Midori let out a deep sigh. She clenched her hands into fists.

He reached out to hold her hand. "If he's not yours, why does he call you like that?"

She cleared her throat then began her recollection of events.

"There are several reasons why I came back to City S. One of them was to take over the company even if I had little experience in management. A year ago, my brother, Masaichi was running the company as CEO. One night, he was driving with his wife, Agatha, towards an exclusive restaurant located several miles from the city. They..." her voice broke. "They were a.s.sa.s.sinated."

Dan's eyes shook. He knew that big companies tend to invite compet.i.tion, but unless there would be deep hatred, people do not usually resort to violence. He remained silent so she could continue.

"Accounts said that my brother avoided colliding with a fast moving car which was getting into their lane. After successfully stopping his car, bullets rained on him and his wife. Few witnesses saw him coming out of the car heavily wounded. He crawled on the pavement, using all his strength to get help. The witnesses were too scared of the perpetrators coming back so they did not dare to come close. However, they managed to call the police and an ambulance." She was teary eyed but she managed to go on.

"Doctors did their best to save my brother. His wife was declared dead-on-arrival at the nearest hospital. When my brother became stable, my parents transferred him to a bigger hospital in the city, but he has been in a coma since then."

"So Manta..." he interrupted. He felt pity over the tragedy but Manta being not his son continued to bug him.

"Manta is their son." she declared.

"But his eyes..." He is still in denial of the truth.

"Don't be so full of yourself. Agatha had hazel eyes." She pouted. The interruptions from him lightened the mood.

"So, how when did he start to call you 'Mommy'?" He was really itching to know.

Midori sighed on his impatience. "Manta was born and raised in City T. My brother decided that it would be safer for his family to be away from him. In the past, he had already been kidnapped. Security was heightened in the household for quite some time. Keeping his family in Country N would guarantee their safety, because Mom's influence was greater than she tried to let on. Plus, I was there, studying and working at the Igaras.h.i.+ group." She paused, letting the information on where she had been all these years sink into him.

"Hmmm. And then?" This was his signal for her to go on.

"That night, Agatha decided to visit my brother, contrary to the agreement that he will always be the one to travel to be with them. For some reason, she didn't bring Manta with her. The boy was devastated and was pouting all day. When the news came to us, Mom decided to tell Manta the truth. Yes, he had just turned 4 back then, but she said that keeping it from him or lying about it would hurt him more. So we told him. He suddenly stopped speaking. Even though he moved as usual, doing his routine activities, the preschool reported that he won't talk to anyone. They advised us to give him a break."

Dan furrowed his brows. He could not imagine a cheerful boy like Manta once had selective mutism.

"We took him to a child psychiatrist. She said that it was part of his coping mechanism for the grief. We tried our best to nurture him in a loving environment. One day, I arrived in our home after a business trip. He was in his playroom, setting up train tracks. I went in to give him a new toy I bought him. Suddenly, he started speaking. We were all stunned, but I was even more shocked that it dawned on me that he was calling me 'Mommy.' Actually, he called Agatha 'okaasan' as per habit, so he had never called anyone 'mommy' before. We had another consult with the psychiatrist immediately. She revealed that Manta knows that I'm his aunt. He just wanted to call me like that. It was still part of his coping mechanism. She advised us to let it be and treat it as progress as he started to speak again."

Dan remembered how the kid wailed when he told him that he was his daddy. "On...on that rooftop, why did he feel so devastated when I a.s.sumed that I was his daddy?"

Midori glared at him, remembering his mistake. "You jerk! He knows that his father is sick. He had seen him lie in a hospital bed with tubes connected to his body. He thought his father died so you were there to replace him."

Dan was mortified. He did not know the impact of those irresponsible words of his had on the child. "I...I'm so sorry." He lowered his head.

Midori smiled. "It's fine now." She placed her hand over his hand which was holding her other hand.

"Dori...I..."

"O-kay...story time is over. Go sleep now." She stood up, leaned in and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Then she started to walk away.

"Won't you stay?" He begged.

"I'll just grab myself a bite. I won't be long..." She walked out of the room, gently closing the door.

Dan stared at the medicines and gla.s.s of water on his bedside table. A smile can be seen on his face.