She decided it would be better not to tell her grandparents about what happened at the shrine, and she set the watering can inside the small shed by the clothes line.
Mariha emerged from the back door toting an overlarge basket of laundry and close at her feet was the aging Corgie, Hugo. He trotted along slowly, his tongue hanging from his mouth between what teeth he had left. The arthritis caught up to him quickly as he got older and he wasn't even a shadow of the happy lively puppy he used to be. Minako smiled at the sight of the dog and knelt down as he approached, ruffling his ears and cheeks.
"You stinky old dog. Going to go scare the crows from the melon patch?" Hugo responded with an overconfident yap and nuzzled Mina's hand before shaking himself off. He then padded away, along the stone walkway towards the section of the garden where the winter melons grew.
"Minakin! You friend Lucinda waiting for you in guest room. I tell her you can go when you done hanging laundry. Help me hang sheets, you hold here, I go get clothespins." Mariha left her granddaughter holding one of the sheets up on the line, returning a moment later and placing the pins on the corners to secure it there.
"Mimi, is Arturu with her?" The old woman paused in thought a moment as she pinned up another sheet.
"Arturu? That penguin she going to marry? Yes, he with her. And another gentlemen there too, asking for you. Handsome. You two make fine grandchildren!" Minako was dumbstruck, and her cheeks flushed from embarrassment and anger.
"MIMI! Why do you do this?!"
"WHAT?! I want to make sure you happy and have good life! Not like mine, grow up peasant and marry lazy old soy bean! I not live forever, Minakin! I want to see great grandbabies before my time come!" Mariha snapped as she placed the last pin on the sheet Minako was holding. The old woman's manner dropped and Mina decided it would best not to continue the conversation.
"There. That last sheet, you all done. Go greet you guests." Her grandmother grabbed a white kimono from the basket and started hanging it without another word. Minako nodded and made her way to the house, slipping off her sandals and setting them aside as she put on her slippers.
She could hear Lucinda's girly, flirtatious laughter from all the way in the back hall, and she smiled. They had been friends since childhood and grew up together. Like peas in a pod they were practically sisters, always exchanging secrets, gossip and the sorts. However, there were major differences in the two as well.
For one, Lucinda was rich. Her father was the owner of a famous jewelry company, and as such, always decorated his only daughter with the finest of charms, and her mother was a cashier and a seamstress at her aunt's bridal gown shop.
As for Minako, her parents were dead. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father who could not bear the loss of his wife, killed himself less than a month later. As a result, she was left to her grandparents, who raised her as their own till this day.
Lucinda also was very popular. She could talk freely to people and sometimes Minako wondered if she even knew the word 'modesty' existed. Women envied her, and men flocked to her as if she were the queen bee of a hive. She had at least three suitors. There was Dr. Jak Suiwudo, a practicing psychologist; Contzi Morisu, an expert swordsman; and Arturu Helimodo, the owner of a large exotic horse ranch, who Lucinda fancied and was choice pick for her to marry. Minako sighed at the thought that she would never be half as happy and started towards the guest room.