I leave the doctor's office with a smile and look at my cousin sitting in the waiting room, reading a magazine. She spots me easily and rises from her seat.
"Is everything all right, Alice?" she asks. We put on our coats and then head slowly towards the door.
"Yeah, everything is fine." I answer and smile sunnily. "It's a boy!" I exclaim happily and take out some pictures from the ultrasound that I was given today. "See, I have pictures, look!"
She takes the pictures and goes through them slowly.
"I'm happy for you, Alice." Erina says and gives the pictures back.
I will have to remember to show them to Ryou-kun later. I bet he will be thrilled that we are expecting a boy. Ryou usually never misses any appointments I have for the baby, but today he stayed at home so me and Erina could spend some time together. He was, of course, a little hesitant to let me go alone as I am now six months pregnant, but given that we will not perform any stressful activities, only maybe do some shopping or have something to eat, he agreed.
The weather is cold seeing as we are in the middle of January right now. We slowly start walking down the street.
"So, Erina." I start the conversation. "How are you?" I ask and look at my cousin.
This might be funny, but me and Erina don't really see each other very often. My husband and I travel from Denmark, where Ryou is head chef to his own restaurant and I lead one of the laboratories for Tōtsuki molecular gastronomy department, to Japan, where we are involved in the school well-being, sometimes judge various competitions, meet our friends and also start setting up another of Ryou's places.
"How is it going at work?" I follow up with another question and wait for my cousin to respond.
"I'ts not a work in a park." Erina confesses. "Especially with the mountains of paperwork that I have to fill out every week." she sighs.
Erina is not only a current headmistress of Tōtsuki, but also the head to the whole Nakiri empire, but I guess various Nakiri estates have separate managers, so it isn't as much work as she has in school.
"The headmistress job is demanding, but I like it. Hisako helps me a lot. Also with other duties connected to Nakiri International." she smiles a little. "It's what I always wanted."
Erina, being so responsible and possessing the God Tongue was always the first in line to inherit Nakiri International. She was so successful at her job it hurt. Everything calculated and perfectly carried out, every task completed on time. This was partly due to her secretary, Hishoko, who, even after marrying Hayama (a surprise, I know, who would have thought these two end up together) still helped Erina. Now she was a right hand to the head to Nakiri International and Headmistress of Tōtsuki. Hisako took a year break after giving birth to her little girl, but even then would still help Erina while staying at home with the baby.
"It's great!" I smile easily at her reply. "I mostly work from home right now, you know pick up the calls from work." I tell my cousin. "Sometimes I'll go to the office and work there for a while, but I haven't done any experiments in the lab for almost a month now. I get tired easily already." I confess and smile. "But, it gives me more time to spend with Sayu. We often go visit Ryou in his restaurant and help him a little." I laugh at the description, because having a three-year-old in the kitchen definitely should not be called 'helping'.
"Do you maybe want to sit somewhere?" my cousin asks and looks at my protruding stomach.
"Yeah, I would like that. Maybe we could have a coffee or tea here?" I point at some tea house on the other side of the street.
We cross the street and slowly walk to the place. Inside is warm and cosy. We occupy a sofa and order a pot of tea. I also get a piece of chocolate cake.
Erina smiles and continues the conversation.
"And how is Sayu?" she asks softly.
"She is fine." I say proudly. "She was an angel on their pre-school Christmas play. Want to see?"
She murmurs her agreement and I pull out my mobile phone with a recording of my daughter singing a Christmas carol along with other children in her class. We observe my little girl standing in front of a choir of other three-year-olds holding a big microphone. She is dressed in a pretty white dress and wearing an angel's halo on her blonde head. Her big, red eyes look at the camera, because that's where me and Ryou were standing. The accompaning piano music starts and she hesitates a little before starting to sing in her unsure, childish voice. She usually holds the melody, but sometimes she sings the wrong note, she is three after all. Other children join her in the chorus. I smile wildly to the screen. The song ends and we see my little girl leaving the microphone on the floor and running up to her father, who picks her up and hugs her tightly, saying "It was great, sweetheart" and reassuring her before she goes back to the other kids, now dancing in a circle. The recording stops on a smiling face of my husband.
"Wow, she is so good at singing for her age" Erina comments and I still smile, I mean I could watch this non-stop and never get bored at seeing my baby's accomplishment. However, I change the subject completely.
"And how are you, really?" I ask again. "How is it with Yukihira, I heard from Ryou that he..." I don't have a chance to finish.
"He left again." she says stiffly. "He is right now in America, learning some new amazing cooking technique." She folds a napkin nervously before continuing. "He will stay there for three months at least."
I take a sip of the tea and a bite of my chocolate cake before replying.
"I'm so sorry, Erina. We all thought that this time he was going to stay."
"Don't be. It isn't your fault." my cousin takes a deep breath.
"Have you ever thought of leaving him?" I ask her quietly. "I mean, most of us are already married and with children."
It was true. Starting with me and Ryou almost everyone in our gang was married already. Hayama and Hisako, with their little girl Hikari. Takumi and Megumi with their son Naoki and daughter Mayu. Marui and Yoshino, with a baby on the way. Ibusaki, who married a sweet girl called Tanya and they now have a month-old son, Shintarou. Even Mimasaka has now a baby son, Mimasaka Einosuke.
"I know that you wanted a baby too. Maybe, if he doesn't want to settle down with you, you should just move on, hmm?" I add after seeing her miserable expression.
"I don't know" she finally manages to say and I don't know what to say after that also.
We gossip a little about Dojima Gin getting a girlfriend (I mean, really now?!) and then decide to head home already. I told you, I wasn't really up to any long trips and I was getting a little fatigued already. We took a taxi to the house me and Ryou bought for living while we stayed in Japan. I open the door and can smell an incredible aroma of my husband's exceptional fish soup. When we arrive in the kitchen, both he and Sayu are looking down to the pot and stirring the wonderful dish.
"Do I smell fish soup?" I ask delighted while inhaling the scent of my favourite pregnancy dish.
I mean, Ryou cooks it for me almost everyday, as I've been craving the fish soup for the last couple of weeks.
"Yeah." Ryou replies simply and my tiny daughter runs up to me saying „Hello, mama! I helped Papa make the fishy soup too!" and smiles at me prettily.
She looks almost like a doll with her big red eyes, longish white hair loose and dressed in a jeans skirt and a t-shirt. I smile widely at her too.
„Oh, did you now?" I ask and hug my baby while she nods her head enthusiastically. She runs back to Ryou who is taking out some bowls and 'helps' him take out the spoons.
Erina and I sit by the table in the dining room. My cousin starts a conversation.
"You know, Alice, I always thought you were making the biggest mistake by marrying Kurokiba." she says and I frown a little. "But I was wrong, he is so wonderful to you and your daughter, isn't he?" she adds after seing my expression.
""Yeah, he is" I answer happily. "I mean, it's his daughter, so he shouldn't be praised for taking care of her, but he really is great. Not as much of an idiot as he was back in Tōtsuki." I laugh a little.
We all eat some fish soup and Ryou takes Sayu to give her a bath and put her to bed. It's still early in the evening for us adults, but it is almost her bedtime.
Erina and I sit on the couch in front of the fireplace, a mug of hot chocolate in our hands. Honestly, my cousin makes the best hot chocolate ever, but luckily me and Ryou are not far behind. My husband gets back and starts massaging my feet. Thankfully they aren't swelling yet, but if this pregnancy will be similar to my first they will be, I think unhappily.
"I envy you" I hear from Erina and I look at her shocked. "You have this wonderful little family and you are so happy here" she adresses us once again.
"I always envied y o u" I confess quietly not looking her in the eyes. "You were always better than me. Your cooking, your God Tongue status, being from the main branch of the family." I feel my husband's comforting hands at my waist, because he always knew that I felt inferior to Erina that way. "We all feel like something is missing, ne?" I finish, trying to keep the conversation light and not to angsty.
Much to my surprise it was Ryou and not Erina who spoke next.
"You should talk to Yukihira." he advised my cousin calmly. "He's being an idiot and he doesn't know what he is missing."
"I can do that." she says finally after giving it some thought.
-:-:-
When we meet again, a month later, she is proudly showing of an engagement ring on her finger. I smile smugly.