บท 13: 13. Choice

( THIRD PERSON POV )

As shirogana sat on the chair, he started contemplating over Rei's situation. The same nurse who initially informed him about Rei came over and told him Rei was awake. She reminded him again, to not make Rei feel any stress as it would be bad for his health.

He stood up and slowly walked towards Rei's room. He felt nervous as he wanted to ask Rei on living with him for probably the rest of his life. Upon reaching, he slowly opened the door. He saw Rei sitting on his bed closing his eyes. He slowly made his way towards Rei and sat on the stool beside Rei's bed.

( REI POV )

I fainted again, as I was talking to Shirogana-san. As I regained consciousness I sat on the bed, recollected all the events which happened over the past few days. Realizing Dad was no more made my body tremble as my eyes watered completely. Tears slowly rolled down my checks and seeped into the clothes.

The nurse went out, probably to inform Shirogana-san that I'm awake. I cleaned the tears off my cheeks and laid back closing my eyes. The door opened and probably Shirogana-san came in and sat on the stool beside my bed.

There was a moment of silence between us. I broke the silence by asking, "So Oji-san, Otou-san is no more. What am I going to do from now, without him by my side anymore?" Now that dad isn't going to stay by my side I felt my life had no meaning.

His mouth opened to answer my question but no words were coming out. He answered after a couple of seconds, "Rei if you have no problem I am planning to adopt you?"

His answer shocked me. My body froze as my brain was processing his words. I then chuckled a bit and answered back, "It's alright Oji-san. I do not like to be a burden. I would be able to take care of myself. So, please don't pity me."

He replied with resolution in his voice, "It's not pity, Rei. I know how you feel, Tensei was my one and only friend I could wish for in this life. As his friend I would like to take up the responsibility to take care of you."

I could feel the various emotions in his voice such as grief and conviction. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I replied, "I need time Oji-san. I still need to collect all my thoughts on this and think about it."

He exhaled air in relief as he slowly said, "Ok Rei, please take it slow and rest for a while. We will plan Tensei's funeral after you recover."

I nodded and replied slowly, "Ok Oji-san, please take care of the funeral for Otou-san." and shifted my body to sleep more comfortably.

"Leave it to me Rei. I will take care of the funeral. You need to rest the most now." and he slowly left the room.

Seeing him leave the room, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

( SHIROGANA POV )

After telling my piece to Rei, I slowly left the room to give him space to rest. I went and sat back on the chair. As I proposed to him about living with us, I felt scared as the thought of him denying it came into my head. Seeing how he didn't deny it but wanted to think over and it was a good sign.

I whipped out my phone as I snapped out of my thoughts. There was still Tensei's funeral to conduct. I have decided to keep it small, as Rei doesn't know many people. I called Narumi and explained to her about Rei's response and the funeral. She was happy as Rei was thinking about it and didn't reject it.

After talking with her for a while, I called some people and told them about Tensei's death and his funeral. The list was small so it didn't take much time to cover all of them.

I stood up and made my way towards the doctor who took care of Rei. I asked him, " Doctor until when does Rei need to stay in the hospital."

"About a week Mr.Shirogana, We should monitor him in case he loses his consciousness again. So it's better if he stays here for a week." he then paused and continued, "Mr.Shirogana I would like to have a private word with you." and gestured towards his office.

I entered and sat down on the chair across the doctor. I asked him with a bit of worry in my voice, "Yes doctor, is there a problem."

"Mr.Shirogana I would suggest you take Rei to a psychologist for some therapy. There might be some trauma regarding the accident and the death of Mr.Tensei. So, it would be better if he sees a specialist and has some sessions. It would help him to accept his father's death. It would help if he had such meetings a couple of times in a month."

What the doctor suggested felt completely logical. I have also seen some people face trauma in the past due to such accidents. I nodded and replied, "Alright doctor, I would make Rei visit a psychologist."

I thanked him for the suggestion and made my way back to the seat I was sitting earlier.