Chapter 555: Chapter 367: Refreshing Morning_2
"Ahem, Hanabi-chan doesn’t hate me, right?"
"Hate... hate! Hate, hate, hate!" Hanamaru Hanabi pounded her little fists on him.
When he looked at her again, there were tears brimming in her eyes, and her gaze was as soft as tender water.
"Hanabi?"
His wife was angry, Uesugi Sakura could certainly tell, but the question was how to make her not angry anymore.
"All your help for the month is gone, Sakura-kun!"
Uesugi Sakura realized he had gone too far and quickly said, "Please, little Hanabi, I can’t live without you... Actually... actually, I didn’t even think about asking that at first."
"Bad Sakura-kun..." Hanamaru Hanabi glanced at him and muttered softly.
"Hanabi-chan? Little Hanabi? You’re not mad, right?"
"No."
"Not mad at me, right?"
"No."
"Really?"
"Really, just hate Sakura-kun!"
Hanamaru Hanabi clenched her skirt.
Uesugi Sakura felt relieved.
Hanabi’s hate wasn’t really hate.
It actually meant a little bit of like was in there.
Uesugi Sakura leaned down, murmuring a few words in her ear, and Hanamaru Hanabi’s cheeks gradually turned redder.
She subconsciously gripped her skirt hem, squeezed her thighs together, and looked down.
Uesugi Sakura glanced at the morning sun outside the window, then turned back, moving close to the girl in front of him and whispered:
"It’s still early... does little Hanabi want to take a bath?"
Hanamaru Hanabi’s face was flushed as she weakly said, "Sakura-kun... no peeking..."
"Alright, no peeking."
——————
Emotions are a strange feeling.
For example, Uesugi Sakura, after taking a bath, felt entirely different from when he first entered the bathroom.
How to say it, peaceful, harmonious, life filled everywhere with the chirping of birds and fragrant flowers.
"Does brother still take a bath in the morning?"
Aei’s voice interrupted his daydream.
"Taking a bath in the morning is the right choice, it makes you feel refreshed all day long."
"But Aei saw that sister Hanabi seems to also be inside."
Uesugi Sakura solemnly said, "Brother was helping sister Hanabi massage her shoulders. She went out yesterday and then jogging this morning, sister Hanabi was a bit exhausted."
"I see." Aei nodded.
"Did brother go out for a date with sister Hanabi yesterday?"
"Half a date, you could say." Uesugi Sakura replied.
He didn’t tell little Aei about meeting with Mrs. Iwakashi.
The main reason was he couldn’t trust Iwakashi Sumiko, for her temperament wasn’t great.
"Aei, has your mom ever hit you?"
"Hit my hand."
"How about your bottom?"
"No~"
That’s good, at least she’s not a mother who physically abuses her daughter.
"Does your mom cook for you in the evening?"
Aei shook her head.
It was evident; before coming here, Chiaei couldn’t cook at all, which showed their mom never taught them how to cook.
"Mom would bring home cold rice balls and cup noodles at night."
"Nothing else?"
"And some strange uncles and men."
"..." Uesugi Sakura suddenly remembered something, "By the way, how old is your mother?"
Aei counted on her fingers and held up ten: "Thirty years old."
Why use ten fingers to signify thirty years old....
Uesugi Sakura couldn’t understand.
Iwakashi Sumiko is thirty, Chiaei is thirteen, Aei is eleven.
It seemed that Chiaei was born when their mother was still very young.
Their father, Kohara Kiyosaku, gave Iwakashi Sumiko a newly built house fifteen years ago, a couple’s suite with just one master bedroom.
This kind of house is mainly built for DINK’s to live together, but since there’s only one master bedroom, it’s also a place where many wealthy people keep mistresses.
Iwakashi Sumiko often met with Aei and her father at that house.
Uesugi Sakura looked at Aei and asked, "Where did you sleep when you and Chiaei used to live at your own home?"
"On the big bed in the bedroom!"
"There’s only one bed in that house?"
"Yes." Aei nodded.
The two little girls sleeping together on that bed at night...
One can only say... fate is quite the trickster.
"Aei, do you want to live together with brother and sister Hanabi in the future?"
"I do." A lazy tone.
"Yesterday sister Hanabi and I met your mom."
"Brother met mom?" Aei’s eyes quickly filled with joy.
"Yes."
But the light quickly dimmed again.
"What’s wrong?" Uesugi Sakura asked.
"Mom ignores Aei... That day, Aei went to find her... She just ignored me..."
Uesugi Sakura remembered and understood that Aei was talking about that rainy day.
That day, Chiaei called him to help find Aei, who had run out.
She was eventually found under the bridge at Nishihoshiyama Park.
She squatted by the river, carrying a backpack, watching the ripples in the water’s reflection.
She said, ’If you wave, Mr. Reflection in the river will wave back at Aei.’
After saying this, Aei smiled at Uesugi Sakura.
Uesugi Sakura knew he wasn’t an especially compassionate person, but in that situation, seeing Aei’s loneliness similar to Hanabi’s childhood.
He felt a pang in his heart.
Previously, Hanamaru Hanabi was very insecure, always huddling in the corner silently blaming herself, now she was smiling brightly and adorably in front of him.
Beauty vanished before his eyes, dying in silence and neglect.
The scene Uesugi Sakura least wanted to see.
"Aei, are you happy now?"
"Very happy."
Uesugi Sakura saw the little girl’s smile directed at him and felt at ease: "Good, that’s what matters."
...
Not long after, Hanamaru Hanabi came down from upstairs after her bath and changed clothes.
In a summer cooling outfit, a sky-blue short-pleated skirt, paired above with a white blouse, a red bow tied at the collar, today she wasn’t wearing stockings, showing her original slender legs in pure form.
Of course, her cheeks still held a lingering rosy glow.
Seeing Hanamaru Hanabi, Uesugi Sakura couldn’t help but remember how cute she looked with her flushed face in the bathroom.
So adorable.
And her soft, cool little hands were so gentle too.
Aei ran up to Hanamaru Hanabi and asked: "Why is sister Hanabi’s face so red?"
Hanamaru Hanabi paused for a moment.
Uesugi Sakura explained for her: "Sister Hanabi just finished a hot bath, that’s why."
"Oh."
"Sister, what’s for breakfast today?" Aei asked Hanabi.
"Hmm... What does Aei want to eat?"
"Strawberry cake."
"It’s not good to eat cake in the morning, it makes you gain weight easily."
"It’s okay~ In the future, Aei can be like sister Hanabi and rely on my looks to make a living."
Aei, aware of her own beauty, said self-consciously.
"Getting fat won’t be pretty anymore." Hanamaru Hanabi told Aei.
"Strawberry cake~~"
Hanamaru Hanabi couldn’t resist a child, "Alright then."
Uesugi Sakura predicted that in the future, Hanabi would become the image of a kind mother. If they had a son together in the future, no matter how gentle he was, little Hanabi would still feel heartache to the extreme if he hit their son once.
...
After getting the strawberry cake from the fridge and after sending Aei off,
Uesugi Sakura went to Hanamaru Hanabi’s side in the kitchen and hugged her waist from behind.
"Hanabi was so cute just now."
Hanamaru Hanabi’s face turned red as she cut vegetables, without speaking.
From under the small shirt sliding along the skin was silky smooth skin.
Rubbing her little belly, the fingertip circled around her belly button.
Hanamaru Hanabi’s voice immediately turned soft and tender: "Sakura-kun... tickle..."
"Has Sakura-kun been considerate today?"
"Hmm..."
"Not annoying, right?"
"Not annoying..."
Uesugi Sakura, with hands supporting her slender waist inside the small shirt, gently pulled her closer:
"Praise me a little, would you?"
"What should I say..."
"Yes, make your voice a little sticky, sweet and soft."
Hanamaru Hanabi paused for a moment,