The door of the Sunflower house opened almost immediately after Seiji rang the doorbell.
"Oh thank god, you found Shiharu! We were worried sick," Haruko exclaimed when she saw them, ushering the two inside quickly and closing the door behind them again.
"You should get some sleep Shiharu, I'll talk with you in the morning." Haruko said after making sure the girl was all right. Shiharu nodded, knowing when she was being dismissed.
"Goodbye, Seiji-san," she called over her shoulder before disappearing down the corridor to the sleeping rooms.
Hearing Shiharu say his name like that made Seiji happier than he'd like to admit, it was a small change in the way they acted around each other, but he knew they both realized how important that little change actually was. They had finally crossed the border between the employer/employee relationship and friendship, at the very least. Seiji tried to clear his mind as he turned back to Haruko, who was looking at him thoughtfully. "Is everything alright with the twins?" She asked, although it didn't seem like that was the question that was really burning on her lips.
" Yes they are fine, it turned out that they hadn't been alone with Johnson-san for more than five minutes when I returned home." Seiji replied politely. " But I'd like to continue our talk in your office if that's possible," he added, looking over Haruko's shoulder pointedly. Haruko turned slightly to see Nao standing in the hallway behind her, trying to look inconspicuous too much to be just passing by.
Turning back to Seiji she replied; " That would be fine, please follow me."
Haruko sat down in her chair behind the big oaken desk. Seiji had taken a seat in front of it a few seconds earlier and looked around the office, where they had taken refugee from the curious ears of the orphaned kids. Its interior was clean and simple, with a few file drawers in the corner, and group photo's of children on the off-white wall on the right. There was a large window behind the desk, but because it was dark already Seiji couldn't see the view.
"I'm terribly sorry for my rude behaviour earlier this evening," he started after a few moments of silence, but Haruko held up her hand to stop him mid sentence. She let out a deep sigh and took of her glasses to rub her eyes.
"There is no reason to apologize Matsunaga-san, I completely understand you lashed out because of the stress off the situation. Therefore, I want to apologize for Shiharu's unprofessional behaviour on her behalf." She stated tiredly. "Although her actions tonight may have suggested otherwise, this job is really important to Shiharu, she really cares about the twins a lot, so please don't fire her."
"I wasn't planning on it," Seiji said simply. Haruko looked up in surprise.
"You weren't? Even though she acted so irresponsibly?" She questioned. Seiji shook his head. Wasn't the woman pleading for her charge just seconds ago?
"No I wasn't. She may have acted very irresponsible, but we've talked about it already, and because she has never done something like this before, I'm willing to forget the incident."
The surprise on Haruko's face was almost comical.
"Well then," she said, clearly relieved. "Everything is alright now, isn't it?"
"Almost," Seiji answered. " Next time somebody has to deliver Shiharu life changing news, can you make sure that they wait with it until I'm home?"
Haruko looked at him pointedly, and Seiji suddenly realized just what he was implying.
"Or at least until she isn't alone anymore," he weakly tried to backtrack.
"That would probably be for the best," Haruko said tersely, putting her glasses back on and staring at him intently. Her gaze made Seiji feel like when he was called to the headmaster's office as a schoolboy because he and his friends had gotten caught red handed pulling a prank on their teacher.
Seiji decided to retreat after a few awkward silent moments. Saying goodbye and reassuring the older woman that he'd find his way out himself he left the office. The soft click of the door closing brought a sense of relief, and Seiji allowed himself a small smile. The evening had been messy and stressful, but he had the feeling it might have brought quite some good things.
The announcer was almost at the door when somebody grabbed his wrist. Although the person was being rather rough, Seiji half expected it to be Shiharu when he turned around. Instead of Shiharu, he was faced with a teenaged boy he had met a few times before.
"Ah, Nao-kun was it? What's wrong?" He asked, deliberately ignoring the scowl on Nao's face.
"I don't know what you've done to Shiharu, but you'd better back off." Nao nearly growled.
"Did Shiharu say I did something to her?" Seiji asked in surprise, wondering if he had maybe crossed a border unconsciously.
"She never says what's on her mind, but fact is that she came back from your house subdued and brooding," Nao said accusingly.
" Than who said it has anything to do with me? Maybe you should ask Shiharu herself, She'll tell you if she wants to." Seiji replied, shaking of the boy's hand.
"Goodbye," he added, walking to the door and leaving without a second glance at the teen.
When Seiji finally lay down next to the twins a little while later, he couldn't help but look at them for a bit. The two toddlers, who had caused him so much stress when he first started to take care of them, had brought so many good things into his life. And even tough he would never admit it out loud, Seiji secretly hoped his older brother wouldn't be coming back for his children for a little bit longer.
A/N: Well, it's been a while… Boring you with excuses won't change anything, but I'd like to say that the time between updates will always be irregular with me, my apologies. I did get a new laptop over winter break though, and while I'm really happy with it, I'm still figuring out how everything works, because it isn't a windows anymore, so sorry for the strange format too. Oh, and of course I do not own Love So Life, but you probably already knew that…
