NOVEL WEB Meeting Rei Todoroki.
I wore a formal shirt and jeans, I wanted to look formal but not that much as it is going to be my first impression on my girlfriend's mother. It is 9:15 AM right now.
I was waiting for Fuyumi, when I heard a taxi honking in front of my house, I entered the taxi with Fuyumi already in it. Fuyumi then told the driver to go to the hospital.
"Hospital? Is your mother sick?"-Shido
"No, she is just in her rehabilitation period."- Fuyumi
"I see."-Shido
Shido with the knowledge of the plot already knows about her mother's condition but still tries to act ignorant, as Fuyumi never mentioned her mother even if they have known each other for years. I also don't want to pry more than she tells me, if I do that the relationship we worked hard on creating will go straight down in the gutter.
'I guess she still doesn't want to share about her family's conditions.'
Well, I trust her, she will tell me one day.
We reached the hospital, as a gentleman, I paid the taxi driver. We then went inside the hospital, Fuyumi leading the way, we moved towards the psychiatric ward, I silently followed her and she stopped in front of a door. She opened the sliding door and the scene of a woman sitting on a chair looking through the window appeared. Hearing the sound of the door opening, the woman turned.
Rei Todoroki, the mother of Fuyumi Todoroki, is a middle-aged woman with an average height and build. She has straight shoulder-length white hair with rather long bangs over her face. Her face has round features, having mellow expressions in casual situations. Her tired-looking eyes are brown-gray with reasonably long eyelashes.
"Good Morning Fuyumi, how are you?"- Rei said in a casual tone
"Good Morning Mom, I am fine and I brought a friend to meet you."-Fuyumi
"If you are bringing this friend here to meet me then he is not a normal friend right?"-Rei
Fuyumi had a slight blush, while I decided to greet her
"Good Morning, Madam. I am Shido Kanzaki, friend of Fuyumi"-Shido
"Don't need to be so formal Shido-kun, Now why don't you tell about your relationship as I can tell you are not simply friends."- Rei said with the same small smile fixed on her face from the start of the conversation.
"...Mom, that... Shido is... my boyfriend."-Fuyumi
She said the last part in a small voice but enough to be heard by Rei. Listening to that, made the smile on Rei's face a little bit wider.
"So.. the 'mother' of Todoroki family finally found some time to spend on herself, that's good."-Rei said in a teasing tone.
"Stop making fun of me! Mom"-Fuyumi
"Well teasing aside, I am really happy that you are enjoying your life, as I was worried you will drown yourself in taking care of the family."-Rei
"..Mom.."-Fuyumi
"Well, sorry for going off on a tangent from the topic, Why don' you tell how you met?"-Rei
Then, Fuyumi started talking about how she and I met in my noodle shop when my father was the owner and I was an apprentice under him. After that, she usually came to our shop and our interactions increased. I asked her out to a movie, which led to our consecutive dates but after few months we realized we cannot give time to each other as I had to handle the shop while learning more about cooking, as my adoptive father died due to old age, he was already when he adopted me, his wife passed away when I was 15. So, he was the only one taking care of me since then. and Fuyumi had to take care of her family as her younger brother, Natsuo became more aggressive against Endeavor in their day-to-day interactions making the condition worse.
So we decided to call off the relationship at that time, but after a year, Fuyumi got a stable job with the condition in her family stabilized, I successfully learned cooking and handled the shop easily. We decided to come back together and after a few months of dating and time spending with each other, we are finally in a healthy relationship.
I only sat there and let Fuyumi speak, I just spoke when she forgot some part.
Watching this, Rei smiled but had a conflicting look on her face
"I am sorry Fuyumi, when you wanted to spend your time on yourself, you spent it on our family, because I was not there ... Sorry for not being there."-Rei said in an apologetic tone
"It's fine Mom, it's really nothing and nothing bad happened right, as we are again together."-Fuyumi said while looking towards me with a 'say something' expression, urging me to say something.
"Yes, as she said, we are finally together and it also gave us time to think about our relationship and future, as they say, separation is also a good thing to strengthen the relationship"-Shido said while forming sentences out of blue to the 'say something' request of Fuyumi.
As these words left my mouth, the situation became more awkward, realizing my mistake, I quickly apologized while bowing.
"I am sorry for my words, I didn't mea...."-Shido
"I know you didn't say with bad intentions, you don't have to apologize Shido-kun"-Rei interjected me before I can complete my sentence, decreasing the awkwardness a bit.
Fuyumi looked at me with a blank face, making it hard for me to understand how is she reacting to these words.
"Fuyumi, Can I talk to Shido-kun in private?"-Rei
"Sure Mom"-Fuyumi said and went out of the room.
After Fuyumi left, Rei adopted a serious expression
"Are you serious about this relationship, Shido-kun?"-Rei asked
"I am very serious about this, Madam, if I wasn't, I wouldn't have reconciled with Fuyumi again."-Shido
Listening to this, she sighed and said in a slow but resounding voice
"Then, I am very sorry to say but... this relationship may not last long."