7 Chapter 06 - To Love Is To Love

"Kasumi?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do, silly!"

…

"Kasumi?"

"Hmm?"

"I want a divorce."

The kitchen knife slipped from Kasumi's grip as Naoto watched impassively from the nearby table. For a moment, the only sound in the entire apartment seemed to be the clang of the kitchen knife dropping onto the floor. Naoto watched as his beloved wife whirled around, her beautiful features contorted with panic and fear.

"What?!"

Three months ago, he would've been concerned over the volume of her shout and how the neighbors might perceive it. He would've asked Kasumi to be quieter or retracted his words outright in the face of her outward sadness.

Three months had given him plenty of time to think things through and make the necessary preparations. The neighbors didn't matter – they already knew what was coming. He'd informed them all today that he intended to divorce his wife because she'd cheated on him for over a year. He'd begged their consideration for any noise that might arise if a screaming match developed. He only asked them to call the police if it sounded like things were getting out of hand or if they saw a man matching Kasumi's ex's appearance showing up.

That asshole had already been a fatal thorn in his marriage – he had no place in this final dialogue between husband and wife.

He folded his hands on the table and stared down she who had once been the love of his life.

"You heard me," he replied calmly. "I want a divorce"

She was almost immediately upon him, slamming her hands on the kitchen table in what he recognized was complete panic.

"But why?!" she demanded hysterically. "Don't you love me?! What's going on, Naoto?!"

Naoto took a deep breath to steady himself, unwanted memories returning briefly to the forefront of his mind before being immediately repressed. He then opened his eyes again and stared her down.

"You know why, Kasumi."

She froze. He hadn't needed to elaborate. The look in his eyes, the request for a divorce, and the way he'd phrased his response to her queries were enough for her to realize that the jig was up.

If it were possible, her panic flared up even more, fear giving way to desperation and horror as she realized that Naoto was fully aware of her affair. Of what she'd done to him.

"I…I…!"

Naoto said nothing as she gaped at him, failing to even stutter out a response. Instead, he got up and quietly went over to his briefcase and retrieved a thick folder that he placed before her and opened. In plain view was an already-filled out divorce form.

"Do us both a favor and let's end this without more fuss," he told her, placing down a pen beside the stack of papers. "If not, keep reading."

His beautiful wife stared at him in panicking confusion before turning her attention back to the stack of papers and, with a trembling hand, shifting aside the divorce form.

To reveal a lawsuit.

"I will be filing for damages," Naoto informed her calmly as he took his seat again. "From both you and him. Beneath the suit you'll find hard copies of the evidence my private investigator's been gathering over the past two months."

Kasumi could only stare in horror as she went through each subsequent document, indeed revealing a significant stack of evidence of her affair – both recent and dating all the way back to when she and Naoto had merely been dating. Each additional photo, each additional witness statement felt like another nail in her coffin.

And it gave Naoto a mild, but unsatisfying measure of pleasure.

"Once or twice, I might've understood," he told her softly as he watched her go through the file. "I haven't exactly been home all that often because of work or been the model husband. I get that. I would've forgiven that if we'd just talked it out. But this started before we even got married. Before this job. Before this apartment."

He stared at her with a gaze that was utterly devoid of affection or regard. "You are not the woman you claimed to be."

Naoto paused for a moment as she fell into the chair opposite his and held her head between trembling hands.

"I…I love…"

"No, you don't."

"I do!" Kasumi insisted, shouting at him as tears streamed down her cheeks and slamming her fists on the table.

Naoto sighed. He could not bring himself to cry – he'd already done that to exhaustion months ago. He'd already wept all the tears he would ever shed for this marriage.

Instead, he tapped one of the photos that had slid over to his side, showing Kasumi and her ex-boyfriend going into a love motel – just five weeks ago.

"If you had, this would've never happened."

She stared at the photograph under his finger and flinched. "I…I have needs, Naoto!"

"And that gives you the right to betray me this way? To hurt me this way?" he asked.

Another flinch.

"You didn't love me, Kasumi. You loved the stability of me. The image I afforded. The picture-perfect wife image you yearned for that we both know he can't give you because he doesn't love you either."

Naoto crossed his arms as he stared down his despairing soon-to-be-ex-wife. "But I'm not a prop for you to use as you want for appearances while getting some on the side. So, I'll say it again: I want a divorce. Please sign the papers."

"I…I don't want to."

Naoto sighed. "It'll happen anyway, Kasumi. Even if I have to file an additional lawsuit."

In a flash, she was on her knees next to him, grasping at him. Her tears were flowing freely, as were lines of snot from her nose.

"Please! Please, Naoto! Don't do this! I…I can break it off! I can change!"

He stared down at her and shook his head. "If you could, you would've already. As it stands, I don't believe a word you say on the matter."

Then, gently but firmly, he removed her hands from his clothing and got up, walking past her as she sobbed on the ground. "I'll be getting my things and heading to a hotel for the night. I would suggest not calling him, as I've informed our neighbors that he is not welcome here and to call the police if he tries to come here."

Kasumi's sobs increased as she practically curled into a ball. Naoto paid it no heed as he followed through on his words and headed to his bedroom to get his prepared suitcase. When he came back to the living room, Kasumi was still crying where he'd left her. Once upon a time, it would've tugged at his heartstrings so hard he would've dropped everything and consoled her with all his soul.

Now, he just saw a blight on his life getting the reality check she deserved.

"I will be back in the morning to get the papers. If they aren't signed, I will be calling my lawyer. Goodbye, Kasumi."

"Naoto! Naoto, please don't go!" she cried out after him as he walked inexorably towards the front door. Even after he closed it behind him, as he stood in the hallway, he could still hear her crying and calling for him.

He spied a few neighbors peeking out the door and shooting him sympathetic looks as he walked away from his apartment with as much dignity as he could muster. A few swore to prevent Kasumi's ex from entering his home, vowing to call the police if he was spotted.

He thanked them all for their kindness.

And yet, later that night, as he lay in his hotel bed, staring up at the ceiling, Naoto felt the void in his soul all too clearly. He'd thought laying it all out in the open, asking for the divorce, getting out of that house – away from her – would give him some measure of peace.

It didn't.

Because, like it or not, the betrayal lingered. No amount of action or cathartic discussions would ever undo the betrayal he'd experienced. Kasumi and her ex had well and truly screwed him not just out of a marriage, but also his innocence and part of his soul.

And upon realizing that, for the first time in months, Naoto felt the tears well up in his eyes. Not over Kasumi. Not over his devastated marriage.

But over the loss of part of who he was.

In the end, Kasumi caved.

Naoto hadn't been sure she would – in fact, he'd been about 60% sure that she'd fight the divorce tooth and nail. Or, at least, her ex would tell her to given how much he stood to lose.

But Kasumi had signed the papers in the end, even penning a confession to her infidelity.

Naoto couldn't be sure why she'd done that extra step and she never elaborated even as he retrieved the documents from her. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was a final kindness to the man she'd avowed to have loved. Maybe it was a moment of lunacy.

Whatever the case, it made the next steps far easier than they would've otherwise been.

With Kasumi accepting guilt and confessing to the shocking extent of her affair, the courts deemed Naoto's lawsuit against her ex viable given the special circumstances involved – including attempts to drug him. Part of Naoto had been glad to see the man rage and deny the claims before open court even as the judge handed down his ruling. With the amount he'd been sued for, the man would be in perpetual poverty for the rest of his natural life short of an economic miracle.

Naoto had even made a show of being kind enough to make him pay the settlement in installments – though said installments were then calculated to make sure he could never aspire to any better living than a rundown tenement apartment.

Not that he was ever able to get that far, as his attempted drugging of Naoto was itself a monstrous criminal offence that landed him squarely in prison thanks, in large part, to Kasumi's confession that he had, indeed, ordered her to administer said drugs without her knowledge of their actual nature.

As for Kasumi herself, the last Naoto saw of her was the day the judge ruled in his favor regarding the monetary settlement. She'd dressed in black as she sat at the defendant's table with her attorney, looking as beautiful as always, but no amount of appreciative glances and looks had been able to make her expression of shattered sadness change.

Their last interaction that day had merely been polite bows before each had gone their way.

Since then, Naoto quit his job, moved out of the apartment – which he'd decided to leave to her as a final show of kindness – and found a far more fulfilling and humane job outside of Tokyo. His new home might've lacked the comfort of a city life, but it was charming and peaceful in its own, rural way.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome home!"

A smile spread on his face at the familiar voice. There had been one additional perk to moving out of that damnable city. And that perk walked out of her home office to smile radiantly at him.

"How was work?"

Instead of answering, Naoto drew her into a passionate kiss that briefly surprised her before she laughed and leaned into it.

"Who cares?" he retorted playfully after breaking off the kiss, smiling widely at her continuing laugh. "I missed you terribly!"

She snorted at him. "You work literally two blocks from here!"

"Two blocks too far."

She looked momentarily surprised by his remark before smiling lovingly. "I love you, Naoto."

He drew up her hand and kissed its back. "I love you, Natsumi."

Two years ago, Naoto would've never imagined that the void in his soul would ever recover from the horrific betrayal he'd been subjected to by his wife. Two years later, he was glad to be wrong.

It wasn't that he would never love again after having loved once.

It wasn't that Kasumi had robbed him of his ability to love.

He had just needed, for the first time in his life, to experience what true love was.

And now that he had, Naoto was finally at peace.

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