Chapter 204 - Growing Together
The years went by more quickly than both of them could imagine.
The little house with all its moving boxes was now decorated with family pictures, paintings made by their child and shelves full of books.
Somewhere along the way...
Their daughter learned how to write her name.
---
"Mom!"
"I need help!"
Akari looked up from the kitchen.
"What happened this time?"
Their daughter was standing in the hallway holding her school backpack upside down.
"I think something is wrong."
Akari burst out laughing.
"I think you put it on backwards."
"Oh..."
The little girl turned the backpack.
"There!"
"Problem solved!"
Kuro smiled from the dining table.
"I remember someone like that."
Akari proudly pointed at herself.
"Definitely me."
---
A cozy routine was established.
Each weekday morning started the same way.
Kuro cooked breakfast while checking the schedule of his appointments for the day in the counseling clinic.
Akari raced around the house and saw to it that everybody has everything they need.
"Lunch?"
"Packed!"
"Homework?"
"In the bag!"
"Water bottle?"
"..."
She stopped.
"Our daughter forgot it."
Quietly picking up the bottle from the kitchen counter, Kuro said:
"I noticed it already."
Akari burst out laughing.
"How did you see everything again?"
"I have years of experience in that."
Smiling warmly, she added:
"And I gave you plenty of practice."
---
Their daughter grew into a happy elementary school kid.
She took after Akari being inquisitive and energetic.
But every time when a classmate felt sad or anxious...
She quietly sat next to them and listened.
Once her teacher called them.
"I want to say thank you."
Kuro looked surprised.
"For what?"
"Another student was crying after failing an exam."
"Your daughter sat with her during recess until she smiled."
Glancing at the living room where their daughter was drawing cheerfully beside Akari, Kuro smiled.
"...She got it from someone special."
Akari raised her eyebrows.
"From who?"
"You."
"And maybe from you."
---
Although their life became busier with each passing year, Kuro and Akari always had time for little traditions.
Friday evenings became their family movie evenings.
Sunday mornings were the time for homemade pancakes, no matter what kind of shape they got.
Every summer they visited that very festival where Akari had confessed her love under the fireworks.
Standing on the same bridge years later, Akari held Kuro’s hand.
"Do you remember that I yelled out that I love you?"
"I do."
"I was so ashamed."
"I still did yell."
"I know."
Laughing, she added:
"If I confessed today..."
"I’d probably still yell."
"I would not expect anything else."
---
One autumn evening after putting their daughter to bed, Kuro and Akari sat on the porch with hot cups of tea.
The neighborhood was silent.
Only sounds of insects and rustling trees were heard.
Leaning against his shoulder, Akari asked:
"Do you ever think how much we have changed?"
Kuro thought for a moment.
"We have changed."
"But somehow..."
"You are still the funniest one I know."
She smiled.
"And you are still the calmest person I know."
Looking at their softly illuminated house, Kuro said:
"I used to want a quiet life."
"You don’t?"
"I do."
Taking her hand in his, he added:
"I just understood something."
"A quiet life does not mean silence."
Confusedly looking at him, she asked:
"What does it mean then?"
Kuro smiled, hearing faint laughter from their daughter’s room where she was talking in her sleep.
"A quiet life means coming back home to those people who make every noisy day worth living."
Her eyes softened.
"So..."
"I ruined your quiet life?"
He laughed.
"No, you transformed it."
And she laughed so loudly that even the neighbor’s dog barked in response.
"There it is again."
"What?"
"The loudest laugh in the neighborhood."
"I’ll take that as a compliment."
"It is."
Sitting together under the starry night sky, with their hands intertwined, Kuro understood something.
Life had changed many things.
Their careers had grown.
Their daughter was growing up faster than they wished.
Gray hair appeared here and there.
But some things stayed the same.
Akari filled every room with her laughter.
And he kept smiling for the only reason - she was beside him.
Seeing the house they had created together, Kuro realized something simple.
Love wasn’t measured by grand confessions or spectacular fireworks.
Sometimes...
Love was measured by shared breakfasts, forgotten water bottles, evenings on the porch and laughter filling the house everyday.
Ordinary things quietly became the happiest years of their life.
One chilly autumn morning, Akari woke up earlier than usual without any alarms.
Quietly preparing breakfast for the family, she hummed an old song of her youth.
Entering the kitchen, Kuro tried to fix the sleeves of his sweater.
"You look really excited."
"Yes!"
She set down three plates at the table.
"Today is school open day."
"Our little star has been talking about it for whole week."
Right on time, their daughter hurried to come downstairs with the backpack on.
"Mom! Dad! Quickly!"
"We will be late!"
Akari blinked.
"We still have an hour left."
"I know!"
"But always, our teachers said that being early was very important."
Kuro smiled.
"How did you learn it?"
Their daughter pointed to both of them triumphantly.
"You!"
---
Elementary school was full of the colorful pictures painted by the students.
The paper flowers were hanging from the ceilings.
The handwritten greeting posters greeted the parents.
As soon as their daughter got into her classroom, she enthusiastically led them to a showcase.
"Look!"
"This is my family."
The painting was very simple.
Three smiling persons stood under the bright yellow sun.
Kuro was holding a book in his hands.
Akari was laughing loudly with her arms wide opened.
Their daughter was standing between them, beaming from ear to ear.
Above the picture, there were words written in rather clumsy handwriting:
My Family Makes Me Happy.
The tears started to appear in Akari’s eyes.
"Oh no..."
"I will cry now."
Their daughter giggled.
"You cry very much, Mom."
"I know."
"But it is the happy tears."
Silently looking at the picture for a couple of seconds, Kuro noticed how children used simple drawings to show complicated emotions.
This one required no explanations.
Everything here was absolutely perfect.
---
Later, the teacher approached them with a kind smile on her face.
"I wanted to tell you something."
"You have a daughter who became the person everyone is relying on naturally."
Akari looked surprised.
"Really?"
The teacher nodded.
"Even if someone feels lonely, the first one to invite him to join in the game is your daughter."
"If some child finds difficulties to do his homework, she always helps him with patience."
"And if there is an argument between two kids..."
The teacher smiled softly.
"In any case, she somehow makes them say sorry to each other before my arrival."
Akari couldn’t help but smile.
"That is very familiar to me."
Kuro nodded.
"It is."
The teacher said:
"Like her mother, she is cheerful."
"But she listens to others with incredible patience."
She looked at Kuro.
"I guess she learned it from you."
For some time, nobody said anything.
Instead, both of them looked towards the window where their daughter was happily introducing the shy student to the class.
Unconsciously...
She had inherited the best qualities of both of them.
---
During the way home, their daughter cheerfully skipped several steps ahead.
Suddenly she turned around.
"Mom!"
"Dad!"
"When I grow up..."
"I want to make people smile because they are with me."
Her heart was melting.
"That is a wonderful dream."
The little girl nodded confidently.
"I think smiles are contagious."
Kuro chuckled.
"I think you are right."
---
That evening, after the dinner, they sat together in the living room and looked through old family albums.
Their daughter pointed at one of the pictures of years ago excitedly.
"Dad!"
"You looked so young!"
Laughing, Akari said:
"So did I!"
Tilting her head, the little girl said:
"You are still young."
With dramatic gesture, Akari hugged her.
"Did you hear that, Kuro?"
"Our daughter has an excellent sight."
Laughing, Kuro said:
"I will remember that."
Turning through more of the pages, they saw the photos of their wedding, their first house, birthday parties, holidays, school festivals and ordinary weekends.
All of those memories weren’t extraordinary separately.
But together...
They told the story of a family growing stronger year by year.
Putting the album aside, Kuro looked around the living room.
There were toys which their daughter would soon outgrow.
The books she liked to read at night before bed.
The family calendar covered with the handwritten notes.
And besides him...
Akari was smiling while laughing at some embarrassing photos of years ago.
He quietly realized something.
People always searched for the major events of their lives thinking they are the keys to happiness.
But now, looking back, Kuro didn’t think of any promotions, prizes or achievements first.
What appeared in his mind were the mornings spent around the breakfast table.
Helping with homework.
Hearing Akari’s laughter resounding in the house.
Looking how their daughter grows day by day.
All of these ordinary days repeated hundreds times became the richest years of his life.
He reached out and touched Akari’s hand lightly.
She smiled at him as always brightly as on that day when they first met again after the university.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Smiling back, he said:
"I was just thinking..."
"We have built a really wonderful life."
Squeezing his hand, Akari said:
"But we are still building it."
Kuro nodded.
She was right.
Their story wasn’t finished yet.
There were lots of birthdays to celebrate, dreams to support and evenings full of laughter to spend in the future.
And somehow, this realization made the future seem even brighter than the past.