Chapter 537: The fateful day 2

After the appetizer and the main dish, it was time for the last, which was a dessert. It was called a Dolce in Italy, yet Shishio didn’t care about any of that now. This time, he didn’t serve the food. Instead, it was Rui who served the food by herself since she had to face her mother now.

Shishio was in the back area, the place where he could see them from a distance.

Hibiki was right by his side, but she didn’t seem to focus on what had happened to Rui. Her small, cute nose moved slightly as her slender neck stretched as long as it could. ‘He smells really nice.’ While she was drowned by his smell, she didn’t notice that Shishio had noticed her action.

Shishio glanced at Hibiki silently and thought this little pervert might need some lessons later. ‘Should I kiss her neck?’ Observing her slender white neck, he had this impulse to give a kiss on the back of her neck. Still, there was something that he had to ask her, but in the end, he shut his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” Hibiki tilted her head while looking at him curiously.

Shishio only stared at Hibiki and rubbed her head. “Be quiet. Don’t make a mess.”

“I know! You don’t need to remind me!” Hibiki pouted, but she didn’t take his hand away from her head since she must admit it felt so comfortable.

While Shishio and Hibiki watched the scene before them, Tsukiko, Akihito, Hina, and Natsuo discussed the various dishes cooked by Rui.

The three didn’t hesitate to praise Rui’s food. Even Natsuo, who didn’t have a good relationship with Rui, also said that it would be the world’s loss if Rui didn’t become a chef. Frankly, if possible, he wanted to have a good relationship with Rui. It would be even better if Rui decided to break up with Shishio.

However, Natsuo wasn’t stupid, and he knew it was impossible to say something like that. Moreover, this also wasn’t the occasion to say something like that, so he just talked about the food since he must admit it was delicious.

Still, the reason why Natsuo talked was that Hina and Akihito talked with him.

As for Tsukiko, they decided to refrain from saying much since they must admit her aura was just too intimidating. Frankly, Shishio was probably the only one who could talk with her freely without getting nervous and even had the nerve to tease her from time to time. However, that fact was better hidden and not be said to anyone since if someone knew about it, the result wouldn’t be good.

While they waited for Shishio to come to serve the dessert, someone unexpectedly came out and served dessert.

“Sorry for the wait.”

Still wearing her chef uniform, Rui came out to face her mother. “This is the dessert, Tiramisu.”

A daughter and a mother faced each other for the first time after a week.

“Thank you for coming today,” Rui said calmly yet slightly nervous since she knew what kind of ungrateful thing she had done to her mother. The feeling of being betrayed was something worse than being killed.

If one had to say, being killed was better since the pain was only in the beginning, and after that, they would have a peaceful sleep. However, when one is betrayed, they feel that pain until they die. Even if they had a new partner, who could love them, they still had this suspicion that would remain until they died.

Rui knew all of this, yet she still forced her mother to face this hurtful past which made her realize she was an ungrateful daughter. However, she wanted to tell her mother that the reason why she wanted to become a chef definitely had nothing to do with this matter. It was something else. It was hard to describe this bubbling emotion that jumbled together into one, but if she had to say it in one word, then it was “love.”

Rui wanted to tell her mother that she loved her and definitely didn’t choose this profession because she wanted to spit on her.

Still, if possible, Rui wanted to spit on Jou, who had wrecked their happy family.

“I had trouble deciding on a dish to end the meal, but I settled on tiramisu.” Rui put all the tiramisu on the table and lit the fire on the candle that was decorated in the middle of it. “Every year, on every birthday, dad made tiramisu for the birthday girl, didn’t he? We told him that a regular cake topped with strawberries would be fine, but he insisted, saying that his tiramisu was obviously more delicious.”

“….” Tsukiko only stared at the tiramisu without saying any words.

Rui stared at her mother for a while before she bit her lower lip and said, “You know, mom… In the beginning, I thought that I wanted to separate my cooking studies from my father’s issues. But that changes. Yes, dad did a lot of sadness for us, and I understand you may not want to remember those times, but… but… that doesn’t erase the time when we were happy.” She knew she shouldn’t say this since this would make her ungrateful for her mother, but she knew there was no more suitable place other than her father’s restaurant, so she bowed and begged. “Mom, I want you to let me work with dad, and please taste this tiramisu. Please…”

Tsukiko didn’t say anything and clutched the table clothes tightly.

This was the real problem between them.

Frankly, if Rui wanted to become a chef, Tsukiko would support it. After all, as a parent, she was happy that her daughter had something she wanted to achieve. Her daughter also had the ability to achieve it and even made it into something that could feed her in the future. However, it was a different matter if her daughter wanted to work under her ex-husband.

Whether it was a different restaurant, even if it was ramen or any others, Tsukiko didn’t care much, but it was just she couldn’t accept the fact that Rui chose to be with her father instead of thinking about what her father had done to their family.

The damage to the past was still hurting her even now.

Yet when Tsukiko watched her daughter beg like this, her heart was shaken and softened, yet the demon inside her heart couldn’t be easily erased.

Shishio watched this scene in silence and didn’t say anything. Only he saw Hibiki dash toward them, but he didn’t stop her, and he had a feeling everything would be alright even though he had no basis for it.

While Rui was waiting for Tsukiko’s answer, Hibiki suddenly appeared before them and said, “Enough already! You’re one stubborn lady, you know! Your daughter worked so hard. Can’t you give her a break?!”

“……..”

Shishio stared at this scene in silence. ‘Everything will be alright, right?’ Anyway, he quickly stood behind Hibiki since he was afraid this girl might jump out into Tsukiko.

“Wh-Who are you?”

Even Akihito, Hina, and Natsuo were dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of Hibiki.

“I’m Mikimoto Hibiki.”

This name caused Tsukiko to be shaken.

“I am the daughter of the current wife of Mikimoto Jou!”

Hearing this, Tsukiko’s body trembled slightly.

“Huh? You mean the daughter who stole Tsukiko-san’s husband?” Akihito was speechless.

“Let me correct you on that! My mom would never steal from anyone’s husband!”

“Eh?”

“You seem to have the idea adultery was the reason for your divorce, but that’s wrong! When my mom met my father, my father had already been divorced for two years! My mom’s totally innocent!”

“Then why?” Tsukiko was confused and in shock.

“How should I know?! In any case…!” Hibiki wanted to say something again, but she was dragged by Shishio, and her mouth was covered by his hand. “Hmngh?! (What are you doing?!).” She glared at Shishio.

Shishio stared at Hibiki for a moment and thought to kiss this feisty girl, so she should keep her mouth shut, but he just gestured to someone with his jaw, telling her to leave everything to her father.

Hibiki turned and saw her father had come.

“Thank you, Shishio-kun.” Jou patted Shishio’s shoulder, then looked at Tsukiko. “I’ll take the story from here.”

“!!!” Tsukiko was dumbfounded when she saw Jou.

“It’s been a long time, Tsukiko.” Jou might feel awkward, but he had to say everything. “I know my lie caused you all to suffer for a long time. I have no excuses. The real reason why I left you was debt.”

“De-Debt?”

Jou told how his first restaurant was good, and on its opening day, it had a lot of customers, but after that great success, everything turned downhill. However, he didn’t want to give up. He tried everything, gritting his teeth, bleeding, and many others, to reorganize his restaurant. However, everything was inevitable, and his restaurant closed. However, when it was closed, his debt ballooned up, and it was already out of control.

“The point is, I ran. I’d feel guilty if I’d forced you, so I made up a lie of having a daughter outside of our marriage and sent you a divorce paper. I thought that if I made you think I was unfaithful, you’d be able to stop loving me…”

Shishio stared at Jou in silence, but he didn’t say anything.

Tsukiko trembled, trying to hold back her tears, but no words came out from her red-colored lips. “…After all this time you tell me all this… What am I supposed to think?”

Akihito stared at Tsukiko for a while before he grasped her almost boneless white hand gently. “Well, for starters, let’s drop the resentment. You don’t have to hate the past anymore.”

Tsukiko looked at Akihito for a while, and tears just dropped from her eyes. Then a picture of her past which she spent with her family, appeared in her mind like a movie. It was unstoppable, like the tears that kept dripping from her eyes now.

As she held the fork, Tsukiko ate the tiramisu baked by her beloved daughter.

“It’s good… It’s really delicious…”

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