From betrotheds to lovers

Chapter 21

It was early in the morning and a phone alarm was already ringing

"..."

A hand came out of the blankets and turned it off as soon as it started ringing, the hand retreated back to the blanket only for a figure to sit up on the bed

"*Yawn*... ... ... *Sigh*"

The figure revealed itself to be... Ichiro, and differently from usual, was lacking his never fading smile that was always stuck on his face. Due to that, alongside his half-closed eyes and tired face, he appeared quite intimidating

"... *Sigh*"

Sighing a second time, Ichiro got up from his bed and left his room as he made his way to the kitchen, on his way there he turned on the TV and left on the news channel at a low enough volume to not wake his parents. Once in the kitchen, he picked up a kettle and put a thermometer inside along with water, then he put it on the stove to start heating the water

As he waited for that water to heat up, he began preparing everything else needed for breakfast. Since it was a Saturday, Ichiro decided to make some pancakes, but as he had finished preparing everything someone walked down the stairs

"Good morning, son"

"Good morning, mom"

It was his mother, Niko, who also was the one that would wake up the earliest due to the Japanese cafe she managed

"Hm? You're going to make pancakes?"

"Yes"

"Then let me do it, while you make my coffee"

"Okay"

With that, Ichiro stepped aside to let his mother prepare the pancakes, as he did that he saw that the water was already at the temperature he desired, so he poured the water into a mug that had a tea infuser inside

"Now mark two minutes..."

Using the same kettle, Ichiro poured some more water inside and put it back on the stove, this time he left it there until it started boiling as he went on to prepare some coffee for his mother

"... I still question myself at how you are able to make such a good coffee, but you refuse to drink coffee"

"That's because I hate the taste of coffee in general, but making it is pretty similar to making tea"

"... Haa... I really don't get you sometimes"

After that, some more minutes passed, and Ichiro's father eventually went downstairs already dressed in a suit as both Ichiro and his mother finished preparing breakfast. They all managed to have a decent breakfast together, and after they all finished eating, Kazumi left for work, while Ichiro and Niko stayed as they finished cleaning the dishes, and then they both went to the cafe to open it for the day

.

.

.

It was around 11 AM, and Sakurako was currently...

"Zzzzz..." *Drooling in her sleep*

Still soundly asleep in her bed as she hugged a body pillow while her drool fell on it. Then the door to her bedroom was carefully opened to make the least amount of sound possible

"... *Sigh* Ojou-sama, shouldn't you be awake by now?"

And the one who entered and said that was Aki, who didn't get an answer from the asleep Sakurako

"Haa... Good grief..."

Leaving Sakurako aside, Aki began opening the curtains and window to illuminate the room with sunlight and let some fresh air inside. But not even that fazed the sleeping Sakurako into waking up

"... Ojou-sama... C'mon wake up, sleeping beauty. It's pretty late already for you to keep sleeping"

"Uuuuuggghh..."

Having no other option, Aki began to shake Sakurako to wake her up, which did work as shown by Sakurako complaining and turning as she opened her eyes. Sakurako then sat up with a sad and somewhat tired face from being woken up from her very comfortable sleep

"Alright, now Ojou-sama please get up and change your clothes"

"... Hm *Nods*"

Sakurako being the good girl she was, got out of her bed and walked towards her closet to change her clothes as Aki asked her to do, while Aki began to tidy the bed that was left completely messy by Sakurako

As Aki did that, Sakurako looked at the clothes inside her closet as she thought about which one she should wear today. She wasn't planning on leaving her home today, so she decided to go with her usual high-neck black sweater, which did show her quite well her body curves, not that it could be seen as she also picked up a white knitted sweater that was a size bigger than she needed alongside a simple long red skirt and black tights, and of course, she didn't forget to pick the red plaid cape that she always wore inside her home

In contrast to the clothes she had picked, her pajamas were a simple pink one-piece pajama dress with a pale yellow thin coat

"Ojou-sama... How can you wear those clothes on a hot day like today?"

"Hm? *Tilts head* Because it's comfy?"

"I knew you would say that"

Even Aki who has been taking care of Sakurako didn't know how she was able to wear practically three pieces of clothes, with two of them being sweaters, on warm days. When she herself was already struggling with today's heat even with her summer uniform

After a short while, Aki finished tidying up Sakurako's bed at the same time as Sakurako finished changing her clothes

"Alright, Ojou-sama. Before you leave, please let me fix your hair"

"Okay..."

Aki went towards Sakurako and began brushing her straight blonde hair, which went all the way down to just below her shoulders, and since it wasn't tied up, it was possible to see that her hair was cut perfectly straight aside from her bangs

"Okay, now you can leave with an appearance that would make your parents really happy"

"*Nods* Thanks, Aki"

"Fufu, I'm just doing my job, Ojou-sama"

And with that Sakurako went to leave her room to have a light breakfast, while Aki stayed inside to clean it. But before Sakurako left the room, she remembered about one thing, so she turned and went to her nightstand, where she picked up the ring Ichiro had bought for her and put it on her left ring finger

Only after doing that, Sakurako finally left her bedroom with a fluffy feeling around her

"..." <That Ichiro-kun sure knows how to please Ojou-sama even without being here>

Aki had a small smile on her face as she thought that seeing Sakurako like that