Contract With My Boss [Touken Story]

37

It's been a few days since then and Kaneki has observed how Nishiki and Touka seem to take turns being at home. While Touka is out during the day, Nishiki is at home. The moment she reached home in the evening, he would take his leave and only return the next morning.

—

He looked down at his watch. It was 6.44pm. Touka would be home soon and it would be his chance to go to her. The moment the clock finger turned to 6.45pm, he watched her approach the building and climb up the stairs to her apartment while carrying a bunch of plastic bags. Nishiki opened the door for her, conversed with her for a bit before closing the door behind him and left the place.

After he has walked quite a distance away, Kaneki came out from his car and made his way to her house. He pressed on the doorbell, heard the thumping of her footsteps and the door clicked as it opened.

"What? Did you forget something—" Touka paused with a frown and turned to close the door, to which he held onto it and quickly forced his way into her house.

"I didn't say you could come in."

Her heart thumped in her ears. He needs to leave, he needs to leave now. I can't let him get into my heart again, it'll hurt when we separate—Her thoughts got interrupted as his arms wrapped around her from behind and she inhaled. She felt his breath on her neck and deep voice in her ear. "I missed you."

The sadness in his voice matched his words and she knew he wasn't lying. She bit her trembling lower lip and turned around to push him away. But he wouldn't budge, taking this chance to cup one of her cheeks and gazed into her eyes. Whatever words she wanted to say stuck in her throat when she met his sorrowful grey eyes.

At the moment, she knew that everything she has done the past 2 years to forget him was all for naught, because she couldn't refuse him. She just couldn't, not when he looked like the old him, those eyes displaying immense loneliness and sadness.

Kaneki leaned in to kiss her, she didn't want to stop him and so closed her eyes. Their lips met, and Touka sighed into the kiss, arms going to wrap around his neck to pull him close. His arms tightened around her waist and he bent forward to deepen the kiss. They separated hesitantly to look at each other's faces. Her features have matured somewhat, but she still looked as beautiful as ever.

She frowned when she saw the dark circles under his eyes, the hollowness of his cheeks and paleness of his skin. Now that she was right in front of him, she could tell that he looked exhausted. He was never like this when they were together.

"Why is your face like this? What happened to you?"

"I..after you left, I broke down. I couldn't live without you. I couldn't sleep and eat for days, I wouldn't clean my apartment, and I couldn't go to work. I missed you so much that I wanted to die when you weren't with me."

She caressed his cheeks, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Please tell me, why did you leave—"

A baby's crying voice resounded through the apartment and Touka quickly released herself from his arms to rush towards the sound. He followed after her, entering the living room to find her holding a child in her arms and rocking it back and forth. His heart dropped to the bottom of his rib cage, and he couldn't help but feel a burn of jealousy coming up. "Does that child belong to your husband?"

"This child's yours, Ken."

He gasped. "Mine..? I don't remember us ever having a child. When did this happen?"

"Do you remember the day I went to the hospital? I found out I was pregnant that day but I wanted to wait until we were married to tell you. Before that happened, we had to separate and I didn't get a chance to say anything to you..."

Kaneki stared at the smiling child in her arms. "What's the gender? And the name?"

"A girl. Her name's Ichika."

Ichika... He recalled that night when they discussed baby's names and tears escaped his eyes. "You remembered I wanted that name for a girl..?"

Her eyes softened at him. "Of course. Do you want to hold her?"

"Yes please." He answered, eyes never leaving the child as Touka walked over to him and allowed her into his arms. The baby gurgled and he found himself grinning when her tiny hand grabbed one of his fingers. "She's beautiful, Touka."

Seeing the father and daughter interact was such a heartwarming sight that Touka couldn't help but smile. It soon turned into a frown, when she saw tears fall from his glistening eyes. She took a step forward and rested a hand on his arm. "Hey, why are you crying?"

Kaneki shook his head as his tears continued to fall. "I'm just upset that I let you suffer all these years alone... I should have been by your side. Now, I'm too late. You're already taken by another guy..."

"It's not your fault—and Nishiki was just lying when he said he was my husband. I asked him to help me if you came to find me. Sorry, Ken."

He raised his head to meet her gaze. "He's not?"

"Nope."

The male sighed in relief and hugged her with one arm. "I'm glad."