61 Wife, You Have Wronged Me

Grandpa did leave shortly after but it wasn't before he claimed the promise to go on a date with his granddaughter-in-law. Shouko set the date on the day after tomorrow and Grandpa readily agreed with her.

With that, the old man left happily even though at first he was annoyed with his own grandson.

"Why not just go out tomorrow?" Kyoya asked through the phone. He had yet to hang up and return to his work.

"Let's give Grandpa a day to rest," Shouko looked at the books that were neatly arranged on the shelf. She picked one, peered at the title and headed toward the couch in the library. "He came here for my sake today. I feel bad if we go for a long walk tomorrow."

Kyoya laughed, his entire face brightened as he smiled in indulgence. "Grandpa is still quite strong but it's good for him to rest more. He does forget his age sometimes."

Shouko let out a peal of laughter. She shook her head in helplessness. "You really love teasing Grandpa like that. No wonder he's always irked by you."

Seeing the way her husband interacted with Grandpa like that actually gave her a sense of relief. At first, she thought he was someone indifferent to anything in his life yet as she gradually learned about him, it seemed like her husband just showed his playful manner like a child to someone he cherished.

And that included her.

"Ah! I forgot something!" Shouko exclaimed in disbelief. She lightly tapped her forehead as she sighed.

"En? What's wrong?"

"Hurm... I forgot that I have appointments to meet Akari and Ono this week too and I still plan to have a meet up with my editor."

Shouko silently berated her forgetfulness. As she had promised Akari, they would have lunch together the next day she went out with Grandpa while Ono wanted her to accompany her shopping at the weekend. As for Editor Minagawa, she hadn't contacted her yet.

Somehow, she felt she became busier once she returned to the city.

Kyoya frowned in displeasure. When he spoke, he didn't even hide the hint of jealousy in his voice. "Wife, do you really want to jilt me because you have so many friends right now?"

"What... what are you talking about?" Shouko was stunned for a moment before she laughed heartily. "You... don't be jealous of them! You're the one who told me to go out more than just stay at home! Have you forgotten about it?"

"Well, yeah... and now I feel like taking it back," Kyoya sighed again, regretting his suggestion.

He was so busy during the day and occasionally at night. If his wife went out early and only came back at night, didn't it mean their time to cultivate feelings would be lessened? Just the thought of it made him wanted to go back in time and slap his past self silly.

Shouko stifled a laugh. She was still tempted to laugh yet she refrained from doing so. Why did she feel like her husband was cute?

Who would have thought her husband could be so childish, ah?

"I'm not jilting you," Shouko said helplessly as she rubbed the space between her brows. Her lips curled up into a smile as she tried picturing him pouting right now. Her smile deepened. "You know, Akari said she has printed all of our photos taken before we left the campsite. She's so efficient! I was still thinking to get a polaroid photo printer yet she has done all of it! She would give them to me when I meet her later."

Akari was boasting about the good qualities of the photos shot by her beloved fiance when Shouko texted her yesterday. She had especially put extra effort into their bridal-carry photos.

"En, you should get all of them. We could decorate our room with the photos including the first ones," Kyoya swiftly suggested an idea, he momentarily forgot that he was sulking with his wife just now. "I saw some inspirations on the Internet. What do you think?"

"Alright! I'll get the photos first and then we could think of how to display them. We could do it together," Shouko's heart was smeared with sweet honey hearing Kyoya's suggestion.

Last night was the first time Kyoya slept with her on the same bed in the master bedroom rather than the couch. The maids brought in all of his belongings from the room opposite the hallway, filling up a part of the vast room. Even the wardrobe appeared complete with his clothes on the left side while hers were on the right side.

They had a pleasant chat before they went to sleep early due to exhaustion. Shouko found that Kyoya slept so soundly without having a nightmare.

"It's decided then. It would be beautiful to hang them with the... what's it called? The one with a long wire and small bulbs?" Kyoya frowned, he tried to think back of what he had searched.

"Do you mean fairy lights?" Shouko guessed.

"That's the one!" Kyoya was elated.

His wife didn't know that he had already envisioned the photos to be clipped with the twinkling fairy lights like the ones he saw on a website. It had been a long time since the last time they took photos together, so of course, he wanted to use this opportunity to decorate their room with them.

"Maybe we could do it on Sunday? I would go out with Ono on Saturday," The idea pleased Shouko so much.

If not for the fact her husband would be busy with his work during weekdays, she would definitely start hanging the photos once she got home after meeting Akari. It's better to do it after he had rested well.

At the mention of her going out to meet other people again made his mood turned downcast. Kyoya sighed inwardly.

Can't his wife pay more attention to him?

Shouko would certainly laugh again if she knew his thoughts. She had paid him more than enough attention, alright! He shouldn't be too clingy ah!

"Wife, you have wronged me."

Shouko blinked. What, ah? His voice sounded so sad it made her thought of a small and dejected puppy.

"When did I wrong you?" Shouko hugged her legs, her face was radiated by her bright smile. "You really love talking nonsense."

The other day, he mentioned something like this which confused her. And now? He mentioned it again.

Kyoya pursed his lips. He thought back of his failure yesterday. Even until now, his wife hadn't opened the present!

"Go and check the bag you used on the flight yesterday," He almost pleaded with her. If he didn't say it, when would she bring it out? "Check it carefully. I'll text you later. I have a meeting. Bye, wife."

Before Shouko could say anything, Kyoya had hung up. Once again, Shouko blinked in confusion.

What was that about?

Even though she was unclear with his words, Shouko still listened to him. She left the library, heading straight to the bedroom upstairs.

Once she walked inside the built-in wardrobe, her eyes fell on the section which displayed all of her bags. At first, she was bewildered to see such high-end brands of bags stored properly in this area. Mai said all of them were gifted by Kyoya since she rarely splurged herself.

The cross-body bag she used yesterday was placed in one of a compartment of a tall closet with a glass door, allowing her to see inside each of the compartments.

Shouko remembered that she tossed this bag aside after taking out her phone and purse. She pursed her lips, thinking that there shouldn't be another thing in this bag.

As she peered inside the bag, it was clear enough the bag was empty. Feeling dissatisfied, Shouko placed one hand inside and started patting all over the bag. Her brows rose when her fingertips felt something hard.

The interior of this bag was sturdy, the inside compartment with the zipper wasn't made with a soft cloth as the cheap bags she bought during her university days. Unless she put some pressure on the surface, she wouldn't even notice there was something inside until she opened the zip.

Shouko pulled down the zipper, revealing a yellow gift box wrapped with a white ribbon. A sparkle radiated from her eyes as her lips instinctively curled up.

Shouko carefully untied the ribbon, letting the white ribbon fell on the vanity table. Once she opened the box, a resin in the size of her palm appeared in her sight.

The decoration of the resin was simple. There were only three dried petals of a blue iris flower.

Something flashed in her mind. Shouko quickly took out her phone and searched for the meaning of blue iris.

Her smile turned even brighter as she read what was displayed on the screen. Without thinking much, she took a photo of the resin and typed it to Kyoya with a message.

A Scribbler in Autumn: Hope and faith come together. With them, even though it seems like we lost everything, we would have the strength to move forward.

Sent.