Tokyo: Starting with a fake boyfriend

"Uh-huh."

Realizing he was about to explain, Minami Yamabuki was very upset, but she obediently sat down.

Once she was ready, Shiratori Osamu began to tell her the story.

Considering that the class monitor was unaware of the situation, he began by analyzing Yamabuki Tomoya.

For example, why would an old man cheat on his wife? Why would he dare to cheat? Why would he insist on going to Hokkaido?

Not only that, but it also includes his own speculations that he believes are 90% accurate, such as the old man being blond when he was young.

At first, Minami Yamabuki was so angry that her fists clenched. She thought the father that Shu-kun described was too awful, and she felt indignant for her mother.

But not long after, her expression turned to one of utter astonishment.

"Xiu-jun, how do you know that before Mom and Dad eloped to Tokyo, they threatened Grandpa with suicide? Very few people know about this."

After listening for a while, Minami Yamabuki, though unwilling to interrupt his explanation, couldn't help but speak up.

The reason she used to think her parents were the best couple in the world was because she had heard many stories from her mother.

Despite facing numerous hardships and obstacles, my parents still came together without hesitation for the sake of love, entrusting each other with their lives.

The couple supported each other through thick and thin, starting from a small rented room of a dozen square meters, and eventually bought a luxurious penthouse of more than 600 square meters in an apartment building in Shibuya, an area with extremely high housing prices, thus achieving financial freedom.

"Based on the information we have, your maternal grandfather is clearly no ordinary person. The only way he could get your mother-in-law to marry your father is to threaten suicide and then elope... Also, your mother-in-law probably has an older or younger brother, and they look down on your father."

Seeing the incredulous expression on her face, Shiratori realized he hadn't guessed wrong and couldn't help but hum inwardly, but his face remained calm, as if he were saying something like, "It's just basic stuff."

"Waaah... Mom does have an older brother and a younger brother, but I don't know if they look down on Dad."

Yamabuki Minami was astonished to find that everything he had just said was actually speculation.

To be able to deduce so much from just a few scattered pieces of information... Is this the state of Xiu Jun when he's going all out?

His guess was confirmed, and Shiratori Osamu was not surprised; he simply nodded.

If the mother-in-law is an only child, the two of them would be caught and brought back by the grandfather, even if they eloped to Tokyo or to the other side of the world.

Even worse, they wouldn't even reach the point of eloping. The day after they confirmed their relationship, the old man would become a missing person, his fate unknown.

"Xiujun, why did you tell me to deliberately attract Mom's attention, but not to comfort her?"

More concerned about her mother than her father, Yamabuki Minami seized the opportunity to ask him questions when he stopped his long-winded explanation.

Faced with this question, Shiratori Osamu raised his eyelids slightly and looked at her:

"Because your comfort is not helping her, but harming her."

Chapter 69 The Mother-in-Law Can't Understand

"Am I not helping her, but harming her?"

"Yes."

"But Mom is so sad, shouldn't I comfort her?"

Once he realized that this was what he meant, Minami Yamabuki was completely stunned.

"Because love makes people willingly indulge in it."

Shiratori knew that the reason she asked about this was because she felt guilty for ignoring her mother-in-law's situation and had already made preparations.

"Because love makes people willingly indulge in it?"

Minami Yamabuki repeated the almost philosophical words, carefully studying them.

She couldn't fully grasp the meaning of the sentence, so she could only keep it in her heart.

It is difficult for people to understand each other. If you want others to agree with your views, you have to use a lot of words.

After presenting the main idea, Shiratori Osamu began to discuss it with her:

"As a dutiful daughter, it's only natural that you want to comfort your mother-in-law when you see her sad and in tears. But doing so doesn't mean you're helping her; it just means you're trying to get her attention."

"Attract attention?"

"You said before that you had advised your mother-in-law to divorce your father more than once, obviously thinking that such an outcome would be better. Do you think she might have similar thoughts?"

"No, Mom is a true romantic, how could she possibly think about divorcing Dad?"

Minami Yamabuki shook her head at this claim, not believing it at all.

If Mom really had such thoughts, Dad's affair wouldn't have been so complicated, and she wouldn't have had to go to such lengths to seek external help.

Faced with her confusion, Shiratori Osamu simply coughed lightly, and then began to perform vividly:

"Waaaaah, I'm so sad, so heartbroken, I'm crying, why isn't my husband here to comfort me?"

"He's really gone. Does my husband not love me anymore? He clearly said he would love me for a lifetime."

"Why isn't my husband home yet? Is he at work with his mistress again?"

"I love him so much, why did he treat me like this?"

Why did he fall in love with someone else?

"It's so painful, so uncomfortable, so tiring... Would it be easier if I got a divorce?"

"???"

Seeing Shiratori Osamu's vivid and animated performance, Yamabuki Minami initially found it amusing, thinking he was joking again, but later fell silent.

“Your father has been having an affair for almost half a year now, but you only found out last week. That means your mother-in-law has been hiding this from you for half a year. Without external influences, her emotional journey in dealing with the betrayal on her own will roughly follow the order I just described.”

Although the performance just now was a bit comical, Shiratori Osamu wasn't embarrassed. He simply composed himself and changed the subject.

“If that’s the case, then why doesn’t Mom want a divorce…” Yamabuki Minami didn’t quite understand, but as soon as she finished speaking, her expression suddenly changed, “Is it because I was comforting her?”

Having finished their conversation, Shiratori felt the time was right, nodded, and spoke up in one go:

"My mother-in-law is a flesh-and-blood person. She can think for herself, distinguish right from wrong, and has her own emotions. She feels pain and gets tired."

Moreover, the pain felt when someone with a romantic mindset is betrayed is even more intense. Faced with her husband's repeated deceptions and betrayals, she should have been exhausted and on the verge of collapse long ago.

A person's capacity to endure has its limits, but you always appear when she is in the most pain and helpless, reaching out to pull her up and letting her constantly feel your love.

You said you advised her to get a divorce, but she wouldn't listen. This is because love is mutual; you want her to be happy, and so does she. She is, after all, your mother. She doesn't want you to lose your father, doesn't want you to argue with him, and certainly doesn't want it to affect your college entrance exams.

"So that's how it is..."

As he recounted his story, more and more information came into play, and piece by piece, the puzzle was pieced together. Yamabuki Minami suddenly realized what was happening, and her voice became dry and choked with emotion.

Moved, guilty, shocked, heartbroken, and many other emotions were intertwined in her heart.

Although she didn't want to admit that her way of comforting her mother was wrong, after listening to Xiu Jun's explanation, she had to admit the truth.

She had thought her mother was hopelessly obsessed with love, and had even felt angry at her for not living up to expectations, but now it seems that she had misunderstood her mother.

She only recently found out that her father had been having an affair for half a year, because her mother had been trying to hide it.

When she returned home last week, her mother, who had been curled up in the entryway and crying for who knows how long, was actually on the verge of collapse and looked like she was about to break apart.

But when her mother saw that after she learned about her father's affair, she was standing in the entryway, intending to confront him when he came home, she suddenly rallied and forcibly pulled her back into the room.

At that time, her mother talked to her a lot and tried to comfort her, because her mother didn't want her to argue with her father.

Tuesday night was the same. I found that Dad was going out despite my objections, and Mom was even more distraught than last time, crying like a child.

But after venting her emotions, her mother calmed down and began to persuade her to go back to her room and go to sleep early, because she had to go to school the next day.

"That's it."

Seeing her sudden realization, Shiratori was not surprised, but it further confirmed her judgment.

Although he doesn't have mind-reading abilities, this view is simply the result of what he observes with his eyes, along with known information, and his focused deduction. However, he believes the accuracy rate should be around 60-70%.

When my mother-in-law was a teenager, she was indeed hopelessly infatuated with love. In order to be with the man she loved, she was so blind that she was willing to break with her family and elope with him to Tokyo.

But things are different now. Although my mother-in-law still looks young and beautiful, she is no longer the little girl she once was, but a mother.

…………

Disappointment is an emotion that accumulates gradually, like drops of water slowly falling into the lake of the heart, eventually overwhelming everything.

After washing all the dishes and chopsticks on the dining table, Yamabuki returned to her room, went into the bathroom, took off her clothes to wash herself, and curled up in a corner of the bathtub.

"He just yelled at me again. He was the one who cheated on me first, so why is he still so self-righteous?"

Having already cried and vented her emotions, Yamabuki felt truly disappointed when she thought about the argument that had taken place at the dining table and her husband's attitude.

She has already tried her best to get Tomoya back into the family and become the loving husband who dotes on his wife and daughter he used to be. She has been constantly tolerant and accommodating.

Despite this, Tomoya didn't stop. Instead, he went even further, arguing with her in front of his beloved daughter and Shiratori-kun, scolding her for not knowing anything and even yelling at her.

She dressed up especially for the night, looking sexy and beautiful, but Tomoya acted as if he had no interest in her at all, and just told her to go to sleep.

Yesterday was the same, and so have all been. I always make excuses, saying I'm tired or it's too late.

She had forgotten when the last time she and her husband had been intimate.

"They said I still had work to finish and told me to go to sleep, but I was clearly drained dry by that philanderer."

Thinking about what happened last night, Yamabuki couldn't help but spit out a curse.

But soon, she began to doubt herself.

"So, why did Tomoya fall in love with someone else?"

Even after six months, she still can't understand why her husband cheated on her.

Is it because I'm getting older?

After racking her brains for a while, this was the only reason she could come up with.

Although when Shiratori first saw her, he was immediately captivated by her and said she was very beautiful.

And on Friday night, even though she was dressed very conservatively, with only her arms and feet exposed, Shiratori-kun still stared at her with wide eyes.

Moreover, she has the Hojo family's ancestral skincare secrets, plus she practices yoga, exercises on the treadmill, and controls her diet, so she manages her figure and appearance very well.

However, just because she is very charming in the eyes of a pure-hearted young boy like Shiratori-kun does not mean that she is the same way in the eyes of Tomoya.

Without comparison, there is no sense of superiority or inferiority. Compared to her husband's new lover, she is no longer young.

After a moment of deep sorrow, Yamabuki slumped down and submerged half her head in the hot water. The emotions and thoughts hidden deep within her heart, like bubbles rising to the surface as she exhaled into the water, kept surfacing:

"What do I need to do to make this home like it used to be?"

"I'm so tired, I can't think of a solution."

"Would things be easier if I listened to Minami and divorced Tomoya?"

"But if we do that, Xiao Nan will not have her father by her side for the rest of her life."

For six months, she had been unable to eat or sleep, plagued by nightmares, and constantly woke up in the middle of the night. Her trust had been betrayed time and time again, and the blow of the philandering cat who brazenly came to her door last week claiming to be her husband's girlfriend had left her completely exhausted.

In the past few days, she has thought more than once whether divorce would be better.

Faced with her husband's repeated betrayals, she actually preferred to stab him to death in their home rather than divorce, and then commit suicide to end their once beautiful love story in a double suicide.

But she couldn't do that, because she was no longer the seventeen or eighteen-year-old Hojo Yuki who would do anything for love.

She is now Yamabuki, Minami's mother.

Chapter 70 First time is unfamiliar, second time is familiar

"Xiao Nan, I'm very tired today, I need to go to bed and rest."

At 21:07 PM, Shiratori Osamu, wearing a school uniform, walked out of the bathroom.

After I changed out of those clothes on Friday night, my mother-in-law took them to wash and left them at the Yamabuki house.

Although it's not pajamas, and sleeping in a shirt will cause it to wrinkle, at least it's clean.

"Okay, come on."

After taking a shower and changing into a short-sleeved black nightgown, Minami Yamabuki was already sitting on the edge of the bed. Although she was a little embarrassed, she was mentally prepared.

"Thank you."

With her consent, Shiratori Osamu stepped forward and locked the door from the inside, just like last time, and walked to the other side of the bed.

"..."