A Love I Shouldn't Feel
Chapter 266: Silent Understandings ( 266 )

Chapter 266: Silent Understandings ( 266 )

Kitayama stared at them, then grunted.

"Tonight, you’ll be drinking with us, Haruki."

"Yes, Mr. Kitayama."

"And KYOUKO!!!"

"Y-yes, Father..?" Kyouko blinked, already knowing something was coming.

"It’s your job to pour sake for your husband. That’s your role now."

Kyouko nodded quickly, face a little red. "Yes, Father..."

"And Haruki!"

"Yes, Mr. Kitayama?"

"When’s the wedding? And how are you planning it?"

Haruki bowed politely, then looked up.

"Can I... ask to marry her here? In this house? And have the wedding ceremony at this place?"

Kitayama’s eyes went still.

Serious.

Sharp.

But then.

He suddenly leaned back and broke into a grin, eyes bright.

"OHO!!!! Hanako!!!"

A distant voice from the hall, "Yes, dear~?"

"You heard that!? This is why I like Haruki more than that bastard Satoshi!!"

From outside the room, Hanako chuckled. "Yes, yes, I heard~"

"So—when, Haruki? When you planning this?"

Haruki smiled nervously. "Umm... I would prefer as soon as possible... since... well, Kyouko is... pregnant."

Kitayama raised his brows. Then gave a single nod, firm and proud.

"Yeah, I know that."

He leaned forward.

"So... this week?"

Haruki looked at Kyouko.

She looked back, blushing deeply—but not saying no.

Haruki turned to Kitayama and bowed low again.

"If possible, yes."

Kitayama slapped his knee in joy.

"GOOD! Then we better prepare everything! KENJI!! GET IN HERE!! We have a wedding to arrange!!!"

Outside the room, Kenji’s voice echoed in.

"EH!? ALREADY!?"

Kyouko buried her face in her hands, shaking her head as Kitayama was already shouting orders.

Haruki just laughed.

That night, the whole Kitayama family gathered in the large traditional dining room, seated on floor cushions around a low table filled with food and drink.

Laughter echoed from every corner.

Kitayama sat at the head of the table, silently pouring himself a warm cup of sake. Beside him, Hanako chatted quietly with Keiko, who was rubbing her belly with a soft wince, due any day now.

Kenji was already halfway drunk, teasing his son Daichi about his recent test scores, while Hitomi kept swatting his shoulder, telling him to behave. Riko, shy as always, was nestled beside her mother, nibbling on grilled fish and quietly watching the adults with big eyes.

Kazuma offered a toast with a raised glass.

"To family!"

Everyone lifted their glasses in unison.

"To family!"

Kitayama didn’t say much, but he smiled as he looked around the room.

His family was here.

Whole.

Complete.

And happy.

But what made him smile the most... was Kyouko.

She was seated beside Haruki, her expression gentle, eyes soft, the kind of smile a woman wears when her heart is finally at peace.

Not like that first time she returned home.

That day, after twenty years of marriage.

Her smile had been different.

Tight.

Polite.

Too perfect.

Like something was broken behind her eyes.

She had looked thinner then. Paler. Her laugh didn’t reach her chest.

Even when she tried to act like everything was fine, he was her father.

He knew better.

But everything changed the day Haruki showed up here by coincidence.

During his own birthday party.

Kitayama still remembered.

How Haruki sat awkwardly in his suit at the edge of the tatami room, clearly not expecting to see Kyouko here.

And how Kyouko looked at him.

Like a woman waking from a long, cold sleep.

Subtle.

But real.

From that moment, Kitayama knew.

They were already having an affair.

Even before Okinawa.

He kept quiet. Observed. Watched.

Later, he make sure Hanako called Satoshi and Satomi to visit him under the excuse of family reunion.

And Satomi had asked her mother to look after Haruki for a while—because she was busy.

She had no idea she was throwing her husband straight into her mother’s arms.

The two had stayed at the seaside cottage, far from the main house. Alone.

Nearly three months.

Kitayama sipped his sake, still smiling to himself.

He didn’t scold.

He didn’t get angry.

Because finally... finally...

His daughter looked alive again.

And Haruki?

That man had passed his test the moment Kitayama looked into his eyes and saw nothing but sincerity.

Yes... Kitayama knew.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Everyone in the family had figured it out, even if no one spoke of it out loud.

Not just because he had discreetly ordered Junichi—his old friend and private investigator—to look into Haruki after that visit.

Not just because the timelines lined up too well.

But because, as a father... and a man... he simply knew.

When two lonely people live under the same roof, far from judgment, far from noise, when the world isn’t watching, their hearts will speak a language even they might not expect.

And it wasn’t just any two people.

It was her.

Kyouko.

His daughter.

Beautiful. Elegant. Serene. Even now, at 44, her skin still radiant, her figure still perfect.

And him.

Nakagawa Haruki.

Young. Tall. Handsome. Quiet but assertive. Sharp. Loyal. And deeply wounded by a cold, sexless marriage with Satomi.

It didn’t matter that she was his mother-in-law.

Or that he was her daughter’s husband.

Kitayama sighed softly, sipping more sake.

He knew.

No matter how much they resisted...

No matter how forbidden...

That line.

That fragile, delicate boundary of what should never be crossed.

Would be crossed.

Because it always does.

Especially when no one is watching.

Especially when the heart is starved, and the body still aches to be loved.

Because Kitayama, as a man, knew.

Men weren’t complicated.

Not really.

A man could endure stress, hardship, disappointment, even loneliness.

But there were three things that, if missing for too long, would break any man.

Respect.

Affection.

And sex.

Take those away, and even the strongest man would start to fall apart inside.

He’d stay silent. Endure for a while. But eventually... he’d search.

And when he stumbled across someone who gave him what he lacked... he wouldn’t let go.

Kitayama glanced at Haruki from across the room.

That’s what happened here.

Haruki... neglected. Cast aside in his own marriage. No warmth. No intimacy. No softness from the woman who was supposed to be his partner.

And then...

He met her.

Kyouko.

Beautiful. Elegant. A wife any man would envy.

But more than that, she cared.

She spoke gently to him.

Listened.

Touched his arm during conversation.

Made tea for him without asking.

Smiled with her eyes.

She didn’t even realize it.

But Haruki did.

And the moment he felt it, truly felt it, he was already lost.

And Kyouko?

He looked at his daughter again, now glowing with quiet happiness beside Haruki.

She’d been unloved for too long. Her marriage nothing but an empty room where her voice was never heard. Her body never touched with love.

So when Haruki loved her, touched her, worshipped her with his eyes like she was everything, how could she turn away?

No. Kitayama wasn’t angry.

Because he understood.

He was a man too.

And he knew...

When a man who was never appreciated crosses paths with a woman who was never loved properly.

That’s where real, dangerous love begins.

( End Of Chapter )