Chapter 47. A Date? (11/13)

“Anyway, thank you for taking care of my daughter. I’m not sure what exactly has happened with her, but something seems to be a bit different about her today. I can only imagine that change has something to do with something you did. She’s the type to always go around with a bright smile on her face, but that was all it was. A bright smile on the exterior, it always felt like something was constantly weighing down on her mind. It seems like whatever it was has been alleviated a bit.” 

She paused for a bit before she suddenly let out an abrupt sigh when something else came to mind, “Haaaah… if only my... son… haaaaah, never mind.” She had a somewhat weary helpless look on her face when she thought about her son. She was obviously worried about him.

Breaking the awkward silence I decided to correct her earlier misunderstanding, “Just for the record, I’m not taking care of anyone.” I didn’t have the excess energy for that sort of thing. I was just selfishly doing what I could to save my own peaceful days.

“Even if you want to outright deny it, I still thank you.” Alicia’s mother bowed a bit in my direction.

“Ah! I almost forgot about the cookies!” Alicia suddenly raised her voice as she jumped up off the couch and ran past her mother into the kitchen. 

“Cookies?” Her mother asked me in confusion.

“Uh, yeah. I sort of bullied her into baking some.”

“You’re quite the guy to bully my daughter into baking cookies for you. I like your style.” Alicia’s mother gave me a pat on the back.

When Alicia returned, she had a small saucer with cookies piled on top of each other in one hand. With her mother watching with curious expectant eyes and a fingernail between her lips, Alicia’s face turned a deep shade of red. I had a feeling today was likely the first time she’d ever been embarrassed to death so many times.

“Mom, can you stop staring like that?”

I picked up one of the cookies from the saucer and put it in my mouth. When I bit into it, it was so soft it crumbled to pieces in my mouth like cotton candy. The bits of chocolate pieces melted away and coated my tongue. A rich sweet chocolaty flavor spread all through my mouth. My eyes lit up and I couldn’t help but compliment, “It’s really good.”

“How nice.” Alicia’s mother enviously stared at the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the saucer and quietly muttered that to herself.

Was she hungry after a long day at work? 

“Mom, why don’t you have some as well?” Her daughter asked thoughtfully.

She raised her hand and vehemently refused while shaking her head. “No, no, no! I can’t possibly take any. There’s no way I can. My precious daughter made that specifically for a boy. What kind of mother thoughtlessly snatches up and steals cookies made with so much love and care with someone specific in mind?”

I picked up a cookie and raised it to her lips.

“You just finished another long day of work on a Sunday and are probably both tired and hungry, right? These cookies were made with the ingredients you bought with money you worked hard for your children’s sake as well. I can easily taste the love for your children mixed into these cookies as well you know. ”

“That’s not how it works. You won’t trick me, the love and care only gets added in during the baking process. Of which, I had nothing to do with.”

“If you don’t believe me, taste and see for yourself. Ah, how embarrassing, I’m tasting Alicia’s mother’s love. Isn’t this a bit sinful of me?”

“There’s no way that’s true.” She opened her small mouth and bit into the cookie I held out in front of her lips. “Liar, all I can taste is my daughter’s love and care.”

I raised a separate cookie up to Alicia.

“Haaaah. It seems a mother can’t discern the taste of her own love. It seems we need another opinion to break this draw. Why don’t you try one as well, Alicia?”

“Mm. Sure.” She obediently bit into the one I’d held up to her and opened her eyes, “It’s there! Yeah, yeah, it’s definitely there. My mother’s love, you were right.” Because of how easy she was to influence as a child, she easily played along.

“So, if your mother’s love is mixed into it as well, don’t you think it’s perfectly fine that she has some as well?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” She nodded her head up and down, a wide smile on her face, as her eyes lit up brightly in full agreement.

“So, what’s there to hesitate about?” I tilted my head to the side.

Her mother puffed her cheek out cutely while she silently picked up a few cookies from the saucer and ate them one by one. She was obviously hungry after all. I was all too familiar with that sort of feeling after a long day of work.

“Well, this time I successfully took your daughter into account with my lie and got you to eat her cookies as a result. It seems it’s my win this time.” I suddenly opened my mouth and announced my victory this time around. Being seen through so easily the first time had gotten on my nerves a bit, so although my lie naturally didn’t escape her eyes this time either, I was still able to use that lie to convince her to eat some of her daughter’s cookies. It was quite a petty win.

Unsurprised by my words, her mother opened her mouth and accepted it as her loss, “It seems so. Ahhh. I really do like this boy too much. Hurry up and just marry him. If you don’t, I’ll take him and marry him myself.” She opened her arms out wide and wrapped them around the back of my head before she pulled my head in close and pressed it up against her bosom while swaying from left to right.

“Oh, to marry such a devoted and hard-working mother who loves her children so much. It would be quite the honor.”

“What do I do, Alicia? I might seriously go and fall for him if I let my guard down.” She said seriously while hugging my head tightly in her soft bosom refusing to let me go.

Alicia looked at me strangely and muttered under her breath, “Was Rosa actually not making things up?” With the scene of her mother happily hugging a first-year boy in high school even younger than her own daughter, she couldn’t help but have those sorts of thoughts.

Just for the record, I’m not a womanizer. Though I was troubled as it certainly looked that way, the current situation I found myself in betrayed my words. I’d found myself in a position where I already had a girlfriend and another girl’s mother was talking about things like how she wanted her daughter to marry me and if she didn’t she would marry me herself.

“Oh? Rosa? Alicia, who’s Rosa? Is that another one of your friends? If she is, you should bring her over some time as well. I really want to meet more of my daughter’s close friends after meeting this good boy. You’ve never had one of your girlfriends over before. You’re always so concerned about minimizing expenses even when I tell you it’s fine to spend a bit more on yourself.” Her mother seemingly latched onto the name she’d just barely heard her daughter mutter to herself. Her ears were quite sharp to pick it up so easily in spite of her age.

“Uh… Rosa is one of my closer friends… I’ll think about it.” She still seemed hesitant to bring people over.

“Oh, right. I completely forgot because of how sidetracked we got, I still have to cook, I bought these ingredients to have a Sunday meal together with everyone. Why don’t you two enjoy yourselves together in the living room while I put something together?” She finally released me and picked up the grocery bags she’d dropped on the ground earlier when she remembered her original objective.

“You’re still tired after work, aren’t you? I’ll carry them for you.” I took the groceries from her hand and brought them into the kitchen for her.

“Oh, thank you.” She got a bit meek for a second as though she’d recalled a fond memory from her past. I could only imagine it was one together with her deceased husband. 

“Alicia, this is bad, your mother is falling for such a young boy.” She placed her hands on her cheeks, closed her eyes, and swooned from side to side.

“Mom… really…” Alicia couldn’t take much more of her mother’s teasing.

“Anyway, you two go back to the living room, I’ll cook up something real good filled with lots of love~” She glanced at me rather than her daughter when she said love and even made a heart with her fingers. 

Alicia who noticed her mother’s actions crouched down in a corner while covering her face with her hands. She’d taken too much mental damage in too short a time. It would surely become a trauma of hers. Her mother enjoyed teasing her daughter way too much. I could completely understand though, it was quite a fun thing to do with the way she wore her heart on her sleeve. I could only offer Alicia my sincere condolences for being too teasable.