A Tokyo Parade

Kan stood still, waiting for the explosion, but when the shears stopped, Ariel turned calmly and gently placed the shears down.

Her father attempted to speak, and she did not even look at him as she raised her hand, halting him.

She had her eyes pinned on Kan only.

She would not even look at their son sleeping on his shoulder, almost as if she felt the toddler had betrayed her too.

“You’re home.” Kan finally spoke up. 

It seemed like she had just arrived because her purse was still on the shelf, beside the potted plant she had been shearing. 

She did not say anything as she turned to Oliver’s nanny who was fidgeting beside her.

“He must be tired,” she said, grabbed her bag and walked out of the living room. 

Soon he heard her faint footsteps on the staircase.

The nanny glanced at him with uncertainty, and he nodded at her. She hurriedly approached, took his son, and disappeared too.

Kan sighed. He could already feel it. 

He and Ariel were about to have the biggest fight they have ever had. 

“I should tell her it was all my idea,” Mr Grigor said, wincing uncomfortably with his eyes on the opposite wall.

“No.” Kan responded with a tone that discouraged any further argument. 

He tapped his leg on the floor, his hand on the backrest of a couch as his mind sped through all the events of that day. 

A lot had happened, they had both crossed boundaries, her more so than him.

He finally straightened up, and marched up to their bedroom. 

She was sitting on the bed, her back to the door, both her hands out of view and from the angles her elbows were jutting out, he knew she likely had her hand resting on her knees.

And she was still in the clothes she had worn to work. The clothes Tucker had seen her in, and probably touched her in.

“What did you and Tucker talk about?” He tried to say in the most casual voice. 

He was watching her to see how she would react to those words. But her back remained straight and her body still.

“How you have been lying to me.” he heard her calm response, her back still all he could see.

“What?” 

She said nothing, and he could not take it any longer. 

He angrily marched forward, and stood in front of her. “Why the hell was my wife locked up in an elevator with her ex?” he thundered.

And she stood up.

“Your wife?” Her voice was quiet, as she squinted at him. She scoffed and began to walk away. 

He reached out to grab at her and pull her back, but a warning alarm went off in his head at the last minute and his hand froze.

He watched her walk up to the double glass doors that opened up to the balcony. 

The setting sun was low now, and the light flooded into the room, orange, gold, light pink, and he even thought he saw green. 

The whole floor was bright, except for the center where she stood. Her shadow was the only darkness in the place. 

“Do you know why I loathe Blaine?” She said, her chin jutting out as she faced the setting sun directly, so it was difficult to see her features clearly. 

“I don’t care that he hesitated to take responsibility for my pregnancy. It was supposed to be a one-off thing, anyway.”

“I don’t want to listen to you talk about this.”

“He also had no idea what his wife did to me that night.” Ariel continued like she had not heard him speak, and he frowned at this.

“Do you think you can be dismissive of me now because you have all you want?” He could not help the anger in his voice.

“I loathe him because he lied to me.” Ariel went on still without a pause. “He looked me in the eye and lied to me. He watched me gobble up all his lies like a fool and I find myself wondering all the time how much he must have laughed at me.”

“Why the hell would you not stop bringing Tucker up?” He yelled finally, his face red with rage, his hands raised high in exasperation as he looked at her, feet away at the other side of the room.

“Because you are both the same.” She finally turned to him, standing straight, but she was still not yelling. 

Her voice was quiet as she stared at him.

“What?”

“You are brothers who are only separated by name. Your were raised the same, have the same motivations and act the same way.”

“How can you compare me to that barbarian? That primitive man from Osaka forest.”

“You are both liars!” She screamed. 

Kan froze at that, “What?” 

“I asked you over and over if there was something you had to tell me, you told me nothing. Last night, when I said it was Ophelia who sent those police here, you insisted it was Blaine, but still would not tell me why.” 

She took a step back, and laughed bitterly, “I should have known.”

He stood still, not sure what to say. 

If he spoke too soon before he knew exactly what that mountain goat had told her, he might say the wrong words and make the situation even worse.

“How could you expose my son to danger like this? And you expect me to trust you? Love you?”

“So you would rather love him then?” Kan began to slowly close the floor towards her. “You would rather trust the man who you were nearly murdered right there in his house.”

“It’s all the same now. I was nearly murdered under your protection too. And while I was unconscious you let my enemy run free with the knowledge that my son was still alive and would not even tell me when I woke up.” 

She pressed her lips together and raised her hands to point, “And if that was enough, you took him out on a Tokyo parade for good measure.”

“He is my son too!” Kan said with force. “I don’t need your permission to do what I think is best for him.”