Going Solo

Part 43

Emi

"Why, what's wrong?" Akira asked. A piercing scream shot through the phone, damaging our eardrums and not giving Shin a chance to answer the question. Shin had put my second older brother Akira on speaker phone, asking him to come over immediately to discuss my situation. Akio was next.

My nephew, Jun, shot out another one of his famous blood chilling screeches. I only hoped that Haruko wouldn't hear through the closed door, wake up, and begin a screaming session of her own.

"S-sorry my wife's out at the store and asked me to stay home with Jun."

"How is Sara?" I asked him.

"She's good, fine. Now what's so urgent that I need to come over immediately?"

"Just come as soon as Sara gets home. We need to talk."

Shin ended the call. He called Akio next, who was glad to come by and wasted no time ending the call so he could get dressed and come right over.

Once he arrived, he rang the doorbell, waking Haruko from her sleep and alerting her to the lack of food in her stomach. I got up to silence her with a pacifier until I could feed her. Shin went to answer the door.

Popping a pacifier in her mouth, I rocked and hummed until she relaxed. Then grabbed a Ziploc bag filled with Cheerios from Haruko's bag. Before I could walk out the room, Akio burst through the door a look of concern tainting his usually cheerful face. Shin had told him.

Shin grabbed the Cheerios from my hands, then reached for Haruko, who gleefully accepted his request to hold her. Akio gave her a small pinch on the cheek before turning his attention back to me.

"I'll take care of her." Shin said before heading towards the kitchen.

Akio grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me over to the bench in the guest bedroom. "I know a guy." He said. "We could have him disappear within-"

I held up a hand, slightly amused by his attempt to make light of the situation. "As much as I'd love to take you up on that offer, he was my husband."

Akio's smile wiped away now, I realised the weight of my words. Legally he is still my husband. Did I want a divorce? So soon? 4 years of marriage down the drain in the course of 2 days?

Before I realised what was happening, I felt Akio petting me like a sad puppy. Then I felt the tears.

My older brother Akio, who was only one year older and had always felt like more of a twin, said nothing more as he tried to console me. It was nice. To know that my family still loved me this much. I hadn't felt much like the baby of the family since I'd had a baby of my own.

My brothers were never fond of Kenji, but my father tried to forbid the marriage. And my brothers were never keen on being in agreement with anything my father had to say. My mother on the other hand, loved Kenji and secretly gave me her support. So Shin, Akira, and Akio tried their best to support us too. I wonder what mom would say now.

Seeing their support now meant the world to me. I knew they wanted to say, "I told you!" or "I knew that scumbag was trouble!" But they held back. They were here. And they were helping me.

Once Akira came, we all sat in the living room. Shin opened his mouth to speak, but then looked to me to break the news. We needed to be cautious with Akira. He'd changed, but we didn't want him to relapse into the violence he used to be so prone to.

"Kenji... He cheated Akira. And he might have been infected."

"What?!" Shin and Akio screamed in unison.

"I already went to the doctor. I just have to wait for STD results next Tuesday." I couldn't drop the smile from my face. I didn't know if it was for their protection or for mine. I didn't want them to worry, but my own heart needed comfort and assurance too. If I dropped this smile now, I wouldn't be able to tell myself that everything was going to be okay.

Akira said nothing, but his face did all the talking. Before he'd studied law and become a divorce lawyer, he was breaking the law. Assault charges and lawsuits were being thrown at him left and right, covered up of course with the money of our equally violent father.

It was the first time that we'd ever seen our father give our mother a sharp slap to the face after his unnecessary burst of anger, that made Akira realize just who he recieved his short temper from. We knew that he'd hit her before, behind closed doors, but it was the first time he'd done so before our very eyes. After knocking our father to the ground with a punch that had it's sound resounding throughout the room, Akira never balled his fists again.

Akira studied hard and told our mother, "You'll need a good divorce lawyer to get rid of that geezer and take him for all he's worth."

Then he died. And our mother got much more than our father was worth. Because in our eyes, he wasn't worth the dirt we walked on.

"Akira." Shin called to him after seeing him rise from his seat on the couch. "Sit down."

But Akira stood there, balling his fists and clenching his jaw. Then he moved toward the door and almost grabbed hold of the doorknob before I bolted to it and blocked his exit.

"No." I said. "Sara and Jun. They need you to come back home to them."

Akira turned back around, head in his hands and let out a long sigh. He looked ready to flip a table.

"Don't break anything, you'll scare the baby." Akio said bouncing Haruko on his knee. "Won't he?! Won't he?! Yes he will!" He screeched in his high-pitched, 'I'm interesting! Watch me and don't cry!' voice, as he feathered Haruko with kisses.

"Akira, sit down, as her lawyer you need to be able to discuss this with us and then with Kenji. Emi doesn't want to see him for a while." Shin pleaded.

Akira sat down, took another breath and composed himself. "Okay."

"Good, because we need you to handle this. All her belongings and any alimony. She basically funded his insurance company. Akio and I need to handle what she's going to do from this point forward." He gave me a hesitant look before continuing. "She wants to start acting again. I'll see what connections I can call on and you do the same, Akio."

"I'm proud of you." Akio said.

"Don't be proud yet. This is just the beginning."