episode_0029

“Please tell me if it hurts.”

“I’ll figure it out… .”

“You didn’t do it on your own. Patient, stay still.”

“A wound that can be called a patient is… .”

“Use it.”

Bam!

I cut it all off before the chairman could finish his speech. What would happen if a grown woman got a burn scar? After living as a woman for a long time, I became quite sensitive. In the past, I could have just left it alone even if there were a scar.

“Okay.”

After applying burn ointment and blowing on it a few times, I finished it off with a bandage. In the short time I had, I got a rough idea of what kind of person the chairman was.

This person’s speech is stiff and he keeps mumbling secretly on difficult topics.

Maybe it’s a characteristic of people who live alone. When you’re in a quiet house, you tend to want to talk to yourself. After all, no one is watching.

“I will be grateful.”

“Yeah… What.”

If you’re grateful, be grateful, if you’re not, don’t do it. What’s the point of keeping it? Will you even take it later? I grumbled to myself as I looked at Mirae sitting at the table.

I thought he was definitely eating hard. To be honest, I was worried that he might be enjoying the food better than I had prepared for him. The food on the table looked so good that I thought it was made by a first-class chef.

But contrary to expectations, the chopsticks of the future were wandering. They were frowning, even though they had been starving all day and most foods tasted delicious.

…Why is that?

“Mirae, do you have no appetite?”

Well, it’s understandable that you’d want to eat greasy food on an empty stomach. I picked up the spoon in front of Mirae and drank it into the mushroom soup.

“Ugh… so salty… and sweet… ?”

To put it simply, it was tasteless. Beginner cooks are always trying to add special flavors, but the mushroom soup, which should be mild, was having a festival in my mouth.

Needless to say, there was way too much salt in it, and I was wondering where the sweetness was coming from, and it turned out to be pineapple in the middle.

“Mom… .”

The future grabbed my arm and asked me to lend it my ear.

“I can’t eat it… .”

He shows kindness by whispering in their ear so that they can’t hear what he said in front of them. However, you have to tell them what’s wrong so they can fix it. If you ignore it under the pretense of being considerate, things will never get better.

I started tasting the rest of the food one by one.

The steak was a real peppercorn, the salad had chocolate hidden in it, and the pasta was just noodles mixed with ketchup. The noodles were undercooked and hard.

The only thing worth eating was a pudding bought from a famous dessert shop. I appreciated the effort to make a homemade dish for Mirae, but honestly, it was difficult to even call it food.

“Is this your first time cooking?”

“… Sometimes I make it myself.”

Sometimes?

“Is there something wrong with the food… .”

The chairman picked up his spoon with a look of loss of confidence. Then he put the most problematic mushroom soup into his mouth, tilting his head as if he truly did not know.

“Was this the food that Mirae Yang disliked?”

I didn’t eat it often, but there was a time when I bought some soup and made it for myself. I ate it well because it was warm and delicious.

“Do you have any problems with your sense of taste?”

It was so absurd that I couldn’t help but ask an impolite question.

“No… That… To be honest… It was so bad I couldn’t eat it… Why did you put pineapple in the soup?”

“No way… It’s definitely a fruit that kids like… .”

Well, I guess I’d like to stay away from the soup.

The reaction is so blatant that it’s hard to talk. But I still have to feed the future first… .

“We’ll prepare something to eat separately, so please eat in the meantime. Oh, and can I use the refrigerator?”

The chairman’s gaze turned to Mirae, and Mirae turned away, sulking. Her drooping shoulders looked somewhat pitiful.

“… It doesn’t matter.”

As soon as I got permission, I started rummaging through the fridge.

Fortunately, we had the basic ingredients. Onions, carrots, potatoes, and even eggs. The problem was rice… .

“Do you have instant rice?”

“… … .”

The chairman, who was taking another sip of soup, took out his cell phone without saying a word. As expected of a chairman, it seemed like he was going to send someone on an errand.

“The number is….”

“Two. If you want, Mr. Chairman, then three. Oh, and I’d like some ham too. The most expensive ham from the convenience store.”

After the chairman relayed my order as is, he took another sip of soup, probably feeling aggrieved. It wouldn’t have tasted any better if he had done that.

“Will you make me an omelet rice?”

“Yeah, because I promised the future.”

The future guessed what I was going to do just by looking at the materials I had laid out to prepare. I felt proud because it seemed to prove that we had been living together all this time.

“Chairman, I brought it.”

After chopping the vegetables into small pieces that were easy to chew for a while, a woman in a suit came over with a convenience store bag.

“Why is the chairman looking for instant rice? Is there a guest… .”

A woman was peeking inside through the crack of the door. She had short hair that reached down to the nape of her neck and lightly tanned skin, and she looked lively, the complete opposite of the chairman.

“Thank you. Okay.”

The chairman, who had received the envelope, tried to slam the door shut, but a woman who seemed to be a security guard stuck her finger through the crack in the door and held it in place.

Then our eyes met.

“Oh, are you the chairman’s friend? Come here for a moment!”

The woman’s head nodded urgently.

“Stay there.”

“I have something to tell you. Oh, oh! Chairman, my finger, my finger is broken… !”

The chairman, who wanted to hide something, grabbed the woman’s finger instead of the door and twisted it. However, the woman, who was stubborn, did not let go, and the chairman’s pale face gradually began to turn crimson.

“What’s going on?”

Naturally, I walked up to the door, and the two people’s reactions were starkly different.

“I told you not to come… .”

“Do I have to follow the chairman’s orders? I’m not even a subordinate.”

“That’s right, that’s right. That’s what a friend is like!”

In the end, it was the chairman who gave up. In fact, the door wasn’t even moving. But is it okay for the chairman’s errand boy to be so rude?

Surprisingly, the chairman didn’t say much, just stepped back and bit his lip. It looked like he wanted to fire me right away, but since I wasn’t the one getting fired, I guess I didn’t have to worry about it.

“Hey, wait a minute, I think I’m going to cry… .”

The woman standing at the doorway rubbed her eyes with her fingers, then suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Please take good care of the chairman. He may seem cold on the outside, but he is a warm person on the inside… . He is so hot that he could burn you… . And, and… When the chairman treats you coldly, it would be good to think the opposite. Please don’t get hurt and abandon the chairman… .”

Then he spoke passionately about the chairman’s merits. His voice was so earnest that it was almost sad. When he asked me not to throw him away, I almost burst out laughing without realizing it.

“Go back. This is an order.”

“Okay, I understand. Please remember what I said! ”

Perhaps because she had finished what she wanted to say, or perhaps because the order had some weight to it, the woman put my hand down and stepped away as soon as the chairman finished speaking.

“Oh, yes… .”

It felt as if a typhoon had passed. As I was about to linger behind, the chairman grabbed the envelope and ran inside.

“Mom, what can the future help me with?”

“Oh, no?”

I glanced at the chairman, surprised for no reason by being called mom. I thought he might be uncomfortable because he was reminded of his older sister, but the chairman didn’t seem to care much.

“It’s okay, the future is sitting with your aunt.”

“I don’t like it… I want to stay next to Mom… .”

The future was stuck to my thighs until the omelet rice was finished. Maybe that’s why I finished it properly this time without tearing the egg. I think I saved face somehow.

“Let’s eat, Mirae. Are you hungry?”

“Okay! I’ll eat well.”

It’s a bit disappointing that there’s only ketchup as a sauce. It would have been more delicious if there was also tonkatsu sauce.

However, Mirae started eating excitedly, unlike before. She even ruined the eggs that she had worked so hard to make pretty, and she stuffed them in until her cheeks were swollen, with ketchup on the corners of her mouth.

“Mirae, eat slowly. It’s not good to eat too quickly on an empty stomach.”

“Oh my gosh!”

“Thank goodness it’s delicious? But still eat slowly.”

Since I saw something else to wipe, I just wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my cardigan. Then, I suddenly made eye contact with the chairman, and it felt somehow lonely to see him eating his own food.

Because a dish is not complete until there is someone to eat it.

“It’s an exchange.”

Just in case, I put half of my omelet rice on the empty plate I brought. Then I brought some salad that was somewhat edible and munched on it. The occasional chocolate bite wasn’t all that bad.

“… It’s okay.”

“I already ate salad. Since it’s an exchange, you have to eat omelet rice too.”

Looking at her appearance, I can’t help but think of what the woman said. In fact, I even started eating the omelet rice hesitantly.

“How is it? Is it delicious?”

“Do you happen to be working in the food service industry? ”

“Hey, that’s too much praise. I’m glad you like it.”

At first, I thought it was a fuss. However, when I saw his hand movements that were rapidly getting faster and his serious face that showed no trace of playfulness, I thought it wasn’t an exaggeration.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to open a shop. I can confidently say that you are better than any chef I’ve ever met.”

He even gave her honest praise.

But I know. My cooking skills are nothing more or less than average. Not modestly, but really.

If you’re talking about a chef, Hanna Yeon would be much closer. If she reacts like that to my food, then I think she’d faint if she ate food made by Hanna Yeon.

“Thank you for your advice, but… If you have time, I recommend that you go to the hospital. I’m really worried… .”

After that, there was no special conversation. Since we were all hungry, we just ate our food in silence. By the way, I got addicted to the salad with chocolate in it and finished it all.

“I’m full… .”

“Don’t force yourself to eat when you’re full. Give it to Mom.”

Mirae was struggling as she took the last spoonful. Of course, she couldn’t finish a single instant meal even on a regular basis. People who have starved for a long time tend to have smaller stomachs.

So I opened my mouth and said I would eat it.

“I still have some time left.”

The chairman sitting across from me muttered in a small voice.

Is it because he finds the future difficult, or is he just that kind of person? He was honest in his compliments, but I really don’t know.

“Future, should I feed this to your aunt?”

“Ugh… .”

As I stood next to him and whispered, the spoon of the future stopped in mid-air.

“It’s okay. I don’t think my aunt would bite me?”

The chairman’s sharp gaze flew at the joke that followed. You still don’t know what this is.

“Phehe… Okay… .”

Mirae let out a small laugh at my joke. It was still an awkward laugh, and it was only on her cute lips.

Still, since I created a good atmosphere with the chairman, I think the future’s wariness has eased to some extent.

In an attempt to ease the awkwardness, I snatched the spoon pointed at the chairman with my mouth.

Yum.

“Hmm…! It tastes better because the future gives it to me?”

“Hehehe, I knew my mom would steal the future away from me!”

We looked at each other and laughed playfully. Then we turned to the chairman and smiled back at him.

No matter what, the chairman is my future family. In fact, I can even say he is my family. If you truly want to be a future mother, then it is right to think like that.

So, just because I raised Mirae doesn’t mean I can completely ignore the Chairman. The Chairman can’t ignore me either, because he is my real family.

‘In order to be respected, I must first respect others.’

My mother said that it is the basis of human relationships.

Actually, the chairman’s attitude has changed a lot since I came here, and it seems like there’s something going on with the future death report.

Of course, the first impression was the worst, but we need to get closer first to find a better solution.

“Haha, just kidding… .”

“Let’s stop the discussion here.”

But maybe the method was a little bit wrong… .