Karma x Reader || Appearances

|45| Broken Family

Important A/N at the end of the chapter!!!!

(Your POV)

"Mother," you awkwardly cleared your throat. "Where's Akiro?"

Your father immediately tensed at the mention of your brother. Your mother stopped eating, her lips pressing tightly together as she put her chopsticks down.

"Akiro-" she began to say.

"Akiro left," your father interrupted her, his low voice sending a chill down your spine.

"What do you mean he left?" Your eyebrows furrowed as you began looking around the room.

A hint of panic flashed through your eyes as you completely forgot that you were supposed to be mad at him.

"He packed up and left," your mother said slowly, her voice barely a whisper.

Oh no. It's not like you weren't expecting this. But, it was still shocking to you. You never thought it would be this soon. You gulped. Where did he go? Where was he staying? Did your parents know? Wait. Did he even tell them in advance? Or did he just leave without them knowing until it was too late?

Millions of questions ran through your head as you tried to come up with an explanation to what was going on. It was all just so... soon.

"He refused the job offer," your father said through gritted teeth. "He said he was going back to university to study architecture," he spatted.

You nervously bit your bottom lip, your breathing seeming to stop as you expected the worst. You had never seen your father this mad. He was always cold and unemotional. He would never raise his voice unless he was arguing with your mother. It was the first time you were ever seeing him like this.

"Akiro," your father shook his head, "that boy... betraying us like that," his mouth pressed into a hard line. "He said he didn't need us anymore," his hand curled into a fist. "He... He left."

It was dead silent in the room as you looked down at your plate, not daring to look your parents in the eye.

All of a sudden, the sound of a chair sliding against the hardwood floor made you tear your eyes from your plate, your gaze shifting to your father's retreating figure. And before you knew it, he opened the front door and was gone.

Your mother and you stared at his now empty chair and untouched food. You didn't know what to do. You didn't know what to say. So, you remained silent. You remained silent like you always did whenever there was an argument. After all, it was your mother who told your eight-year-old self that it was better to be seen and not heard. So, you did just that.

From beside you, your mother sighed and shook her head. She then got up and removed your father's plate.

"Eat your food (Y/N)," she said as she came through the door, "it will get cold."

You obeyed without complaining, your head still full of questions. You wanted to ask your mother but you were afraid of her reaction.

"Did Akiro just... leave?" You eventually gathered up the courage to ask her.

"No," was her only response.

You chewed on the inside of your cheek, not really satisfied with her response. So, you decided to keep insisting.

In another situation, you would have left it as it was but, seeing as she had been showing you a more loving and caring side and it was Akiro you were talking about, you decided to keep asking.

"So when did he tell you?"

"Yesterday night."

"And do you know where he's staying?"