Taking off her apron and hanging it up, Yukino calmly said, "So what if he teased me? There's still tonight, you know. Let's see if you can still laugh then."
After being together for so long, even Yukino had become completely natural when it came to teasing back.
Utaha, meanwhile, showed no panic at all as she licked her lips lightly. "Heh heh, are you sure about that?"
Ichin raised his hand and lightly knocked the heads of the two girls who clearly wanted to continue flirting, then said with a smile, "Alright, take the dishes out first. Once Haruno-nee gets back, we can start eating."
Five minutes later, Haruno finally returned.
However, the moment she came in, instead of looking toward the dinner table like usual, she rushed straight upstairs.
"You guys go ahead and eat first, I'm going to take a bath~~~~"
Then she disappeared in a flash.
Ichin glanced toward the staircase before saying to Utaha and Yukino, "Then let's start first."
Fifteen minutes later, Haruno came downstairs after her bath, dressed in pajamas, and walked over to the dining table.
"Hehe, you still saved some for me?"
Ichin filled a bowl with soup and handed it to her. "Of course we did. But Haruno-nee, why did you rush to shower the moment you got home today?"
"Couldn't help it. I went to a construction site today, and I was filthy. There was no way I could skip a bath."
As she spoke, Haruno lifted the bowl and gulped down several mouthfuls of tomato egg soup before picking up her chopsticks and starting to eat.
Yukino asked curiously, "A construction site? The villa area around here?"
"Nope."
Haruno shook her head, her cheeks puffed full of food as she spoke. "It was another construction project, an office building this time. If it were here, I could've just come straight home after checking it out, right?"
That was true.
After swallowing the food in her mouth, Haruno smiled brightly and said, "And after finishing today's work, I can take tomorrow off too! No need to go to the company at all. There's nothing that requires me personally, so I get three days off in a row!"
Seeing how excited Haruno looked, the three of them all laughed.
Looking at her, Ichin said, "Perfect timing then. Utaha's going to the publishing office tomorrow, so if you're staying home, Haruno-nee, you can help receive the delivery."
"Delivery? What is it?"
"The wedding photos Yukino and I took are being delivered tomorrow."
"Oh!!! They're done already?" Haruno nodded repeatedly. "Got it! Then I won't go out tomorrow. I'll stay home and wait!"
The moment Haruno finished speaking, Yukino calmly added from behind, "Sister, I'm not going to college tomorrow either, so don't even think about secretly looking through them by yourself."
"Ehh, I wouldn't secretly look at them!"
Yukino stared at her sister with a calm expression. "Sister, do you even believe that yourself?"
"Hehehe~~~~"
Haruno stuck out her tongue playfully before lowering her head and continuing to eat.
Originally, she had thought Yukino would be out tomorrow and she'd have the house to herself, meaning she could properly enjoy looking through her little sister's wedding photos.
But who would've thought Yukino wasn't going to college tomorrow? That completely ruined Haruno's plan.
And based on her understanding of Yukino, even if the package arrived tomorrow, there was no way they'd open it immediately. They would definitely wait until Ichin got home from work in the evening so everyone could look through the photos together.
After dinner, once the table had been cleaned up, Yukino went upstairs to study. Even though she didn't need to go to college tomorrow, she still had quite a bit of homework to deal with, so she really didn't have much free time.
Haruno, meanwhile, was completely relaxed. She sat directly on the sofa in the living room, watching TV while waiting for the milk tea she ordered to arrive.
Watching the news on television, Haruno said to Utaha, "Utaha, about when are your wedding photos getting delivered?"
"That depends on the delivery speed. If nothing unexpected happens, probably Sunday or Monday next week. If they're slower, then maybe Tuesday or Wednesday."
"That's not too bad. But should we look at the digital versions first? Didn't they send those already too?"
Utaha smiled and shook her head. "Let's wait a bit. Once the milk tea arrives, how about we go upstairs and watch them on the projector?"
"Okay~~~"
Half an hour later, the milk tea delivery arrived, and Haruno and Utaha excitedly ran off to the home theater room.
Before going in, Utaha looked at Ichin, who was holding two cups of milk tea, and called out, "Ichin~~ hurry up and bring Yukino over too. Don't start flirting around in the room~~"
"Got it!"
Holding the milk tea, Ichin walked into the study room. Yukino was currently reading reference materials while doing her homework.
Hearing the door open, Yukino turned around and looked at Ichin carrying the drinks inside. "You ordered milk tea?"
"Yeah, Haruno-nee ordered it."
Ichin walked over and placed Yukino's cup down beside her before saying, "If you're not in a hurry, want to go to the home theater room and look at the digital wedding photos? Utaha and Haruno-nee already went over there."
"Sure. Give me ten minutes. I'll finish this part first."
After taking a sip of milk tea, Yukino hurriedly continued working on her assignments.
Ichin wasn't in a rush either. After sending Utaha a message on his phone, he sat down nearby and waited.
While drinking his milk tea, Ichin quietly watched Yukino studying.
Over the past few years, Yukino had become increasingly mature, but the one thing that never changed was how serious and focused she looked while studying. It was genuinely captivating.
Her beautiful black hair wasn't tied up at the moment and instead hung loosely over her shoulders. A single strand draped beside her ear, giving her an even softer and more ethereal feeling in Ichin's eyes.
Ten minutes later, Yukino finished the work she had on hand and turned around, meeting Ichin's gaze.
"You've been sitting there staring at me for ten minutes, haven't you? Don't you ever get tired of it?"
"Of course not."
Ichin smiled and beckoned to Yukino. She walked over and sat down in his lap.
Rubbing his cheek lightly against hers, Ichin smiled and said, "You're Yukino, after all. You've been adorable since you were little. How could I ever get tired of looking at you?"
Blushing, Yukino lightly bumped her head against him. "Stop talking about that already. It's seriously a dark history."
"Hahaha, how is that a dark history? It's just the truth. When we went to Chiba before, your mother even showed me photos of you as a child. You were seriously adorable. Actually, I even saved some."
As he spoke, he took out his phone and opened the photo album, showing Yukino the pictures he had secretly taken of her childhood photos back then.
In the picture, young Yukino had long hair as well and was wearing a dress. She stared ahead with an innocent and adorable expression, looking especially cute and a little airheaded.
"!!!"
Only now did Yukino realize that her childhood photos had been exposed. Her face instantly turned bright red.
"Delete them!"
At the same time, she reached out to snatch Ichin's phone away.
The two of them immediately started fooling around in the room, and before they knew it, they had playfully wrestled their way all the way to the home theater room.
And even while messing around with Yukino, Ichin still hadn't forgotten to bring along both of their cups of milk tea.
...
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