Kawaki's POV
Today marks the first day of our Christmas break and I am cooking for breakfast as usual.
Meow... Meow...
That sound stops me from my tracks and looks from where the sound is coming from.
It's Kiwi.
I brought him home after that incident when he was almost harmed by those bastards. Kiwi loves being around me. Now, he lives with me and I am not alone anymore.
"Hey, your food will be served soon. Be patient, okay?" I rub his white fur and he is being clingy again. He keeps wagging off his tail around my leg and keeps his cute little meows. I can't help but look at him from time to time.
After I made an omelet, I bring the fresh milk out of the refrigerator to give Kiwi a drink. He enjoys the milk and I happily watch him lick the last drop of it. He meows again like telling me he is finally full and rubs his soft white fur against my leg. I can't help myself but pet him as I sit on the floor.
A creaking sound echoes the house. Someone's coming in I thought. I think he is home. I ignore it and return to pet Kiwi. I know it's him.
"Kawaki," he calls out to me while he is in the living room. I did not respond and remained silent. Footsteps coming near the kitchen and he sees me sitting on the floor petting a cat.
"What the heck are you doing?" he freaks out after seeing the cat on my lap. I coldly stare at him and he sighs in defeat.
"Get up. Where did you get the cat?" he asks while crossing his arms.
"It's none of your concern," I tell him and he moves his arms to his side.
"You should not respond to me that way, Kawaki. You know I don't like pets in the house because they are a mess but look at what you brought in here," he scolds me but I don't care about what he says.
"But Kiwi is not a mess," I reason out and he shakes his head.
"You have to make sure it won't cause too much trouble in the house or else I will be the one to kick that out from here," he warns me but I ignore him.
"So, you come home just to remind me that? Tch!" I think I sound sarcastic but who cares?
"I come home to check on you," he answers and I chuckle.
"What for? You don't have to worry about me I can take care of myself," I retaliate and he clears his throat.
"Kawaki, when do you plan on changing that smart-mouth of yours?" he asks impatiently.
"I don't intend to," he breathes heavily after hearing my reply and sits on the chair. Kiwi is frightened by his presence and he runs away from us. I get up from the floor and remove his remaining fur from my pants.
"Go get a shower and we will do shopping today," he commands and I tilt my head to confirm that he is serious about it.
"I don't want to come. Just go alone," I say and I turn my back at him and he groans.
"I don't know what to say to you. You always disagree with whatever I tell you," he complains. The heck is this stupid old man wants from me?
"As I said, you can go alone. I'm not coming," I refuse again and he did not make a sound for a second.
"I requested a leave from work today to spend the day with you yet you don't want to come with me," does he want me to have a change of heart?
"I wonder what happened and you thought of silly things today," I say trying to ignore his invitation.
"It's not a silly thing. We haven't gone out for a while now and besides, Christmas day is coming. Haven't you thought of buying things for that special day?" he is acting weird today, seriously. We had not celebrated Christmas for how many years now and I'm used to it.
"We don't celebrate Christmas. So don't bother," I tell him trying not to be convinced by him.
"That's the point. We haven't celebrated it for like six years now. So I was thinking to have a change. Maybe you like it too," he keeps babbling and I remove the omelet from the pan and put it on the plate.
"You make an omelet every day. Maybe it's time to make a shift," he smiles. It's been a while since we made a conversation like this. He is always busy at work.
"If you don't like it just ignore it," I say and start eating the food I made. He sighs deeply and moves to get his plate and joins me in breakfast.
"You cook like your mom," he compliments after getting a bite but I keep quiet. He takes another bite of his food and did not say anything anymore.
"If you don't want to go shopping today then, I'll just stay in my room to rest," he says after eating and he goes straight to his room while I am about to go to my room too. I don't want to go anywhere with him. He is annoying.
I stayed for like an hour in my room playing video games until I feel bored and peek at the window and notice that he hasn't gone out of the house. His car is parked outside. He must be sleeping.
A knock at the door startles me and then I hear a voice.
"Kawaki?" he calls from the outside. I did not respond instead move to open the door.
"What do want?" I coldly tell him.
"Let's go out," I thought he won't go but why is he asking me about it again?
"I said, I won't go out with you. You can go all by yourself," I refuse yet he is sturdy and doesn't want to leave me alone.
"I don't want my leave to be pointless,
so come with me. No more buts," he demands and his voice irritates my ears. I express my annoyance and he scolds me like he used to.
"As I said, I don't want to go," I snarl and slam the door, lock it and get on the bed. I hear footsteps fading away.
I don't want his attention or whatever he is trying to do with me now. He should have gone to work instead. That's what matters to him most.
He didn't bother me anymore after that. He might have given up already or is preparing to leave for work again. A few minutes later, I hear the engine starts and when I look outside the window, it's him leaving with his car. I know he would not waste his time with me. That's what he usually does when things get to this point. I know him very well.
It surprises me when mom's gloves were scattered on the floor the next morning. How the hell these gloves are on the floor?
And I see Kiwi playing with one of her gloves. I move near him and take the glove away. He meows constantly like he is disgusted by me taking away his toy but it's not a toy, to begin with.
I pick up those scattered gloves and take them back to their proper place. Before I completely close the drawer, I stare at her most favorite gloves which she usually wears during Christmas Eve. I can't help but smile bitterly at the memory.
"I think I need to buy you a present," I mutter to myself and completely close the drawer.
December 23rd
I end up going to the mall to buy mom a new pair of gloves. It's been a while since I gave her that present. I think she needs a new one though she isn't able to wear them.
I turn to my left and it surprises me when the dork is there and facing me too. She freaks out when she realizes it was me.
"Are you stalking me?" she accuses while pointing to me.
"Excuse me? Stalking dorks is boring," I tell her and she flushes with anger.
"You jerk!" she squeals yet I ignore her.
"Shut up, you're annoying!" I tell her and she starts to bawl again.
"You!" she points at me once again. I look at her annoying face.
"Tomorrow marks the thirtieth day of my letter in your possession. You should give it back by then," she demands.
"What letter?" I act like I don't remember. So, it's tomorrow already? Well...
"What do you mean by that reaction?" she howls. She looks funny when she does that.
"I think I lost it," I tell her but I was just joking. I am just trying to piss her off.
"What?!" she screams now. Her annoying shrieking voice echoes inside my head.
"Do you know how much of an idiot you are? What if somebody else gets a hold of it and makes fun of me? What if they'll hand it to Boruto? I ain't ready for it yet, you jerk!" she panics like an earthquake or catastrophe is coming.
"Stop being paranoid. Who would have gotten interested in such a lame letter?" I try to piss her even more.
"You arrogant jerk! How I wish your dad will scold you for being so rude. Glad I told him about it," she shouts at me. But what did she just say?
"You told him about what?" I ask and she stops for a moment. She cups her mouth. I think she slipped away but she tries to act strong and confidently tells me.
"I told him everything. That you are a jerk, a troublemaker, and a blockhead who fails most of our subjects," she crosses her arms like she is challenging me.
Damn this dork! Why would she do that?
"Why do you have to butt into someone else life? Don't you have a life to take care of? Why do you always have to get in the way and act like you know it all? Is it because you think you are the smartest girl alive and you have to meddle in everything that doesn't even concern you?" I burst out at her. She pisses me off instead.
She did not see it coming based on her reaction. Her eyes are wide open and her lips are trembling. Her arms fall to her side. She is about to cry. I can see how the tears to mold in the corners of her eyes. She gulps and tries not to make her tears fall.
"Remember this, I hate you, jerk!" she stammers and I see how she clenches her fist. She runs away after that. I somehow feel bad about what I did to her but she is meddling with my personal life and I hated her for doing that.
"Mom, am I a terrible person?" I talk to my mom's photo. She is smiling at me but I feel so bad. I think I did the stupidest thing today.
The door suddenly opens and reveals the stupid old man. He comes home again. I bet he is going to scold me about what he had learned from the dork.
"Kawaki, can we talk?" I'm glad he is not mad. His voice is calm and relaxed.
"Talk about what?" I say like my usual way of speaking to him.
"About something very important. I think it's time for us to reconcile," he says softly. This is not him. I don't know what happened but today feels so strange. He sits on the couch facing me.
"I'm sorry for everything," he utters and it makes me shocked. I didn't understand what's going on but his words make me feel relieved somehow. I think something clutches my chest and I badly feel so guilty.
"I'm sorry for letting this thing happen. I apologize for not saving your mom, and for letting you away from me," he keeps apologizing but I don't understand why he is doing this now.
"Why apologize now? You should have done it earlier. I bet you have apologized to mom before she dies," I say and he grits his teeth.
"I regret I didn't make it and I feel so awful recounting the thought and I hope your mom hears my prayers. I'm sorry if I was terrified by the fact that you would hate me, and unfortunately, it did happen," he keeps explaining to me.
"Why did you let mom die? Why didn't you do anything? You made your career your top priority instead of taking care of her. If only I was as big as you were, if only I was as old as you were, I could have done better," I could not help myself but to brim out at him. He did not speak after that.
"It's not that I let her die it's just that there was nothing I could do anymore. I needed a huge amount of money for her surgery so I accepted all the projects offered to me so I was able to pay for the hospital bills but it's too late already. The doctor said, there's nothing they could do to help her. Your mom did not tell me about her disease and kept it to herself until it got worse," all these years I blame dad for her death. I should have known but the dork is right, I am a jerk!
"I admit, I was at fault. I should have paid attention to you both but I failed as a husband and father," he cried. It's not acting. He is genuinely crying.
"I'm sorry, Kawaki," he sobs, and my chest aches. I am a terrible son to him. All I did was to be a bastard, give him problems, and ruin my own life.
"I'm sorry dad for being a jerk to you all this time. I should have known about this earlier," I'm so ashamed of myself. I can't even look at him.
"Come here my idiot of a son," he chuckles and wipes his face with his palm. He gestures to me as if he is inviting me to his arms. I come closer to him while holding mom's photo. He messes with my hair and wraps his arm around me.
"Hey, when you get back to school after your break, can you tell Sarada I thank her for everything?" I wrinkle my forehead when he mentions the dork's name.
"Huh?" I utter in puzzlement. I look at him while smirking.
"She is your classmate, right?" he asks and my brows twitch what bothers me is why thank her?
"Yeah," I respond and he smiles. This is weird.
"You know what? She cares about you. She would not come to the studio and lie just to complain to me that you are an idiot and you always bring trouble to her. That girl is something, you know?" he laughs after he tells me how the dork slanders me in front of him.
Well, I did a terrible thing to her earlier. I swear she would not forgive me for doing such.
I look down while pouting and I am pretty sure he notices it.
"What's wrong?" he asks with a worried tone.
"I was a horrible person to her and she hates me so much," I say. It's true though.
"Then, you have to sincerely apologize to her. Make sure to make an effort," he gives me advice yet it doesn't seem easy to do. I know how the dork hates me.
"Well, you should not rush. Everything takes time," he pats my shoulder and stands up from his seat, then a memory flashbacks in my head.
"Dad," I call out to him. He turns his head and waits for me to speak again.
"Yeah?" his brows raise.
"Can I ask a favor?" I ask and he chuckles.
"Of course," he smiles and I smile back.
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December 24th
I put the red box on the table in front of mom's picture frame. It's my gift for her. Dad puts his gift for mom beside mine too. He leaves and I remain standing in front of mom's photo. I shove my hand in my pocket and take the paper out. I look at my dad's signature before leaving it on the next table.
"Merry Christmas..."
To be continued...
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It's already Christmas here. I hope you liked today's update. Stay safe and healthy everyone.