Starfish buried her head in silence, with a dark cloud hanging over her brows that could not be dispersed until she finished eating.
Sitting across the dining table, Maki Seiichiro couldn't figure out his daughter's true thoughts, so he missed his first wife who had died of illness for many years more and more.
"I'm stuffed."
Haixing put down his chopsticks and stood up to go back to his room.
"Haixing." Seiichiro stopped his daughter, feeling that he had to say something, "Is Haixing angry?"
She denied it faster than she turned around, "No."
Sure enough, he was angry.
Seiichiro sighed in his heart and guessed part of the reason based on his intuition.
"Is it because of the party over there?"
"..."
Haixing pursed her lower lip and frowned, "No... no, I'm not angry. Just leave me alone."
"But didn't Harumi invite you this afternoon?" Seiichiro looked at his daughter, "Haixing himself refused."
Haixing turned around suddenly: "He didn't say -"
"You didn't say anything?" Seiichiro was startled and asked quickly.
"..."
She opened her mouth and swallowed the words that came to her lips.
"leave me alone."
With that last sentence behind him, Haixing left the restaurant and went upstairs to his room.
"starfish!"
She shut out her father's call and turned to face the dark room. She felt her chest was so tight that she couldn't breathe.
She turned on the light and opened the window. It was already dark outside, and she immediately saw the light box of Morimi Furu Honten diagonally opposite.
In the afternoon, the guy suddenly came over with Yiye and invited her to a party.
But he only invited her and didn't say that the woman who had been her stepmother for two years would leave here tomorrow.
"What should I do……"
Starfish lay down by the window and revealed her thoughts to the starry sky.
She wanted to apologize to her.
I apologize for misunderstanding her because I believed in neighborhood gossip when I was young. I apologize for my childish behavior of tit-for-tat. I apologize for not understanding her tolerance until now...
She wanted to apologize to her stepmother alone, without anyone else, especially not with that guy present, so she declined today's party invitation and planned to find another opportunity;
But it wasn't until her father accidentally mentioned it during dinner that she realized that the person she wanted to apologize to would be leaving tomorrow...
Starfish lowered his head.
She is angry.
I felt angry at myself for not being able to muster up the courage to go to the party even though I knew my last chance was about to disappear.
...
After drinking the juice in the cup, Naruse shook his head at Naoko and said there was no need to add more.
The table is in a mess, there is not much food left, and the farewell party is coming to an end.
"It's almost time to end." Shangzi whispered.
"Um."
Naruse nodded, glanced at the empty seat next to him, and looked towards his mother's room.
After the party started, Matsu Chiaki answered several phone calls and made more calls. Before he returned to the "circle" in Tokyo, he had already revealed that he was busy as a well-known artist;
In order not to let her busyness affect the children's interest, she basically stayed in her room.
After another phone call ended, Matsu Chiaki returned to the living room and found that Morimi and the Takikawa sisters were looking at him.
After sweeping away the mess on the table, she also understood.
"It's getting late, it's almost time for us to go back." Morimi stood up first and said goodbye to her. Hikari Takawa also supported Takigawa Yue and stood up.
Song Qianqiu showed a helpless smile, "Sorry, I've been on the phone and haven't spent much time with you."
All three of them shook their heads, indicating that they understood her busy schedule.
"I'm looking forward to Miss Matsu's new drama!" Yue Takigawa said.
Song Qianqiu smiled at her, "I'm also looking forward to the results of Yue's entrance exam. When the time comes, be sure to send me a line."
Takigawa Yue nodded repeatedly, her face full of happiness.
After sending the three people to the door, Matsu Qianqiu said:
"The office has sent someone to pick me up. I have to leave tomorrow morning. I won't say hello to you then - and don't come to see me off. It's too early. It's better to have a good sleep at home."
"Okay..." Takigawa Yue's emotions fluctuated greatly, and she had tears in her eyes at this time.
Matsu Chiaki looked at her, then at Takigawa Hikaru and Morimi, and finally at Naoko, still feeling a little regretful about Haixing's absence.
"I'll leave it to you to take care of Harumi."
"Don't say unnecessary words." Naruse began to urge a few people to go back.
Song Qianqiu smiled and continued: "Although Chunhai looks quite mature, in some aspects, he is actually quite childish and awkward..."
"——Morimi just said that she would go back and read early, right?" Naruse interrupted her again.
Morimi pushed up his glasses and looked at him without saying anything.
Matsu Qianqiu smiled and shook his head, saying no more, saying goodbye to a few people for the last time, and then asked Naruse to send them back.
Takigawa's house was very close, but Morimi's house was far away. When they came to the intersection, Takigawa Hikaru said that the sisters did not need to see them off, and they could just ask Naruse to send Kazuyo home.
"OK Bye Bye."
"good evening--"
Watching the Takikawa sisters go away, Morimi glanced at Naoko who was following, and then looked at Naruse, "Actually, I don't need to send them off either."
"Do you want to live here at the bookstore?"
"No."
"Then let's give it away."
Seeing that there was no force, Sen walked away.
Passing by her bookstore, she went in and said hello, and soon came out and saw Naruse looking at the Maki Hotel.
"Haixing didn't come, and Auntie seemed a little regretful."
"It's okay if you're not here, don't worry." He looked away, "Let's go."
The three of them walked past the door of Zhenmu Hotel, and when they got closer, they saw that the window on the second floor was open, and they all remained silent.
After nightfall, the streets become quiet.
The street lights shrouded the whole body miserly, leaving the rest of the place to the moonlight.
The shadow follows closely, and when it occasionally fades, it will split into a deeper clone, appear quietly, and then disappear quietly.
"Is there really no need to give it away?" Morimi suddenly said.
"What...are you talking about my mother? There's no need to give it away."
Naruse looked at the few lonely lights in the darkness in the distance, which was Morimi's house, "I don't even know what time she will leave tomorrow morning."
"It seemed like someone was coming to pick you up just now?"
"Probably an assistant. He actually came here from Tokyo to pick him up..."
He shook his head and said nothing.
Mori looked at him, and was willing to talk to him more about the daily life of a star like Matsu Chiaki. That was a side that ordinary people could hardly get in touch with. She just caught a glimpse of Naoko staring at her, and she stopped like this again. thoughts.
The three of them chatted without a word, and the journey didn't seem that long.
Arriving at Morimi's house, Naruse and Naoko said goodbye to Kazuha, then turned around and walked back.
"Kazuo's home is really far away. We rarely come here before." Shangzi said.
Naruse responded, and memories of the past emerged from the corner.
"But every time we play together, Kazuye will come over. Although she is very inconspicuous, I don't really remember what she looked like at that time... Hmm, it seems that she always stays with Haixing?"
"Is it because the two stores are very close to each other?"
"maybe."
Naoko looked at him, "Just like me and Harumi."
Naruse looked at the moon and said, "Yeah."
It was nearly twenty minutes after the two of them got home.
Naoko said good night to Naruse and her son as usual, and then went back to his home to rest;
Matsu Chiaki was no different from usual, applying a facial mask and wandering around the living room with a script. At the same time, she did not forget to remind Naruse to take a shower early.
After cleaning up the mess from the party and taking a shower, Naruse went back to the room to read the newly bought book in the afternoon, but found that he couldn't read it at all, so he lay down on the bed early.
The night in the countryside was extremely quiet, and he didn't have to listen carefully. The sound of his neighbor opening the window could clearly be heard in his room.
"..."
The feeling of being unmotivated in the afternoon came to mind again, and Naruse lay still, staring at the ceiling in the darkness.
He didn't know how long it had passed before he heard a much subtler sound of closing the window.
Naruse closed his eyes and let the feeling of powerlessness overwhelm his body. He thought he would fall asleep soon, but what awaited him was tossing and turning all night long.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fall asleep. At three or four o'clock in the morning, Naruse finally gave up.
He sat up and stared out the window for a while, then decided to get up when it got a little brighter. As a result, he fell asleep within a few minutes of lying down.
When the next day really came, when he was woken up by Song Qianqiu, he was even filled with anger.
At that moment, nothing is more important than sleep.
But he woke up quickly.
"Mom is leaving."
"Now?"
"Now."
Naruse went downstairs to see him off. His assistant, Ms. Sato, smiled and nodded to him, then lifted Matsu Chiaki's luggage into the car.
His mother let go of her arms, and the early morning wind made him feel a little cold.
"Chunhai's own life has just begun now."
Watching her get into the car, Naruse turned around, and Naoko appeared behind him at some point, wearing an apron.