Her Last Name || Akashi Seijuro✔

Chapter 36: A warning

She laughed as if she had no care or responsibility in life.
Her dark blue eyes glinted brightly as if she had no regrets in life.

Maybe she didn't. In a way.

It would hit you differently when you realize that it was your mother you were looking at, who abandoned you- or sold you off to a family of sadists to say correctly- eight years ago, now laughing with another man like no care in this world. To anyone in this whole wide world, nothing was more disturbing than the fact that the daughter was enraged because she was watching her mother living happily. Then again I was the sole bearer of such disturbing and twisted past to begin with.

If someone refuses to admit their own sins to themselves, their own wrongdoings to themselves then there was nothing- absolutely nothing you could do to make them realise or regret their actions. Because they their own conscience- or lack thereof- was already dead, what remained was just an empty shell. That's what I believed.

Then our eyes met. And both of us froze, but for complete different reason.

Where astonishment and recognition flashed in her dark blue eyes, mine pale blue ones darkened with seething silent fury.

'This woman...'

The chopsticks in my hands fell, clanking against the ceramic utensils as my hands started trembling. I could feel hot, uncontrollable anger release through every pore of my body.

Tsunada looked at me startled. "W-what's wrong, Ena-chan?"

I heard her question but neither my mind nor my brain was in the right state to process her query. I glanced away from those particular pair of dark blue orbs.

"Excuse me, Tsunada..." My voice came out bitter and cold even though it wasn't my intention. Poor Tsunada visibly flinched but nodded nevertheless at my request.

I got out of my seat a little too hurriedly and quickly, sending the chair backwards with a screeching noise in the process. But I couldn't care less. I quickly rushed towards the women's washroom avoiding a particular gaze on me.

As soon as I got inside the empty washroom, I leaned against the closest basin. The contents inside my stomach started churning and hitting me with familiar waves of nausea and disgust in the process. My vision blurred.

"Fuck!" I cursed lowly as my fist landed on the edge of the cold, white ceramic basin. "Fuck! Fuck everything..."

I knew I needed to calm down but my emotions were dominating the logics and rationality inside my mind. I knew wishing for anything at this point was useless but still my mind kept wishing that it was all just one bad, very bad dream. A horrible nightmare.

"Ena?" An awfully familiar voice called out. "Ena, it's you, right?"

Maybe it was not. It was not a nightmare.

I whipped my head to glare at the woman, standing a few feet away from me, her physical features strikingly resembled mine. And at that moment, I hated myself more than ever. I felt like clawing my face, mangle it to the point where I couldn't be recognised anymore. I wanted to burn whatever of my physical appearance that resembled this filthy woman with acid.

Anyone would turn a little soft seeing her eyes filled with hurt- or that's what it seemed like- but not me. Mercy was not something I would show her today.

"How are you, mother?" I spat venomously. "Enjoying life?"

"Ena, I--"

"What?" I cut her off coldly, my glaring eyes never leaving her. "What more do you have to say after selling off your daughter and everything? Fate is a pretty bizarre thing, huh? To think that I'd meet you here out of all places, after all this time."