"Distance was a dangerous thing, she knew. Distance changed people."

- Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance -

You Can

Chapter 26

Eight Months Later...

"Good day. This is Ryota Yamamoto of TNC reporting in front of Imperial Hotel, Tokyo where Ruka and Hotaru Nogi of ILAW will be celebrating their son Haru's first birthday. As shown in the video, the party will definitely be as extravagant as the venue of the celebration. Among many celebrities who will be gathered today, the infamous tycoon Natsume Hyuuga of Hyuuga Industries will be attending as he is known to be the Godfather of the child. It is still unknown whether his ex-wife, Mikan Sakura, will make an appearance—"

Natsume quickly turned the TV off as he leaned back on his office chair, rubbing his face with the palm of his hands. He closed his eyes and forced himself to stay calm, to not flinch upon hearing her name. To act as if everything in the past is just a thing of the past, nothing more. To act as if he never misses her, every hour of every day. Of every moment—

He sighed. He had to get a hold of himself.

She was coming.

To the party.

Of course, she was. And it was funny how the media hasn't caught up with the news yet. He was glad ILAW did its best to hide her from the limelight... and far away from him as possible.

Who was he kidding? Nothing was stopping him from getting to her. He was staying away. He was the one choosing to stay away.

He sat straight and grabbed the invitation letter laying open in his desk. He picked it up and let his thumb slide on the name directly beside his.

Mikan Sakura – Godmother

His invitation only has her name on it, as Ruka informed him. No one else knew about her. About the fact that she was in Tokyo, and that she was coming for the celebration. They had kept it as a secret from everyone. The only ones who knew were Hotaru, Ruka, and him.

He remembered the night Ruka gave him the invitation. They were sitting on the gardens, silently, while drinking rum.

"I had this custom-made. Mikan specifically requested to have her name removed on the regular one so that the celebration would not turn into a paparazzi's event. She wanted it to be special for Haru. But I made two copies of these. One was for her… and the other one is for you. She will be there, Natsume."

She will be there, Natsume.

She will be there.

She will—

A knock was made on the heavy door of his office and he looked up, his thoughts vanishing for a moment. He formed a stoic expression on his face and folded the invitation, hiding it on the drawer of his Mahogany desk.

"Come in."

The door slowly opened. "I was afraid you will still be here."

He looked up and saw his mother in a royal blue sequenced gown. He tried his best to act as if he wasn't thinking of something, someone like Mikan who has been keeping his mind on 24/7. He gave her a grateful smile.

During the last six months of his life, his mother never left his side. He kept on pushing her away, shouting nasty and despicable things to her but she didn't relent.

She was there when he was recuperating from his alcohol poisoning. She never left his side whenever he was asleep, always on the couch watching over him. Once he was discharged, she had gotten to making him home cooked meals and would be leaving it on his doorstep with a small letter telling him how much she loves him and for letting her take care of him, even in such as small way. It was never a small way. His mother had gone through all his verbal abuse and his usual snob attitude but she never faltered. She was always there. His walls were breaking down and he didn't want that happening.

So in one moment where he was too angry and too tired to do the usual mother-and-son cycle that he was way, way getting accustomed to, he lashed out on her. Shouting the most shameful and vile words he could scream at her, about her, and her apparent disgusting life. He thought she would leave, like she always does when he gets angry but this time... this time, her mother stared at him and gave him the most powerful slap a woman has ever laid on his face.

"You have no right to say that I have never loved you. Because I do. I love you, my son. And I will always love you. No matter how much you push me away. I have never stopped trying to get you back. You have no idea how much letters I have written for you all this time. I wanted to know how you were doing, how you were growing up. Were you still the most charming boy I have ever laid eyes on? But I couldn't get you fast enough. Dealing with the paternity test… Shinichi knowing you were not his son. It had all taken a toll on me. I have been restricted by your father to never see you again. He stripped me off my rights as a mother before I was able to get you. I had plans… I had plans to leave with you. I was about to have you. You were right there but I—I knew I didn't have anything on me. You will have a good life with Hyuuga as your surname and I had to accept that. I remained silent, wishing that someday I will get a chance to start over with you. And I'm trying. I'm trying my best because I've wasted so much time, I've wasted so much time for the both of us. I love you, my son. I would have done anything to get back the years I've spent away from you but all I have is now—"

Tears were falling down on his face and he couldn't stop it. Her mother was crying now. The hands that slapped his face were shaking uncontrollably and he knew he had hurt his mother. He awkwardly gathered her in his arms and brought her close. "Mother…"

And the rest was history. He opened up, he knew it would take a long while before this will be normal, but for once he was willing to try. He missed his mother so much enough to try. To try again. This time he was willing to go all in as to having family counseling a day or two over the week and so far they were patching things up.

Letting Andou know was difficult because he knew the situation was already awkward, and with Tsubasa? It would most definitely be more awkward. He had a tear in his eyes when his mother openly mentioned it to him while they were eating lunch at a restaurant. A first time, which made Tsubasa quirk his eyes over the situation he was looking at before their mother spilled the news. Natsume looked at his half-brother and gave out a small smile.

His half-brother.

He cringed at that. This would really take a lot of time adjusting to.

Tsubasa gave him a beam in return and Natsume never realized how wrong the smile he gave out until it was too late and Tsubasa was on his side, giving him a huge brotherly hug. Then he whispered to him, making sure it was only him that could hear. "Good. Now, it's time for you to get the girl."

As if he could. Didn't Tsubasa realize they just got divorced? Or should he slap the papers on his stupid face?

But looking back he realized he was the coward. He loved Mikan. He was still in love with her. After all this months of being away from her, she never left his mind. He had done several attempts to travel to her house in the countryside but he stopped himself every time. He knew he had no right, not when he still had unfinished business getting Luna in prison and making sure Persona never leaves the prison.

It took him four more months before the police finally found Luna. She was hiding in a small island off the coast of Hawaii. All the digging of the detectives and a whole lot of millions he paid for was worth it.

Every damn penny as long as Mikan was and is safe.

Luna was arrested there and then and was charged to life imprisonment. The news somehow leaked quickly and Natsume didn't know how in hell it would even swarm inside the four corners of the prison where Persona, Luna's half-brother, was imprisoned. A few hours before dawn, while Luna was being held on a ship going back to Tokyo, Persona hanged himself on his enclosure.

Natsume was the first one to hear of the news and it confused him as to why Persona would hang himself. He probably knew he'd stay in prison for life now that his only link to the outside world, her sister, was also in prison.

He pulled out of his thoughts and stood up, pulling on his coat and slipping it on his arms. "I was about to leave and come get you. I just had a few more things to look into."

His mother gave him a soft smile. "You look handsome, my son."

"As always." He winked and stretched out his arms. "Are you ready to go?"

His mother linked her arm on the crook of his and laughed at his charming antic. "My son… Oh, my son."

Laughter was heard all throughout the hallway.

Mikan gulped as she stared at herself in the full-length mirror.

Was she really ready to do this?

Mikan, breathe. You'll be okay. This is just a party. Haru's birthday party. Nothing more.

"Mikan? Are you ready?"

Mikan turned and saw Hotaru, looking as lovely as ever, while she had Haru on her arms. "You look beautiful, Hotaru. And of course you little gorgeous baby." She crooned and the baby garbled and made noises at her.

"Not as lovely as you look. Men will swoon!" Hotary exclaimed and Haru let out a shriek.

She laughed and held onto Haru's little fingers which Haru, in return, wrapped his tiny hands around. She tried not to think about Hotaru's comment as all she wanted was one man's reaction.

She shook her head to stop the thoughts. Not again, Mikan. You're not going there. He hurt you and you're still not over him?

She sighed inwardly. How was she supposed to get over him when all she had been doing for the past eight months was lurk on the internet to see if he was in any news? If he was doing okay. If Hyuuga Industries has increased its stocks, if he was on any newspaper, or if he was dating anybody else…

Her thoughts disappeared when Hotaru gave her a pat in the arm. She looked up and met her eyes, easily knowing the trail of thoughts Mikan was having.

There were so much things she wanted to ask her about Natsume but she was too shy to even mention his name. But Hotaru knew what she wanted to ask, that she would simply mention his name every now and then.

"Natsume has been opening himself up more to his mother… Tsubasa spread the news to us over the weekend after they had lunch together last Friday. He even said they'll try family counseling."

"Really?" A wave of relief washed over her body from the news.

"Yes. Mikan? Do you know how big this step is for Natsume? I can't even believe it."

Other times she'd even send her a text if she was too busy just to update her about him.

Hotaru: He's smiling more. He's been trying. Trying a lot and I'm so proud of him.

Other times she'd video call her when things gets way important.

"Mikan. They caught her. Luna."

She burst into tears. It had been more than six months since the attack and she just realized that Natsume hasn't stopped trying.

"Hey, Mikan? Are you all right?" Hotaru crunched up her forehead looking at her on the tablet.

"I—I just got dust in my eyes."

And now they were back to the present, she smiled at Hotaru and gave a pat on top of her fingers too.

It was a silent reassurance that all will be well.

"I've tightened security. No media people will know you'll be here and if you want, you can always stay here and we will have a fun celebration of our own later. After? With the gang, of course. I've thought the news would've died down now, especially after Misaki and Tsubasa made the public announcement of their wedding…"

Mikan shook her head. "No, I will be fine. I know I'd have to face them someday. Remember, I have an art gallery opening up soon and I think the media would be most helpful."

In truth, Mikan finally found her passion. All this time she had not come around to using her brush as an outlet after her parents died but once she had gotten back home, she painted non-stop. It was not long that Mikan was buying larger canvasses to paint on, she even offered to make a mural for the town hall. Which the town head delightfully agreed to.

Mikan busied herself with painting and while making one of her most favorites, she got a call from an art curator who found her mural astonishing and was very interested in buying her other works. She said that it was not for sale but after talking to Hotaru and asking for advice, and the continuous insistence of the curator to buy and at least set her up with an art gallery to showcase her paintings, she gave in.

She can't believe she was doing this, she can't even believe that the news of her art gallery would come out the very next day.

Hotaru giggled. "I can't wait for them to see your artworks. I said I'd bought one but you didn't have to give one to me."

Mikan shook her head, "Well it's the least I could do especially since ILAW gave me such tight security on the countryside and I felt secured."

"Wait, Mikan. ILAW is responsible for media interventions but as far as I know, we were not responsible for your security…"

It suddenly dawned on Mikan.

All this time, Natsume was still watching over her.

Natsume held out his hands and pulled his mother off the limousine as light bulbs flashed manically on them. He gave them a stoic expression and led his mother to the entrance.

The media wasn't allowed inside the grounds of the hotel and Natsume sighed gratefully. He didn't want the media to know Mikan was somewhere in the hotel. It would cause her stress and he never wanted her to feel that way.

"Nervous?"

His mom patted his arm.

He looked down on her and smiled. "No, why would you say that?"

"You have that nervous energy going around you. As if… you're anticipating seeing somebody."

Natsume almost faltered but covered it up quickly. "Well, I haven't seen my Godson for over a week. That might be the reason?"

"Hmmm… not quite." She gave her son a look all too-knowing but decided to give it up.

They were almost inside the ballroom when his mother spoke again, "Is Mikan going to be here? I hope so. She's been doing well in the countryside? I heard Takishiro has made plans…"

The sound of his mother's voice drowned out because before he stepped into the threshold, something—someone caught his attention. Making him turn his body out of its accord, he looked up just in time to find himself staring at Mikan making her way down the staircase.

She was just as beautiful as he remembered.

I haven't had the time to check on your PMs and reviews. I apologize.

I know you have all been waiting for this and I hope you guys are still reading and never losing hope. Don't lose hope on me! I will finish this story!

Don't kill me for the cliffhanger. Cheers!