章 35: Moment of Truth (1)
Ken's dad moved fast. He talked to some of his contacts from university in order to get the process started as soon as possible. Seeing those wounds and bruises upon Daichi's face had caused something to snap inside of him.
There was no way that he would allow the poor child to return to his home and cop more abuse. Who knows what Daichi had suffered through before this incident, especially from a young age when he couldn't defend himself.
He marched over to Daichi's address after gathering all the required paperwork, his heart beating inside his chest wildly. There was a part of him that wanted to give her what she deserved, yet that would do more harm than good.
So as he approached the door, he took a few seconds to calm himself and knocked on the door. Moments later, he could hear the sounds of beer cans rattling onto the ground, along with a few grunts and groans.
Soon enough, a woman with frazzled hair and bags under her eyes opened the door. Judging by her drowsy expression, he had probably woken her up despite it being almost 2pm during the day.
Due to her being only 5 feet tall, she had to crane her neck to look up at Chris whom was around 6'3 in height. There was an instant look of fear as she looked upon his intimidating frame standing in front of her door.
It probably didn't help that his face did not look the most friendly at this moment in time.
Without waiting for her to speak, Chris opened his mouth.
"I am here on behalf of Daichi, your son. Can I come inside?" He asked, his tone flat without any hint of politeness.
The woman stared at him for a while before quickly trying to shut the door in his face, only to fail at the last moment thanks to Chris stopping it with his foot. She struggled for a little while before shouting out threats.
"W-What are you doing? I'll call the cops!" Her voice sounded frantic as she tried with all her might to close the door.
"Let me in so we can talk like civilized adults. You do know how to be a civilized adult don't you?" Chris's words were dripping with venom as he stared at the womans face plainly.
Daichi's mother struggled for a little while longer before it seemed as if she had finally given up. She opened the door and stood to the side, letting Chris inside.
He calmly entered the threshold and the first thing he noticed was the mess. Empty beer cans and bottles laid around the lounge room, as well as trash scattered wantonly in the surroundings.
Chris said nothing, yet he felt another sense of reassurance that he was making the correct decision. It was clear that this woman was in no state to take care of a child, even if that child was 15 years old.
"Is there somewhere we can talk?"
"Dining table." She muttered, clearing away some of the bottles and leading the way to the kitchen area.
Chris followed and was surprised that the dining table was only cluttered with mail instead of trash and beer cans like the lounge room.
Without care, she grabbed the pile of mail and placed it on one of the spare chairs before sitting down. The woman seemed to not care that her house was not in a presentable state for a guest, a far cry from how his own wife operated.
Chris took a seat and placed his brown bag on the table before turning his gaze on her.
"Let me get to the point here. What you did to Daichi was unacceptable." He paused, trying to gauge her reaction. However their was nothing, almost as if he was looking at someone who was not capable of feeling remorse.
"I am here for you to sign some forms and remove your rights as his parent and legal guardian." Chris continued, pulling out some prefilled forms and handing them to her across the table.
Daichi's mother finally seemed to have a reaction as she took the papers out of his hands. Chris finally thought that she may have felt remorse over her actions, but he was quickly proven wrong.
"What's in it for me?" She asked in a husky tone, her gaze now fixed on him.
Chris felt a rising anger threaten to take over his self control. Instead of recognizing her mistakes and trying to amend them, she merely looked for ways in which she could benefit from the ordeal.
Just before he was about to speak his mind, she finally spoke more than a few words.
"Look. I know that unless I sign these forms that Daichi will be forced to come and live here again. You could even take me to court over it, but he'll just go into foster care because we have no other family."
"So how about you make it worth my while and I'll sign these papers for you." A small smile played on the corner of her lips, as if she had just played a finishing move in a chess game.
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