13.) Finding Toru

Tuesday December 8th, 2020

Kaya pulls into the parking lot at her usual 8:30 arrival time, looking up at the three story building with a nervous smile on her face. She scans the parking lot for the familiar blue Tesla, but when she doesn't spot it a frown overtakes her features. Kaya parks in her favorite spot, then grabs her laptop bag and homemade creamer and climbs out of her car, heading towards the building feeling a little more nervous than she'd expected to.

When the elevator dings to the top floor and opens, she looks around at the open common space and nods to herself happily before exiting the elevator and heading first to her office, then to the break room to start the first pot of coffee. Kaya adds 3 tablespoons of cream and 2 of sugar to her Delta Sigma Pi mug as the pot brews and places the rest of the creamer into the fridge.

As Kaya re-enters her office with coffee in hand she starts to wonder if she should have texted Toru to tell him she would be returning today rather than just showing up like this. She thought she would just come back in with no announcement, not wanting anyone to make a big deal of her returning, but now that he wasn't here she had a bad feeling that wherever he was couldn't be good.

Kaya worked diligently at her desk uninterrupted the entire morning, no one thought to stop by her office as the door was closed and they were still not expecting her. The few who had seen her car in the lot thought she likely stopped by for a specific task and should be left alone as she wasn't officially back yet. Kaya was grateful for the peace as she worked, seeing as she became more and more nervous as time ticked away.

When 1 PM rolled around and Toru still hadn't shown she decided to try to call him and see if everything was ok. The ringing of the phone did nothing to help calm her nerves, nor did the fact that it went to voicemail, a voicemail it occurred to her she'd never even heard before as he'd never missed her call in the past. Kaya frowned at her phone and tried to think of her next move, how to check on him.

She called Kaname, who answered on the third ring with a smile on his face. "Hello favorite sister." He chimed. "I'm your only sister." Kaya giggled, rolling her eyes. "All the more reason you're the favorite." He teased. "Everything ok?" Kaname inquired. "I was just wondering how things have been lately at the office with me away." Kaya stated hesitantly, knowing she hadn't told Kaname she was coming back today either, nor wanting him to know she was looking for Toru.

"Smooth sailing. Nothing to worry about, well except…" Kaname trailed off. "Except what?" Kaya asked, slight panic evident in her tone. "Toru, he doesn't always come in. When he does come in he's late and he looks like hell. No one has seen him or heard from him since last Wednesday." He informed her as softly as possible while still being straight forward.

"Have you tried calling anyone to check on him?" Kaya asked with accusation in her voice. "Well no. I'm not really sure who to call. And for all we know he's working on some stuff up in the Atlanta Office." He defended. Kaya nodded her head. "Yeah, he could be working up in Atlanta I suppose. Well, I'll let you get back to work. Love you." Kaya said softly. "Love you too." Kaname responded.

Kaya hung up the phone with a sigh before she looked up the number to Seijoh Corp and called, listening as it rang once and started giving her different options. She selected "Dial by name" and chose Toru from the list, his work voicemail full and unable to leave a message.

Kaya hung up and called back, this time selecting to speak to Kenichi Oikawa, the line ringing and going to a receptionist after the second ring back. "Mr. Oikawa's office, how can I help you?" The sweet voice rang. "Hello, this is Kaya Moniwa, the CFO of Date Tech, I'm calling because we haven't seen Mr. Toru Oikawa in office nor heard from him and wanted to verify if he was working in the Atlanta office." Kaya asked with hope in her voice.

"I'm sorry, who did you say you are again?" The receptionist asked. "Kaya Moniwa, from Date Tech." Kaya responded, feeling a pit in her stomach. "Hold please." the receptionist said sweetly, classical music coming over the line. Kaya sat on hold for what felt like an eternity before the voice came back over the line. "Ms. Moniwa, I've got Mina on the line for you. I'll connect you now." The receptionist informed her, Kaya feeling more and more nervous as to why his mother would need to speak to her.

"Kaya, are you there?" Mina's voice came through the line. "Yes, hello. I'm here." Kaya told her, anxiety building from within. "It's good to hear from you. Toru isn't up here working, though he is up here. He's over at Emory Midtown. He hasn't been feeling so well lately and he fell asleep driving Thursday around lunch time, ran his car into a tree. It was touch and go at first, they transported him to Emory by helicopter for care. He's awake and starting to get around."

Kaya choked back a sob as she listened to Mina tell her why no one had heard from him in days, her sadness quickly growing to anger that no one even tried to check on him. "I'm so sorry, I should have known much sooner." Kaya sniffled. "No it's ok. I know about what happened and Toru has been nothing but understanding, same here. I figured if you did start looking for him you might call the office so I told my husband's receptionist to connect you to me if you did." Mina told her.

Kaya nodded gratefully to herself, "Is, is there anything I can do?" She asked hopefully. "I think seeing you would do a lot to raise his spirits. Though a call to his room might also suffice." Mina responded. "Am I allowed to see him? I would have thought it was family only." Kaya responded, nerves washing over her. "No he's not in that bad of shape, and in a private room so there's plenty of space. Even an extra bed if you want to stay over with him." Mina offered.

"Ok then, I'm going to leave work in just a few minutes, run by my place to grab a few things, then be on the road." Kaya rushed to tell her, not wanting to waste any more time and hoping that would all be ok. "It's 1 now, that will put you here about 3, assuming you don't drive like my son." Mina chuckled. "I think I'd be there by 3, yes. It won't take me long to go by my apartment and get what I need together." Kaya responded. "Ok, I'll meet you at the east entrance at 3 and show you how to get into the part of the hospital he's in. They've been doing construction, so it's like a labyrinth right now." Mina laughed.

"Wow, thanks so much Mina, really I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me." Kaya told her. "Think nothing of it. I'm happy to help a sweet girl such as yourself. Plus this is helping my sweet baby too. Should I tell him you're coming or leave it as a surprise?" Mina asked. "Um, I planned to surprise him today, so I guess let's stick with that." Kaya responded, relieved that Mina was being so accommodating.

Kaya quickly packed back up her laptop and put it in her bag then left the office, locking the door. She made her way through the mostly empty office, most of the employees out to lunch at this hour. As the door opened to the elevator on the bottom floor she came face to face with Kaname. "Kaya, are you ok? You look like you've been crying." He asked, concerned she was still struggling with her emotions after her breakup.

"I'm headed to Atlanta. I'll be back in a day or two." Kaya told him as she stepped off the elevator, causing Kaname to look at her puzzled. "Did something with work come up that you need to get sorted? And where are you going to be staying?" Kaname asked, uncertain if it was a good idea for her to crash at Toru's place. "Probably get a room. I don't know. He was in an accident so I'm going to see him." Kaya told him, rushing out the door and leaving Kaname to stare at her with his mouth agape.

As he watched her climb into her car a small smile came across his face. The way she was rushing to him it seemed to him that she must be coming to terms with actually caring about Toru and that she isn't just his work friend like she kept telling herself in order to appease Kenji. He wasn't as sure as his mother was that his sister would fall for the man, but he thought they could easily be best friends.

Kaya made her stop at her apartment as quick as possible, first putting a pot of water on the stove before anything else. She made quick work of changing out of her work clothes and into a pair of black yoga pants with a white tee shirt and oversized pink sweater. She took the water off the stove and then packed as she allowed the Luzianne* to do its thing.

Once packed she came back out into the kitchen and placed a funnel in an empty gallon jug, adding sugar before pouring the hot liquid from the pot over it, shaking it hard, then filling the gallon the rest of the way with tap water.** Kaya used the bathroom quickly then grabbed her bag, the fresh gallon of tea, then headed out the door, headed straight to Emory, her nerves all over the place to see Toru again.

When Kaya arrived at Emory it was 2:47. She found a place to park and made the walk into the building at 2:58, quickly spotting Mina and making her way over to her. "It's nice to see you again Mina." Kaya greeted Mina, smiling at her warmly and embracing her in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're here!" Mina exclaimed. When she let her go she studied her for a moment, seeing she changed to be more comfortable at the hospital and brought tea with her.

"Come on, let's not keep him waiting." Mina said, moving in the direction of the elevators they needed. Kaya tried to pay attention to how they were getting from the entrance to the part of the hospital they needed, but found it difficult as they changed elevators for the third time and had already been down several corridors. "Why do I feel like David Bowie is going to pop out and tell us we remind him of the babe?" Kaya chuckled.

Mina laughed. "Toru is terrified of that movie, but don't tell him I told you though." Mina responded as they rounded another corner. "I am too, Kaname loved it, but those puppets scare the mess out of me." Kaya admitted. "Toru was afraid of The Goblin King." Mina admitted, leaving Kaya to giggle and nod her head in understanding at the same time. "To be fair, he's kinda crazy and creepy. 80's kid's movies are weird." Kaya contemplated aloud.

"Here we are." Mina announced, looking at a door marked 16-156 South. "You go ahead, I'll come back and check on you two later on so you can have your privacy." Mina smiled at Kaya. Kaya returned her smile with tears in her eyes, nervous about how he might look in his hospital bed, but happy she was about to see him again for the first time in nearly two weeks. "Thanks again Mina, I'll see you later." Kaya told her, the two hugging once again before Mina headed back the way she'd come.

Kaya took a deep breath and turned her attention towards the door about to knock when a beautiful nurse came out of the room, stopping and looking at Kaya. "Can I help you ma'am?" The nurse asked. "I'm here to see Mr. Oikawa." Kaya answered, trying to sound confident and as though she belonged. "Ah, well I just finished changing his dressings so he's up and all. Can't say that he's in a very great mood though." She warned, Kaya nodding at her seriously. "Thank you." She responded before knocking on the door.

"What now? " Toru's voice boomed, annoyed. Kaya closed her eyes and tried to gather her strength. "Just come in for fuck's sake." Toru called, losing his patience. Kaya opened the door slowly and stepped in, her eyes landing on Toru in his bed, wearing a plain black tee shirt and blue plaid pajama pants rather than a hospital gown. As Toru saw who came through the door his expression went from cold and murderous to warm and joyful.

"Kaya, you're here." He stated in awe. "Of course I am, I came as soon as I could." She smiled at him softly. "Please, come in." He urged, wanting her to come closer. Kaya made her way further into the large room, his own personal closet and dresser were included with a mini fridge, microwave, and a TV. It looked more like a hotel room than a hospital room. Other than the part where Toru was bandaged and attached to an IV drip.

Kaya pulled up the chair next to Toru's bed and took a seat, smiling at him warmly. "How are you feeling?" She asked, Toru shaking his head at her. "Nope, not talking about me. I'm fine obviously. How are you?" He insisted. Kaya looked down at her feet a moment before looking back up at Toru. "I'm ok. Better if I knew you might be able to find it in your heart to forgive me." She told him.

Toru looked at her as though she were joking. "Forgive you? For what?" He asked. "I was harsh to you. You didn't do anything wrong. You even tried to warn me about him more than once. Then when I was told the truth by someone, rather than your contemplating, I blamed you for not telling me sooner. I get that then wasn't a good time, and I believe you that you would have told me later." She told him, a regretful look in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Sometimes we react emotionally to things. If I were to hold that against you that would make me a hypocrite I'm afraid." Toru told her truthfully. "So you've been sick?" Kaya asked, leading Toru to give her a puzzled look. "You're mom said you hadn't been feeling well and that's why you fell asleep while you were driving." She informed him. "So you talked to mom." He chuckled.

"Sick is one way to put it. I have MDD***. Have for years, I struggle with it more at times than others, and it's been pretty bad lately. The holidays are never a good time for me anymore I'm afraid." Kaya nodded at him seriously, a small smile on her face that he'd finally told her something so personal that helped her to understand him a little better. "Anyway, I get to where I have bad insomnia sometimes and it got out of hand this time." Toru finished.

Kaya stood and made her way over to the bed, hugging Toru tightly and catching him by surprise. "Thank you for sharing that with me. Toru." She told him softly, his name coming across with affection and kindness in her voice. Toru felt his heart begin to race, and whined at the loss of her warmth when she let go to grab the tea jug and show it to him. "Brought you something." She told him with a smile.

"I'm dead right? Succumbed to my injuries? You're all the way up here to see me, you hug me, call me Toru, even brought me tea. What's next? Going to tell me you're madly in love with me and want to go to Vegas to get hitched?" He joked. Kaya laughed shaking her head. "No, but how is 'It's really good to see you Toru, I really missed you?" Kaya asked softly. Toru felt his heart pounding, "Nearly as good. I missed you so much." He told her honestly.

"Well I won't be pushing you away for things that aren't your fault in the future. I hated it, even though it helped a lot to clear my head and sort my own thoughts and feelings. Anyway, don't suppose you know where I can get you some ice? I just made this before I left." Kaya told him, Leaving Toru to smile. "Just ask the nurse for a couple cups of ice. I won't have any unless you do too." He told her happily.

Kaya made her way back out into the hall and located the same nuse she'd seen before. "Excuse me ma'am, could you show me where I can get some ice and cups?" She asked hesitantly. "One for you and Mr. Oikawa or just yourself?" She asked dutifully. "Two please." Kaya responded.

The nurse nodded and motioned for Kaya to follow her to the end of the hall. There they found a sleeve of plastic cups next to an ice maker, a scoop hanging in a basket next to the machine. The nurse scooped ice and gave them to Kaya. "So the tea bribe must have helped, he usually turns his visitors away. He lets his mom stay usually about 20 minutes and a friend of his with green eyes for about 10, but everyone else is told to leave immediately." The nurse confided.

"Oh, Mina didn't tell me that part. What about Takeru, surely he's come by and Toru let him stay." The nurse looked at Kaya for a moment with shock. "You must be an old friend of the family. I heard him asking his mom about a Takeru the other day and she said he had exams and had to study. A brother I assume." The nurse asked, curiously.

Kaya mentally laughed that this nurse was every bit as confused by Toru as she often got before and hopes to not struggle with as much now that she better understands why she thinks the way she does about him and what her feelings all mean. "Takeru is his nephew. His sister's child." Kaya informed the nurse, nodding as they stopped out front of Toru's door again.

"Thanks for the ice, hopefully a little sugar will sweeten him up since he's been so sour." Kaya jokes, the nurse letting out a little laugh. "I heard that Kaya." Toru called from inside the room. Kaya gave a guilty face and waved at the nurse before entering the room again and shutting the door behind her. "Better be happy I love you or I wouldn't let you get away with that." Toru told her as she entered the room, a blush rushing to her cheeks.

Kaya said nothing to his remark as she poured them both a cup of tea, concluding she shouldn't think much of it as he was half joking, the other half being a platonic confession of love. Had he meant it as more she felt certain he would have been sure to stress the point. Kaya handed Toru his cup of tea and he slid over, patting the bed next to him for her to sit and join him.

Kaya sat next to Toru, a smile on her lips that reached her eyes. "Any word on when you might be able to get out of here?" Kaya asked him. "They are trying to find something that will help me sleep so this doesn't happen again. If I can sleep well two nights in a row I can go. They gave me an ambien last night and I was out like a light, so if I make it through tonight I can go tomorrow." Toru informed her.

Kaya nodded as she took in the information. "Well, hopefully it'll work, I'm sure being in the hospital is no fun. I brought stuff to stay up here for a few days so I'd be happy to give you a ride back to Buckhead if you need." She told him. "Who knows how long I'll get stuck in Buckhead if I do that. I'd rather just go back to Athens. I put a deposit down on an apartment there before the accident." Toru told her casually.

"Wait, you're getting an apartment in Athens? I thought you were wanting to bring the company up here." Kaya asked him, confused. "I thought about it, but we have a great team back in Athens and not everyone will be able to move or deal with such a commute. Besides, Athens is growing on me." Toru told her, with a soft smile.

"I, I always thought you loved Atlanta." Kaya said, trying to make sense of it all. "I do love Atlanta. My family is here, Hajime is here… Everyone important to me is nearby. Everyone except you. I enjoy our time together and you're someone I want to be able to spend a good deal of time with, those other people I'm happy to see every couple of weeks or so. But if you'd rather I not move to Athens, I don't have to." Toru told her.

"That's not what I meant, I just couldn't fathom leaving the home you love so much so easily." Kaya told him. "Home isn't just the place Kaya, it's the people." Toru told her with a slightly broken tone. "The people of Athens are your home now?" She asked skeptically. "One more so than others, but yes." Toru admitted freely, causing Kaya to blush again.

*Luzianne brand tea is a popular brand and in my opinion the best for sweet tea

**This describes one of many methods people use to make tea at home, minus the sugar content. If you want to try making your own tea I suggest about 1.5 cups sugar if you don't like it super sweet, 2 ¼ for pretty sweet and 3 for DAAANNNNGGGG

***MDD: Major Depressive Disorder. In other words, the medical diagnosis for Depression