Yuriko, who couldn"t read Asahina"s intention in visiting the Mizushima"s family even until now, was sighing alone.
Even if he wanted to meet with Onii-sama, isn"t he just visiting way too frequently? Thought Yuriko.
However she didn"t hate or dislike the time she spending together with Asahina.
Or rather, she was looking forward for his next visit.
Even just for a short period of time, there are so many bachelors from every distinguished families came personally just to visiting Yuriko. But now, none of them come anymore.
For Yuriko personally, talking with them were not fun at all. Everyone of them only bragging about themselves. If they don"t wanted to come then it was much better if they not coming in the first place at all, thought Yuriko.
Also their att.i.tude toward her daughter, Tsubaki, were not good at all. It was plain obvious they were treated her very rudely.
With things that happened with Kurahashi, Yuriko began to have more discerning eyes toward mens who only put a mask while pretending to be a gentleman.
Yuriko still didn"t have any wish to be remarried, but as a lady of the Mizushima she ought to be remarried again and become someone"s bride. And she already prepared for it.
That"s why, she wished at least for her future husband to be more caring toward Tsubaki like how she was.
And that"s where Asahina appeared.
Not only how he always polite toward Yuriko, he also treated Tsubaki really well. And Yuriko also frequently happened to saw he was playing together with Tsubaki.
Also, with Asahina"s honesty toward Yuriko and how he always listen to her worries attentively. And everytime she spend time together with him, Yuriko just felt really at peace. Before she realized it, she somehow become more attracted toward him.
At the same time, Yuriko believes she shouldn"t getting closer to Asahina more than this.
That"s because Asahina has an unrequited love to someone for almost close to fifteen years.
If the Mizushima wished for Asahina Kaoru to be married with Yuriko, of course that would be possible.
However if that happen, the result would be the same like what has happened with Kurahashi.
With his personality like that, there"s no way Asahina would turned his face toward Yuriko. And if she used her authority as the Mizushima and forcefully take him as her husband, surely, he would detest her.
Only that she wanted to avoid at all cost.
And for the lady who has Asahina"s heart for this long, Yuriko had just one woman in her mind when she was thinking about this question.
Asahina"s childhood friend and also the late wife of her big brother, Ichinose Risa, Yuriko believes there are no other woman who could took his heart, and only Risa who was Asahina truly love.
And if that how it was, then it would make more sense with how frequent he came visiting us here. Thought Yuriko.
Yuriko believes the reason Asahina were coming here just to see Kyousuke, Risa"s son and Yuriko"s nephew, who was similar in appearance close to Risa.
Yuriko was wondering if Asahina was coming here to see his lost loved one’s vestiges trough Kyousuke.
That"s why he used me as his reason to visiting us just to met Kyousuke.
With those thoughts in her mind, Yuriko believes she doesn"t has any chance to win at all.
And on the other side, Yuriko was also relieved.
Asahina once said, he will continue to hold into his feelings until he die. In other words, Asahina would not be taken by anyone.
Right at the moment Yuriko has that thought, she was aware of how shallow and unsightly she was and got depressed.
If I am really think dearly of him, then I have to wish for his happiness. Thought Yuriko
While Yuriko was still at loss alone in her room, there was someone who knocked the door politely.
After giving the permission to enter, a servant came entering and told Yuriko that there was a phone call addressed to her.
"From whom?"
"It is from Yak.u.mo Emily-sama."
Yak.u.mo?
Though Yuriko was wondering who was it for a moment, but by the time she heard the last name she immediately know who it was.
Yak.u.mo Emily, her former name was Asahina Emily, Asahina Kaoru"s little sister and also Yuriko"s friend since they were in the elementary school.
Although Yuriko knew Emily was married, because of what happened lately she never had any chance to talk with her again, and also Yuriko even completely forgot that Emily"s surname has already changed.
Yuriko took the phone"s receiver from the servant and answer the phone.
"h.e.l.lo."
"Ah, Yuriko? It"s been so long. You doing well?"
"Ee, I am doing well. And are you doing well there too?"
"Yup, totally. Anyway, congrats!"
Listening to her friend"s voice who always bright, Yuriko could felt the edges of her mouth suddenly turned upside.
"Congrats? You meant, congratulation?"
"That"s right. Congratulation on your divorce with that trash. We are still young so you better enjoy it while you still can, okay?"
To think someone actually said congratulation to someone"s divorce. As always, Yuriko still couldn"t predict her friend"s thought pattern at all.
If that how she, who never had any relation with Kurahashi, reacted it must be because she knew that Kurahashi"s personality was that bad.
And the one who doesn"t know was only me. Once again Yuriko realized that she doesn"t has discerning eyes for judging man at all.
"Even if you said that, I am a Mizushimas. Sooner or later I will have to be remarried with someone else."
"As a Mizushima you have it hard huh. Ah right. How about my brother? He"s lately keep showing his face there right? Though he is unreliable, he have a steady income and also he"s a third son. Now that I pointed that all out he"s like a hidden gem to you, don"t you think?"
Though Emily said it lightly, she doesn"t has any ill will at all, but when thinking about that Yuriko suddenly stayed silence.
"What"s wrong?… Don"t tell me, that stupid brother has done something to you!?"
"No! Not at all! Asahina-sama didn"t do anything to me at all! Rather he has been always taking care of me… that"s right, he— Asahina-sama is really a nice person…"
To Yuriko whose voice gradually became smaller when she spoke, Emily"s woman intuition suddenly kicks in and she open her mouth.
"Hey Yuriko, my brother, Kaoru-niisan. What do you think about him?"
Yuriko was troubled on how to answer that question.
If she has Kaoru"s little sister, Emily, as her ally it would become more easier to form a relationship with him.
However, since she had decided to wished for Kaoru"s happiness, she was really troubling on what to do. Is it really okay for me to change my decision this quickly? She kept thinking about this question and began to be at loss.
"Do you hate Kaoru-niisan?"
To Yuriko who kept her silence, Emily asked once again.
"… I do not, hate him, at all."
Although that wasn"t her honest feeling, it was also not a lie.
"Thank goodness. If you said you hate him, I really don"t know what should I do anymore."
"But, Asahina-sama has someone he yearned for right? The person himself told that to me."
"EEEHHH!? Really!?"
Surprised by Emily"s loud voice, Yuriko took the phone"s receiver away from her ear.
After apologizing for raising her voice, Emily once again asked Yuriko calmly.
"What did you mean by that?"
"Erm, when I asked Asahina-sama if he had someone he yearn for, he said he has someone that he yearn for and that was almost close to fifteen years long."
"…. Just what the heck you two was talking about until you arrived to that kind of topic?"
"So-sorry. I just did not think that our conversation would lead into that kind of topic."
As I expected, I did asked a very bad question there. That was what Yuriko thought when she heard Emily"s question.
"Well, it"s not something bad or anything… So Yuriko, that person Kaoru-niisan was talking about, who do you think that person was?"
To Emily"s question, Yuriko wished for Emily"s denial from the bottom of her heart, and she began to told her answer.
"… That person was Risa-san, right?"
"…."
Yuriko was waiting for Emily"s reply, but sensing that Emily"s was kept her silence, Yuriko thought "Ah, so I was right." and she falls into despair.
"… I feel pity for my brother now."
"Emily-san?"
"It"s not something I should be saying here, but let"s make things perfectly clear right now. The person Kaoru-niisan love is not Risa-san. And that I can guarantee you for sure."
"Eh?"
"Argh really! That stupid brother. If I meet him at our home I will kick his a.s.s for sure."
Yuriko was surprised at Emily who said something improper, but after heard what Emily said, Yuriko was more interested at the question "If Risa-san was not the person he loved, then who?"
However, Yuriko began to understood the reason why Emily didn"t told her clearly the person who was Asahina truly love from this conversation.
Then Yuriko began to answer every question Emily asked while embracing the anguish in her heart.
"If only my job doesn"t took all of my time like this, I will surely come visiting you."
"You are busy because you have a trial to attend to right? I do not mind if you come meet me later after you have some free time." (TN: Seems like I was mistranslating some part about Emily"s job in the previous chapter here…. *cold sweat*. Sorry, I"ll fix it right away.)
"Maa, it"s good that this kind of cases would raise up my reputation as an Attorney really well, what I took was quite an exceptional case after all. There"s no way I wouldn"t get fired up with a case like this."
"Medical Error, was it? Please don"t push yourself too hard."
"This is a confidential matters so I couldn"t talk to much about it, but this is really serious. There"s not so much case like this popping up after all."
From how Emily spoke, Yuriko took it that the case Emily took right now must be really difficult. For Yuriko who already know Emily"s personality really well, she just worried that Emily would pushed herself too hard and fall sick.
"It is good that you are doing your job seriously, but please take care of yourself properly."
"Don"t worry about that, my whole family got my back after all. Ah, seems like my daughter have just wake up so I will end it here, okay. Well then, I"ll call you back later."
"Ee. Thank you for today. It was fun to talking with you again. Gokigenyou."
"Gokigenyou."
At the other side of the phone"s receiver, Yuriko could clearly heard a young girl"s voice that was calling for Emily.
I believed her age must be around Tsubaki"s, I wish they could become close like how I and Emily was. Thought Yuriko while she smiled.
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