CHAPTER 663: SPINOFF: MEMORIES IN THE SNOWY DAY

"It’s gotten quite cold today, wear more clothes, come on, zip up."

Meiko’s face was full of smiles as she gazed at her daughter, who looked like a little round ball wrapped up in winter clothes. She suddenly found her daughter’s tiny body too adorable and couldn’t resist reaching out to ruffle her hair.

"Mom, the clothes are... too tight..."

"Aren’t we going out later? Look at how much snow is outside the window, how can you go out without wearing more?"

Saying this, Meiko squatted down in front of Hanabi.

The six-year-old girl’s eyes were particularly beautiful, her violet-colored pupils sparkling, and when she looked at people, it seemed as though they emitted a faint glow.

"Sweetie, what does Hanabi want to eat today?"

Hanabi tried to lift her little hands, encased within the thick clothes, and placed them in front of her, intertwining them. She buried half of her face and sneaked a glance at Meiko.

"I want to eat... chili peppers..."

"Didn’t the doctor say you can’t eat them? You just went to the hospital yesterday."

"But..."

"Does your tummy still hurt?"

"It doesn’t hurt..."

Hanabi shook her head, then looked towards her mother with eyes full of hope.

"Even if it doesn’t hurt, you can’t eat them."

"Then... Hanabi wants to go play with brother Sakura..."

"When you look for him, all you do is follow him around. Aren’t you afraid he’ll get tired of you?"

Hanabi lowered her face and quietly said, "Then, it’s better if I don’t go..."

Meiko chuckled lightly, "You don’t happen to like him, do you?"

"Like..."

Hanabi kept her head down for a long time, her hands kept fidgeting, and after a considerable struggle, she finally had the courage to speak softly.

"Alright, alright, you like him then," Meiko just took it as kids playing around and teased her daughter, "So, does Hanabi want to be little Sakura’s wife in the future? Let him marry you."

"Can I...?" Hanabi raised her face again.

"You really want him to marry you?"

"Yeah..." Hanabi nodded, then looked at her mother with a flushed face and said, "Mom, don’t go telling everyone..."

Meiko just thought she was joking around like a child who doesn’t know any better:

"Alright, I won’t say anything."

Ding dong.

After the bell rang, a voice called from downstairs: "Meiko!"

Upon hearing the voice, Meiko knew who was there and teasingly said to her daughter in front of her:

"Look, your mother-in-law has brought your husband here."

Hanabi shyly shrank her head.

...

Footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs as Meiko went downstairs towards the entrance.

And Hanabi, because her clothes were too thick, making it hard to move, held onto the wall, and could only stagger down step by step.

"Mom, wait, wait for Hanabi..."

Meiko just turned her head to look back, waved with a smile, and said: "Hurry down."

She turned around, walked through the living room to the entrance, and opened the door.

A blast of cold air immediately rushed in from outside.

Outside was a snowy expanse, snow piled high on the eaves, and a thick layer accumulated by the roadside. The street was covered in white, with only a few people walking along it sparsely.

Nobuko stood outside the Hanamaru house in a brown coat with a scarf around her neck, while Sakura held a book, standing behind her.

"Meiko, are you ready?" Nobuko asked Meiko from the entrance.

"I just got little Hanabi dressed," Meiko replied, standing by the door, shielding herself from the cold wind.

"Where’s little Hanabi?" Nobuko peeked inside, and moments later, saw a little bundle walking into sight from the inner room, and couldn’t help but laugh, "Haha, so cute."

Another gust of wind and snow came, and Meiko felt that it was unlikely they could go out today with the two little ones:

"Let’s wait for a bit and come in first."

"Alright."

Sakura followed his mother into the house, and while changing his shoes, he noticed Hanabi was hiding behind her mother, stealing glances at him.

Sakura didn’t pay much attention to the little girl and instead followed his mother into the living room to sit down.

Seeing that Sakura didn’t speak to her and just went inside, Hanabi felt a bit disappointed.

The last to reach the entrance, Meiko noticed the change in her daughter’s mood, bent down, and looked at Hanabi’s little face: "Hanabi, what’s wrong?"

"Is... is Hanabi not good-looking..."

"You’re quite funny." Meiko said with a smile.

Hanabi buried her face even deeper.

The next second, her mother’s hand was on her head, "There, there, I was only joking. You’re only 6 years old, you haven’t grown into yourself yet, why worry about such things."

Hanabi raised her eyes to look at her mother while resisting her mother’s hand, then quickly lowered them again: "Brother... seems to not like Hanabi..."

"How could little Sakura not like you? Did you upset him?"

"Yeah..."

"What did you do?"

"Brother... gave Hanabi a flower before..."

"A flower...? Oh, the white lily."

Meiko remembered that incident; it should have been a week ago when she had made too many pastries and couldn’t finish them all. During a visit to the Uesugi house next door to give them some, little Hanabi was fixated on the white lilies in the Uesugi living room.

Little Sakura then plucked one and handed it to her.

Meiko thought Sakura was a meticulous child, very observant with details.

She wondered how Nobuko managed to raise him to be so clever.

Then she looked at her own daughter.

Little Hanabi, apart from being very sensitive to others’ emotions, was a completely ordinary child.

Not even that; she was the timid one since a young age, often bullied by other kids.