It was 10:30 PM.
The first floor of the Sawamura house was still brightly lit.
Normally, at this time, the Sawamura family would have already gone to bed.
However, since a special guest had come over tonight, the Sawamura couple hadn't even thought about sleeping and felt no trace of drowsiness.
"Watanabe-kun, please have some tea."
Sayuri didn't call for the servant to pour tea but instead poured a cup of tea for Takashi herself.
Takashi quickly thanked her, "Thank you, Sawamura Aunt–."
"Hmm?"
Sayuri smiled and gave him a sharp look.
Takashi cleverly swallowed the last word "Aunt" and corrected himself, "Sawamura Mama."
Sayuri nodded in satisfaction, her gaze showing a hint of approval.
She smiled as she sat down next to her husband and said, "You can just call me Mom."
"That's a bit too early."
"Oh, is it?"
Upon hearing this, Sayuri gave a half-smiling look at Takashi and then at her daughter, who was still acting like an ostrich, hiding her face.
"I don't think it's too early. What do you think, Eriri?"
If it weren't for her and her husband walking in on them, you two would have already been kissing at the front door.
You've already come this far, and it's still too early?
"I-I-I don't know."
Hearing her mother's teasing, Eriri felt extremely embarrassed, her face turning bright red, as if it had been seared by a hot iron.
At the same time, she lowered her head even further, not daring to look up or at anyone.
"Watanabe-kun, has Eriri caused you a lot of trouble?"
"No, not at all. Sawamura-san is very nice."
"How nice?"
"Rather than saying how nice, it's more accurate to say that, in my eyes, there's nothing wrong with her."
Sawamura Spencer nodded in satisfaction.
He agreed with this.
Sayuri, clearly with the intention of teasing, asked, "Watanabe-kun, what do you think of Eriri?"
Takashi thought for a moment. "Pretty, tsundere, spoiled."
Sayuri chuckled, "So pretty comes first, huh~"
"Do you not think your daughter is pretty?"
"Of course not."
Before Sayuri could speak, Sawamura Spencer spoke first.
In his eyes, his daughter was the most beautiful in the world.
"Honey."
Sayuri smiled gently at her husband.
Sawamura Spencer immediately fell silent and sipped his tea.
Heh, another whipped man.
"Pretty is fine, but the rest are all flaws, right?"
After dealing with her husband, Sayuri continued, clearly not planning to let Takashi off so easily.
"Why do you think so?"
Takashi took a sip of tea and continued,
"Tsundere just means she can't express her feelings directly, but as long as you see through her contradictions, you'll realize that even though she says she dislikes you,
she actually likes you deeply and gets shy and blushes all the time. You find this contrast even more adorable."
"She's spoiled, but it's not that she has no sense of right and wrong. As long as you speak to her properly, she usually listens."
"Sawamura-san is like a hedgehog. If you approach her, she'll wound you all over."
He paused for a moment, then continued,
"But once you earn her affection, she'll put away her spikes and get close to you, cling to you, and belong only to you."
The Sawamura couple listened seriously, and Eriri, not knowing when, had lifted her head and was quietly looking at him.
"Isn't that tiring?"
Once Takashi finished speaking, Sayuri asked him.
Takashi slowly took a sip of the warm tea, letting the warmth spread through his body before smiling and saying,
"How could liking someone be tiring?"
"Only when you don't like them anymore does it feel tiring."
"That's just what you think now, since you've just met her."
Sayuri smiled lightly.
"You're still young. The time from when you first met Eriri until now hasn't been more than a year.
Because it's new and because she's beautiful, you find her flaws cute as well."
"But after two or three years… once you've been together for a long time and you start to get tired of it, will you still think her tsundere, spoiled self is cute?"
What Sayuri was saying wasn't an exaggerated warning.
After being together for a long time, all kinds of problems would arise.
In the past, the tsundere and cute flaws would turn into spoiled and unreasonable behavior.
Takashi thought for a moment and smiled, "By then, I should have already gotten used to it."
"Hmm?"
Takashi's answer surprised Sayuri.
"Sawamura-san hasn't been like this just today, nor did she suddenly become like this; she has always been this way."
"I've always believed that when you like someone, you must accept both their strengths and their flaws."
If you like an outgoing girl, you have to accept her noisiness.
If you fall for an innocent girl, you have to accept her childishness.
If you're infatuated with a mature woman, you have to accept her past.
There is no such thing as a perfect partner in this world.
"I believe that liking someone isn't about liking a specific aspect of them; it's about liking all of them."
Eriri stared directly at Takashi.
The yellowish light from the room illuminated his face, and everything seemed so perfect.
"Watanabe-kun–"
"Please excuse me. I should go now." Takashi stood up quickly as he noticed Sayuri was about to ask another question.
"Thank you for having me tonight. It's getting late, so I'll take my leave."
Eriri stood up. "The trains must have stopped running by now, right? Why don't you stay the night here?"
"Yes, Watanabe-kun! It's so late, just stay here."
"Our house is pretty big, you can just sleep here if you're tired."
Not only did Eriri invite Takashi to stay, but even the Sawamura couple were strongly urging him to stay.
"No, no, I've already booked a room, it's no trouble," Takashi refused, not wanting to sleep with makeup on.
No matter how much the Sawamura family tried to persuade him, Takashi firmly refused to stay.
"Honey, could you drive Watanabe-kun home?"
Seeing that Takashi had made up his mind, Sayuri stopped insisting and asked her husband to give him a ride.
They all accompanied him to the door.
"Sawamura-san, I'm leaving now."
Eriri nodded reluctantly. "Mm."
"Goodbye, Sawamura Mama."
Sayuri smiled. "Next time we meet, I hope you'll just call me Mom."
"Isn't that a bit fast?"
"Then you should stay tonight."
"I'll call you Mom next time, I promise."
Takashi made up his mind to never take Eriri home again.
Sayuri was too dangerous.
As Sawamura Spencer stepped on the gas and drove off, Eriri looked on with reluctance.
"Still watching? Want me to call your dad back so he can take you along and continue where you left off?"
Sayuri teased.
"Mom, what are you saying? I'm tired, I'm going to bed."
Eriri blushed and stomped her foot, turning to run back into the house, but she was secretly happy.
As soon as Eriri ran off, Sayuri's smile disappeared.
She sighed as she watched her silly daughter's back.
The other person played with you like a dog, and you didn't even notice, and yet you're happily grinning.
Takashi's answer went unnoticed by the clueless father and daughter, but Sayuri heard something off.
Takashi said he loved her in every word, but he never once said he liked Eriri!
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