CHAPTER 50: ALWAYS SO NICE

The bus rumbled along the city streets, the engine’s low hum blending with the chatter of volunteers in the back, crates of donations shifting with every turn.

Sunlight filtered through the windows, casting warm patches on Hana’s lap, where her hands fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.

Renji, beside her, was staring.

It was like his scraped cheek could feel the sudden tension of the moment and started to sting even more under her gaze.

There was a silence for a while. One that held Renji’s questions of what to do.

Should he tell or not?

Which was the right move and which was the move that would get him to fuck her as soon as possible.

The weight of her question hung heavy:

’Was it my son, Kaito, who caused it?’

The air between them felt charged, not with the usual spark of his lustful plans, but with something rawer.

Her vulnerability, his guilt.

Renji swallowed, meeting her warm brown eyes, and nodded slowly. "Yeah... it was Kaito."

He decided that there was no reason to lie, at least none he could see for now. If he regretted the decision in the future, then that was for his future self to worry about.

Hana’s face crumpled.

Renji saw it. He also saw the deep sadness that washed over her delicate features, her plump lips tightening as she looked away, out the window at the passing buildings.

Her purple hair caught the light, falling over her shoulders that must have felt really heavy at that moment.

Her massive tits straining against her blouse pressed on the frame of the bus, her curves a silent siren call even in her grief.

Renji puckered his lips and sighed. Talk less about the future, he was already regretting it now.

She looked really heartbroken. Though there was another look on her face, like acceptance, like she wasn’t really that surprised.

"He’s bullying you, isn’t he?" she murmured, her voice barely above the noise from the road. Slightly despondent and tired.

Renji didn’t say anything.

She turned to look at him.

"Is he? Is my son bullying you?"

Renji gazed at her, their eyes locked, a thread of truth exchanging in their silent gaze.

Hana looked down at her thighs, and sighed sadly. Then returned to the window.

"I... I suspected it was him who hurt you. The way you hesitated, the way your eyes flickered when I asked." She paused, her eyes reflecting on the windows glass. "It only confirmed it. You didn’t want to tell me, did you? So I wouldn’t feel bad."

Renji’s throat tightened, his convoluted mind scrambling for words. "I just... didn’t want to make things harder for you."

She sighed. This one was heavier than the others.

A very bone-deep sound, her shoulders slumping as she clasped her hands tighter.

"That’s really nice of you, Renji. Really nice." She smiled thoughtfully. "You’re always so nice."

Renji stared at her, his heart beating. "Um. Are you okay, Mrs. Hoshizawa?"

She glanced at him. "Mhm? Oh, no. I’m fine. It’s just... In my mind, I wished... or I just allowed myself to believe that you two were friends."

"When I found out you go to his school, I just thought... that as boys... you’d be friends. Silly of me, I guess. Even though then, when I asked you, you seemed unsure of your answer."

"But I overlooked it, even though a part of me knew. I’ve always known the kind of son I raised."

Renji shrugged. "Well. Kaito... he isn’t that bad."

Hana looked at him, her sadness still evident. "You’re only saying that to make me feel better."

Renji pouted. He couldn’t deny that.

She played with her fingers, her voice cracking quietly, and she turned to him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"He’s cruel sometimes, even at home. When his friends come over to swim in the pool, he lords over them... and orders them around, mocks their clothes, their grades.

"Once, he made Jiro cry because his swimsuit was from a cheaper brand. Another time, Haru spilled juice, and Kaito laughed, called him clumsy in front of everyone, refused to let him borrow a towel until he begged. It’s... it’s not just childish teasing."

Renji listened, and well... that definitely sounded like that doofus, Kaito.

Though he wondered if now was a good time to call him a doofus, considering Hana.

He could almost feel her sadness. It had its weight and it was easy to understand as well.

No mother would be proud to raise a heartless bully, and a smug piece of shit like Kaito Hoshizawa.

But as Renji would soon find out, there was more beyond that.

Hana continued, her voice softer, almost confessional. "He’s learning it from Taiga, his father. They’re so alike; they’re both arrogant, domineering, always needing to be the strongest in the room."

She shook her head softly. "I’ve seen it happen too many times. Taiga snaps at staff, belittles competitors, even at home he’ll dismiss my ideas for the center, saying it’s ’cute’ but a waste of money."

"I don’t know what to do. My son is a bully and my husband is a tyrant. And it’s like..." she hesitated, her eyes dull and broken.

"I feel... so alone, Renji. Like a stranger in my own house, trying to be the glue holding it all together. And even as a stranger, I’m boxed in, like in a cage with all my life planned for me."

Renji stayed silent, turning into a listening ear.

"Taiga’s political connections, the galas, the expectations. I’m trapped in this life, smiling for the cameras while my family drifts apart."

Her words poured out, each one heavier than the last, her voluptuous body seeming smaller in the seat, her hands trembling.

"Sometimes I just want to jump into a river, and be captured by its waves." She smiled, small and pretty. "I heard the waves of a river feels like freedom. An eternal flow of current that could take you anywhere. You’re never in one place."