Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

Xiuming gently knocked on the ward door and then pushed it open. The four of them tilted their heads and looked over.

Riko's eyes lit up with joy. She had just stood up halfway when, as if she had thought of something, she opened her mouth, then covered her flushed face and sat back down.

Midori Umezu blinked but didn't move, and Chieko pursed her lips but didn't move either.

Sofia's eyes widened, then she abruptly stood up, ran to Hideaki in two steps, then suddenly stopped, clasped her hands together, lowered her head, and whispered, "Hideaki-kun... I missed you so much..."

"Give me a kiss, give me a kiss..." Midori Umezu whispered to them, but then grabbed Riko's hand and gently clapped along.

Riko opened her eyes, buried her flushed face in her arms, then pulled her hand away and blindly grabbed Umezu Midori's arm, pinching and twisting a bit of her flesh.

Hideaki was quite surprised by Riko's weak counterattack, and even a little relieved, although she seemed to have used almost no force when she pinched Midori's hand.

Umezu Midori was still whispering and jeering when Chieko quickly covered her mouth. The look in her eyes as she looked at Hideaki conveyed a sense of "I can only do this much; she's just too perverted."

At this moment, Sophia's face was already flushed red, her head was lowered, and her eyelashes trembled as she glanced at Xiuming.

Her trench coat hung on the clothes rack behind the door, and she was currently wearing a fitted pencil skirt, the black wool material just covering her knees. The thin layer clung to her body, making her figure appear both slender and voluptuous.

She must have dressed up specially, but unfortunately her mother was suddenly hospitalized, and her makeup was ruined by crying.

However, her bare face made her look even more shy and charming, as if she had a hidden expectation but dared not go forward.

That's absolutely not allowed, Riko is watching! She'll be upset.

Thinking this, Xiuming simply placed his hand on Sophia's back and hugged her. Of course, considering that this might disappoint Sophia, whose eyes were filled with expectation and shyness, he slid his hand down her back and over her soft waist, his palm landing on her little bottom.

At this moment, Sophia's mother woke up. When she first opened her eyes, she seemed a little confused, as if she hadn't recovered yet. However, her gaze turned in this direction, and her eyes immediately focused.

"Sophia." Xiuming's unilaterally acknowledged mother-in-law spoke in a gentle voice, her eyes filled with conflict.

Sofia froze, then jumped back like a startled rabbit, her eyes darting around as she ran to the bedside. "Mom, you're awake! That's wonderful!"

At this moment, Riko, Chieko, and Umezu Midori also gathered around the sickbed.

Xiuming stood next to Sophia and asked softly, "Mother-in-law, how are you feeling?"

Sophia's mother seemed unwilling to talk to Xiuming, let alone look at his face, so she turned her head to the other side, where she met Riko's concerned gaze.

"Auntie, are you feeling alright?" Riko asked.

A flicker of guilt crossed Sofia's mother's eyes. She moved her lips and said softly, "It's fine..."

Then, she turned her face towards Hideaki, seemingly finding it easier to face Hideaki than Riko... Then, with the IV tube still inserted, she gently stroked Sophia's smooth face and said, "Could you get me a glass of water?"

Sofia held her mother's hand and said, "No, no, the doctor said I can't eat or drink anything before I pass gas."

“Oh, really…” Sophia’s mother said expressionlessly, “Then you can leave.”

"Huh?" Sophia was stunned.

“You all go out,” Sofia’s mother glanced at Xiuming and said, “I want to talk to him alone for a while.”

Because Sophia's mother's tone was somewhat serious, Riko, who was already sensitive, was taken aback for a moment. Before she could react, Chieko pulled her outside.

On the other side, Midori Umezu also walked around the hospital bed, pulled Sophia, who was still in a daze, up, and said with a smile, "You're going to talk about marriage, you'll feel embarrassed here, we need to leave."

Sofia's mother's lips twitched, but she didn't say anything and closed her eyes.

Several women left, and the sound of the ward door closing came from behind. Sophia's mother slowly opened her eyes and couldn't help but blink. Where was Xiuming?

“Mother-in-law,” Xiuming said, kneeling on the floor and looking up, “your son-in-law is here.”

Shameless, glib... but I have to say, he put on a really good attitude, and I always felt like I couldn't handle it, so I didn't know what to say.

"Please don't do this, please get up." Sophia's mother didn't even have the strength to sigh. "How can I bear to see you like this?"

"No, no, no, I can accept it. From now on, you are my own mother, and I will take care of you in your old age." Xiuming was very sincere.

This child has a good attitude, knows how to speak, and is so humble. He's really pleasing to the eye. But if you knew his true situation, that would be a different story.

I was both annoyed and amused.

“If that’s the case, then Sophia is your sister,” Sophia’s mother said, genuinely worried that he might make the stitches on her stomach crack from anger. “Like Riko’s relationship, right?”

Sophia's mother, however, had seen through many things, especially regarding her own family's circumstances. Looking at it this way, she was indeed quite lucky, but she was still somewhat worried about Sophia's future.

Before entering the operating room, she carefully observed them.

Chieko was extremely cautious towards Riko, almost like a servant. Later, Umezu Midori, even when joking with Riko, couldn't hide her carefully ingratiating gaze.

Riko exudes gentleness from the inside out, and is not at all assertive; that must be the status that Hideaki has given her.

This guy clearly dotes on his wife, yet he still flirts around with other women. Could it be to satisfy some of Riko's strange fetishes?

How could such a thing be? Although she couldn't understand Riko's way of thinking, her attitude towards Sophia wasn't feigned; it was genuinely gentle.

This makes me even more hopeful that Hideaki will treat Sofia the same way he treats Riko in the future.

After all, Sofia isn't a strong person, and she's always been insecure. I'm really worried that she'll be bullied by Midori and Chieko...

"Yes, yes, Mother-in-law, Sophia and Riko will definitely become best friends." Hideaki pretended to be naive and went along with it. Anyway, Chieko had already confessed to her mother-in-law, so she knew everything.

"You're so shameless..." Sophia's mother didn't know how to describe his thick skin.

"I just really like Sophia so much, I can't help it, after all, she's your daughter, so beautiful, right?"

"You can leave now." Sophia's mother felt a bit of a stomachache; she was so annoying with her smooth talk, she didn't want to deal with her anymore...

“Okay, Mother-in-law, please keep it from Sophia for now,” Xiuming bowed and retreated towards the door. “I’m quite familiar with your attending physician, and he wants to take Sophia on as an apprentice so she can become a doctor at this hospital. I want to tell her after Sophia has a stable job, so even if she can’t accept the truth then, at least she’ll have a stable job, right?”

"Whatever you say makes sense, so do as you please."

Sophia's mother suppressed her guilt towards her daughter, but also felt a surge of relief that her rascal cared about her. Lying to her daughter… well, she was conflicted.

"Thank you, Mother-in-law, you're so kind. I'll come pick you up when you're discharged from the hospital."

"Don't come."

"Okay, anyway, we'll be living across the hall from each other from now on."

"..."

While Hideaki was chatting with his mother-in-law, whom he had insisted on recognizing, Riko, Chieko, Midori Umezu, and Sophia gathered on the rest chairs next to the nurses' station.

Sofia had wanted to eavesdrop, but because Midori Umezu was so direct, she felt embarrassed to go over. Besides, Midori kept pulling her aside to ask how far their relationship had progressed, and if anything like that had happened…

Sofia was both anxious and embarrassed, and didn't want to talk to her, so she stomped her feet and ran into the bathroom to hide.

Midori Umezu deliberately embarrassed her and drove her away because she wanted to get closer to Riko and build a relationship.

At this point, Riko had already learned from Chieko's whisper that Sophia's mother was very capable and had seen through the relationship between all of them and Hideaki-kun. Of course, Sophia was naive and was still kept in the dark.

Riko was stunned for several seconds. She recalled the guilt in Sophia's eyes when she looked at her, and the way Sophia held her hand before entering the operating room, as if entrusting her with a child. She then roughly understood the reason.

She had already calmed down about whether Sophia would join or not. If Xiuming wanted her to join, she would fully support her; if he didn't want her to join, she wouldn't care.

Anyway, whatever you say won't make a difference, just like Tachibana and Eri.

Has my husband already forgotten about them?

Yesterday I brought home a girl named Funakawa Yoshiko, who stole my ring and we ganged up on her. Before she left, she even stole my pendant. She's so annoying, she's practically the same as Ayako.

The girl who came today, Ms. Umezu, gave me such strange looks. I know she wanted to get along with me, but she was overly enthusiastic, which made me feel awkward…and she even stole a kiss on the cheek—so much saliva…how annoying…

"You...you, please stop looking at me like that."

Riko couldn't stand Umezu Midori's passionate gaze and was really worried that she would suddenly pounce on her and bite her face.

She just said so many perverted things, like "Have you ever cried when you're with your husband?", "I want to hear you cry", "Can I hide in the closet?", "Can I hide under the bed?". Shameless and perverted.

"Riko-chan is so cute, I couldn't help but watch," Midori Umezu said, leaning forward. "Why are you so nice?"

Actually, Midori Umezu was speechless. She was also quite embarrassed because of Ayako's previous rude attitude and Riko's weak and easily bullied appearance. The contrast between the two was too great. She was filled with excitement and gratitude, so she licked Riko's face, only to be rejected by Riko.

But since it's already done, I have to grit my teeth and continue. I need to let Riko know that I did this because I'm so grateful to her and I want to be her best friend.

Riko swallowed instinctively and took a step back.

A few meters away at the bathroom door, Sophia, who had just come out, suddenly changed her expression and shouted, "Shut up! Are you a pervert?! Don't bully my sister!"

(It will be free for a limited time in 5 days. I haven't been able to update every chapter this month, and I'm not planning to follow the story. I can save up a few chapters. I can't update a lot during the 24-hour limited-time event either, so I'll just treat the rest as a burst of updates.)

Chapter 199 A Mother's Concern...

(You can check back during the limited-time free offer on December 15th)

Sofia's angry voice had just been shouted out.

Midori and Riko seemed to be in perfect sync, immediately sitting up straight as if nothing had happened.

After all, Sofia knows nothing at the moment, and even though her mother already knows the truth, she didn't tell her immediately.

Thinking about it this way, she's so pitiful...

This reminded Riko of Tachibana.

Tachibana called her recently, but didn't say what was going on. They just chatted casually, and she mentioned that there was an annoying otaku neighbor named Makimura Eri who had recently broken up with her boyfriend and was always fighting with her for the hot water in the bathroom.

She also tentatively asked Riko if she and Hideaki had officially become boyfriend and girlfriend... In short, she meant that she wanted to come back and try to win him over... to have some kind of fair competition.

Riko got goosebumps listening to this. Tachibana was the kind of person who was a pure love warrior. She had clearly been about to give up, so was she coming back like this to drive me away? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble? It would be even more embarrassing for her...

Riko felt guilty for lying to Tachibana and didn't know how to respond. She didn't even dare to mention Tachibana's relationship with Eri, or Eri's relationship with Hideaki.

After that, when Tachibana called Riko again, Riko kept letting Chieko answer the phone.

Of course, Eri would also call Riko frequently, telling her to turn on the TV after midnight to support her directorial debut movie, preferably with Hideaki.

She also mentioned an annoying female neighbor named Tachibana Mitsuko, who always fought with her for the hot water in the bathroom and constantly boasted about having a handsome and rich boyfriend who gave her lots of pretty clothes and such...

However, Eri said she didn't care at all, because the clothes she liked were the green dress she wore back from the supermarket as work clothes.

When Eri got to this point, she tearfully begged Riko to ask Hideaki to put in a good word for her and let her go back to the supermarket part-time job, otherwise her work clothes would be wasted... Ideally, she'd also like Hideaki to come to her apartment and invite her back to the supermarket, pretending to be her boyfriend. She wanted that annoying female neighbor to know that she wasn't dumped, and that she had a very handsome and rich boyfriend...

Riko was in a dilemma. Later, when Eri called again, Riko asked Chieko to answer the phone.

Let's not even talk about whether Hideaki is listening. Even if he were whispering in someone's ear, he wouldn't have time to scream for help, let alone whisper in someone's ear.

She didn't dare reveal to Eri her relationship with Tachibana, or that Tachibana's boyfriend during her "cooling-off period after the breakup" was Hideaki.

After all, if Eri finds out, she will definitely bully Tachibana terribly, and Eri will also reveal her identity. Tachibana will be very sad then, and they won't even be able to be sisters anymore.

Riko realized that Tachibana and Eri were unaware of each other's situation and suddenly understood Sophia's mother's feelings. Her daughter was kept in the dark and didn't know the truth, and the mother was afraid of hurting her daughter, so she didn't dare to tell her.

I'm not quite right in the head...