Chapter 8: VIII - Wife
"Why can't I just ignore him, huh? Despite everything, why?" Sachi asked her dog, Kuma-chi, after coming back from Ryo's room.
The next day, they decided to leave early. Sachi was surprised to see that the plate and the glass she used for the milk and food she gave to Ryo has already been washed and dried in the kitchen.
"I didn't know he can clean after himself," she mumbled to herself as she stored them away.
Ryo said that they will use his car to drive to their villa in the countryside. Instead of sitting in front on the passenger's seat next to Ryo, Sachi decided to sit at the back with her dog, Kuma-chi. Ryo did not say a word.
Ryo said that they will stop to eat at the nearest family restaurant for breakfast. She noted that he ordered a lot and ate in a hurry like he had been starving for quite some time now. This realization made her smile.
'So, I was right, he really did not have dinner last night,' Sachi said to herself and silently laughed.
"Poor guy, waited for his insolent wife to arrive last night. Angry and hungry makes one hangry," Sachi mumbled to herself with a smile.
"Did you say something?" Ryo asked, this was the first time he looked up at her after starting chowing down his platter of hearty breakfast.
"Nothing," Sachi was quick to say with a shrug.
Pets are not permitted inside the restaurant so Kuma-chi had to stay inside the car with the air condition on. Sachi tried to finish her food as quickly as she can so that she can get back to her beagle. She came back first to the car and left Ryo who was still wolfing down the food on his breakfast platter.
"Hey, Kuma-chi. Guess what? Someone was very hungry today," she told her dog and started laughing to herself.
Ryo's family villa where their family mansion is located is outside of the city limits, in a small town outside the city. Not only that, it is still half an hour drive away from the town of Yamarin where it is situated.
Without traffic, it is a three-hour drive, four if there is heavy traffic. Since it wasn't rush hour and they left quite early, and it was a weekday, the traffic wasn't so bad once they reached the city limits, so it was a smooth sailing drive for them from there to Yamarin. Taking the train is faster though, you can reach the town in two and a half hours.
The property or estate is quite large, enclosed and gated. The mansion is quite large also, a ten-bedroom property with a large library and ballroom. They also have a pool and a tennis court at the back, and the maid and servants quarters is a house adjacent to the main house. It has its own orchard, vegetable garden, stable, and a small part of the river goes right through it, that's the only part that is not enclosed in a wall, but only with a fence so that animals such as deer can drink from that part of the river.
It belonged to Ryo's father's family, it is their ancestral house. This is where Ryo was raised and grew up with her father and mother. After her retirement, Ryo's mother decided to take over the estate.
Even before their car pulled up to a stop in front of the mansion, Sanada, Ryo's mother was already waiting at the steps outside the mansion for them. It was a good thing that upon reaching the town of Yamarin, she asked Ryo to pull up the car for a moment and she slipped into the passenger's seat.
Not only that, when visiting family or friends, or whenever they are in public, Ryo always makes it a point to open the door to the passenger seat for her. She did not like it, it was so fake and made her feel like an invalid. He did the very same thing in front of his mother.
"Son, Sachi," Sanada called out to them with outstretched arms as she made her way down to them upon coming out of the car.
Another lie that Ryo does whenever they are out in public is he is, always quick to hold her hand, Sachi also does not like this. It was so fake. It is one thing lying to other people, but it's completely different when it is you, because you can never lie to yourself.
"Mother," Ryo said and hugged her mother with one hand, the other still intertwined with hers.
"Mother-in-law," Sachi said and hugged Sanada back.
"Oh, stop with this mother-in-law business. Like I always said, please call me, Mother or Mom, whichever you prefer," Sanada said to Sachi with a smile.
"It is so nice to see you again, Mother," Sachi obliged.
"It's so nice to see both of you doing well. Especially you, Sachi, You're glowing. Don't tell me it's the pregnancy glow already," Sanada said with a huge smile.
Sachi was at a loss for words so Ryo saved her.
"Mother, really, we've talked about this. Having kids is not a priority for us at the moment," Ryo said and gave her hand a squeeze.
Sachi broke free from his grip instead and called for her dog to follow her.
"If it isn't the pregnancy glow, it must be the after-sex one then," she heard her mother-in-law say this to her husband who was flustered from having to hear his own mother say those things.
"Mother, please. Stop saying that, the servants will hear you," Ryo said, flustered, ears red.
"Pfft! No other choices, could be either of the two," his mother teased and winked at him.
She's learned through the years how Sanada can be quite a handful sometimes even her son can't reign her in sometimes. The woman was always tactless outside of the courtroom.
"By the way, your cousins will be coming over later," Sanada added ignoring his son.
"What? Both of them?" Ryo asked his mother in disbelief.
"Why do you sound so surprised?" his mother asked.
He doesn't have any cousins on his father's side of the family, at least no one that he was close with. But, he grew up closely with his cousins from his mother's side of the family. The sons of his mother's older brother, Sano and Aki.
Sano was a couple of years older than him but Nicholas was the same age. Sano chose to be an editor and is working in another city, while Nicholas was forced into lawyering because his older brother did not.
"It's odd for Sano to make time for this, you know," Ryo said to his mother as they went inside the house with Sachi and her dog after them.
"Well, he said he's excited to see and talk to his junior and fellow club member in high school," Sanada said with a smile to Sachi.
"Are you talking about senior Sano?" Sachi asked.
"Yes, the very same one. More popularly known as my brother's 'impudent' son," Sanada said with a laugh.
Sachi smiled back at her.
Sano was her senior and the former club president of the literature club to which she was a part of in high school. She knew that he was connected to Ryo even before then but have never talked to him about this in years. But Sano attended their wedding day even though he was at war with his father at the time since he chose to become an editor instead of becoming a lawyer like his father.
"Come, you two must be starving. We've prepared a feast for the two of you," Sanada said with a huge smile as she ushered Sachi straight to the dining room.
Ryo was now the one tailing after them.
"Oh, I can't wait to be a grandma," Ryo heard her mother groan.
He was surprised upon seeing Sachi's smiling face, and then he watched silently as the two women started whispering to each other much to his chagrin.
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