JUST FOR YOU: Hourglass (Chapter Five)
Title: Hourglass
Author: yutorinislove (Hikari); takakiholicx (Keara)
Pairing: Takaki Yuya x Iwata Sayuri
Chapter Five
It was, as always a lively breakfast for the Yabu family. Besides the fact that Hiro was in his picky eater stage, there was really nothing that could go wrong with the family meal.
“Do you think…” Elena spoke up without meeting her husband’s eyes, “do you think Takaki would take care of her? She seemed so fragile.”
Yabu knew that he had to give a positive answer or his wife would worry some more. But he didn’t want to lie either, so he settled for the neutral, “Takaki knows what the right thing to do is, love. They’re going to be just fine.”
But it was in a woman’s nature to worry about fellow women. “She seemed so nice, and I don’t want anyone to break her. She doesn’t deserve it, I figured. Don’t you think so, too?” Then she turned to Hiro. “I most certainly don’t want Yuyan to break her - they both have these fragile capacities and I don’t want them to get hurt in any way.”
“Yuyan? Fragile?” it was strange to hear Yuya being described as fragile. He was a mafia leader, after all.
“Yes. Don’t you think so, too?” Elena raised her eyes to meet Yabu’s when the phone rang . She stood up to take the call, leaving Yabu to contemplate with his thoughts.
---
“Elena, it’s Nanami.” The other’s voice was hoarse and cracking, as if she had been crying. Elena vaguely remembered that the other girl has just gotten home from Japan, saying that the weather here might be favourable for her son.
“Nanami-chan. What’s wrong, why are you crying?” Elena asked. “Did something happen?”
“Rui just died.”
Elena’s eyes widened. Rui was just two years old. He was the same age as her own son! She felt her eyes fill with tears for her friend. “Oh my god, I had no idea, I’m sorry, Nanami.”
“It’s fine… it’s… he’s in a better place now,” she heard Nanami say, as if convincing herself. Then she cleared her throat. “I… I better get going, I have paperwork to finish.”
“Where are you? I’ll come to you later. Oh my god, my condolences, Nanami. I’m so sorry.” Elena said. Nanami gave her friend her address, and Elena noted to herself that she’ll visit by that day. Her best friend needed her support.
---
“Who was that?” Yabu asked her when she came back to the table. He wasn’t looking at her because he was busy helping their toddler eat his food.
Elena’s eyes snapped up to meet Yabu’s. She debated inwardly if she should lie or not. Then she decided against lying. Yabu didn’t deserve lies. “That was Nanami.”
Yabu’s eyes widened. “Nanami? As in Sakuraba Nanami? Kei’s private nurse?”
“Former private nurse, Kou,” she said gently. “She’s… in a bit of a pickle right now.”
“Oh?” Yabu asked. Then he remembered what he has overheard from the phone conversation. “Someone died?”
Elena sighed. “I - yes. Someone did. I don’t want to talk about it yet, Kou. I hope you understand?”
Her eyes were hopeful and Yabu just sighed. Elena was a girl and a girl was entitled to her own secrets. Besides, he knew that he could trust her. He knew that she would tell him what’s on her mind if he really needed to know. So, however curious he was, he let it go.
He smiled. “Sure. It’s fine.”
---
Yuya knew he was cold to his new wife last night. He didn’t have to push her away like that. Even his pathetic excuse of not wanting to hurt the baby was not exactly that - an excuse. They didn’t have to have sex on their first night as man and wife. They could have talked, they could have gotten to know each other better. Bu the let his libido and reservations take control of himself.
He pushed himself off the bed and found that Sayuri wasn’t there. He was already asleep when she climbed on the bed, and he knew she had been crying. He hated it.
He moved to the kitchen, where he was greeted with a fully-cooked meal with a Post-it note stuck on the soup bowl. The food was still warm, so Sayuri hasn’t been gone from the kitchen too long. He pulled the Post-it closer and read what was scribbled there in schoolgirl script.
I hope you will eat this. I just went out to buy something.
-Sayuri
A smile unconsciously grazed his face as he sat down. He held a first forkful of food to his mouth and smiled wider. She was also a very good cook.
Maybe it wasn’t going to be so hard to fall for her.
---
Sayuri reached over to pick up a lemon when she was rendered breathless by the pain in her abdomen. She gritted her teeth to steady herself, but the pain only got worse.
The lemon slid from her hand as she collapsed on the super market floor.
---
He has always been available for Yuya when they were still teens, and he never saw fit to abandon the practice now.
Daiki rushed to Yuya’s side in the hospital emergency room. Yuya was walking back and forth in nervousness.
“Yuyan, man. Do sit down. You’re going to wear a hole on the ground if you didn’t stop pacing.” Daiki said as an effort to calm the other man down. “What happened, anyway?”
Yuya shook his head. “I don’t know. They haven’t talked to me yet, but the people from the super market who brought her here told me that she just collapsed.” Yuya sighed, and Daiki noted that his eyes were wild with panic. “What am I going to do if both of them are in danger?”
Daiki reached over to pat the other man on the back when the emergency room door opened, revealing a doctor.
“Takaki-san? Can I talk to you for a minute?” The doctor asked.
“Sure.”
---
“Your wife had an episode of spotting.” The doctor didn’t expand much on the subject of spotting, but Takaki knew that it was something really bad. His own older sister has had experienced spotting before and it was terrible.
“Is she going to be alright?” Takaki asked.
“She is stable, and the baby’s out of harm’s way, Takaki-san,” the doctor said, browsing his notes. “But I strongly suggest that you keep her out of stress. so I highly recommend that we make plans for the birth right now, because I guarantee that this pregnancy would be a delicate one.”
Takaki felt numb, as if his body wasn’t functioning anymore.
“The birth is considerably far away,” the doctor continued, as if unaware of the turmoil that he has thrown the young father into. “Unfortunately, I have to tell you this because it is a matter of utmost importance. A natural birth is not advisable, if strongly discouraged, for her. She has been born with a very weak heart, and it might just give up on her if she pushed through with a natural birth. Unfortunately, she could not avail of a caesarean birth, Mr. Takaki.”
Takaki blinked, obviously confused. There were only two options, right? And the doctor was telling him that Sayuri wouldn’t be able to avail of both? What did that leave his wife? Did that mean she has to give birth through her mouth? But Takaki didn’t voice all these concerns out. At least, not directly. “Why not?”
“It seems, after a couple of tests we ran through her, that she is allergic to the anaesthesia that would be used in her birthing,” the doctor sighed.
“Then…” Takaki blinked, eyes widening as he digested the information. “Then, that leaves her with no choice but to have the natural birth.” It was a statement, not a question.
The doctor nodded gravely.
“Are you crazy? You tell me she has heart complications and then you say she can’t have painkillers for the birth. Seriously. What could we do about this?” Takaki was very nearly screaming.
“Takaki-san, please do calm down,” the doctor sighed. “Sayuri-san’s condition is really very difficult. She is the type that shouldn’t have gotten pregnant in the first place. But there are still things we could do to help with the pain. It is not as effective as anaesthesia, because it depends on her willpower, but it could help.”
At that point, Takaki would agree to almost anything. He wanted the safe entry of his child to the world, and he didn’t want to endanger the life of Sayuri while doing so. “Anything. What could we do?”
The doctor handed Takaki the clipboard he was holding, and Takaki looked down on the proposal. “We could prescribe her some harmless oral painkillers two hours before the birth. But since she’s going to enter labor before that, we have to have someone to assist her with her breathing. It’s an important thing in a birthing: breathing. A perfectly timed breath could actually counter the pains of labor.”
Takaki looked at the doctor and said the one line that was on his mind the whole time. “And? Would that really help?”
“Takaki-san, in your wife’s case, it is the only option she has. Let me refer you to a couple of prenatal classes where the two of you could attend.”
Yuya grimaced in dismay. “The two of us?”
“Naturally, the father has to be present for the birth, so, yes, it is advisable that you yourself would attend the birthing so that you could assist with her breathing and keep her morale strong. Do you think you could do that?”
Takaki sighed. He’ll have to cut through his work hours just for those prenatal classes. But it’ll have to do. There was really no other way. He nodded begrudgingly. “Yes. I could do that.”
---
When Sayuri woke up, no one had been by her bedside. She decided to sleep some more.
---
“You just left her there?” Even for a twenty-year-old bachelor, Ryutaro had an idea of how things should be. And leaving your wife alone in the hospital after she has just concurred an episode of spotting wasn’t one with his ideas. He stared incredulously at his friend who sat easily behind his desk, perusing his files. “All alone? Without even explaining to her what happened? God, Takaki! What the hell were you thinking?”
“She’s just asleep when I left. I couldn’t just wait for her to wake up, you know. I’m a busy man, I have work to do.”
“Aw, damn work. I have work to do, too, but I still have time for my girlfriend. Don’t give me your pathetic excuses.”
“You don’t actually do work, Ryutaro. You’re only twenty.”
“So it doesn’t count?” Ryutaro snapped. He hated being treated the baby among them. He was really independent when it came to things like these. “I am at my father’s office when I am not at university. I work my ass off from when I arrive from ToDai until the wee hours of the morning. That doesn’t count as work, Takaki Yuya?”
Takaki backtracked. “Okay. Okay, I’m sorry, that was wrong.”
Ryutaro exhaled sharply. Then he glared at the scenery outside Takaki’s window. “Okay, fine. What did you call me over here for?”
“I was… okay, forget it.”
“Dude, you did not just waste my time.” Ryutaro said sarcastically. “Just spit it out.”
“I was…” Yuya sighed. “I was thinking whether you could go over to the hospital and discharge Sayuri, and take her home. But, yeah, never mind. I’ll just come around later after work to do that.”
Ryutaro exhaled sharply. “And, what, leave her there? Alone? For…” he glanced at the wallclock and figured it was three o’clock, “five whole hours without explanation and without a companion? Gee. I would have thought you were the family man among the ten of us. I guess you just proved me wrong right now.”
“What could I do?” Takaki wanted to defend himself, but Ryutaro turned his back on him and grabbed his bag from the couch.
“Where are you going?” Takaki said curiously.
“Where else? The hospital.” Ryutaro fumed. “But you owe me one, Takaki.”
When Ryutaro left, Takaki felt relief. Relief that he didn’t have to face Sayuri just then. He wouldn’t have known what he would say to her if he did.
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