“Mommy…”
“Yes, Charlotte? What’s wrong?”
“I have to go to the bathroom…”
“Oh… That’s why you woke up?”
“Mm…”
As I was sleeping, Charlotte, who had been sleeping between me and Corbin, had awoken.
Well, she’s still a baby after all.
She often wakes up because of needing to go to the bathroom.
Still, it’s a relief that she hasn’t had many accidents in bed so far.
“Should I help you to the bathroom?”
“Mm…”
Charlotte, rubbing her eyes, asked me to accompany her to the bathroom, so I pulled back the blanket and lifted her up.
Is she already two years old?
I could definitely feel her weight more than before.
“Mommy…”
“Alright, let’s hurry.”
Anyway, at two years old, she was still such a baby.
She couldn’t even go to the bathroom by herself late at night.
Carrying her in my arms, I headed to the bathroom.
Carefully, so as not to wake Corbin.
Even if he did wake up, it wouldn’t be a huge problem, but since I had to go to work tomorrow, I was especially cautious.
“Charlotte, you need to pull down your pants, right?”
“Mm…”
Maybe because she had grown a lot since before, she could now respond to such requests without fuss.
Truly… a remarkable development.
Not long ago, when she was just born… besides crying and sleeping, she couldn’t do anything at all.
Now she could take off her pants by herself.
Anyway, after helping the suddenly awakened Charlotte and getting everything settled, I cradled her once more.
Though Charlotte could walk on her own now… she had just woken up, after all.
“Mommy…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“…I want to drink water…”
“You wanted water?”
“Mm…”
Is it because she needed to hydrate?
Charlotte wanted water.
Truly…
“Then you should drink. But don’t drink too much, or you might have to get up again, alright?”
“Mm.”
She’s so cute.
The way she answered with that sleepy expression was truly delightful.
Of course, waking up at random times in the middle of the night was a bit… tiring, wasn’t it?
Anyway, I poured her some not-too-cold but comfortably warm water and handed it to her as she sat on a chair.
Definitely, if she drank cold water, she’d be sure to get a tummy ache.
-Glug… Glug…
Was she really that thirsty?
As soon as Charlotte received the water, she started drinking fervently and finished off the cup.
“Ahh…”
“Feel better now?”
“Mm!”
“…Then it’s time to go to bed, right?”
“Mm…!”
…I had a feeling that after drinking, Charlotte had fully woken up.
But once she lay down in bed, she’d probably fall asleep again.
Though I was a bit worried, I took her back to the room.
*
“…Ah.”
“…Lindera.”
“…I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
This was almost the first time I nearly dozed off while working.
I unconsciously let my head droop down.
The workload wasn’t too much.
Just the usual pace, or rather, slower than usual today.
Yet, even so, I was about to doze off with my head down.
“…Did Charlotte not sleep well last night?”
“Um…”
I briefly thought back to what happened last night.
“Mommy, Mommy. This is shiny.”
“Charlotte… it’s time to sleep now?”
“The pillow is shiny!”
“…It’s because it’s glow-in-the-dark… you’ve seen it a lot before, haven’t you?”
“Sparkly!”
“…Um.”
Thanks to that, we chatted about it until I couldn’t sleep properly.
I probably fell asleep around 3 or 4 AM.
Of course, it wasn’t that I felt bad because of Charlotte, but… I was truly tired.
“…Corbin.”
“What?”
“…From now on, when Charlotte wakes up, it’s your turn to handle it.”
“…Were you that tired?”
“I woke up around 1 AM and fell asleep around 3 AM… So I couldn’t help it.”
“…Oh my.”
Next time, I was seriously considering waking Corbin up to take over.
At least, not for two days in a row.
“…You really do have good stamina.”
“That’s the age for it…”
“……..”
Indeed, that much was true.
Anyway, I was very tired because of what happened in the early morning.
Really very much.
I nearly dozed off while working.
“…Lindera.”
“What is it?”
While having that conversation with Corbin, my sister suddenly called for me.
She often had a serious expression, but today it seemed exceptionally so.
“Um… Please come here for a moment.”
“…?”
I didn’t expect her to ask me to come over suddenly.
I wondered what the reason could be.
I made my way to my sister’s desk, but I couldn’t guess the reason.
“What is it?”
“Please take a look at this for a moment…”
“…?”
I turned to look at the screen.
I had no idea what this was about, but it didn’t feel like something mundane.
Seeing my sister, who was quieter than Dolores, speak so seriously made it seem like it was definitely an important matter.
On the monitor was…
“…The Boss?”
“…Yes, the Boss texted me like this…”
“…Oh?”
Something seemed off… like an unexpected event had occurred without my knowledge.
I hadn’t received any messages or talks about it.
Suddenly, there was an email saying that the Boss was coming to our area.
“Why is the Boss coming here all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know…”
“…What’s going on?”
“Huh?”
As soon as I spoke up, Corbin and the other colleagues quickly got up and gathered in front of the monitor.
This seemed to be a serious matter.
No one could possibly remain indifferent at work upon hearing that the Boss was coming.
Even I was surprised.
“…Is she really coming?”
“Why!?”
“It shouldn’t be because of us… is it about Lindera and the Commander?”
“100% that’s it!”
Dolores and Midori were right, but we didn’t have any guesses either.
We had kept in touch with the Boss well over the past few days.
There shouldn’t have been a reason for her to come here.
Just a little while ago, we even had a video call for Charlotte’s second birthday party…?
“Really… why…?”
“…Lindera, you haven’t heard anything, right?”
“Aside from just sending photos of Charlotte like usual, nothing at all. The Boss doesn’t really have time since she’s busy at headquarters…”
The one who was the most confused was undoubtedly me.
Why on earth?
“…Could it be someone embezzling funds secretly?”
“””…….”””
…Yeah, that was highly unlikely.
I managed that, so if it happened… that would be stranger.
Later, I attempted to contact the Boss directly to inquire about the reason, but… I only received a response to just wait quietly.
So, we had no choice but to wait without knowing the real reason.
“…Lindera, what could this possibly be about?”
“…I wonder.”
After work, we had no choice but to keep discussing this matter.
Both Corbin and I were puzzled.
Of course, it wasn’t really a problem that the Boss was coming.
After all, she was like my mother and also Charlotte’s grandmother.
There was no issue, but the timing was indeed strange.
“…Charlotte.”
“Mm?”
“Grandma is coming to visit, what do you think?”
“Grandma?”
“Yes, Grandma.”
“Yay!”
“Oh, really?”
Well, regardless of the Boss’s position, to Charlotte, she could only see her as the loving grandmother.
The Boss had been so good to Charlotte.
It couldn’t be any other way.
“Yay, Grandma!”
“Do you like Grandma or Daddy more?”
“Daddy!”
“Alright then. You like Mommy more than Daddy, right?”
“Mm!”
…That settles it.
I didn’t know the reason for her visit, but the Boss had never visited our area with any bad intentions before.
So, I didn’t think it would be a problem.
“Corbin. Let’s not think about the Boss for a while and decide on what we want to do this weekend.”
“…That might be better?”
“Yes. After all, there’s no way to know what she’s coming for just by talking now, is there?”
“That’s true…”
Talking about it didn’t seem to make anything clearer, so we decided to let it go for now.
I didn’t know why I couldn’t reach out to my sister first instead of the Boss, but it was probably fine.
“What do you want to do this weekend, Charlotte?”
“This weekend?”
“Yeah, you don’t want to play games with Daddy, do you?”
“I don’t want to!”
“………”
“Other than playing games with Daddy, what do you want to do?”
“Um… um…”
“…Lindera.”
Corbin, sitting beside me, looked a bit sad, but Charlotte didn’t actually enjoy games, did she?
Corbin always pushed for games, but Charlotte disliked them every time.
In many ways, it seemed like a heartache for Corbin.
Of course… it didn’t feel very educational to intentionally make a baby interested in games… so I was leaning towards not pushing it.
“Um…”
“Take your time to think. There’s still plenty of time until the weekend.”
“Mm!”
Well, if we had nothing to do, we could just go watch a movie together.
Charlotte didn’t need to decide on something to do step by step.
Of course, if Charlotte had something she wanted and it was something we could do on the weekend, of course, we would go for it.
“Daddy.”
“Yes, Charlotte?”
Before long, Charlotte jumped over to Corbin and began playing around with him.
She was saying how the TV program was boring and playfully grabbing at Corbin’s cheeks.
Of course, Corbin just smiled at her antics and continued indulging her play while still holding her.
He kept changing the TV channels for her.
“Hehe…”
While I was surprised by the sudden news of the Boss’s planned visit, she wasn’t arriving immediately.
So, I decided to just play with Charlotte while we waited slowly.
Well, she was probably just coming because she wanted to see Charlotte.
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