"So, from now on, you just need to be obedient and take good care of Reiko!" Raj said while wiping her mouth with a tissue, "Just leave everything else to me!"
"I understand..." Kaoru suddenly felt very at peace. Since her ex-husband left, she had to work four jobs to barely make ends meet. Unless it was some special industry, women in Japan were paid much less than men. That was the reality. Barely making a living, she didn't dare go to the hospital when she was sick, and could only drag her sick body to work, eventually collapsing at home, fulfilling the desires of some scumbag.
After a long silence, Kaoru finally couldn't help but ask, "Can you tell me, what exactly happened between you and Reiko?"
"Oh, it's just that I came to travel and ended up meeting a little girl who wanted me to buy her first time..." Raj casually recounted the story of how he met Reiko, and then couldn't help but ask, "How old is Reiko this year?"
"Oh, Reiko just turned Sixteen this year..." Kaoru replied absentmindedly, her mind preoccupied after listening to Raj's story.
"Holy crap..." Raj blurted out in Hindi. This was really shocking, he had once again crossed his own bottom line...
"You're Indian?" Kaoru asked, startled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, almost jumping out of bed. "Aren't you American?"
"Yes!" Raj replied, somewhat strangely. "Who told you I was American?"
"But you've been talking to me in perfect American English!" Kaoru's expression seemed to become more and more anxious.
"I just stayed in America for a few years before!" Raj shrugged.
"It's over... it's over..." Kaoru's expression suddenly became depressed.
"What do you mean it's over?" Raj said, somewhat puzzled.
"Don't you know that your tourist visa only allows you to stay for seven days?" Kaoru said dejectedly, "If you were American, it wouldn't matter, Americans don't need a visa to come to Japan, but Indian tourist visas are only for seven days..."
"Unless you can immediately find a Japanese woman to register and get married, but Reiko is only twelve years old..." Kaoru began to mutter, but when she saw Raj's indifferent expression, she suddenly became like an angry kitten, "Do you just want to play with Reiko and never thought about taking responsibility?"
"Who said that!" Raj glared.
"Then why aren't you nervous? You need to know that you have to go back to your country in seven days!" Kaoru felt sad that her daughter was about to be separated from the person she liked. From her daughter's words, she could tell that her daughter really liked this boy who looked only eighteen or nineteen years old. In Kaoru's opinion, it was normal for a boy to be seven or eight years older than a girl, so she didn't say anything.
"Isn't it fine to just find someone to marry?" Raj had already come to a conclusion.
"But Reiko is only sixteen!"
"I didn't say Reiko!"
"You want to find another woman? Do you still want to abandon my daughter after taking advantage of her...?" Hearing Raj's words, Kaoru became a little hysterical.
"I didn't say I wanted to find another woman!" Raj smiled, "As for who to marry, isn't there a ready-made candidate here?"
"Besides Reiko, there's also..." Kaoru looked at Raj's eyes, and suddenly changed. "You bastard, don't tell me you want to take advantage of both mother and daughter..."
"Don't you think this is a good idea?" Raj smiled and leaned close to her ear and said, "Or do you think it's better for me to leave Reiko?"
"I... I..." Kaoru couldn't say a word after being spoken to by Raj. She didn't know what to do now, whether she should agree to that shameless man's conditions, but she knew that she wanted a man in the house, she wanted a pillar of support in the house, she had had enough of the feeling of not having a male head of the household...
"Okay, it's settled then!" Raj's unquestionable attitude calmed Kaoru down.
[It's not that I want this, I'm just afraid that Reiko will be hurt, and, I really can't resist this man]... Kaoru had already begun to deceive herself...
"Then let's talk about what happened!" Raj was a little curious as to how this woman had gotten into such a mess.
"My family is an ancient family. In order to ensure the purity of the bloodline, the younger generations in the family are not allowed to marry foreigners or marry foreign women!" Kaoru's face showed a smile as if she had remembered something happy, "But if fate can be arranged, it is not fate. In college, I met Reiko's father, he was a foreign student from England. Under his crazy pursuit, I finally mustered up the courage to break through the family's obstruction and married him!"
"Because of this, the family severed all ties with me." A trace of pain flashed across Kaoru's face. It must be an unspeakable pain for anyone whose love is denied by their parents. "But because Reiko's father was there, I always felt very happy... Until the day he had an accident!"
"Reiko's father's parents in England heard about his accident and wanted to take Reiko away from me!" A trace of fear flashed across Kaoru's face. She had lost her husband and was then faced with the situation of losing her daughter. Raj could imagine what kind of desperate situation that was...
"And then?" Raj gently wiped away the tears that unknowingly flowed from the corner of Kaoru's eyes, and asked in a low voice.
"Later... I had no choice but to return to the main family and kneel in front of the door to beg for my parents' help!" Kaoru subconsciously wanted to find a safe haven and unconsciously leaned into Raj's arms.
"Dad agreed to my request, but he demanded that I must return to Family, accept the family's arrangements and marry someone close to the family!" Raj's warm embrace seemed to give Kaori a hint of courage, "But I refused... I didn't want Reiko to have a family that discriminated against her. My family is very discriminatory towards mixed-race children!"
"In the end, Mom still helped me get custody of Reiko!" Speaking of this, Kaoru's face showed a hint of a smile, showing that the mother and daughter had a very good relationship. "Dad was very angry and strictly forbade anyone in the family from giving me any help!"
"So I started looking for work everywhere!" Kaoru's face showed a hint of fatigue. "In order to pay off the mortgage that still had twenty years left, I had to work four jobs every day... You know the rest!"
Raj really didn't expect this woman to suffer so much. Although she said it lightly, he could imagine how the mother and daughter had lived these past two years.
"If you're tired, take a break!" Raj gently patted Kaoru's back and murmured in her ear: "Life will be different in the future. You just need to be happy, and I'll be responsible for making you happy!"
"Mmm—" Under Raj's comfort, Kaoru's voice also became lazy, and her whole body relaxed. From now on, there would be a man in her family, a pillar of support... She would never be discriminated against by others again... This feeling is so good...
Slowly, Kaoru fell asleep... In her dream, a family of three lived happily together, but the face of the man who was originally a little blurry became clearer again, but this time it was Raj's appearance...
Two days later...
"Finally home!" Reiko laughed and jumped onto the sofa in the living room, holding the big doll that Raj had just bought for her.
"Raj-kun, take a rest first. I'll go to the supermarket to buy some vegetables. There's nothing left in the refrigerator!" Kaoru, who followed in, wanted to take on the role of a housewife, despite the fact that her body was not yet in good condition!
"No need!" Raj waved his hand and said, "You've just recovered, so don't be busy anymore! I've already ordered takeout!"
"Banzai!" Hearing that Raj had ordered takeout, Reiko happily jumped on Raj and asked loudly: "What kind of takeout did you order, Brother? Is it a deluxe sushi set?"
Kaoru felt a sweetness in her heart. It had been a long time since anyone had cared about her so much, but seeing Reiko's actions, she deliberately put on a stern face, wanting to play the role of a strict mother. "Reiko, get off Raj-kun. What kind of behavior is this!"
"It's okay!" Raj waved his hand, signaling Kaoru not to scold Reiko like that, and then gently pinched Reiko's little nose and said: "Oh, how can my little princess be so smart? You guessed it right away, it's a deluxe sushi set!"
"You're really spending too much!" Kaoru said anxiously, afraid that Raj was young and didn't know how to control his spending, and that the family would fall into the same predicament as before.
"Don't worry, things that can be solved with money are nothing to me!" Raj said, taking out a stack of 10,000-yen bills from his pocket and handing them to Kaoru, saying: "This is this month's household expenses, take it!"
"I..." Kaoru's expression became very complicated. Receiving household expenses from a child who looked younger than her made her feel ashamed...
"What's wrong?" Raj seemed to realize Kaoru's embarrassment and smiled slightly: "I'm the only man in this family, and I'm also the pillar of the family, so you don't need to be embarrassed. Besides, nominally, aren't I still your husband?"
"I..." Kaoru's face was almost burning with shame. Although the two had already explained the matter to Reiko, and the sensible Reiko said that she understood, this was the only way if she didn't want her Raj-gege to be forced to leave the country after his tourist visa expired. But Raj's words in front of Reiko still made Kaoru feel very embarrassed, but undeniably, there was still a hint of joy in her heart...
"Does that mean I have to call Brother 'Otosan' from now on?" Reiko looked at her mother with a pair of adorable big eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering.
Raj gave Reiko a thumbs up in his heart and gave her thirty-two likes. What a great assist... Moreover... this seems like it could also add a plot point. Playing the role of a loving father from time to time is also a good choice.
"I... I'm going to clean up the house!" Kaoru snatched the banknotes from Raj's hand and ran upstairs, feeling like she was about to faint...
"What's wrong, Mom?" Reiko looked at her lover curiously. Raj smiled slightly and said: "It's okay, your mother is just a little shy!"
"Mom also likes Brother, right?" Reiko's straight ball caught Raj a little off guard.
"Uh, maybe!" Raj thought about it and still felt that it was better to subtly influence certain things. "Does Reiko think it's good for Mom to be like this?"
"Of course it's good!" Reiko said with a serious face: "I like Mom, and I also like Brother. Mom likes me and also likes Brother, and Brother likes me and also likes Mom. Isn't that how a family should like each other? Why isn't it good?"
"..." Raj was speechless.
What you said is so right, I'm speechless...
"Brother will always be with me and Mom..." Reiko hugged Raj and raised her little head, her big eyes full of hopeful light.
"Right, Brother!"