For the Kaoi couple, who had perfectly succeeded in the short yet long long-take shoot on the very first try, applause and congratulations poured in from the staff.
Even though the cut had already been called, the lingering afterglow of their masterful acting led to the couple’s affectionate display as they kissed deeply, and Director Gotanda, who had come running over in high spirits, suddenly fell into a gloomy mood, causing quite a bit of commotion.
"Hehe-★ Maybe… I went a little too far?"
Ai, who had greedily tried to keep from losing her husband’s lips until the very end, could only force an awkward smile when she saw Director Gotanda turn into a depressed shiba inu.
Anyway, just as Kaoru had declared before filming, the shoot ended safely before the babies’ bedtime, and Ai clenched her fists and struck a victory pose.
It was Saturday, and the twins were surely taking good care of Ame and Amber, but as a mother, she couldn’t help worrying.
After all, since the couple had started filming the drama, this was truly the first time they had both been away from home together.
Whenever they had time on set, the couple would call Aqua and Ruby to ask sweetly whether they had eaten, whether the younger ones were doing well, and whether anything hurt.
"Hello? Oh, honey. Huh? You think I’m calling the police? No, what’s wrong with a husband calling his wife because he misses her?"
"Oh~ my daughter. Where are you? At cram school~ Hmm? Daddy’s working, of course~"
Some of the staff, moved for no reason at all, even sent messages or made calls to their own families to check that they were doing well.
"Ah. I want to get married."
"……."
Director Gotanda very much wanted to smack the back of the production team’s youngest member, who was muttering beside him, but.
Since he was a pacifist(?) who opposed violence, he held himself back and waved his hand at the Kaoi couple.
"Go home. And… unless you’re filming, try to hold back on the excessive affection from now on."
"Fufu~★ Yes! Thank you, Director~!"
Ai, proudly marching to the beat of her own drum, waved brightly as she said goodbye.
"...Thank you. I’ll head back first."
Kaoru, a beat late, finally blushed faintly and nodded.
Unlike himself, he had been swept up by the mood and his emotions, and the deep kiss he shared with his wife even after the cut had been called...
Yeah, it was a little embarrassing?!
9:30 p.m.
When the couple arrived home and opened the front door—
"Waaah!!! Mama-!!!!!!"
"Mommmyyyy!"
"Ta-ta-ta~ Mama~!"
"Kyaaa-♥ Ruby, Ame, Amber-chan-!!!"
Ruby, Ame, and even Amber, who was in Aqua’s arms.
They all ran toward Ai, who had finally come home, sending tearful pink hearts through the air before throwing themselves into her arms!
"Sniff sniff- Mama’s scent! I’m never letting go!"
"Uhehehe- Ame won’t let go either! Sniff sniff! Huh? You smell like Daddy’s car!"
"Ruby! Ame! You were getting along and playing nicely, huh~★"
The starlit eyes of Ai, filled with love, shone brilliantly.
Like cicadas clinging to an old tree, her two daughters clung to her arms, and Ai stroked them while feeling, only now, that she had returned to her family’s embrace, smiling happily.
And behind her, Kaoru watched the touching scene with a bitter smile, almost like Director Gotanda.
Dad, too… was ready to hug Ruby and Ame.
Our youngest is looking for Mom, too.
Yeah. Mom really is the best.
Of course, Dad likes Mom too.
Hahaha.
He didn’t say a word, but he couldn’t hide the blue eyes that were gradually growing moist.
"You worked hard, Dad."
Noticing the signs of her father having turned into a depressed shiba inu, the filial son Aqua approached him first!
Seeing his son welcome him with a smile while holding Amber.
Kaoru filled his eyes with his son’s image, nodding as he let a smile spread across his face, one that looked just like Aqua’s.
"Thanks, my son. You worked hard today too, taking care of your younger siblings."
"...Yes!"
The kind and warm praise of his father. No matter how many times he heard it, it always made his heart tickle, and Aqua couldn’t hide how happy he was!
The family reunited after fourteen hours!
After Amber fussed in Ai’s arms, trying to smell her mother’s warmth before falling asleep, Ai put Amber to bed and then chatted softly with Aqua, Ruby, and Ame about everything that had happened today...
"You have to! You absolutely have to watch the broadcast with Mom, okay? Got it?"
"Huff- huff- Got it, Mama! Even if my friends try to hold me back, I’ll shake them off and run straight home!!!"
"Don’t worry, Mom! Just tell me the airing date as soon as it’s decided!"
"Mom~ You kissed Dad a whole lot, didn’t you? Uheheh-! You went wild."
"Kyaaa-♥ Th-that’s—!"
Even the determined twin siblings and Amber, who grinned mischievously as if she could clearly see how many times Mom and Dad had kissed.
Startled by her youngest daughter’s sharp(?) insight, Ai clutched her flushed cheeks and stuck to no comment.
'Uu- Could I watch it with the babies? It wasn’t just a light kiss like usual... but still—♥'
Of course, she had also completely forgotten that just last night, while filming the kiss scene with Kaoru, she had excitedly bragged about it in front of the children, and now she was briefly torn by a fierce dilemma.
No one can stop the 「invincible idol」!
Even if the other party is her elementary school daughter!
Of course...
"..."
"...!"
Ruby and Aqua, unable to suppress the jealousy that had boiled up for the first time in a long while as they watched their father steal away the lips of their 【favorite】 over and over again, but!
'There’s nothing to be done. It’s not just anyone, it’s our 『father』...'
'If anything, the fact that the person Mom loves this much is 『Dad』 is actually the best thing, even as a 『fan』...!'
Since they had watched their 【favorite】 and 【second favorite】 parents openly sharing affection in front of them since they were little, it was familiar from the perspective of their 『children』, but as 『fans』, there were still moments when it was hard to separate public and private matters.
Still, the twins had now grown enough to acknowledge the bitter reality of it all(?) and shake off their 【jealousy】 with nothing more than one sigh and one bitter smack of the lips.
Of course.
'No matter how much he’s Dad, if he ever makes Mom shed even one tear...'
'Yeah... I’ll never forgive him!'
The twin siblings looked at each other at the same time, their starlit eyes flashing with solemn resolve!
"Huh. My ears are suddenly..."
After showering in the bedroom and changing into pajamas, Kaoru sat on the bed, feeling the pleasant drowsiness of a long-awaited fatigue.
His ears suddenly started itching on both sides, so Kaoru pressed his palms against them and rubbed for a moment.
He had only had his ears cleaned by his wife a few days ago, so he couldn’t figure out the cause of this itch!
Once the mysterious itch faded, Kaoru picked up his smartphone and sent a short message of thanks—adding Ai’s share as well—to Director Gotanda, the cinematographer, the other key staff, and Yuriko and the other actors who had worked hard filming with him today.
"......"
Bzzt—
-----------------------------
< Rintaro hyung / Stani-On >
- Did you like it?
( An emoji of an old man comically puckering his lips )
-----------------------------
Late at night, a message suddenly arrived... a short and straightforward, yet sly message from Rintaro.
Kaoru, who understood all the layered implications hidden in that brief message, responded with his usual indifferent face by not replying at all.
He had a schedule discussion call with him tomorrow morning anyway, so there was no need to humor him now!
After turning off his smartphone and setting it beside the desk lamp, Kaoru lay down and used the pillow.
The soft bed and the gentle blanket. His wife and the babies chatting cheerfully in the living room.
And the quiet, cozy bedroom, dark except for the light from the lamp.
"Haa."
It had been a truly exhausting day, in a long-lost way.
It was his first long-take scene with his wife, and also the first time he had acted while carrying such intense emotions for such a long stretch—
"......"
Even if it had been his wife’s cute little sulking attack, kissing deeply after the cut in front of the cinematographer and the other staff had been...
Honestly, it had been a very impulsive... and, well, embarrassing action.
Though it had certainly felt wonderful...
Kaoru raised both hands and silently washed his dry face, then closed his eyes and decided to take a light nap until his wife came in.
Tomorrow was Sunday anyway, and the babies would be sleeping a little later too.
And his wife was happily chatting with the babies.
"All right~ Aqua, Ruby, Ame! Give Mom your goodnight kisses-♥ Chu chu~"
"......"
Ai was tired too.
Just as he reached that conclusion, he heard his wife’s voice asking the babies for goodnight kisses.
Kaoru could only smirk.
Right. No matter how much stamina that iron-bodied girl had, today had been a grueling day for her too.
His wife and the babies exchanged twice as many goodnight kisses to make up for the father who had gone into the bedroom first.
And then Kaoru, with his excellent hearing, heard the soft patter of his wife’s footsteps.
Creaaak!
The door opened.
After quietly closing it again, Ai looked at Kaoru, who had his eyes closed, for a moment.
"Fufu."
Ai let out a laugh that seemed to mean something.
Then she walked from the vanity toward the bed, and after lowering her head, she softly called to her husband, who still had his eyes closed.
"Kaoru."
"...Mm."
Kaoru slowly opened his closed eyes and smiled, spreading his arms wide.
Married couples know each other’s feelings through looks and actions, even without words!
Ai’s starlit eyes sparkled as she leaped into the open arms of Kaoru like a baby rabbit.
"Fuheheh-♥ It’s warm-♥"
"...You too."
Kaoru held his wife for a moment like that, while Ai listened to the thump-thump of her husband’s heartbeat in his arms.
Then Kaoru grabbed the blanket so he could fall asleep together with his wife, and covered her body with it.
And Ai—
"Huh? You’re going to sleep, Kaoru?"
As if she hadn’t expected this turn of events, she blinked her starlit eyes and lifted her head, raising a fundamental question about her husband’s behavior.
"Huh?"
What?
Their signals weren’t matching, and this unexpected development had gone off course.
When a very ominous feeling, a very familiar pattern, appeared, Kaoru asked back in confusion.
Ai fiddled with her fingers and muttered softly while looking up at Kaoru.
"Ai... doesn’t want to sleep yet..."
"......"
What.
Kaoru unconsciously avoided his wife’s sultry gaze, and his eyes had nowhere to go as they darted around the air.
His heart pounded, and his brain, sensing danger, began releasing cold sweat.
'What do I do?'
But then Ai, noticing Kaoru’s heartbeat growing rapidly and more violently, said with a radiant smile full of starlight, while gently stroking his firm chest.
"Hehe. Kaoru’s chest is going thump-thump~"
It was a misunderstanding.
This was a misunderstanding?!
Even as his husband’s face went pale—
Ai, completely unfazed with her supreme self-paced attitude, pressed her ear against his firm chest to hear his heartbeat more closely and spoke in a sweet voice laced with sultry anticipation.
"Hey? Kaoru— I... hehe. During the kiss scene, I kind of— no, a lot... did a kyuun-♥, you know? After this is over, I wanted to do a little more at home— yeah..."
"......"
"In the drawer... wasn’t there a pair of glasses? The ones Kaoru wears when filming."
Kaoru closed his eyes for a moment and, like a Buddha who had attained nirvana, sank into a serene inner world, endlessly turning over the hidden meaning in his wife’s words.
'This is... a roleplay... signal!'
Was the kiss between 「Aizawa Honoka」 and 「Matsukura Hiroki」 still ongoing in the present tense?!
No, more than that—did Ai want to secretly continue even deeper and more intensely... the part they couldn’t even film... on the bed as a married couple!
As Kaoru’s grand plan of holding his wife close and sleeping soundly was crushed into despair.
"...Kaoru? Uuung... if Kaoru’s okay with it... we can just sleep..."
When Kaoru’s eyes remained closed and his silence stretched on without any reaction—
the misunderstood Ai gave up before he even said anything, and muttered softly in a dejected, disappointed voice.
Trying to act like it was nothing while wriggling in his arms.
He knew it.
This was 100% the disappointed 『pwehh mode Ai』!
"Ai. ...No."
He couldn’t disappoint the wife he loved more than anyone in this world.
Finally making up his mind, Kaoru opened his eyes, reached one arm out to the side, opened the desk drawer, and took out the prop pair of horn-rimmed glasses for 「Matsukura Hiroki」 that he had brought for the first shoot.
Ai stared at the sight with eyes full of bright, supernova-like anticipation!
After putting on the horn-rimmed glasses, Kaoru, like the veteran actor he was, was instantly immersed in 「Matsukura Hiroki」. He brushed his thumb over Ai’s cheek while she was nestled in his arms and said,
"Honoka. Brace yourself."
"Ah..."
Ai gripped the top of her husband’s pajamas tightly with both hands and bit her lower lip hard at the chilling thrill that ran down her spine.
This...
There’s no way she could ever win against this...♥
As if resonating with her husband’s heartbeat, Ai’s own heartbeat gradually picked up speed and began to race fiercely.
Her body, growing more and more excited and instinctive—kyun-kyun-♥—was already unconsciously rubbing slowly against her husband’s crotch and thighs, teasing him and making him ache.
For a moment, the thought that it was still too soon, since the babies hadn’t been in their room for long, rose up in her mind.
"I’m already prepared, Hiroki-san♥"
Ai slipped out of his arms, lifted her head, and adjusted her position so that her head was aligned with her husband’s.
Her long, glossy purple hair flowed down like a curtain toward Kaoru.
Her hot, sweet breath, her wife’s glittering starlit eyes, and her flushed cheeks, which were clearly visible even though the only light came from the lamp.
Kaoru, having realized that his wife’s switch had definitely been flipped on, could only force an awkward smile as if there was nothing he could do now.
"Ha."
The highlight that would cap off Kaoru’s long Saturday night finally began.
-
The next day, Sunday morning.
"Itadakimasu!"
"Itadakimasuu~!"
"I’m gonna eat!"
Aqua, Ruby, and Ame each took a big bite of the crispy sandwiches spread with jam.
Even the dressing on the salad and the egg fried beautifully sunny-side up.
Everything tasted unbelievably delicious today.
"Eeeh- It’s super tasty! Does Mom’s sandwich taste like light?"
"Mommmyyy- Ame wants more sandwich!"
Ruby and Ame each let out their own exclamations, their starlit eyes sparkling.
Even Aqua, who tended to eat quietly like his father, twitched his eyebrows in emotion at the taste filled with the sandwich’s 「ultimate love」.
This was... 【a mother’s love】!
"Mama! Mama!"
Amber seemed to be in a good mood too, waving her arms around and showing off like a conductor.
At the babies’ all-out barrage of praise, Ai, wearing an apron, spun around.
Her beautiful and adorable face was hard to believe for the mother of four siblings!
Her long, lustrous hair flowed gracefully, and her signature V sign and brilliant starry wink followed!
"Hehe-★ Don’t underestimate the 「ultimate sandwich」-!"
The return of the 「strongest invincible idol」, who could captivate everyone and steal the gaze of anyone who looked at her!
"Kraaah!"
"Ugh, so dazzling!"
"Waaah!?"
"Taaah~! Mama!"
The four siblings seated at the table could only throw up their hands before the dazzling radiance Ai emitted.
In an instant, this moment became Ai’s solo stage!
"......"
A man utterly out of place amid the sparkling brightness and aura surrounding them.
His cheeks were gaunt, and dark circles sank into the hollows under his eyes.
Kaoru, whose already pale skin had grown even paler, silently took a sip of the special nourishing milk tea his wife had made for him.
"Cough. Cough."
Even when he choked on it and coughed like a patient, none of the four siblings paid any attention to their father’s condition.
But that was fine.
"Ah! Papa! Let’s play badminton later! Ame says she has to practice for her PE performance test!"
"Aqua said he has to go to theater practice, so he can’t! I want to play with Mom and big sis and Dad!"
"Waaah~! Really? If we play badminton with Mom, our Ame will definitely get a perfect score on her performance test!"
"......"
Kaoru silently lifted his blue eyes and looked at Aqua.
Had Aqua noticed his father’s pleading look, asking for help?
Aqua, who had been looking sympathetically at his father’s gaunt face, proof of how fierce last night’s battle had been, chose to avert his eyes and pretend not to notice.
'Sorry, Father. This season I have to go up as a duo with Akane, so I can’t skip.'
At his son’s refusal to meet his eyes, Kaoru slowly closed his own.
Beyond his shut eyelids, the silent scream of the family head leaked out, but—
"Hehe-★"
Because the noisy Sunday morning with his family was more than enough to make Ai happy.
Sitting beside her husband, Ai looked at the babies with a bright smile full of starlight.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register