| “Must you leave already?” Claire asks, her voice sounds so small. | |
| “I’m sorry my dear, I have matters to attend to tomorrow and I need to sleep or I will fall over.” | |
| Claire looks like she wanted to object but thinks better of it, “I understand.” | |
| “Claire, we will talk again soon, don't worry.” | |
| “Mother…” Claire's eyes glisten, “Please.” | |
| Her mom moves in and gives her a hug. She has to lean just slightly, she's only a bit taller than her. Claire returns the hug, she is squeezing tightly and her mom just hums into the hug. It feels odd being here for it… but I am happy it’s gone this way. | |
| “Nothing is going to take me away Claire, I’m here for you.” | |
| Claire buries her head in her mom’s shoulder, “Thank you, thank you Mother, I don’t want to lose you again. It’s really you, it’s not a dream, it’s not a simulacrum. It’s you. It’s you…” There is a sharp inhale, and her breath wavers. | |
| “Of course Claire.” Her mom also sounds close to crying, but she stays firm. “You are always my Claire.” | |
| They remain locked in their embrace for a while, and I try my best to give them privacy, but both of them seem to be in their world either way. It’s sweet, I’m happy for them, but I do feel like an intruder here. | |
| “It’s time,” Claire’s mom finally says, and she breaks their hug. | |
| Claire sniffles, “I’m happy today… finally happened.” | |
| “I am as well Claire, even as it did. It’s for the best. We have plenty of time to catch up more later. But I do have to go, Lene is waiting, and I only have so much left in me at this point.” She beams as she looks at Claire. “There is one last thing though.” | |
| She turns and looks at me. | |
| “Oohashi-san, might I have a word before we part.” | |
| I gulp, Claire’s mom definitely has the mom tone in her voice. Claire notices and gives me a smile, I guess she isn’t too worried. I go out into the hallway with Claire’s mom, and it’s just us, Claire and Catherine still in the room. | |
| “Umm, what did you want to talk about?” She seems like she isn’t writing Claire off, but she; understandably, still has to have some worries. | |
| “Forgive me, I feel I haven’t had many chances to be a proper mom for Claire…” She sighs, “It feels like I have gone through more of the usual with Catherine, and none with Claire. I still can’t believe Claire convinced her to replace her leg finally, I have been trying to convince her for years now… anyways, this isn’t… I was worried, and I still worry, but in different ways. First, whatever Claire is going through, I have more faith in her than when we started this conversation, but I still want to keep a close eye… I still worry… but… I thought I lost one of my daughters, and she is here again…” | |
| She takes a deep breath… I… how bad was it? | |
| “Secondly, you and her are both adults… It’s not my place to make mandates on who she should or shouldn’t have a relationship with. I wasn’t expecting to… well find her and you in that state and that was the furthest thing from my mind when I… barged in. I hope… this was just another surprise, it’s an… a lot more to consider but I don’t want to be seem… in the way. Or against it.” | |
| “Ahhh… I… thank you?” | |
| “Just… I’m sorry there is…” she chuckles a little, “My first instinct is to think that it’s Claire who is new to relationships, but I suppose that isn’t the case to her is it? And it’s her I should be telling to be careful… I… how are you doing in all this? This has to be a lot for you. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what you have done for her but just today has been a lot.” | |
| Oh god, I can’t stop the nervous laugh, “umm, yeah? God, yeah it’s been a rollercoaster, and it was bad enough when my roommate walked in on… us… before… umm…” | |
| “Dear, it’s okay. You're both adults.” | |
| “yeAh… I really just wish that wasn’t the first way you saw me though…” | |
| “I’m sorry, I should have given you more… warning… but between everything I heard from Lene, and how dodgy Catherine was acting, Mother’s instincts , I knew something was happening. Again, I’m sorry, it’s not the worst thing, I am happy that she found you.” | |
| “Thanks, I want… I want to be… to be right? I’m trying.” | |
| “Dear, there is no being right , allow yourself some grace.” | |
| Sure… but Claire needs help still, she needs to catch up, she needs to pass. Even if I'm not her , Claire needs me. “Yah, I’m just doing the best I can… It’s been a lot of work, like I said we really have been doing so much studying… me and Catherine-san have been working together to show her what she is missing and she really is picking it up fast, she really is clever. I… it catches me off guard when she mentions something obscure and it’s because I told her about it.” | |
| “What do you mean…?” | |
| “There’s a lot… it’s like she knows things that will happen. She knew I am writing a… fan story online, what it was about, and I think she knows how it ends? I’m not even finished with it, but she was… teasing me about the ending…?” | |
| “Really?” | |
| “Yah… I know… rationally… this sounds impossible, but I haven’t found a single thing to even suggest otherwise. It just makes more sense the more I am around her. It’s not just me either; Catherine-san is picking it up too, and it’s like she is already tapped into my social network. It’s not big or anything but… she was talking to my roommate, and even with her it was… surreal just how naturally she fell into conversation with her, and Misha is a bit prickly too.” | |
| “Oohashi-san… Rei… Thank you for being honest about this. I really appreciate everything, and I do trust you… I want to give you my personal number, in case an emergency happens, for whatever reason. I know you know this, but this has to stay a secret, the last thing any of us needs is for this to get out. Hopefully you won't need to reach me for emergencies, but if you need help with anything, let me know. I’m not always in the country and may be in different time zones, but this number is the best way to reach me. Very few people have it, it’s for family.” | |
| “Oh… Thank you Francois-sama-” | |
| “Melia.” She smiles. | |
| “Right… Thank you Melia-sama. Hopefully no emergencies.” | |
| “Hopefully, secondly, you have been committing a lot of time to tutoring Claire.” That’s not a question. | |
| “Yes…?” | |
| “That is a lot of your personal time, I want to reimburse you for that.” | |
| “What- No!, it’s not needed.” | |
| “I have to insist, I can’t in good conscience allow us to take advantage of you in the meantime. I would be hiring a tutor for Claire if she didn’t insist on you helping her.” | |
| “Oh… but I want to help, I would… feel weird if… I… my… girlFriend” fuck my voice cracked, “paid me for this.” | |
| “There has to be something we can agree on then. Is there something I can cover in the least, meals? I could arrange a scholarship for you?” | |
| “A scholarship?!” | |
| “Oohashi-san I run a multinational business, a scholarship is trivial.” The smirk makes that easy to believe. | |
| “That’s… that’s still a lot… can I think about it?” | |
| “I suppose… We will talk about it more later then, but please consider it. For now, here.” She pulls a card out from her purse, a credit card. “Use this in whatever way you deem appropriate, it could be for meals, it could be for a new laptop or whatever equipment you need for school. It could even be for something fun. Don’t worry what it is, just please use it.” | |
| I hesitate to take the card, it’s not a gold card like Claire’s was, but… fuck a credit card attached to Francois-sama’s account? | |
| “Please don’t stress out about it too much.” | |
| “But-” | |
| “It has a limit, you can’t be that irresponsible with it.” She teases another smirk. | |
| “Why… are… how can you trust me?” | |
| Her face shifts, something more… professional, “Several reasons, I trust my intuition, and trust me when I say this, I deal with a lot of untrustworthy people. You care for Claire, greatly. I can tell that, I could tell that before you two even had a chance to recover. You stood up for her and you were very vulnerable doing so. That wasn’t easy dear, and thank you for being honest about it. You're not doing this for your own gain, and if you were I would be doing something about it.” She closes my hand around the card, “I could take control of this, take Claire away, hire a private tutor, bring her up to speed, but she doesn’t want that. She thinks she can make this work, and I want her to succeed. I believe she can do this. But she will need help and for you to help her, I need to trust you too and I need to make a show of good faith. We are asking a lot out of you and only you can help her in the way you can. I’ll be here, Catherine will be here. We will always be here to help too.” | |
| Ohhh, wow it’s hard to swallow. “I want to help… I want to do this… I… I really do… I…” | |
| Love her… | |
| “She said Dole also liked you, I can see that…” She really looks so much like Claire, they smile the same way… Then she chuckles, “Perhaps I’m also just making a poor decision after an eighteen hour flight that was delayed, either way nothing is perfect we just make it work, and even in the bad we can find new things to cherish…” | |
| I… she’s talking… about the accident … isn’t she? | |
| Woah… | |
| “We'll make this work, one way or another, won't we Rei?” | |
| I have to. | |
| “Yes” | |
| “Excellent, now that that is out of the way, I’ll feel better about passing out in my bed.” She sounds happy and chuckles. “Just please help Claire and I’ll be happy. Okay?’ | |
| I can do that. | |
| Whatever Claire needs. | |
| “Okay.” | |