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1ST POV
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The next day, I took Megumi out with me for a walk. Of course, I left a note to notify Toji about it since he was still sleeping like a log in his room when I went to check on him. It was quite cold outside, so I dressed the lil guy warmly and even made sure to cover his pudgy little hands with cute cotton mittens!

He was absolutely adorable!

Closing the door of the apartment, I turned and greeted a few neighbors who, by now, were used to my presence and had even befriended me.

Afterwards, I began strolling through the neighborhood with Gumi strapped around me. He kept making cute baby noises with his pacifier, as I wandered aimlessly, lost in thought. I wondered what I to do next, considering I had nothing planned. Sure, I can easily make toys for him, but I just needed a reason to leave the house.

Yesterday's events were still playing in my head on repeat, and I was quite embarrassed about it all. Allah, I could still feel his lips against mine...

I made a strange sound that caused some passerby to glance at me weirdly.

The walk was supposedly just a way to distract myself from what happened, and I guess it was for naught since I couldn't stop thinking about it! Infuriating! And I know that as soon as I step foot home – Home? – Toji, that jackass won't let me live it down! I'm not ready to face whatever horny bullshit he might try to pull again because I'm sure the guy is probably the relentless type! Or maybe I'm just finding excuses and I'm just a coward.

Probably.

"Ayo...this is so cringey...", I muttered before jolting in surprise upon feeling Megumi tugging at my sweater, prompting me to look into his big green eyes. "I didn’t forget about you, honey," I cooed, "I'll spoil you so much today, no worries champ!" The boy beamed even if I doubt he understood anything I just said.

We entered several stores, mostly those related to babies, and proceeded to buy plenty of toys. I solely focused on chewing ones since he had just begun teething, and it would help him.

As soon as I entered though, the mothers there would look at us in surprise and begin whispering amongst themselves. Although I did not particularly feel bothered by their attention, I chose to ignore it and pretend like I hadn't noticed. We moved from one store to another, and I assumed my odd appearance might have been the reason for their curiosity. I would simply glance at them, which often startled them into looking away, and then I would shoot them polite smiles that earned me responses ranging from smiles back to scurrying mothers. This tactic worked well in most of the stores I visited until two brave mothers decided to initiate conversations with me.

"What a cute boy you have here, ma'am! Are you his nanny?" one of them, a brown-haired woman with eyes of the same color inquired politely.

"Yes! I've been taking care of him since August; he's a real sweetheart, if I do say so myself." I chuckled while squeezing Megumi's little hand in mine, as he barely glanced at the mothers. Never thought I'd be conversing with mothers like this, heh. "He still has his father's deadpan expression though."

They laughed along with me as the other one, a strangely familiar woman, cooed gently at Megumi, who wasn't fazed the slightest. I squinted a bit, trying to recall where I had seen her before, but quickly stopped when she looked at me with brown, beaming eyes.

"Your Japanese is pretty good! Sorry if we made you uncomfortable with our glances; well, none of us speak English, so we had no idea how to communicate properly." She looked at her friend who nodded in agreement. "How long have you been here? Were you born here or did you learn Japanese later?" she asked, adjusting her things and the stroller where a one-year-old boy slept soundly.

"No worries, I understand. Since August actually but I learned some before coming here so it wasn’t that big of a deal." I curtly replied making them hum in understanding. They were kinda nice to talk to.

"Impressive! You're quite good!" the familiar woman laughed good-heartedly. Okay, I really think I know her.

"Say, what are your names?" I asked, pinching the grumpy baby's cheek who made an annoyed noise. "I am Tobe Colith. Nice to meet you," I said, slightly tilting my head forward since bowing was out of question with Megumi strapped around my chest.

They realized that they had forgotten to introduce themselves and chuckled in embarrassment before quickly doing so.

"I am Matsuri Haiko," the brown-haired woman quickly said before motioning to her baby in the stroller, "and this is Fuki, she's two!" I nodded, smiling gently before looking at the other one expectantly.

"Yoshino Nagi! This is little Junpei!" My eyes widened, breath catching in my throat but I quickly regained my composure before they could notice, "He cries a lot but he's a sweetheart!" she chirped, smiling tenderly at her sleeping son as my heart sank a bit.

'Junpei...'

I watched the sleeping boy in sorrow, fully aware of what was going to happen to him and his mother in the future. Nagi didn't understand why I had such a sad expression while looking at her child, but she decided not to ask.

We ended up parting ways after exchanging contacts, mostly me since they already knew each other. I told Nagi and her friend that we should meet again one of these days, which they happily agreed to, hoping to learn more about me.

Checking my phone and seeing that it was time to feed Gumi, I walked to a bench where tiny bits of snow were covering it – which I swiftly cleaned with a flick of the hand – before sitting on it, placing Megumi on my lap, and beginning to feed him. I should probably introduce him to more solid foods now that I think about it.

He greedily drank the warm formula I had previously warmed a bit with my powers so it was pleasant for him. I was rewarded with satisfied humming noises.

Some passerby threw us curious glances. I mean, a black woman taking care of an Asian baby as if he were hers must be surprising and uncommon for 2004. Sure, he might not be mine but that in no way means that I don't love him. I've recently noticed these maternal instincts kicking in whenever I am around my beans, so I ain't surprised it's happening here as well.

'Not that strange, I've always been like this.'

I glanced at the sky, wondering how my life would've turned out if I hadn't died so prematurely. Would I have found love? I knew I wanted a husband and a couple of kids in the future. The idea of being a stay-at-home mom was rather appealing, even though I'm convinced I could have worked from home, being an artist and stuff.

'At least, the pandemic made me realize that working from home was possible, so it might have worked.' I pondered, 'Mah, there’s no point in dwelling on it' I shook my head then smiled fondly at the cherub in my arms.

"Your dad's an idiot you know that?"

Megumi simply blinked, still drinking without a care in the world. I continued.

"Hear me out! He's an idiot, but he's also handsome. And I know you'll be handsome too when you grow up."

I booped his nose, causing him to slightly close his eyes since my hand neared his face. Typical baby behavior yeah.

"You know... I have no idea what to do. I may or may not disappear one day, leaving you and your dad behind because...I miss my beans so much." I stroked his chubby cheek softly while a strained expression morphed on my face. "But you guys sorta grew on me and now...I don't know if I want to go back... If I'll ever go back that is..."

I looked at him with so much love and affection, as if he were my own, while he stared back at me with his big green eyes. He was done, which prompted me to make him burp. He had long passed the stage of regurgitating his food, but better be safe than sorry. After hearing a cute little burp, I praised him by pecking his cheek, which earned me delighted gurgles.

"You're such a sweetheart, Gumi! I love you so so much!" He chirped happily. I began playing with him, too entranced that I nearly missed the moment he giggled and said—

"Mmmamma!"

—in mirth, effectively freezing me in my spot. My jow dropped in shock.

Huh...?

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3RD POV
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It was currently 11 AM when Toji slowly woke up after a long night of sleep he quite found strange. He knew full well that he wasn't the type to fall asleep easily, much less without remembering how he got into bed. Sure he had a high tolerance but still, he rarely got wasted to the point of blacking out. He blinked several times, staring drowsily at the ceiling of his room...?

'The fuck...?'

Slowly straightening up with a grunt, he started glancing around. He had no idea how the hell he got there, let alone how he fell asleep yesterday…and the lack of alcohol smell was enough for him to understand that he hadn’t, in fact, drunk anything. His face scrunched up in concentration as he tried to remember what had happened for him to end up in his bed. Yesterday's events then came back to him like a punch to the gut. His eyes widened before a long suffering groan left his lips.

"Fuck"

What a colorful vocabulary to start the day! Then again, he just remembered his weird-ass behavior towards Colith and the strong urge, which literally came out of nowhere, to go further than mere languid kisses. He massaged his temples in hope of getting those unholy thoughts off of his head before sighing.

'She must've panicked and knocked me out.'

He snorted derisively.

'Don’t even know what got into me yesterday, wouldn't be surprised if she got creeped out...'

He softly hummed and then decided to get up to brush his teeth before noticing the different set of clothes he was currently wearing.

"How did I..." he trailed off then shrugged. He might have no recollection of him changing clothes, though he had a feeling it was her doing. Beats him. He shook his head and walked out.

After cleaning up, he went to check on Megumi but halted when his eyes caught sight of a note glued on the door. He squinted, still half-asleep, then cautiously took the paper:

-Hey! Just letting you know that I took Gumi with me for a walk so you don’t freak out like last time-

His eye twitched in slight irritation. He knew she had a point but nonetheless appreciated the fact that she took the time to warn him. Sighing in relief because he had no flipping idea how to confront her about...yesterday, he headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Entering the living room to get there, his heart nearly stopped upon seeing Colith's figure sitting on the couch. Next to her, his son's sleeping form she was gently patting on the bum.

'Shi-'

He was about to turn back when he halted, scowling. Why was he even beating himself up over some silly stuff? That was unlike him. Scoffing, he walked back in.

So what if he wanted to fuck her? No point in getting stressed out. He'll deal with it.

It would have been fine if only he hadn't seen her face.

"Colith?"

He was immediately in front of her, a disgruntled expression visible on his face, forgetting the previous nonchalance he had gathered.

"What's wrong? Is this my fault? Fuck‐Sorry, I didn’t mean to–" now he regretted his behavior.

She blinked into focus, noticing his usually aloof face now morphed into worry as he cupped her face. Puzzled, she placed a finger on his mouth, silencing him.

"Oh hey..." She paused and removed her finger from his lips as his face scrunched in confusion. "Did you sleep well?" she asked softly.

"What the— the fuck are you crying for?" He managed quietly, clearing her eyes from any stray tears.

Colith tilted her head to the side, still puzzled by his odd behavior before reassuring him.

She laughed, patting his hand. "I was just surprised," she said, trying to cover up her tears. "I don't even know why I was crying." He scowled, having easily seen through her lie.

"Cut the crap, would you."

His tone was stern but still held some slight hesitation since he didn't know if it was due to what he...almost did. As sappy as it sounded, he hoped it was not his fault even though that's all he could think of at the moment. Unless it was something serious, her crying for shits and giggles was something he couldn't fathom.

Closing his eyes for a moment to calm down, he finally asked in a low voice, "Is it because of what happened last night?"

Her eyes widened at the look in his eyes before she clumsily tried to reassure him, having sorta forgotten about...this, which caused a blush to color her cheeks.

"No! Not at all, dumbass! I wasn't even thinking about that! It's just... Megumi surprised me today... and I have no clue what to do..." she heaved out a sigh, looking down at her lap.

His brows furrowed as he sat next to her, having released her face, and watched her fumble with her fingers for a while, noticing the hesitation and guilt radiating from her being. She seemed nervous about whatever Megumi had done or mostly his reaction to the matter though he didn't know that.

She was slightly wary about how he might react if she told him that his son thought she was his mother.

Maybe he’d insult her as usual or ignore her like the last time. She had no idea what to expect from him. After all, she knew how important it was for some parents to hear their child’s first words and Toji was no exception…she thought. Dammit, this guy is so unpredictable.

She sighed, wondering why she was even scared of his reaction. He would probably shrug it off since they weren't together in the first place! Hopefully. She just felt bad for the real mom who rightfully deserved to be called that!

Toji carefully watched her as she sat there deep in thought. He had trouble comprehending the emotions passing over Colith's face at the moment; she didn't seem sad, but rather surprised and guilty about something. He eyed her beautiful features, noticing the slight quiver of her lips. His curiosity ultimately won out.

"What did he do?" he asks with a gentle tone he never knew he would ever use on her and stared at the woman he inevitably learned to...like? Was that what he really felt or was it just some type of attraction caused by her presence?

He felt a headache coming from a kilometer away just thinking about it, but he’d be lying if he said there wasn't something fishy going on in his heart every time he saw her. Yet, it felt oddly nice and the desire to protect was slowly but surely taking hold of him. The feeling of pure unyielding fury he felt all of a sudden upon seeing these damned tears made him want to go out on a rampage and find out what had caused this to her.

Just the thought of it made him scowl.

His attention returned to her as she slowly lifted her head. Their eyes met, and she parted her lips.

The next thing she said stunned him.

"Megumi said his first words...You know what the hell he said?" Her lips quivered slightly as a smile tugged them upward, puzzling him. "He called me mama!"

Toji inhaled sharply upon processing her words.
 
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