My little sister really loved the ramen while eating together with mom. Sadly dad is on a business trip as usual which really sucks since we could only eat once together every few weeks. Although dad is always far from us and mom is not always there for us because of her work as well, the connection and bond for each one of us is strong and I would never let it loosen either. 

 

"Nagaki, how much is this ramen? Looks and tastes expensive." Mom said while rubbing my hair. Yuri is looking at me with an interested face as well.

 

"Don't mind it. There's a huge discount today since this is their first day of opening so I thought I may as well buy more for the two of you mom."

 

"Aww what a sweetie" 

 

"If only I knew that the discount was so big that nii-chan could afford it this much, I should've waited there patiently!!" Yuri said as she slurped the bowl. "Ahhh this tastes so good!"

 

"It's fine, if daddy is home, we'll go eat at that restaurant all together." Mom said while leaning and blushing on the table. They've been married for decades now but mom is still blushing like this… IS THIS THE POWER OF LOVE!? I-IMPOSSIBLE!

 

Well this really shows how deeply they love each other. Dad is such a lucky man to find a beautiful woman like mom with a very kind personality. 

 

"Mom, how did you and dad meet each other?" Yuri said with an interested face. 'Way to go Yuri! I wanna know as well!'

 

"Eeh, that's so sudden"

 

"Cmoooon me and nii-chan wants to hear the story!! Right? Nii-chan"

 

"Yeah mom, I'm interested as well. And may also be a future reference once you become a grandma in the future mom. HEH"

 

"That's so mean! I'm still too young to be a grandma!"

 

"In the future mom, future. Not today"

 

"Hmph. Ok then since the two of you are really into it."

 

"Yay!" Yuri jumped and quickly sat next to mom.

 

"Here's the story. When I was in highschool, probably the same age and year as you Nagaki, me and your dad were classmates. I was a very popular girl in school that time because of how beautiful your mom is and how talented I am in sports with high grades. I'm also from a rich family at that time as well. Heh"

 

"Eh mom, our grandparents are rich?" Yuri said

 

"Yes. We were one of the richest families in this country at that time and even today. One of the major railway companies you see in our country is owned by my parents. Just like the trains we take whenever we go to the mall" Mom said with a proud face.

 

This is the very first time I learned about this and must be the same to Yuri. Mom nor dad didn't say anything about this. To think that mom has this kind of background is very unexpected. We lived our whole life in this place without the hint of luxury and lived our life normally like any other household does. And I've never thought of this since mom's maiden name is something I've never seen on the news headlines on the internet nor television. And even if it does, must be just having the same last name but not relatives at all which happens quite a lot for people who have a popular last names

 

"T-that's unexpected!!" Yuri jumped off her seat with eyes shining like no tomorrow. Oy oy calm down hearing that we're rich really hit you that hard huuh but since we're living like this, there must be some kind of dark turn which is quite a sensitive topic for mom but I still want to know.

 

"Mom, what happened to them for us to be apart from them? We've never visited them and the only place we visited were dad's relatives in the countryside." I said with straight face as mom looked at both me and Yuri with an awkward face and sighed. 

 

"This is pretty embarrassing for me to say to my own kids but… I ran away from them with your dad." Mom smiled bitterly and continued

 

"When I was in highschool, forced marriage was a thing you see."

 

"Forced marriage?" Yuri said with a serious face.

 

"Yes. I was forced to marry the son of a wealthy family which my parents have been in great terms with for decades. I've been refusing to accept that but your grandparents wouldn't listen so instead, I ran away."

 

"How? Since mom has a very rich family, then that should mean that there are guards around."

 

"Yes, I was also aware of that. That's why I ran away when the school classes ended. When everybody's about to go home, I made my way to the opposite side of the entrance where fences were in place. I was pretty good at sports that time so jumping off those fences was not a problem. The only problem was, where am I supposed to go after that jump.

I have no friends nor house I could stay with. The plan was a total flaw since thinking about all those things was not on my mind. I roamed the streets till midnight not knowing where am I supposed to go while having to constantly wipe off my face full of tears. I but then as I sat in front of a convenience store and rested for quite a few hours and thought of sleeping there, someone came up to me and called my name."

 

"T-they found you!?" Yuri said with a loud voice while her eyes were red because of tears. Mom patted Yuri's head and replied.

 

"That's what I thought as well. I quickly looked at the direction of the voice and what I saw was a guy who had a white hoodie and eye bags as if he hadn't slept for years." Mom suddenly made a smirk and I quickly gave out a quick laugh.

 

"From that alone, I can already tell that the person who called your name was dad. PFWAAHAHAHAH" Even till to this day, dad has big eyebags since he's a very hard working person and a big otaku at that. His room with mom is completely filled with fighting games and anime posters and the secret shelf is full of light novels. The bed also has an anime girl body pillow that even mom couldn't help but looks grossed out. 

 

"Pfft! Nii-chan, you're so mean to dad!" 

 "But I'm correct though, right mom??"

"Yes, even if I don't have to bring the full details of how he looks, eyebags pretty much says it all" 

"Mom continueeee" Yuri said as she cling to mom's arms and leaning to her shoulder.