Best Regards, Feli

Chapter 6

It was the weekend and Kaito was supposed to be on his day off. However, he brought work to his apartment. His place was strategically located between his family house in Osaka and office in Tokyo. This way, he was not too far from home.

His younger brother was still in university, so it was only natural that his mother would call him for favors.

"Okaasan, Aya is eight years old and not a baby anymore. Maybe you can send her to playdates?" He suggested because of the pile of work he had in front of him.

"She already had her swimming classes this morning. She went to the playground with her friends. Now, she has to stay home and all I'm asking is for you to watch over her as she does her homework," her mother replied over the phone.

He thought about bringing his paperwork back to their family house. Surely, he would be able to finish some work while Aya does her own.

"I just needed to take care of the house's maintenance and other errands. I don't want to leave her to the neighbors," his mother added.

"And I won't let you do that."

"Also, she had some English classes today so someone needs to supervise," Kaito's mother added.

Upon hearing this, the face of his sister's tutor flashed in his mind. He thought about eavesdropping on Aya and the tutor's conversation would make his evening interesting.

"Alright I'll go home now. Be there in... 30 minutes," he said.

"See you, Toto," his mother said before ending the call.

Kaito hated that nickname which his mother called him since he was young. His late father also started calling him Toto when Kaito was in high school. So yeah, his parents had their nickname for him which was absurd since Kaito and Toto had the same number of syllables. He felt there was really no need for his mother to invent a nickname.

He brought his laptop and files with him as he drove off to their house. It was a huge two-story house in which the architectural design was a mixture of traditional Japanese houses and modernized western buildings. The front yard was full of flowering plants that her mother loved to tend whenever Aya was away for school.

The living room and dining area were spacious but homey. The house has three bedrooms for all the children and one bedroom for the parents. But now that he had his own apartment, his bedroom was converted to a guest room.

"Okaasan, I'm home!" He called out as he removed his shoes. There were indoor slippers that could be used around the house.

"I'm in the kitchen!" His mother called back.

"Oniichan! Look at my drawings," Aya ran towards him and showed a picture of a... he didn't know what it was but pretended that it was an amazing drawing.

"That's great, Aya. Just keep practicing, this is a good start," he complimented.

"I will practice so that I can draw our house. Right now, I can only draw people like that drawing of you. It looks just like you, Oniichan."

He stared at the drawing. "Oh this is me?" Then he cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah this is me. I can definitely see the resemblance."