"Are you done?"
Five minutes later, Yuzuru asked in a low voice.
“…the button…” Eri’s voice was tinged with embarrassment and annoyance, “I buttoned it wrong…”
Helpless, Yuzuru could only open his eyes a crack.
The sight before him made him gasp – Eri Kisaki was frantically clutching the front of her shirt, which was askew due to the wrong buttoning order, leaving one of her snow-white shoulders completely exposed.
When she saw him open his eyes, she immediately turned around, but forgot that the storage room was narrow, and her back pressed directly against his chest.
The two froze simultaneously.
"I...I can do it myself..."
Eri Kisaki's hands were shaking so badly that she buttoned the wrong button for the third time.
Yuzuru sighed and gently slapped her hand away: "Excuse me."
Her slender fingers deftly unbuttoned the misaligned buttons, deliberately avoiding touching her skin and maintaining proper decorum. However, when tying her belt, she "accidentally" wrapped it around twice too many times.
As he tightened the strap, Eri Kisaki was pulled back by the force, her back pressed completely against his chest, their bodies pressed tightly together.
“You…” Eri’s ears turned as red as if they were dripping blood.
"Sorry, it slipped." Yuzuru said with an honest face, pretending not to notice that their bodies were pressed together. In fact, he could feel her accelerated heartbeat through the fabric.
The narrow storage room fell silent for a moment.
The two remained motionless, as if frozen in this ambiguous moment.
"Xiao Nan".
After a long silence, Eri Kisaki finally spoke, her voice regaining its usual calmness, though a slight, almost imperceptible tremor lingered at the end, "About what happened just now..."
"An accident," Yuzuru quickly replied, deftly adjusting her collar with his fingers. "It was purely an accident."
Eri Kisaki turned around, her eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses now sharp. She gently pushed up her glasses, a gesture that restored her courtroom presence: "That cookie..."
"It was done by the garden." Yuzuru Nanami spread his hands with a wry smile. "We don't know how we got in here."
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something, and his expression turned strange.
He said that when he came in the afternoon, while he was preparing snacks at home, Sonoko suddenly gave him a knowing look. It turns out she was waiting for him here!
Only a spoiled young lady like Sonoko, who loves to watch the drama unfold, would do something like this.
However, you've really messed with your best friend's mother like this.
Is it really okay?
Eri Kisaki took a deep breath, her slender fingers gently smoothing out the last wrinkle on her shirt: "These kinds of snacks, in the future, should probably be avoided..."
"It will never happen again," Yuzuru solemnly promised. "I will personally oversee the quality of every single dessert."
The two exchanged a glance, and Eri's tense lips finally relaxed, revealing a helpless smile: "It seems I need to reassess the risks of accepting your sweets."
As Yuzuru watched her put on the "Legal Queen" mask again, he noticed that the tips of her ears still had a faint pink tinge.
He suddenly found Eri Kisaki particularly charming—her ability to switch between professionalism and panic was more real than ever before.
"Mother-in-law," he called softly, deliberately using this form of address to create a closer connection, "about what happened just now..."
"No need to mention it again." Eri interrupted him, her voice regaining its usual composure. "Just pretend nothing happened."
As she spoke, she reached out to push open the storage room door, but Yu Sheng Nan gently pressed her wrist down.
“But I want to remember.” Hanyu Nan’s voice was deep and sincere, as if it flowed slowly from the depths of his heart, “It wasn’t that accident, but that besides the moon being beautiful, the wind was also very gentle.”
Eri Kisaki stopped moving.
She turned to look at the young man who was almost at her eye level; his gaze behind his glasses was complex and difficult to discern.
After a long while, she sighed softly, her voice gentle yet carrying a thousand unspoken words: "Xiao Nan, you always know what to say."
“This is the truth.” Yu Sheng Nan released her wrist and took a step back to create some distance. “You are Xiao Lan’s mother, and someone I respect.”
This statement is like a double-edged sword, both indicating a stance and implying deeper emotions.
Eri Kisaki, being so intelligent, naturally understood the unspoken meaning. Her fingertips unconsciously rubbed her cuffs, and in the end, she simply said, "Let's go out. Ran must be worried."
Now is not the time.
It's not the right time yet, at least not until she finds a way that won't hurt Xiaolan.
When the storage room door opened again, the two had returned to the proper distance between elders and juniors.
Xiaolan was pacing anxiously outside the door. When she saw them, she immediately rushed over: "Mom! Are you alright?"
"It's nothing." Eri gently stroked her daughter's hair, but her gaze inadvertently met Nanami Hanyu's. "It was just a small accident, don't worry about it. But I won't dare to eat your snacks so casually next time."
Hehehe...
Xiaolan smiled shyly.
Yuzuru stood to the side, watching the mother and daughter embrace, and a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.
Eri Kisaki noticed his gaze, turned her head slightly, and gave him a warning look—a look that clearly said, "This matter ends here."
But some things, once they happen, can never truly "end."
Like a subtle ripple, it stirred up waves in the hearts of the three, quietly changing something.
.........
.........
It was already evening when I left the office.
Yuzuru and Ran walked side by side on their way back, but the atmosphere between them was somewhat subtle.
Ran occasionally glanced at Yuzuru, her brows furrowed slightly.
Finally, as if she had made up her mind, she suddenly stopped and gently tugged at Yuzuru Nan's sleeve, "Nan..."
Yuzuru looked down at the girl beside him: "What's wrong?"
Xiaolan narrowed her eyes, her gaze scrutinizing: "Were you and Mom just changing clothes in the storage room?
Yuzuru's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he put on a wry smile and said, "What else could we be doing in a storage room full of documents?"
“But…” Xiaolan bit her lower lip, leaving a row of light teeth marks on her pink lips, making her look particularly charming yet somewhat conflicted. “The atmosphere was strange when you came out.”
Yuzuru gently flicked Ran's forehead: "Silly girl, anyone would feel awkward in that kind of situation, right? Your mother almost... uh..."
He stopped talking at the right moment, and a perfectly timed look of embarrassment appeared on his face.
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