"Suemoto Suejiro-san was a regular at Otose-san's place. That's how he got to know Catherine-san. He's an upcoming entrepreneur with considerable influence. People has always sucked up to him because of his money, so Catherine-san was like a breath of fresh air" Shinpachi explained to me when i asked him about what i heard. Not gonna lie, i did get shocked hearing that Catherine's gonna marry. "Business seemed to be booming at snack Otose. Must be the charm of a new wife! But, I'm gonna be honest here" my voice now became as low as possible. "I have my doubts on that guy. That dude used to come here pretty frequently and flirted a lot" "Even more than Gin-chan?" Kagura asked. "Worse than him" "Oih!" Gintoki pinched both mine and Kagura's cheeks. "And then what happened?" Shinpachi asked enthusiastically. "Virgin man's desire for love stories, huh" Kagura blew from the dango stick. "That's not how the mouth of a 14 year old should be!" Shinpachi became all flustered.
"Moving on with the story- after a lot of failed attempts, one day he did something that i never thought he would. He showed up at my place in the middle of the night" "Don't tell me you had sex?!" at Gintoki's shout, i punched him in the face. "That's how i punched him when i saw him. And after that he never came to the restaurant" i blew on the coffee i was having. "Woah~ so cool!" the kids looked at me with excitement. "Wait, when did this happen?" Shinpachi asked. "Like a year ago" "I'm not sure it's the same person.." he said. "The names were the same so i thought he was back. It may also be someone else" i shrugged my shoulders. "I didn't know this. You never told me" Gintoki crossed his arms. "As if you tell me everything that's been going on with your life?" i cocked my eyebrows. Gintoki and I had a stare off for a few seconds until Kagura ordered for more dangos.
A few days later, i heard from Shinpachi that Suemoto-san lost all of his assets when the sponsoring company went bankrupt. He said he couldn't make Catherine happy anymore so he tried to break off the marriage and leave her. But Catherine refused saying she'd support him. Then did we know that Catherine had been saving money from her pay check. The news of the guy losing his fortune caused Otose-san so throw Catherine and Suemoto out of her shop. I was at Gintoki's place when we heard the loud crash and soon after that, Tama came to fetch us. The words Otose-san said and her facial expressions didn't match. She was forcing herself to say those mean things, all for the sake of Catherine. When my eyes met with Suemoto-san's, they widened. So did his. Gintoki noticed this and stood in front of me. Suemoto cleared his throat before helping Catherine stand up. Catherine then had an argument with Otose-san before she stormed out of the shop.
"Write us a letter once you're settled down. And invite us over once your bar is open" Shinpachi said. "Let me know if anything comes up. I'll be right there" Tama held her hands. "Sorry that this isn't much of a send off. Things happened so quickly that i didn't get the time to prepare. Take this as a token of love from the Mitsuki family" i said handing her the large duffel bag. "H-Hanae-san.. it's quite heavy" Catherine wobbled with the back. "Don't be foolish! This isn't even 10% of what i had in mind! But i hope you'll cherish it" my eyes got watery and soon the tears slipped. "T-Thank you" she was trying so hard not to let her tears flow. "Kagura-chan, you should also say goodbye now" Shinpachi said turning around. "Don't come back! But.. if it's too much to take.. if you can't put up with the in-laws.. you can come back after raking him for alimony. You'll be more than welcome then" hearing her words, we all chuckled but whatever she said, was true. We all felt the same way. "The train on platform 2 will be departing momentarily" the mic spoke. "I'll be going then.. Sueijiro is waiting for me" she said before getting on the train. "Please take care of Otose-san for me" she looked at me, this time her tears were flowing. "Y-You take care of yourself too!"
"You too?" "Yeah" sighing we both slided the door open. "Didn't you read the sigh? We're closed today" Otose-san spoke as she sat on the chair all gloomy. "Really? Guess you don't have a choice without your poster girl around. Don't worry, we're not here for a drink. We're here to do the pouring" as Otose-san turned around after hearing Gintoki's words, i held up the sake bottle with a smile. I went inside the counter and took out 3 glasses before pouring the sake in it. "I never knew.. when i first met her, she was just a dirty thief. I felt so bad for her that i let her stay at my bar. But she kept wandering off.. But lately, she's settled down and been working hard. I never knew she actually had a plan for her future" her voice broke. "You didn't like the guy?" Gintoki asked sipping on the drink. "I should be grateful that anyone was willing to take her. I understand that she can't exactly be choosy. Still, as a parent.. your daughter can bring home the perfect man and you'll still be able to find something wrong" she looked at me. "I can't just smile and send her off when i know she's going to suffer. That was the best i could manage. I feel so bad" tears flew down her face. "If you feel bad, don't talk like it's over. Once she's opened a bar that's as good as this one, you should go and have a drink" i placed my hand on her shoulder before hugging her from behind. Gintoki came over and hugged us both tightly.
A few days later, we heard from Gintoki that Catherine was scammed by that Suemoto bastard and that he had beaten him up. I wanted to crush him to death but Gintoki stopped me. "Ugh, filthy animals. Consider yourself lucky that you get to live another day" i spat on him as he looked at me like a mad person crazy in love. After that we took Otose-san and the gang to see Catherine. She talked with her as we all waited a few feet far away. "Things look good now" Shinpachi smiled. Both the ladies were crying causing me to sniffle back my tears. "Well, let's go have a drink" Gintoki held me close and kissed my forehead. "Yeah, let's join them"
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Thank you for reading this chapter!
Hope you enjoyed it!
