CH 17

“When I met Takuya, all he told me was that Mirei had a new boyfriend and butler, so I was surprised.”

“Was that so?”

I was saved slightly by President Takuya, but I think there’s too much information missing, don’t you?

I am sitting across from my mother-in-law.

Mirei san is not next to me right now because she is responding to a phone call from someone at the company. Why this timing…

“My name is Sato Masaya.”

“I am Wakata Sheena. You can call me whatever you like….”

“I understand. Sheena san.”

“So, Masaya kun, are you and Mirei getting along?”

“Yes! I think we get along well!”

“Well, certainly enough to take a bath together, right?”

I choked on the tea I was drinking.

“You okay?”

“I-I’m sorry. I just swallowed a little.”

“I was surprised to see Mirei chatting so happily. She has changed so much.”

“That much?”

“And it’s like I’m an unfit mother that I can only notice it every time because I’ve opened the house for so long, and so several times for that matter.”

“No, it’s not like that! Mirei san always thinks of Sheena san as her mother!”

“O-Oh, really? Thank you.”

I can’t speak for myself, but Mirei san was smiling the whole time when she talked a little bit about Sheena san.

“Mirei has been giving me a hard time since she was born.”

“Hardship?”

Come to think of it, I have never heard of Mirei san’s childhood or junior high school days.

“Maybe you haven’t heard about them? She doesn’t talk about these things voluntarily. It’s going to be a little long, but I don’t see her coming home, so let’s talk for a while.”

“First of all, the Wakata Zaibatsu was built by Mirei’s grandfather. So Takuya has done well in his own way. But he was naughty when he was little, so he was half neglected. But since Mirei was a quiet child and an only child, her grandfather and grandmother wanted a perfect person.”

“A perfect person…”

“Yes. I was not able to do anything else. But Mirei was a designer and Takuya came home only occasionally, so the only people who could count on her were her grandma and grandpa, so she did everything perfectly, including her studies, languages, martial arts, and manners, so as not to disappoint them. So, when she was in junior high school, she was featured on TV and in magazines as a girl prodigy, but Grandpa and Grandma didn’t really approve. Instead, they made her learn more things. Well, this is all for the survival of the Wakata Zaibatsu, isn’t it? I couldn’t overlook the fact that my daughter’s heart was on the verge of breaking, so I told her, but I was even opposed by my relatives who said that I was just a woman from Scandinavia and that I shouldn’t talk to her. Even so, Mirei did her best not to disappoint me. When she became a high school student and her grandparents passed away, it was as if there was a gaping hole in her heart. Just when her smile and what she wanted to do had disappeared, you came along.

Thanks to you, Mirei is enjoying her life.

Thank you again.”

“Thank you for letting me spend time with Mirei san doing so many fun things.”There are many things that Mirei san does for me, but I don’t think there are many things that I can do for her, so I’m glad if I can be of any help.

“When Takuya first told me about it, I was going to find out and have you break up with her at worst, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

“I’m glad because I want to be with Mirei san for a long time to come.”

“You know what they say? Girlfriend?”

“Eh?!”

Before I knew it, she was near me.

“I want to be with you from now on too//”

“But you’re still in high school, so why don’t you wait a little longer before you make love? But I’m sure you could use a hot kiss or something, couldn’t you?”

“Sheena san?”

“Well, I’ll hold off for now.”

“Mirei san?”

After all, parents and children tend to think alike…?