A/N:

I was so upset that the comments were disabled when this posted. I would love to read your comments like it's your first time reading it T-T

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"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Two feet from you was Tooru holding your coffee mug that he just brewed for you after a long contemplating morning. Eyes withdrawing from your busy hands washing the dirty dishes from breakfast, you paused for a second before giving a solemn face.

"You know, you don't have to do this. You can come with us," his hazelnut pools glowered at you softly but you told yourself that the decision you made last night with Oikawa was going to be final. Through hard thinking and logical reasons, letting Tetsu meet Rina seemed harmless.

It was a hard decision to make, you're not going to lie to yourself. It's been several days since you encountered with her and it didn't make your week relaxing. During that time, you and Tooru made plans on how to introduce the two without Tetsu getting too emotionally involved.

Once you glanced back at the innocent child at the dining table happily eating his breakfast cereal, a familiar yet odd feeling disrupted your chest.

So you gazed down. "It's fine. I trust you."

Tooru was unmoved, staring intently before he set your untouched coffee cup onto the marble counter to give you an affirming hug. His arms wrapped around your body, tightly squeezing you and then he whispered over your head.

"I'm not going to let him know who she is, I promise," he assured you and you felt your heart pounded in a slow pace. "Only until he's ready."

Or if I'm ready... you wanted to correct but it wasn't your place to say. Everything is all depended on Tetsu after all.

"We'll come straight home after we're done," he promised before letting you go, just when you were about to change your mind, too.

You took a second to collect your courage before waltzing where Tetsu is, adding a genuine smile to your lips just by the mere sight of his plump cheeks decorated in specs of Cheerios sticking to his chin.

An uplifting laugh escaped from you and leaned to wipe a clean napkin over his stilled lips. "Your Daddy is right. You are a messy eater."

Tetsu squirmed in his chair in annoyance by your moving hand and then trying to chase after the floating pieces of his cereal in his bowl. "I'm still eating, Mommy!" he whined.

Your smile faltered a bit at the sound of your name - a name that is meant for you to be called by him. And you wondered how long is he going to keep referring you to that name until he realized that you're not the only mother to him.

"Tetsu," Tooru slowly eased himself in lowly said and the boy turned his head at you and his dad with munching cheeks. "Do you want to pick strawberries today?"

Your hand placed on the table to keep yourself balanced by the unwavering and unannounced topic. His huge eyes that are similar to Tooru's stared wondrously, stopping in the midst of his eating to give his full attention.

Tetsu swallowed and you thought his eyes couldn't get any bigger. With his hands planted on the dining table, amazement painted his expression. "Really? I want them!"

"Me too," the taller brunette smiled forcefully as if he was trying to uphold it in its place. "We're going with a friend. She bought us tickets."

"Oh," his grin lowered curiously, not at all thrilled of a new person coming along but it is expected. Then he turned to you. "Is Mommy coming?"

With a shake of your head, you declared. "I'm sorry, baby. I can't. I have work today."

"Huh?" The distraught on his face was obvious as his brows wrinkled in worry. "Won't Mommy be sad? Please go!"

"Tetsu, it's okay," you attempted to ease the boy down with a hushing tone, brushing your fingers through his brown waves in a comforting manner and causing him to look up at you. "Pick twice as much strawberries for me, okay?"

Tetsu's pout lingered, then it disappeared at the sound of picking more strawberries as you made it his mission to do it. He was quite ecstatic.

Thankfully, he seemed to understand and threw his cute little thumb at you. "I will pick the best strawberries for Mommy so she will be happy!" He declared proudly.

Laughing, you rubbed his head once more in encouragement before you took his empty bowl from the table. Once your back was turned, the frown made its way back to your face.

It's in fact true. You do have to go to work. As much as you want to join, for the sake of your own anxious thoughts just so Rina and Tooru aren't alone, but you also want to make another precious memory with Tetsu while he's still young.

The sound from Tooru's cell phone chimed through his pocket as he drew it out to take a lazy glance at it. The message he received didn't excite him, instead anxiety filled through his eyes.

You knew that she is here.

"That must be her," Tooru lowered his voice for you to hear and aimed his eyes at the security system by the door to witness a call from the intercom, waiting for the man's position to allow her in.

He approached the door and tapped a couple of buttons on the screen while you picked up Tetsu to set him down on the floor. He scurried to your leg and followed you to the front door to greet the woman he's oblivious about.

With lips pressed together, the long minute felt like an hour to hear the front door knock once again. Tooru gently opened it, peeping an eye through the crack of it before widening door for you and Tetsu to see the other side of the entryway.

Rina stood, stiffed yet anxious on Tooru's doorstep the second she viewed the inside of his home. She was dressed in a simple black dress, midi length and spaghetti strapped, and underneath she wore a short sleeved white tee. Her black hair is neatly clipped in a half-up and half-down style as the ends of her hair curled inwardly.

The first thing she saw was you who dressed in your pastry coat and taupe apron wrapped around your waist. Then her trembled eyes trailed down to find the head of brown locks behind your leg, peeking from the side to study her shyly.

You thought she was going to break down on that moment, telling the way her full and red lips parted slowly.

Tetsu's head leaned farther from your calf to really look at her face, mesmerized by her image with widened eyes.

"Ah, hello," his tiny voice called which it totally surprised you and Tooru.

He's usually shy with strangers but this time, he was quite brave. The only person he came out of his shell for was you. Your heart tightened and eyebrows furrowed at the fact that you weren't the only one.

Hearing his voice for the first time, Rina gave a raspy breath and a calming smile stretched on her face. "Hello, what's your name?"

"Oikawa Tetsu," the miniature Oikawa came out of his hiding and stood by your leg.

The relief on her expression expanded as all her worries washed away completely, crouching down to meet at his eye level. "It's nice to meet you, Oikawa. Is it okay if I call you, Tetsu?"

The boy nodded without hesitance, "Yeah! What's your name?"

"I'm-" for some reason, she choked on her words. Stopping herself, she mulled over it for a quick second before introducing herself again. "I'm Rina. I'll be the one taking you to the strawberry farm."

Tetsu's cheeks reddened at the idea as his mouth opened in satisfaction. With his eyes smiling, he pointed at her in delight. "Ri-chan!"

Just by watching him interact with her gave you an astonishing feeling as many emotions swam within you that you couldn't describe them. But you can't deny that you felt happy for them, at least it will be easy for him to know her more.

"Morning," Rina didn't ignore you and Tooru who stared wondrously at the scene. You were brought back to reality.

"Shall we go?" Tooru approached his son while staring at his watch. "We should catch the bus soon."

"Okay, Daddy," Tetsu glanced back at you with arms raised. "I want huggies!"

You didn't think twice at his demand and crouched in front of him and pull him into an endearing embrace. Tetsu blinked at the sudden squeeze, knowing that this hug felt a lot tighter than your usual ones. Without your knowledge, Rina watched attentively at her son hugging back by his head into your chest happily with the same love.

You didn't want to let him go, because if you do, who knows what will change after today.

After you released him, Tetsu grinned with the same puffy cheeks, "Bye-bye, Mommy!"

You wanted to curse yourself by how awkward this was becoming. Looking briefly at the dark haired woman, her eyes were unreadable and her face stilled at Tetsu's name for you as if the name was stolen from her.

"Bye, sweetie," Tooru emphasized your pet name quite loudly and stepped close to you with his arms tucked behind his back, catching your lips by surprise. You weren't prepared to kiss him right away as you were sucked by his puckering lips and he secreted a long, pleasing, and loud hum while sneaking a tongue pass your lips.

You had to blink in the middle of the kiss to see that his eyes were still closed, and you side-glanced at your audience who awkwardly watched or tried not to watch. Tetsu's hands flew up to his eyes while Rina tapped on her foot with a cleared throat and looked elsewhere, not giving you and Tooru the attention.

Finally, he pulled away just when you were about to lose your breath. His hand grabbed at your chin, shaking your head left to right playfully and then winking at you flirtatiously.

"Go!" you shoved him with an irresistible chuckle, earning the same laughter from him.

"Okay, okay."

The bastard knew he was making a show, and you weren't sure if you felt embarrassed or prideful.

That was a bit much.

"Oh, before I forget," then a set of jiggling keys were thrown by your boyfriend at your staggering hand, successfully catching them. Tooru smiled innocently after you realized that the keys belong to him and his Scion FRS. "Take my car to work if you want."

"You're letting her drive your car?" Rina stared at the black key, recognizing the metal logo mounted on the back.

He shamelessly shrugged. "Why not? She deserves to drive in style and she's been walking to work and back before I met her. Isn't that right, love?"

"I-...," you couldn't find the right words to answer back. - shocked that he would give his expensive car and entrusting you to drive it. You don't remember the last time you drove but you were sure that it wasn't a classy car like his. "A-Are you okay with that?"

"I trust you," Tooru answered. "That way I'm not worried if you got home safely or not."

If he's trusting you to drive his expensive car, then you must say that he has a lot of trust in you because you would never lend anybody a luxurious car such as a Scion. But you weren't going to argue and just nodded, hooking the key to the ring of your house key.

"Text me when you're done," you reminded, waving at the three who made their exit out of the penthouse.

Tetsu held on to his dad's reach hand as his other was waving at you, even Rina gave her warming goodbye before she turned to make her way down the hall with both Tetsu and Tooru. Your form lingered at the front door, watching them take their leave until they're no longer visible and then closing the door behind you.

With your back meeting the white oak, you began to wonder how their day would go. Although, she didn't say or do much, you felt like you were already replaced by her when you imagined Tetsu's first reaction in meeting Rina.

A long sigh emitted and you continued to get ready to go to work, hoping that everything goes well for them and for you.

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Posted: 06-22-21

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