11 Lingering Feelings

After Suguru brought him home, little Hiroki took out some crayons and started drawing a picture of Uncle Geto and him. He even imagined himself as an adult so that he could try and draw his dad too. After all, uncle Geto said his dad had white hair and blue eyes like him and that he looks like his dad so much.

An hour later, you came home to see a pile of paper and crayons and a sleeping Hiroki in the midst of the mess. You smiled softly, then rubbed little Hiroki's head before moving him to his bed and starting to clean up the mess.

That's when you saw a few papers little Hiroki drew on. The first one was the picture of a man with his hair tied up into a bun and your little Hiroki. You had never seen the man in your life before so you were a bit alarmed. You decided to find that out as soon as you could.

As you continued to go through thr drawings, you saw that the second one was actually some scribbles and a somewhat aged version of litte Hiroki and a few other ones were like that as well. You couldn't help but laugh at your son trying to picture him as older.

You continued looking at the papers although you were now a bit more relaxed, but then a particular drawing stopped you in your tracks.

Little Hiroki drew something like an adult version of himself and all you could see was the guy who broke your heart seven years ago.

Surely, the picture was not identical to Gojo Satoru as it was still a child's drawing but the picture was already there in your mind and the reminder of him was like digging up your wounds you didn't think still exist.

You ended up sobbing quietly as you held the picture. You had no idea what to do other than silently crying and sobbing. It still hurt after seven years and you were painfully aware that little Hiroki would look more like him as he grew up but you never actually pictured it in your mind.

You didn't think it was possible to cry that much again after seven years but you couldn't stop yourself until you heard your phone ringtone.

"..hello.."

"Y/n san, I just called to tell you that I am back from the business trip. ..Are you okay?" Namami paused and asked, it seemed that he could hear the sobs you were trying to contain. You were a bit embarased to be overheard crying but Nanami san just sounded concerned.

"I..am okay. I just.. Well..umm, little Hiroki wants to talk to you but he's actually asleep now so can we call you back later?" You tried to change the subject.

Nanami still sounded a bit unsure but he eventually told you that you could call him anytime if you and little Hiroki needed anything. You ended up thanking him and hang up the phone.

Maybe it was still hard to move on from that guy but maybe, just maybe, you could try.

--------------------

The next day, you prepared breakfast and then packed lunch for both you and little Hiroki as usual and asked him about his daily life and how his school had been lately. Because you had been so busy these days, you took a few hours off for the morning so you could spend more time with little Hiroki.

"School's fun! Kota kun and I are now bestfriends and we play at the park!"

"Isn't it amazing? Do you want me to pack some special snacks for your bestfriend?" You smiled as you patted little Hiroki's head.

"Yes, mom!!! I love sweets!" He replied energetically as usual.

"Then, I'll add more snacks for you. Share it with Kota kun, okay?"

"Yes!"

"Good." You said with a smile.

"Oh..mom, yesterday, I wanted to surprise you at work but I got lost and.."

You almost got a heart attack at that. "You got lost?! Oh my...did you try to come to my workplace alone? What if you got kidnapped? How did you even get back...?"

You felt like you were the worst mom in this world. Not only you couldn't spend much time with your son, your son almost got lost and someone could've kidnapped him. The worst part is that you had no idea it happened until now.

"Mom?..mom...it's okay! Really! A nice man brought me home and even told me about dad and the amazing school." Little Hiroki tried to comfort you as he noticed your panick, his little hands were rubbing your back as he tried to pull you into a hug.

"God..Hiroki, I got so scared. Don't do it again, okay?" You muttered. Little Hiroki was all you had. He was your family.

"Mom...Isn't Nanami san also family? If he can't be my dad, he can be my step-dad, right?"

"What...?" It took a few seconds for your brain to register what your six year old son had just said and when it did, you were at loss for words.

"Where did you even learn that word? And wait, what do you mean the school and your dad?"

But, no, little Hiroki had already ran away from the kitchen. You couldn't believe your six year old son just distracted you by bringing up the subject of Nanami san being his dad in some way so that he could get away from your questions.