CH 31

“Hello. What’s wrong, Kaori?”

She heard her otou-sama’s voice ringing from the other side of her phone.

I hurriedly put the phone to my ear and answered.

“O-Otou-sama, Sorry for calling you so suddenly.” [TLN: Otou-sama means father.]

“Oh, what a surprise.”

“Y-You didn’t mind taking my call when you were so busy were you?”

“Hmm? Where on earth would you find a father that doesn’t answer his own daughters phone calls.”

“――”

I tried to speak but nothing came out of my mouth.

Schedules are set in seconds, and even these few seconds of communication right now would have delayed his schedule significantly.

But I didn’t think that otou-sama cared about me so much that he was willing to set that aside for me.

“So, what can I do for you?”

“Oh, uh…”

Oh yeah, the reason for the call… I glanced at Hisamura for a moment.

I didn’t expect for it to actually go through and hear something so embarrassing by him.

But I felt bad about taking up Otou-sama’s time, so I gathered up my courage and asked.

“O-Otou-sama…I-I wanted to know i-if y-you l-love me…”

“Is that what this is about?”

“……”

I couldn’t speak but this time it was for the exact opposite reason as before.

After all, my father doesn’t really care about me.

“Of course I love you.”

“Eh?”

“Did you not hear me? Is the signal bad? Hey! Change the signal in the building!”

I heard otou-sama instructing someone nearby.

“N-No, I heard you loud and clear.”

“Really? That’s good.”

“S-So you r-really l-love me?”

“It’s natural for a father to love his daughter.”

“――!”

I couldn’t help but feel tears welling up in my eyes at those words.

I’ve never felt so loved in my life.

I’ve always acted like how I did, so I’ve never actually been told how he truly feels about me before.

Is this really my father speaking?

It’s not fake, it’s real… This love is real.

“O-Otou-sama.”

“Hmm? What’s the matter, Kaori? Why are you crying?”

“Eh? Ah? I’m sorry.”

“Hey, did I do something wrong? Or did you get into some kind of trouble?　Don’t worry, I’m on my way to you now.”

“Eh?”

“Hey, cancel all plans for the rest of the day. Dinner with the President of the United States? I don’t care, schedule it for later.” 

“W-Wait, please wait! Otou-sama! I’m fine!”

“Are you sure? You’re not holding back, are you?”

“Yes… I’m fine.”

I never dreamt that my father would care about me so much ever before.

I’ve only had the impression that I was being treated with indifference for a long time.

So everything… was just a misunderstanding on my part?

“Good, speaking of which, what would you like for dinner next Saturday?”

“Ah…”

I forgot about it until he mentioned it. No, I was deliberately avoiding it but next saturday was my once in a month dinner with father. 

Every time we had dinner at a fancy restaurant or something, the gramps would always ask “It seems that the master wants to ask you about what you want to eat this time.”

Every time he asked I would always answer him with anything is fine.

But this is the first time I was asked directly like this.

“Well… is anything fine?”

“Ah, anything is fine. There’s nothing I can’t prepare for you.”

He’s the president of the Tojoin Group, a major corporation, so there really isn’t anything in this world that he can’t prepare.

However, I don’t want anything special from someone else…

Just as a daughter, I wanted-

“I’d like to try Otou-sama’s home-made food.”

“A home-made meal by me?”

“Y-Ye.s”

“Are you sure? We can go to any fancy restaurant if you want?”

“No… I want to eat Otou-sama’s homemade food.”

When I was a kid… I don’t recall how young I was.

There was a time when the company was not that big and the house was not very big as well.

I remember eating the food that otou-sama had cooked back then.

I don’t even remember what kind of food it was, but I do remember that it was really delicious.

No matter how good a meal I had at a fancy restaurant, I still haven’t forgotten how it tastes.

I want to eat the same food as I did that time.

But things are much different now than they were then.

Now, as I said earlier, he schedules his appointments in seconds.

With such a busy schedule, there was no way he would have time to cook just for me…

“Fu, yeah… Got it, I haven’t made anything in a while so I don’t know if I can do it right, but I’ll make it.”

“Eh? Is it really okay?”

“Of course. Well I also have a favour to ask from you, is that alright?”

“Y-Yes, what is it?”

As far as I can remember, otou-sama has rarely asked me to do anything for him.

I wondered what kind of things he would ask me to do…

“I’d like to try some of the food that you make, if that’s okay with you.”

“A-Ah… O-Of course, I’d definitely want otou-sama to eat it.”

“Well, thank you. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Y-Yes, me too.”

“I’m sorry, it’s about time I cut the call, my secretary’s looking at me like she’s going to kill me.”

“Ah, O-Of course, sorry for calling you out of the blue.”

“No, it’s okay.”

There was one last thing I wanted to say.

“A-Ah, um. Otou-sama…”

“What is it?”

“I-I love you too, otou-sama.”

“Oh… Yes, thank you.”

“Y-Yes, see you at dinner.”

“Yeah, look forward to it.”

With that, I hung up the phone.