Chapter 25 Confrontation
Chapter 25 Confrontation
The lion’s den once again.
I climbed the stairs, each step bringing me closer to the fight. My blood surged through my veins, pulsing wildly as I advanced.
What would happen? Would they attack me? Would they even acknowledge me? Or would I become the monster I feared?
And finally… her. Would she tell me why she did this? Was she threatened? Coerced? Offered money? What the hell could she even say to justify it? And when I finally saw her… what would I do?
Either way… the damage was already done.
My hand slid into my pocket.
I raised the other and knocked on the door.
No answer. I tried the handle myself—it was unlocked. I stepped inside.
Reina appeared, walking toward me. Her eyes widened, wet with signs of crying, her mouth parting as if to speak before snapping shut. Her hands rose slowly. I walked straight past her as if she didn’t exist.
In the living room, Mio sat hunched over, weeping into her phone with her face buried in her free hand. "Please, Hayato, why are you doing this now? Don't involve our son in our problems..." She was on the absolute brink of tears. I kept moving. She peeked at me through her fingers, but I didn’t give her a second glance. The kitchen was empty. I turned toward her room, each step I took heavier than the last.
The door was open.
My parents stood just inside, Dad clutching Mom tightly, both of them staring blankly ahead. I pushed past them.
By the bed—Alice’s bed—two more figures remained. Haruka, the family matriarch, stood frozen, her eyes fixed on the other woman’s hands. Yui, Alice’s Onee-san and fiercest protector, knelt on the floor. Her hands trembled, holding two sheets of paper.
One was the DNA compatibility test: 0%.
The other was a note, scrawled in hurried ink: “I’m sorry. Don’t look for me.”
Both women glanced at the papers once, twice, thrice, desperately scanning the lines as if reading them again would somehow change the truth.
I finally looked beside them.
There it was—the crib.
A small baby lay inside, rosy cheeks and tiny face, staring straight at me with wide, innocent eyes. For a second, her little brows furrowed, making her look almost angry and moody. I chuckled internally. So that's why they thought she had my eyes.
I only glanced once.
“Where is the pure and innocent girl?” I said, cold and flat.
Both women finally turned to me.
Drained of color.
They said nothing. No words came from either of them.
My fist clenched so hard my fingernails nearly bit through the skin.
They saw it. They watched the tension build, expecting an explosion.
But I let it go. Still keeping my hand in my pocket, I exhaled slowly—a long, heavy breath that seemed to empty the anger right out of me.
“You know… I’m a pervert. I can be honest about that. I’ve ogled both of you,” I said, looking straight into Haruka and Yui’s frozen faces. I jerked my head toward the doorway, where the twins stood listening in the shadows. “And those two outside, too. Really, you’re all incredibly hot. I’m not gonna lie—I’m a man, after all.”
My voice stayed steady, almost calm. “But I never, ever crossed the line. I always thought about it. I had so many fantasies about all of you… but I fought with every ounce of my power to keep it in my pants. Just like you all wanted.”
I looked directly at Haruka. Shame was carved into her features now, and the first tears began to spill.
“We were in so many situations where I almost broke. Where I almost gave in… but I prevailed.” My throat tightened, the calm finally fracturing. “That day we went to the love hotel—she was the one who dragged me there. Of course I wanted to do it. What man would say no to the girl he loved? But I did. I said no. Once again.”
A bitter, hollow laugh escaped me.
“Haha… it’s stupid, isn’t it? I’m a virgin, you know. I was the only one who actually kept the promise… and I’m the one who ended up losing everything and everyone.”
My parents started speaking at the exact same time.
“Iryoku, we—”
“Son—”
I snapped a glare back at them, cutting them both off instantly.
Haruka finally collapsed to her knees, weeping so hard she could barely catch her breath. “Ah… ah… ah… I’m sorry… but I… I…” She looked at Yui, then at the baby, her eyes completely shattered. “I can’t do it again. Not again. Not…”
Yui remained rigid, still staring down at the papers trembling in her hands. She didn't look at her mother. She didn't look at me.
“My Alice… my Alice…” Yui whispered, her voice cracking as she rocked back and forth. “My daughter… my little Alice… I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I should have raised you better.”
The air in the room instantly turned to ice. My parents and I froze, staring at her in absolute shock.
“What did you say?” The words forced their way out of my throat, sharp and dangerous. “Your daughter?”
Yui turned slowly toward the crib. Her gaze drifted far away, lost in a painful past only she could see.
“It’s our curse...” Her voice barely a whisper. “It always finds us. Always.”
She closed her eyes. “My mother was abandoned by Mio and Reina’s father when she was still a teenager. Then a kind man—my father—stepped in to protect them. But he died so quickly… I was still just a baby. We were left alone again.”
She opened her eyes, staring blankly at the floor. “Even though I knew my mother’s story, I did the exact same thing. I was left alone and pregnant by a man who ran the moment he found out. It turned out the bastard had snared dozens of girls just like me.”
She swallowed hard, more tears streaming down her face.
“But Mom… she didn’t turn her back on me the way her own parents had done to her. She took Alice in and claimed her as her own daughter, just so I could have a normal teenage life. I stayed close. I helped raise her, pretending to be her big sister. We did everything right. But even after all of that…”
Yui finally looked up at me, her eyes completely shattered.
“…the curse still found her.”
A sudden, sharp cry rose from the crib.
Yui lifted the baby into her arms and held her close, pouring every ounce of love she had into the embrace—even as her face still carried the eerie weight of an uncertain future.
“Don’t worry, little one… I will be your mommy. I will protect you and raise you well this time. I… I…”
I shook my head and turned to leave for good. But I stopped.
Deep inside my pocket, my fingers finally let go of the cold handle of the construction knife I’d been gripping. Instead, my hand shifted, pulling something else out into the light.
I reached for the small gift I still hadn’t thrown away. I wondered why I had even kept it. There was no one left to give it to.
All eyes in the room locked onto me as I stared down at the ring resting in my palm—nothing fancy, just the cheap symbol of a love this idiot boy had once believed in.
My hand uncurled.
The ring slipped from my fingers. It dropped to the floor with a soft clink... clink... rolling lazily across the wooden boards before coming to a rest.
Haruka’s voice finally fractured the heavy quiet. “I’m sorry… Iryoku… We can compensate you. We can—”
“I don’t need a damn thing from you!” I snapped, the words cutting through her apology like a blade. “I don’t want any of it!”
Then I paused.
A slow, dangerous smile crept across my face. “Actually… now that you mention it…” I deliberately let my eyes drag down Haruka’s body, tracing every curve of the elegant matriarch standing before me. “If you’re offering something more personal… maybe your body would do.”
Haruka went utterly rigid.
From the corner of my eye, I saw my parents’ hands twitch upward, a sharp instinct to intervene, but I ignored them entirely.
“Or maybe…” I turned toward the doorway, openly raking my gaze over Mio’s chest and Reina’s hips before slowly dragging it back to Yui. “I could just collect from all of you. A little piece of everyone—as payment for all the damage and humiliation I took.”
Yui stood there, the crying baby still cradled in her arms. Her expression shifted from sheer shock to something entirely different—as if a dark piece of logic had just clicked in her mind. An idea. Her lips parted. “I will—”
I turned my back on her before she could even finish the thought.
“Forget it. You’d probably just find a way to pin some unjust blame on me anyway and cheat me out of it…” I threw the words over my shoulder, cold and dripping with venom. “…just like that filthy, lying whore of a daughter you bunch raised! If you’re actually decent for once, return every yen my parents wasted on that bitch.”
I kept walking. As I reached the threshold, the twins glanced at my face, clearly wanting to say something, but whatever they saw in my eyes made them step aside without a word.
Crossing the den, I muttered darkly, just loud enough for everyone to hear:
“Good thing she dipped when she did. Pray I never see her again… because if I do, this time, they’ll lock me up for life.”
“Wait! Iryoku, please don’t—!” Yui called after me, desperation cracking her voice.
But I was already at the front door.
I slammed it shut behind me hard enough to rattle the frame.
I stumbled down the stairs, choking on my own breath as the tears finally flooded my face. Even as a crazy wish, a desperate coping mechanism, a tiny part of me had still hoped. I had hoped the baby was actually mine. That she had stolen my seed, that she'd taken advantage of me while I was asleep—some twisted, fabricated bullshit. Anything. Anything that could change the reality of the cold, hard facts.