Gambling In Love

Chapter 9: What Have I Done?

"Hello?" Yumeko answered her phone cautiously. It had been ringing through most of homeroom and now, between classes, she only had a few minutes to answer.

"Hello. Is this Jabami Yumeko?" a voice asked.

"Yes?" Yumeko answered curiously.

"Great! Um- I'm- uh... I'm Mary's mom," the woman introduced. Yumeko panicked internally, wondering why Mary's mom would be calling her, but she did her best to hide her panic.

"Oh? What's up?" she asked.

"Well- Mary's in the hospital," she said simply.

"Which one?" Yumeko asked, maybe a little too quickly.

"South Hospital," the woman answered.

Yumeko grunted as she was meant to gamble with someone by lunch, and she wouldn't be able to do that if she was going to South Hospital. It was far enough away that she'd never make it back in time if she wanted to spend time with Mary.

"Be there in 5," Yumeko said as she hung up.

The raven-haired girl slipped her phone into her butt pocket as she raced to the nearest train station. "Come on, come on, come on," she mumbled as she waited for the train to arrive. In the meantime, her brain wandered to reasons Mary was in the hospital. Car accident? Bad fall? Something worse?

As the thoughts filled her head, Yumeko tried to maintain a poker face. Luckily the train arrived a few seconds later, and she was the first one on it. South Hospital wasn't many stops away, and Yumeko was familiar with it since it's the hospital housing her sister.

When she arrived, she raced to the main area of the hospital where she saw a woman who looked eerily similar to Mary. "Mrs. Saotome?" Yumeko asked as she approached the woman.

The woman gasped as she saw Yumeko, and the younger girl tilted her hair towards the other woman, silently requesting an answer. "You just... You look just like them," the woman whispered apologetically. Yumeko turned her head away as emotion filled her usually stoic face before she composed herself and faced the woman again. She smiled as she made eye contact with the woman again.

"What happened?" Yumeko asked once the two had sat down.

"It's all my fault," the older woman burst into tears as she buried her face in her hands.

Yumeko didn't have much experience with her own emotions, let alone those of another person. All she could think to do was put a hand on the woman's shoulder and whisper, "I'm sure it wasn't." It wasn't the most reassuring thing in the world, but she still wasn't sure about what had caused Mary's hospitalization.

"Her father... He's always been... hot-headed," the woman trailed off.

"Her dad did this?" Yumeko exclaimed silently.

"I've been trying to leave him for years, but I have nowhere to go!" the woman exclaimed in exasperation as she began crying.

"Don't worry, it wasn't your fault," she assured her as she pat the older woman's head, "You did your best, and that's all she could've asked of you."

"Saotome family?" a doctor asked. The older woman sprung out of her seat while Yumeko just turned her attention to the doctor. "Mary is out of surgery, but she's going to need some time to recover," the doctor informed them, "In the meantime, we'll need you to fill out a report about what happened."

The woman looked panicked before she smiled devilishly. It was obvious the woman was happy to get vengeance for her daughter, but she still looked weary of what the outcome might be. "Mrs. Saotome," Yumeko stopped her after a moment.