Chapter 24 – The Truth She Was Never Meant to Know

Aiko locked herself inside the dressing room and slid down against the door.

Her knees gave out first. Then her strength. Then the breath she had been holding since the moment she saw them.

Yuji.

Mai.

Alive.

Together.

Her hands shook as she pressed them to her mouth, but the sob still escaped. It tore out of her chest, raw and broken, as if something deep inside her had finally split open.

She could still see them.

Yuji bending slightly, wiping food from the corner of the child’s mouth with practiced ease. The girl laughing, leaning into him without hesitation.

That wasn’t acting.

That wasn’t coincidence.

That was a father and his daughter.

“No…” Aiko whispered, her voice barely a sound. “That’s not possible…”

But her heart already knew.

Miko Sato.

The name echoed cruelly in her mind.

The way the girl looked at her on set. The way their silences matched. The way Aiko’s chest tightened every time those small fingers reached for her costume sleeve.

She had felt it.

She just hadn’t dared to believe it.

Aiko’s body folded inward as the truth slammed into her without mercy.

“She’s mine…” she whispered, tears streaming freely now. “Mai is my daughter…”

Her breathing turned shallow. Pain wrapped around her ribs like iron.

And then, like poison seeping back into her veins, her father’s words surfaced in her memory.

Yuji and the child died in an accident.

It was quick.

You don’t need to know the details.

This is for the best.

Aiko let out a strangled sound.

“Liar…” she whispered. “You lied to me…”

Her hands trembled as she pulled her phone from her bag.

She didn’t call Yuji.

She didn’t call Rin.

She called the one person who had always known the truth.

Her mother.

The line rang.

Once.

Twice.

“Aiko?” her mother answered, surprised. “Is something wrong?”

Aiko couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“They’re alive,” she said, her voice cracking. “Yuji and Mai… they’re alive. Mom… tell me the truth. Please.”

Silence.

Long.

Heavy.

Then her mother inhaled sharply.

“…You saw them.”

Aiko slid her forehead against the mirror, tears smearing the glass. “Mai is my daughter.”

“Yes,” her mother whispered.

The word destroyed her.

Aiko sank to the floor, her body shaking violently. “Why… why would Father do this to me?”

Her mother’s voice broke. “He took Mai. He said Yuji wasn’t fit to raise her. When Yuji tried to fight back, your father’s men hurt him badly.”

Aiko’s stomach twisted in agony.

“And Yuji?” she asked hoarsely.

“He found her,” her mother said softly. “He went to the orphanage. He took Mai back. He raised her alone.”

Aiko pressed her fist to her chest as if she could stop her heart from breaking.

“And you sent me away,” Aiko whispered.

“Yes,” her mother admitted. “Your father said if you stayed, you’d destroy yourself trying to find them. He sent you to America so you’d never cross paths again.”

Tears fell onto Aiko’s lap.

“All this time…” she said. “I believed they were dead. I mourned them. I hated myself for surviving.”

“And Yuji believed you abandoned him,” her mother said quietly. “That you chose your family over him and your child.”

Aiko let out a broken sob.

“He hates me,” she whispered.

Her mother didn’t deny it.

Aiko wiped her face with trembling hands. “He told Mai I was dead… didn’t he?”

A pause.

“…Yes.”

Aiko closed her eyes.

She didn’t blame him.

Not after everything.

“I left them,” she whispered. “Even if I didn’t know the truth… I still left.”

Her mother cried softly on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry. I was weak. I let him decide everything.”

Aiko clenched her jaw, anger and grief twisting together.

Her father had stolen six years of her life.

Six years of first words. First steps. First birthdays.

Six years of Yuji struggling alone. Of Mai growing up without her mother.

And now she was standing in front of her child, calling her by another name, pretending to be someone else.

The dressing room door knocked softly.

“Aiko? We’re almost ready.”

“I’ll be there,” Aiko replied, her voice steady despite the storm inside her.

She ended the call and slowly stood.

Her reflection stared back at her.

Red eyes. Pale face. A woman shattered by truth.

“I won’t run anymore,” she whispered to herself. “Not from her. Not from him.”

She knew Yuji wouldn’t forgive her easily. Maybe never.

But Mai was alive.

She existed.

She was right there.

Through the hallway window, Aiko caught sight of the little girl laughing at something Rin said.

Aiko’s chest tightened painfully.

“My daughter,” she whispered, tears falling again. “I found you.”

And this time… no one would take her away again.