“I can’t believe you! This is all your fault!” Night yelled angrily at her fiance, still desperately trying to reach her son. “I swear to god, if Phi put his hands on him, I’ll fucking kill him!”
    “Night stop! Phi isn’t going to do anything to him!” Hartz countered, putting his phone down.
    “He could’ve kidnapped him, Hartz!”
    “He would never!”

Night growled as she hung up her phone for the tenth time, turning and glaring at her partner.
    “Bullshit, he would never! Your brother was the most manipulative, unpredictable man I have ever met!” The furious mother dialed a new number and held it to her ear, listening to the infuriating rings.
    “Hey Night, is he there?” Naoki asked when he answered the phone, finally relaxing on the couch.
    “No he’s not here! We don’t know where he is, Naoki!” Night told him, tossing Hartz his jacket.
    “What?! What do you mean he’s not there?!”
    “Hartz let his fucking brother take him without knowing where they are and with no other supervision!”
    “Are you serious?!”
    “Honestly Naoki, I wish I was. We’re loading the twins back up in my car and we’re going out to find them.” The couple was on their way out the door as Night explained, buckling the sleeping twins into the backseat. “Meet us in town in ten minutes.”
     “I’m on the way.”

~~~

Meanwhile, Jin laughed softly as Phi told him stories about Hartz when they were younger, sipping on the soda he was drinking.
    “There’s no way…” Jin giggled, swirling his straw in his soda. “He’s so confident and flamboyant in his movements and everything… You’re telling me he was actually shy?”
    “It’s true whether you believe it or not, Jin. He would always hide behind our mother when we were out with family friends.” Phi explained shortly, chuckling softly as well. “At least, that's how things were before both our parents passed…”

The mood shifted from light laughter to something a little more tense, making the teen sit straighter in slight concern.
    “I’m so sorry… Hartz told me your parents passed when you were young, I can only imagine how tough that was for you two…” He said softly, fiddling with his straw again. Dealing with the death of family is always tough, but Hartz and Phi had to do it so early on… Surely that wasn’t easy…
    “Well, it was tough, but since when was it not? My brother and I didn’t have any other family to live with so we were forced into foster care pretty quickly. Not long after, our social worker found us a foster home to be in until we were eighteen.” The older male cringed slightly at the memory, his mismatched eyes holding a troubled look. “The home was an awful place to be in and the family was even worse, terrible people that treated us like we were nothing. They had two children of their own and they always picked on us, constantly getting away with it…”
    “Phi, this sounds like a tough topic… You don’t have to explain it to me if you’re uncomfortable…” Jin cut in, waving his hand as he said that. A nervous habit he picked up.
    “You’re going to hear about it eventually either from me or my brother, so I may as well continue. The foster parents were definitely the worst part about being there as they would constantly 'discipline’ us for almost everything we did. We were young, so we assumed we were always at fault and that was why we were always in trouble.” His pale hand ran through his white hair, a breathy chuckle leaving his lips. Jin didn’t like the sound of it but stayed quiet, sipping his drink quietly. “As the older brother, though it wasn’t by much, I did whatever I could to make sure Hartz was left alone. Even if it meant taking the worst of the abuse…”

Jin shivered slightly when his uncle’s tone changed and unconsciously held his neck, casting his bright green eyes to the table.
    “We did get out of that house early on thanks to Hartz not being able to keep his mouth shut. Our social worker came for a surprise assessment one day and he slipped up, saying we weren’t in a good place. Our worker had soon found the bruises I was covered in and took us from the home, putting us back into the system. We were stuck in the system for years, we were never put back into a foster home, and we were all we had left. I changed once we left the home and I spaced myself, growing colder and colder throughout middle and high school.” Red and blue eyes narrowed slightly, his hands folded on the table the further he explained. “I’m certainly not proud of myself back then and your mother was right to call me what she did. I was manipulative, I was narcissistic, I was absolutely awful to everyone. Including the only family I had left in this world… I couldn’t take the guilt anymore so after graduation, I left without a second thought.”
    “Wow… I’m so sorry about all that…” Jin mumbled, remorse clouding his head.
    “Ah, don’t feel too bad about it, my boy. It’s all in the past now, which means we can focus on the present and the future.” Phi gave him a small smile even if it was slightly strained. “My assumption is that your past isn’t as good as mine, if it means that Night found and adopted you.”

The black-haired teen rubbed his neck softly and swallowed the lump in his throat, smiling nervously.
    “Uh, yeah, I guess…” He said softly, looking away slightly. “My family was happy all the way up until my mom died in a fire… I was walking home from school when I found my house engulfed in flames, firefighters doing everything they could to put it out…”
    “Oh my… I’m so sorry about all that…” The older man spoke sincerely, a soft look in his mismatched eyes. “But please continue, I’d be honored to hear your story after you heard mine.”
    “O-oh, uh, well…”

~~~

Night walked quickly down the sidewalk of downtown Beigoma, scanning desperately for any signs of Phi or her beloved son, still obviously angry. Her, Naoki and Hartz all split up to search, Naoki taking his car so his twins could rest safely during the search.
    “I swear, when I find them…” The mother growled angrily to herself, calling her son yet again as she searched. “I’m gonna go to jail tonight, I swear to god…” Walking further through crowds on the streets, her grey eyes finally spotted a familiar car in a parking lot, grey flashing gold as she stormed her way in that specific direction.

Back inside the restaurant, Jin explained to Phi everything he had gone through before he was adopted by Night.
    “I went through some pretty bad abuse before CPS finally found and removed me from my father’s care… And finally, about a week before my sixteenth birthday, Night adopted and took me into her care… I had a very hard time trusting men after everything, but with time… I was finally able to have a relatively normal-”
    “Jin Aizawa!”

Time felt like it stopped when he heard his name called out angrily, instantly recognizing the voice and paling at the realization. Night was not happy-

Said mother stormed her way over to their table in pure rage, her arms crossed over her chest.
    “Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Why didn’t you answer my calls?!” She asked him, grey eyes now golden due to her anger.
    “I-I, my phone is in my coat mama, I-I didn’t hear it…” Jin told her, his pale cheeks turning red in embarrassment.
    “Night, there’s no need to be upset. He’s just with me.” Phi interjected, eyes narrowing slightly at the blonde female.
    “Him being with you is the problem, Phi! After everything you did to your brother and through high school, I don’t fucking trust you! Let alone with my son!”

People had started staring at the encounter going on in the restaurant, further deepening the embarrassed blush on Jin’s cheeks.
    “M-mama, calm down… People are staring at us…” The teenager told her softly, flinching at the gold eyes that snapped to him.
    “I don’t care! I’m very upset with you right now, so grab your coat right now. I’m taking you back home-”
    “N-no…” Jin said boldly despite the voice crack, Night’s eye twitching slightly.
    “... Did you just say no to me?” Disbelief coated her angry voice, a dark look crossing her eyes.
    “I-I did… I’m seventeen years old, I’m allowed to make my own decisions…!”
    “Jin Aizawa, I am your mother! I’m doing this to protect you!”
    “W-well, I don’t want you protection…!”

Night blinked in shock before she turned her attention to her brother-in-law, glaring at him.
    “This is all your fault! Ever since you came back, everything has been being changed!”
    “Hey, don’t blame me for things I’ve had no control over. This has nothing to do with me coming back.” Phi defended as he crossed his arms, further pissing off the mother.
    “Jin, let’s go. Now.”
    “I said no....” Jin had told her yet again, letting out a squeak when his mother grabbed his hand tightly. “H-hey…!”
    “I said now…” Night snapped as she pulled him from the booth, directing a final glare to Phi before dragging her son away. Pale cheeks seemed to darken worse in red as people stared, tears filling his eyes as they walked out of the restaurant.

The two walked down the sidewalk and Night kept a tight hold on her son, still fuming with anger.
    “I’m very disappointed in you, Jin.” She told him, looking at him with stern eyes.
    “I-it wasn’t even my idea mama…!” Jin defended, pulling on his hand to free it.
    “Hartz is in trouble too! I’m disappointed that you actually went along with that asshole by yourselves!”
    “Because I thought it was a good idea…! I thought you knew…!”
    “Obviously I didn’t! Honestly, just wait until we get home-”
    “What are you going to do…?! I don’t live with you anymore…!” Jin yelled, catching his mother off guard. “Are you gonna ground me…? Take the twins’ mother away…?!” He was finally able to pull his wrist away and step back, bright green eyes glaring at his mother.
    “You have no right to talk to me like that! I’m your mother!” Night yelled back, taking a step closer to him.
    “No you’re not…!” The teen glared, his eyes glowing partially.

“I hate you…!”~

NightBear15 signing off...