𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Chapter-55

The month passed by very slowly, I did everything I would say I'd been putting off. Which in this case was emotional work, I had to hold myself together through the process of filming and promoting the movie.

Now that it was thriving on its own, the actors were happy, the agents were happy and the producers were happy I could sit down and let go of all that weight. The box office collection didn't just break even on the costs of production but we had a profit. A great profit that made distributors and Vanessa very glad they chose this project.

I finally felt like I wasn't running on just beginner's luck. You can get lucky the first time, maybe twice but getting a third season and successful movie under your name was probably a stretch. It definitely weakened the overly mean critic in my head.

I spent days in the gardens around the city, a few afternoons at the shrines, thanking everyone I possibly could for giving me the opportunities I did get and the success I was able to translate them to. There were even a couple of dinners and lunches to relatives houses that were inevitable, everyone wanted to congratulate the strange Emiko, and mom took great pride in it.

"Let's see where all the people who thought I was ruining your life by letting you pursue writing are." She beamed.

The weekend before Kenji arrived, much to everyone's reluctance, I took them on a trip to the Kobe mountains. Sofu and dad had more fun than they'd like to admit to- they were the most reluctant to it saying I was wasting my money but didn't complain spending hours a day at the golf range followed by relaxing at the hot springs. I got to spend time with my mother, trying out all the eateries and strolling through the beautiful terrace gardens. These mountains were a good escape from Osaka's concrete jungle.

We got home and everyone was preparing to welcome Baba, Kenji and Laura. Rooms were cleaned and dusted, furniture was reorganised to accommodate everyone. Dad was curious to meet the woman who was willing to look past Kenji's shortcomings and be with him.

What impressed and made mom happy was that she could proudly say she had raised him right, he didn't feel jealous or intimidated that Laura was higher up in the organisation than he was, she definitely made more money than he did. He was secure in who he was and he loved how ambitious Laura is.

Naturally, dinner discussions were Kenji and imagining what his life with Laura was like. I think he had told them about Laura's past, maybe in more detail than she had told Baba and I over Christmas dinner. I was afraid my parents would hold some kind of judgment towards her but they didn't, all they could wonder about was how much of a sucker her ex husband must have been to leave her.

"I'm glad she found Kenji. I know we don't praise him much but I've never come across someone as compassionate and supportive as he is." Mom smiled.

"That's true. We do bash him and scold him a lot for a person his age, he never really grew to me once he turned 16 but it seems he's an adult. A very capable and good person." My dad thought out loud, with a smile tugging on his face.

"You've met Laura and her daughter, what are they like?" Sofu asked me.

I recalled the last time I saw them, "Laura is bright. She's radiant in every way a person can be. Very smart and capable. You can probably tell that from the fact she was raising a child all by herself in such an expensive country!" I said, "The last time I saw Siya she was a baby, she's probably one and a babbling toddler now."

"Does Mamma like them?" Mom asked.

"Baba LOVES them." I emphasised on love, to my mom, if her mother approved of people, she knew they were good people. And it made sense, Baba was a very good judge of character, it definitely had something to do with all the people she'd come across in her life.

"I'm very happy to see everyone under one roof, I don't remember the last time our immediate family gathered for something like this." Sofu smiled.

The rest of dinner went by with smiles on everyone's faces, I needed this. I needed this warmth and love everyone around me was radiating right now, after all the heavy emotions, carrying the burdens of a project with so many stakeholders it finally felt good to set all that weight down. It felt nice to be loved, after failing at another kind of love. It was good to be reassured that there is indeed a kind of love out there that transcended your shortcomings, what you're able to bring at the table in that moment and was willing to be forgiving of your flaws.