Tokyo: They say it's just dating, but they're serious about it.

Chapter 12 Call me Dad and I'll give you...

At 4:30 a.m., Mikoto woke up as usual.

It's been like this for three years in a row, so I don't need an alarm clock anymore.

Outside the window, the night sky was ablaze with blue-purple neon lights, while inside the room, it remained pitch black.

Katsuhiko's steady breathing was right next to Mikoto's ear. She listened quietly for a while, feeling somewhat dazed, as if this was the most relaxing time of her life.

I wanted to sleep a little longer, but I couldn't fall asleep. I was worried that my pounding heart would wake Sheng Yan. I gently moved his hand away from my chest, then carefully climbed off the mattress, grabbed the pajamas that were lying on the floor, and put them on.

She turned on the living room light switch, and the soft yellow light spread out. She sat barefoot on the sofa, lifted her slightly flushed cheeks, smiled, and then drifted off into a daze.

The second hand of the wall clock ticked away, and after about ten minutes, she snapped out of her daze. Glancing at the messy living room, she couldn't help but blink, giving a look that said, "I just realized how messy the living room is," before starting to tidy up.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the sun was shining brightly.

Mikoto has prepared breakfast.

Chinatsu was still asleep in her crib when Mikoto tiptoed out of the room, gently closed the door, went into the kitchen, brought out two glasses of milk, and quietly entered the bedroom.

Katsuhiko was also asleep, sprawled out on his back. The sheet that had been covering him had been thrown to the floor, where it was still hanging...

Mikoto bit her lip, glancing at him again and again, wanting to laugh but worried about waking him. Then she slowly knelt down beside the mattress, placed two glasses of milk on the bedside table, bent down to pick up the sheet, and gently covered Katsuhiko with it.

The sheets continued to rise and fall, and Mikoto held back her laughter, glancing at the sheets, tilting her head and frowning, then glancing again, covering her mouth and laughing so hard her shoulders trembled slightly.

Once the sheet covering Katsuhiko was finally smooth, Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the milk glass from the bedside table, gently placed it to her lips, and took a sip.

Katsuhiko, who was fast asleep, suddenly became serious, sat up abruptly, turned his head, blinked, and said, "Good morning."

Mikoto paused for a moment, then picked up another glass of milk and handed it to Katsuhiko, asking softly, "What's wrong? You seem to be having a nightmare."

"It wasn't a nightmare, just a bit of a surprise," Sheng Yan frowned, took the milk glass, took a big gulp, and said with a melancholy look, "I just dreamt that my girlfriend was spying on me, and she even rushed in and pulled off our blankets."

"Is that so..." Mikoto's right hand, holding the milk glass, trembled slightly. She turned to face the window, pretending to be nonchalant, took another sip of milk, and said softly, "It's just a dream, there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?"

Mikoto was somewhat prepared. She didn't care who Katsuhiko's girlfriend was, or even if he was married, since she didn't know him and had no intention of competing with him for his affections.

"No, I have a feeling she'll definitely expose me," Katsuhiko frowned, looking quite certain, then muttered to himself, "I'm her first love, and she's a hopeless romantic. The three of us see each other every day, so it won't be a secret for long. After all, Sayuri isn't stupid..."

"Pfft!!" Mikoto froze, spraying a mouthful of milk onto Katsuhiko's face. She quickly grabbed a sheet to wipe his face and asked, "Who did you say?!"

Katsuhiko took the sheet, wiped his face, finished his milk, handed the empty cup to Mikoto, and asked, "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Wait a minute..." Mikoto was stunned for a moment. Of course, she had heard clearly, but she still couldn't quite believe it. She took the cup, placed it on the bedside table, and asked:

"You and Sayuri-chan... you only met for the first time the night before last, right? And she's already your girlfriend?"

At this moment, Mikoto also remembered that when she returned to the convenience store yesterday evening, Sayuri looked so immersed in the joy of love, full of anticipation, and she even gave her three days off to go on dates with her boyfriend!

Is it difficult to define a relationship?

"My mind's a bit muddled," Mikoto subconsciously scratched her hair, tilted her head back, and downed the milk in her glass in one gulp, milk spilling from the corner of her mouth. She let out a long breath, then turned to look at Katsuhiko, her eyes wide as she asked, "It's just a shift change, we can't really say much, and it's our first time meeting..."

Mikoto wanted to struggle a little longer.

"Didn't we just meet for the first time yesterday morning?"

Katsuhiko's nonchalant attitude amused and annoyed Mikoto. "How can I, a single old woman with a four-year-old child, be compared to a little girl who has never been in a relationship?"

However, she didn't say it aloud. Instead, she lowered her head, closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, and turned to look at Katsuhiko, saying, "Should we... pretend that nothing happened?"

"Don't even think about it." Katsuhiko refused outright, tossed aside the sheet, put one arm around Mikoto's waist, and rolled over to pull her onto the mattress again. "You're not scared, are you?"

Mikoto felt a strange, overwhelming joy welling up inside her, and suddenly the world spun around her. When she came to her senses, she was lying flat on the mattress, her hands pressed down on either side of her head by Katsuhiko. She subconsciously turned her head and said, "Aren't you worried that Sayuri will really pull off the covers?"

"Then we'll see who has the thickest skin."

"I'm going crazy..."

“Morning is the time to go crazy,” Katsuhiko said, gently picking up the strap of her nightgown with his teeth. “You were quite tired last night, so I’ll take over today.”

From the children's room next door came Chika's shout, which sounded like she was stretching, a secret signal used only by children.

"No~ Chinatsu-chan is awake!" Mikoto, her face flushed, tumbled off the mattress as if fleeing for her life, pulled up her suspenders, turned and hurriedly left the bedroom, then turned back, smiling, and said, "Time for breakfast..."

The convenience store uniform he'd stuffed into the washing machine last night was dry, and Katsuhiko, dressed neatly, walked out of the bedroom.

Mikoto happened to be leading Chinatsu out of the children's room.

Chinatsu immediately opened her arms and raised her hands high towards Katsuhiko, asking him to hug her.

Mikoto shrugged helplessly, turned and walked towards the kitchen, saying, "You guys go wash your hands, I'll serve the rice."

Katsuhiko bent over, lifted Chika above his head, then turned her small body sideways so that her head faced the bathroom, and "whoosh~" they "flew" in together.

Mikoto set the food on the table, and the two of them were still playfully fighting in the bathroom.

Katsuhiko, with a stern face, pressed his head against Chika's forehead and said, "Call me Daddy...call me Daddy..."

Chika giggled and slapped Katsuhiko's thick face with her little hand.

Mikoto stared blankly at the bathroom for a while, until the chopsticks in her hand fell onto the dining table before she came to her senses. With trembling hands, she set the chopsticks down and said with her head down, "Come and eat."

Katsuhiko sat at the dining table with Chinatsu in his arms. He stared at the dishes laid out on the table, paused for a moment, and asked, "Is this breakfast?"

The table was laden with food: halibut, tuna, abalone sashimi, crab meat with cucumber, a mixed stew of wild vegetables, pan-fried scallops, sea cucumber soup...

"I got up early, so I just made something quick," Mikoto said, her eyes lowered. She picked up an abalone and placed it on Katsuhiko's plate, then rested her chin on her hand, staring blankly at Katsuhiko. "Try it and see if it suits your taste."

Katsuhiko took a bite, then put some more on Chika's plate. He then proceeded to eat heartily, nodding and saying, "Delicious! This is good! And this one too! This one is delicious too..."

"I want to eat too~" Qianxia said with a smile, picking up a shrimp with her chopsticks.

Shengyan immediately picked up the plate, lowered his head and said, "Call me Dad and I'll give it to you."

Chika's eyes darted around, and she pouted without saying a word.

"She's never called me 'Dad' before, and she doesn't remember what I look like,"

As Mikoto spoke, she picked up a bit of crab meat with her chopsticks, put it in her lips, glanced down at Katsuhiko, and whispered, "If you ask her to do that, she will take it seriously."

Chapter 13 How to spend a three-day holiday?

"Is that so?" Katsuhiko looked at Mikoto with a half-smile.

Mikoto's gaze drifted, her eyelids lowered, and she slowly sipped the milky-white crab meat into her lips.

She set her sights low and didn't have much ambition, probably because she was worried about encountering another unfaithful man and getting involved with Chika.

After all, she was only four years old. She had truly accepted her father, and then just a few days later, he was gone. This will undoubtedly cause severe trauma to her young mind.

However, since Mikoto was letting things go and Chinatsu had practically acquiesced, it seems that Mikoto also had expectations.

To be trusted with such a gamble is an achievement in itself.

“It’s better if she takes it seriously. Let her take care of me in my old age,” Katsuhiko said, patting Chinatsu’s head. Then he used his chopsticks to snatch the crab meat that Mikoto had just put into her lips and put it in his own mouth. “I want it all. You can’t escape either.”

Mikoto's fingers trembled slightly, her eyes reddened, and she quickly buried her face in her rice bowl, shoveling rice into her mouth as she said, "If you give me too much, I'll be ungrateful."

"It's okay if you're not satisfied. Just fight with Sayuri, and I'll choose whoever wins."

"Pfft!!!" Rice grains exploded in Mikoto's bowl. She covered her face, jumped up, knocked over a chair, and ran into the bathroom with her bowl in her hand.

Chika blinked, then clapped her hands and laughed like a silly girl.

Katsuhiko lowered his head and said, "Call me Dad."

Chika immediately covered her mouth with her small hand, her eyes full of laughter, and remained silent.

Sheng Yan tempted, "If you call me 'Dad,' I'll take you to Disneyland."

Chika's bright eyes were full of excitement, but she covered her mouth and remained silent.

"After you finish eating, hurry back and check on Sayuri!" Mikoto came back after washing her face, put the empty bowl on the dining table, picked up her chair, and looked conflicted, aggrieved, and a little regretful. She continued, "I also gave her three days off and let her go on a date with her boyfriend."

I didn't want to compete or fight for anything, but now I'm starting to worry about being robbed.

“That’s perfect. The four of us can go out and have fun together, and then we can have Sayuri look after Chinatsu while the two of us enjoy some alone time.” Katsuhiko slammed his hand on the table and continued, “It’s decided then.”

Mikoto was dumbfounded.

Katsuhiko's words, "He wants them all," stirred Mikoto's heart and filled her with anticipation.

Although I haven't known Katsuhiko for long, we've gotten to know each other well. He may be a womanizer, but he's serious, responsible, and very considerate in everything he does.

Katsuhiko held Chinatsu on his lap and said to Mikoto, "Let Chinatsu-chan call me Daddy."

Mikoto scooped rice into the bowl with a trembling spoon and said, "Let her yell if she wants to. I... I don't care."

Chika still covered her mouth with her little hand, her eyes darting around with amusement.

Sheng Yan said, "She's shy, so you call out first and let her follow your example."

"Pervert..." Mikoto's hand trembled, and the spoon fell into the steamer. She raised her hand to cover her burning face. "Dinner's ready."

A hearty breakfast was enjoyed amidst Chika's laughter.

Mikoto was washing the dishes in the kitchen, while Katsuhiko sat on the fabric sofa in the living room, watching Chinatsu playing with her toys on the living room floor. Taking advantage of Chinatsu's immersion in her toy world, he quietly slipped past her, crept into the kitchen, and said goodbye to Mikoto.

Mikoto was busy with her back to the kitchen door. She had changed her clothes from the super sexy silk nightgown she wore last night to a more conservative off-white cotton nightgown, consisting of a top and pajama bottoms.

Although it was relatively loose, the apron tied around her waist was quite tight, making her waist-to-hip ratio very obvious. She didn't have much excess fat on her lower abdomen or waist, and her skin was very tender, soft, and smooth, making her look nothing like a woman who had given birth.

Shengyan wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, gently rested his chin on her pink neck, and inhaled the scent of her shampoo.

"Mikoto-chan, your waist is so flexible! What brand of shampoo do you use?"

"Stop it, the child is outside..."

Mikoto shrugged her shoulders, wiped her hands on her apron, and lightly patted the restless hand resting on her waist. "Go find your little girlfriend!"

Katsuhiko nuzzled Mikoto's earlobe with his nose, "How can you be so understanding?"

"Forced by life's circumstances~"

Mikoto responded jokingly, then took Katsuhiko's hand, closed her eyes slightly, tilted her head back, turned her head, and gently rubbed her slightly flushed cheek against Katsuhiko's nose, whispering, "Actually, this is already very good, I'm very satisfied..."

Katsuhiko's nose traced the tip of her delicate cheek, finding her soft lips for a deep French kiss...

Mikoto's backward-turned head made it difficult for her to breathe. After a short while, her legs went weak and she gasped for breath. She hurriedly separated her legs, grabbed the sink with both hands, and gently nudged Katsuhiko's chest with her shoulder. Her face flushed, she looked down and said, "Please go out. I'm not a little girl anymore, I don't need to act like this..."

"That's how it'll be from now on." Katsuhiko lightly patted her bottom, turned and left, "Run~"

The kitchen was filled with the soft clatter of dishes and chopsticks, and Mikoto burst out laughing.