The hallway was bright with the gleam of light-bulbs and the man soon turned to the shadow of his son.
‘Is it to her?’ Hikaru persisted.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Hikaru mastered himself. ‘I gave you a chance,’ he told his father, ‘remember that.’ Then he hurried past Kaoru walking in the corridor.
‘What’s going on?’ his brother asked.
But Hikaru did not respond.
***
He stared at his mum, bewildered. ‘Why are you speaking in English?’
‘Because it’s easier,’ she answered, and repeated the same sentence slowly, until he understood that she, too, was having an affair. ‘I am so sorry. I really am. I was really going to tell you…’
Hikaru almost laughed. The idea had been to tell her first, before the matter grew out of hand, and his eyes must have said this, for she took him suddenly in her arms and wept, as if she had known all along.
‘Hikaru, forgive me… forgive me… please forgive me…’
In the distance, servants moved, closing every door upon them.
Smiling, Hikaru promised not to mention his mother’s secret.
Not to Kaoru, not to anyone.
‘I love you,’ she whispered, ‘and that will never change.’
If only she had said this to dad.
***
Hikaru settled on the bed, careful not to wake his younger twin. He wanted so much to talk to him, to tell him the things he had learned today, except the expression on Kaoru’s face was enough to stop him.
So he listened to music late into the night, flicking listlessly through songs on his iPod as he mulled about the future.
It was not his place to reveal what he knew, but how could he ignore it? Their parents would divorce some day. Would they pull him and Kaoru apart?
As he struggled with the options in his mind, a song seemed to merge with Hikaru’s thoughts, one he had often heard in the past, though never paid much attention to.
Troubled, he tried to close his eyes and go against its wisdom, even as the words “silence is golden” gently filled the room.