"Alright, girls. Rise and shine." He said, loudly, clapping his hands. Akira just turned over, using her good arm to pull the covers back over her head. Hitomi winced at the loud sound and the bright sunlight that shined through the now open blinds. "C'mon, breakfast is ready." He said, shaking Hitomi gently.
"Daddy…" Akira groaned, shutting her eyes tighter.
"Ah, see. You're only tired because you stayed up late last night taking pictures…" He said, casually. "Which, by the way, where is that camera?"
"Nowhere…" She responded, and pulled the covers over her head again. Miroku thought about jerking the Barbie quilt back once more, but decided against it. If she couldn't see him fumbling around in her toy box, then he could get it found a lot faster.
He opened up the pink toy chest when he was sure that Hitomi had fallen back asleep. He pulled out a few Barbies, a teddy bear, a doll dress, and one of Sango's high heels that one of them (probably Akira) stole from her closet. She had been looking for it for months…
He stared at it for a few minutes, remember how beautiful her feet looked in the criss-cross strapped open toe shoe…then he remembered he was looking for the camera.
Before too long, he had emptied the entire toy chest, and still had no luck. Great.
"Miroku?"
He heard his voice being called from the kitchen and stood up. "I'm coming Alyssa." He said, quickly putting the toys back in the treasure chest. "Alright, for real guys, come on get up. We have to meet mommy at 2:00, and you two still need a bath."
Akira pushed herself up and glared at him through tired brown eyes. "I'm still sleepy."
"And that's your fault." He said, smiling. "C'mon…you too, Hitomi."
He walked back into the kitchen, leaving their bedroom door open. Alyssa smiled at him as he entered the room. "You're cell phone rang, I think it was your wife."
Miroku raised an eyebrow in question and picked his phone up from the counter. "How do you figure that?"
"Well, it said 'Sango' on the call screen."
"That would be a good reason." He said with a laugh. "It's probably about picking up the girls today. She's probably just trying to remind me…" He said tiredly, then laid the phone back down on the counter.
"Miroku…?"
"Yes?" He asked.
"Does she know…about you and me?" Alyssa asked, hopefully.
(No.) That was exactly what he was thinking. But if he told her that, it would only spark another question: 'Why?'. "Of course she knows." Miroku lied.
Akira bounded into the kitchen, more awake than what she had been when he was in there. "Good morning, daddy." She said, happily, climbing up in a chair, despite her hurt arm.
"Well, good morning, sleeping beauties." He said. "Are you guys hungry?"
"Yes." They answered in unison. "We want peanut butter jelly sandwiches." Akira said, glancing at him.
"Peanut butta' jelly time!" Miroku chanted randomly, then quickly stopped. He forgot, Alyssa didn't know he was slightly random at times and he didn't want to scare her off, but she had simply laughed. Just like Sango used to do…
Crap, there he goes again, thinking about her. (Stop it, monk. Stop it.) He pulled out the bread, the peanut butter and the jelly and set to work on making two sandwiches.
After he was finished, he put it in front of both of them. "Let me guess, kool-aid to drink, right?"
They both nodded, and Akira pulled the top piece of bread up to look under. "Daddy…"
"What?" He asked, carelessly as he pulled down two cups. He couldn't find the "sippy" cups, Sango must have taken them all.
"You didn't cut the crusts off." Akira told him.
"Yea, the crust is gross." Hitomi said. "Mommy always cuts the crusts off and then cuts it in half, and you didn't put enough jelly on mine."
"Hitomi got more Peanut butter than me." Akira spoke up.
The monk sighed and walked over. "Then switch…" He said. "Here, I'll cut the crusts off." He picked up the two sandwiches and cut the edges off with a knife, then cut the sandwiches in half down the middle.
He switched the items between the two of them. "There is that better?"
Alyssa was watching in amusement, despite the fact she could see Miroku's nerves were frayed by this. The two girls still didn't look too happy.
"Daddy…" Hitomi was the one who spoke up first.
He groaned and sat down next to her at the table. "What now?"
"Mommy always cuts it diagonal, not across." Akira finished for her sister. "That's not the way mommy makes it, daddy."
He banged his head against the table repeatedly. Alyssa giggled from the kitchen and then his phone rang. She peered down at the screen and looked over at him. "It's…her…"
Miroku looked up at her, glad to see the girls were eating their sandwiches anyway, despite them not being exactly like Sango always made it. Maybe this was why women took care of children instead of men….
He grabbed his phone from the counter just before it went to his voicemail and flipped up the top. He cleared his throat. "Hello?"
"Hey…it's me." Sango's voice came over the other end and his heart pounded, even though he had known before he even picked up who it was.
"Oh, hey…" He said, feeling Alyssa burn lasers through the back of his head. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to tell you, I'm coming by to get the girls." She said, casually.
"Yea, 2:00, right? Ayumi Café?" He asked, leaning against the counter.
"Well, actually," Sango said, not knowing why she felt so apprehensive about this. "I have to come over on that side of town today anyway to get my bridesmaid's dress. I thought it would save gas if I just came by the apartment and got them."
Miroku felt panic rush through him. "Uh…well…uhm…" he stammered and paced the kitchen. "What time? Because…10:30?"
"Yes, Miroku, 10:30." She repeated matter-of-factly. "I tried calling you earlier, to give you more notice, but you didn't pick up. Have the girls eaten anything?"
"They're eating now." He answered, trying to sound casual.
"Good. I have to go now. I'm at the dress shop. I'll be there in 20 minutes."
20 minutes. Great. He had to find the camera and get Alyssa out in 20 minutes or his life was over. "Alyssa, uhm…you have to go."
"What? Why?"
"My wife is on her way, right now. And if she sees you here, she is going to be really mad at me." He said, smiling.
"But…you told her you were with me, didn't you?"
"Huh?"
"You said it yourself. You said that you told her you were with me, when I asked." Alyssa said, sitting down at the table, next to Akira.
Miroku twitched nervously. He did say that, didn't he? How did he always get himself into these messes? "Akira, listen to me really carefully…" he said, grabbing her attention immediately. "Go in your room and get your camera, and bring it to me, OK?"
She made a thoughtful face for a moment, then took another bite of her sandwich. "I don't know what I did with it."
"Akira…" Miroku folded his arms and looked at her. "Go and get it, right now." He deepened his voice and Akira was slightly taken aback.
"Yes, daddy." She said, pushing her chair out and rushing off to her room as fast she could go.
"Hitomi, go help your sister find the camera…" He ordered.
"But, daddy…"
"Don't argue with me, princess." He warned, and watched her fallow Akira into their bedroom. He sighed and sat down next to the table. "I've got to delete that picture before the girls show it to Sango."
Alyssa leaned down to kiss him on the cheek, just like Sango used to, and for a moment he thought he could replace the warm safe feeling he used to get with the demon slayer with Alyssa. But it wasn't the same.
"Look, Alyssa, I… I know how Sango is." Miroku said, facing her. "I know, she'll see you in this house, this early in the morning…she's going to assume we slept together."
"Well," Alyssa said, looking down. "why does she care? Isn't she dating someone else?"
"Yea. Well kind of…" He trailed off. "Not really."
Alyssa wrapped his arms around the back of his shoulders and kissed the side of his face once again. "But that doesn't mean you can't date other women…you did sign the papers right?"
Miroku hesitated and played with the salt shaker on the table nervously. "Yes." He lied.
"OK, Then. Don't worry about it…" She assured him. "Are you really that scared of her?"
The monk chuckled a bit and looked up at her. "You don't know her…" He said with a smile. "She's quite violent when it comes to me and other women…"
Alyssa giggled and placed a kiss on his lips. "We could make her really jealous." She said softly, then the sound of the door opening and closing them jarred them both from their position at the kitchen table.
Sango walked in just in time to see Alyssa pulled away from him as he reclined back in the kitchen chair. She simply rolled her eyes and sat her purse on the kitchen table. "Sorry to interrupt you." She said curtly, eyeing Alyssa with extreme disdain.
Miroku stood up quickly. "Uhm I'll go get the girls. I think--"
"Mommy!" Hitomi cheered, running up to her and clutching onto her shirt. Sango smiled and picked her up.
"I missed you!" Sango exclaimed, hugging her tight, then turned to see Akira exiting the room with a small, green Tinkerbell camera.
Miroku's eyes grew wide. "Akira, can daddy see the camera?"
She pulled it away, out of his reach and shook her head. "No. I want to show mommy all the pictures I took this weekend."
Miroku was mortified. "Akira…"
Sango kneeled down so that she was eye level with her four year old and Hitomi climbed in Sango's back to peer over her shoulder at the display of pictures. Miroku watched nervously as she clicked through the pictures.
"Daddy took us putt-putt with Ms. Alyssa." Akira chimed up. Sango looked down at the picture then up at Miroku, then at Alyssa.
Sango pressed the next button and almost dropped the camera. "Oh Kami!"
"Sango, I can explain." Miroku said, racing towards her to grab the camera, but Sango snatched it up first.
"I don't need your explanation!" She yelled, peering down at the digital screen. "And why the hell is this fucking bitch wearing my clothes?"
"Sango, honey, language."
"Fuck you, Miroku!" She said, then smacked him across his face with a loud pop. "You disgust me!"
The monk stood very still and placed his own, nervous, cold hands on the hot, burning skin on his face. She hadn't done that in years, and he had forgotten how painful it was. She still had a powerful slap and his head was still spinning from it.
"And as for you!" Sango said, glaring at Alyssa. "I just want to let you know that I look a hell of a lot better in that lingerie set than you do, and I've had two children!"
Alyssa was stunned by the brunette's outburst of anger, she was so shocked she couldn't say a word.
"Akira, Hitomi. Let's go now." She said, with no trace of sweetness in her voice, but Miroku could pick up on the tears behind the anger. She waited for them to drag their duffle bag out of their room, and she turned towards Miroku. "I should have signed those papers…"
Alyssa looked confused, and Miroku had a mix of emotions inside of him. Panic, sadness, hurt, anything but anger, because he knew she was right. He was a pathetic jerk, and he deserved to be slapped a lot harder than she had slapped him.
Miroku just stood in the middle of the kitchen as he listened to her heels click down the foyer hallway towards the front door. It was an empty, hallow and angry sound, much like the sound he heard on the day she left him. "Sango…"
His only response was the slamming of the door and then the eerie silence of the kitchen. That could only mean one of two things: Alyssa was hurt, or Alyssa was angry. He turned around to see that Alyssa was gathering her things and slipping on her shoes. She was angry.
"Alyssa."
"You lied to me! I thought you told me you were divorced!" She screamed. "I was wrong about you, Miroku!" She turned on one foot and then slammed the door harshly behind her, and Miroku was so shocked he couldn't even move.
Two women were angry with him now, and he blew his chance with both of them. Sango thought he had sex with Alyssa, when he really didn't. Alyssa was angry at him because he lied to her about signing the divorce papers.
Buddha just wasn't giving him a break today.
He sighed and plopped down in his recliner and turned on the television. American football was on, he supposed the would get his mind off Sango, which it didn't. It just made him think about her more for some reason.
Maybe because she was always nice enough to cook him dinner and serve him on hand and foot when his favourite team was playing. Damn it, he had it good and he blew it.
He flipped off the television after a measly five minutes of mindless watching and headed into the bedroom. He was brooding as he leaned against his dresser, his anger towards himself was mounting and he released it by knocking the pictures in the floor.
"Damn it!" He cursed out loud and punched the wall, then the tears started to fall from his eyes. "Sango, why did you have to leave me? Why can't you just come home?" He cried to himself as he leaned against the wall. He had never felt like this before. As if his entire chest was going to cave in and his heart was going to stop without warning. His entire body was in agony and he felt like he was being torn in two.
He turned around slowly and picked up a picture along with shards of glass. Only one of them broke apparently, and when he flipped it over he discovered it was his wedding picture. The glass had shattered just like their marriage and it was ironically frustrating. "Shit…" He cursed to himself and placed the picture on the dresser, than rearranged the other photos, that luckily didn't break, back on the dresser. Then he picked it up again and carried it over to the bed.
"I really don't need to lose my temper like that…" He said to himself. He gathered the glass and threw it away in the wastebasket, then pulled the picture out of the frame and plopped back on his bed and stared at it.
He remembered that day like it was yesterday, even though it had been five long years ago. He was 19, she was barely 18 and they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together. She had walked down the aisle towards him so sure and without hesitation.
Miroku remembered how ready he was, how happy he was, how there was no doubt in his mind that this is what he wanted. His wedding day had been the happiest day of his life and his wedding night would be something he would remember for the rest of his life.
Then something struck him that both excited him, and frightened him. He would have to walk up and down the aisle with her again this Saturday for Amber and Nelly's wedding.
Amber hugged Sango comfortingly as she continued to cry. The young brown-haired bride-to-be scowled angrily. "I should rip that stupid monk's head off!"
"Why would he sleep with her?" Sango wiped her eyes and sat up as Sakura came in with a trey of cookies. She just peered at the small, tasty treats and cried harder. "They'll only make me fatter!"
Sakura frowned slightly, and Amber hugged Sango again. "Don't let that stupid jerk make you feel ugly." Amber told her. "He's the ugly one. He's lucky you even looked his way."
Sango pulled back from her and looked at her in disbelief. "Miroku's not ugly. I..stilll….I still love him, but he's hurt me so bad. I just don't know what to do with myself."
"Hey," Amber said, getting an idea. "why don't you just call Rob? I'm sure he'll love to take you out again. Besides, I kind of wanted to ask him something?"
Getting her mind off Miroku was hard to do, but for a moment Sango stopped crying and took a cookie from the trey. "What?"
"Well," Amber said, grabbing a cookie. "At the reception, I was thinking the kids would get bored. Especially Devon, he's such a brat." She said absently, referring to Raven and Seth's 3 year old son that had a knack for pulling Akira's pigtails whenever he was around. "I was thinking we could entertain the children with a magic show. If Rob's willing to do it. We'll pay him any amount of money he wants."
"That sounds like a nice idea." Sango agreed. "Speaking of the wedding…I know I have to walk down the aisle with Miroku…"
Amber frowned. "I know, Sango-chan. I tried talking Nelly into letting Wayne or Neyo be the best man, but he wants Miroku, though I don't know why…" She said, agitatedly. "I would switch you off with Hayden, but I really want you to be my matron…uhm…well maid of honor…" There she went with her foot in mouth syndrome again.
Sango simply smiled. "It's just one day…only for 2 minutes. I can handle it."
"Are you sure?"
Sango took a small bite of her cookie and nodded. "It's better than seeing Hayden hang all over him like a drunken monkey."
Amber giggled and stood up. "So true. C'mon, let's give Rob a call."
 | Review this Chapter |
No comments:
Post a Comment