(Nari's POV)
Jun has already gone out to buy the things I instructed her to get. Earlier, even before she exited the house, I asked her if she could treat me with a brown sugar milk tea, and she only raised her middle finger at me.
I focused on rubbing the sponge on the plate I was holding in the kitchen, while Mom dried the cup beside me.
Mom inquired, "Did Jun deny your order earlier?" when I turned to her, her gaze was still fixed on the mug she was drying.
"Yes, at first, but she eventually gave up and became annoyed."
"She gets upset easily these days, especially with the lack of sleep and stress," she observed.
"You're not used to it? She's usually like that, always stressed."
"What can you say about it?" she asked another one. That question surprised me because she had never asked my opinion when checking on Jun.
"It's complicated. It's like work and friend over health." I answered.
"I can't guarantee this as 100% true, but even though she has accepted her friend's death, she cannot move on because of her guilt. She's punishing herself by forcing herself to look into every little detail that could be used as evidence to learn the truth about her teammates' deaths." I elaborated.
Even if it's strange for me to be concerned as her sister, I'm still worried.
"She's easily irritated with everything because her head is bombarded with many thoughts. She doesn't let it rest." I added.
"So you're saying that she won't be satisfied until the case is solved?" mom asked, her face turned to me.
"I don't know. Maybe?"
"But wouldn't that take years? Especially if their foe is the worst organization. Not to mention, they have other criminals to deal with, not only them."
"I don't know," I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know anymore."
She signed, "Time flies so quickly. It's like she was only bullied yesterday. But now, she's having her own life."
"You still remember that?"
"The time she got bullied back in elementary? Yes, of course, I remember it. I'm not that old," she scoffed. "I also remember the time she had a crush on her friend named... Uh..."
"So we're talking about her crush now, huh? Mom, that's a pre-school topic." I pointed out, but I don't think she listened as she continued to guess the name.
"Hush... it's already on the tip of my tongue, but I can't tell."
"Come one, you said you're not that old," I laughed as I glanced at her.
"Hanagaki?"
"Who?" I never heard of that name.
"Take... Takechi?... Yeah, I think that's his name."
"How did this become the topic of our conversation?"
"Well, I don't know. Just good old memories of Jun being more open than she is today when she never spoke about her problems."
"Of course, she won't talk about her issues, she's always busy with work, and so are we."
Eri yelled across the living room, "Big sisss..."
"Yes? What is it?" I said loudly enough for him to hear me.
"Can you help me... I don't know this," he shouted again.
"I'll handle this," mom said to me, taking the plate I was holding and cleaning it herself. "Go help your brother."
I made my way to the living room while drying my hand with the piece of tissue resting on the dinner table.
As I sat at the table where he was working on his assignment, he admitted, "I don't know how to do this," pointing to the number he couldn't solve.
I felt relieved when I saw he was answering basic subtraction, in which you borrow the number of the other one to subtract it if it's a two-digit number.
Most of his problems are like that. I simply teach him the technique of borrowing numbers so he can solve them on his own, especially if he'll be at school. Good thing he understood it immediately. I remember the time I struggled to understand this when I was in his grade.
Math is simply a torture.
I waited for him to finish solving all problems he didn't answer so I could also check if he had a mistake that needs to be resolved again.
While checking, I tried to use the method I taught him, but I also used calculator in my phone because I don't trust my math skills. Do I even have one?
When I rechecked his answers, they appear to be all correct. It means that he already finished his assignment.
"Wow Eri! You did a good job!" I move closer to him and planted a kiss on his cheeks.
"It's because big sis is so great at math," he chuckled and hugged me, while we were still sitting.
"Yes, yes. Be contented that it's just basic math because there's more to come..."
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"Uh... nothing. It just means that you'll learn more about math in the future."
He has no idea how torture it is to learn math when you reach high school or college. Math is only fun when you understand the lesson.
He released his arms from me and exclaimed, "Mom, I'm finished with my homework,"
"Really? Very good!" mom shouted back in the kitchen. "Go to the bathroom now and start the bath, I'll be there shortly,"
"Go there now, I'll fix your bag. You need to sleep early, you still have school tomorrow." I instructed him as I kiss his cheek again to bid him goodnight.
He said, "Goodnight," and then headed straight to the bathroom.
I slid his pencil into his pencil case and stuffed it into his backpack. I folded his math book and other books and placed them into his backpack.
After I set everything, I also told mom that I would be going upstairs since I still have a lot of things to do. Before I was able to bid goodnight, she ordered me again. "Could you text Jun to also buy milk, we're almost out, and Eri wants cereal for morning."
"Roger that mom," I quipped, and I heard her snort. I made my way to my room, passing Jun's.
As soon as I entered mine, I plugged my phone into my charger and set it on my table. Before I sat in my chair, I first fixed my things. There's a lot of paperwork to do, and a lot of children who have been traumatized and influenced by their parents' poor choices.
Some parents don't know how to raise a child properly. Few abandon their child to live on their own. Few believe they're raising their child in the right way, but in reality, they're restricting them to discover more about this world.
I didn't realize how relieved I was that I chose to be a child psychologist, making me soft for children. Eri has made me appreciate my career even more, and as his sister, I want him to grow up knowing some people care for him.
It's something Jun and I rarely encountered as children, that's why it's reflecting on her behavior now.
And even though we're an incomplete family I want him to believe that we're still whole because he's surrounded by people who support him. It will affect his development if he experiences traumatic behavior at such young age.
I don't want him to go through what Jun is going through right now. She has no idea I'm observing her every time she comes here.
She has problems that she overcomes by herself. I also have mine to deal with, but...
How am I gonna tell her what happened... In this situation, I need her help, but she's too busy and overwhelmed.
She'll probably get more stressed when she hears about that.
I better not tell her... but someday will do. I need to focus on what I'm doing now.
I'm sure he'll get karma.
I opened my laptop and sat down in my chair once I finished fixing my things. While waiting for it to operate, I reached my cellphone and searched for Jun's number on my contacts. I called her immediately.
Seconds of waiting...
She declined.
"What? The hell she didn't pick up," I tapped my phone and called her again.
Seconds of waiting again...
She declined it again.
"What the?" I was about to call her again when I got a call from a colleague.
I sighed. "If she doesn't show up soon, I'll be the one to buy the milk and make her clean the bathroom instead."
"Hello?" I replied as I answered the call.
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 :)