"Gift..."

"What did he prepare? It's so mysterious."

She overheard part of their conversation from the kitchen.

However, I didn't hear the whole thing.

She had no idea that Guangyou was going to give her a hand-drawn family portrait.

Then I heard my older sister mention words like "birthday," "Valentine's Day," and "Christmas."

I did not hear Guangyou say, "The birthday present is something else."

She was somewhat looking forward to this mysterious gift.

In the less than a minute it took to heat the milk, she wondered what the gift could be.

With no clues whatsoever, she was completely at a loss.

But just then, Ai suddenly remembered that she seemed to have heard Kousuke mention "wedding" before.

It was the milk that was being heated, not her.

But thinking about it made Ai's cheeks feel hot. She thought to herself:

"Could it really be a ring..."

Since she got together with Guangyou, she has occasionally watched romance movies that she never used to be interested in.

She forgot which movie it was, but she remembered that the main plot was that the female lead had amnesia, and the male lead did not give up on her. Instead, he proposed to her several times.

One of the proposals involved the male protagonist inviting the female protagonist to a high-end restaurant on her birthday, planning to propose to her.

The engagement ring was hidden inside the birthday gift.

On another occasion, the male protagonist proposed to the female protagonist on Valentine's Day, and the engagement ring was hidden among the roses.

On Christmas Day, the engagement ring was hidden in the Christmas stocking by the male protagonist.

...

Besides these, she also imagined other scenarios.

For example, during Chinese New Year, engagement rings are hidden inside red envelopes...

"Ding~"

The crisp sound from the microwave oven brought Ai back to reality.

"A ring..."

Returning to reason from emotion, Ai analyzed the situation and concluded that a ring was unlikely; the gift was probably something else entirely.

However, she didn't know what it was.

Although she was curious, she didn't ask.

After leaving the kitchen, she pretended not to have heard those words.

Since Guangyou went to so much trouble to prepare a surprise for him, wouldn't it be a waste for her to guess it all?

Coming to her senses, Ai remembered Mitsuyu's instructions before he left, and used a towel to take the milk that had already been heated in the microwave.

She placed the three glasses of milk on the plate, thinking to herself:

"Prepare one for him too."

...