Lisa & Rokko - Missed Chances (english version)

Chapter 14

Rokko straightened up. He had noticed that Lisa was looking at him in surprise, as if she had just realized something significant, but he did not comment on it. Instead, he murmured, "Niklas, put on your jacket. The meeting is over, we're going home now."

The boy looked up at him and announced, "I want to eat ice cream with Lisa."

Rokko blinked. "What?"

"She saved me. And people who save you get ice cream. Mom said that," the four-year-old declared, not entirely selflessly.

"When did she say that?" Rokko asked, frowning.

Niklas shrugged. "I don't know. But she must have said it sometime."

Lisa nearly laughed at this childlike logic, but given the circumstances it felt inappropriate.

"Niklas, I'm sure Lisa doesn't have time," Rokko began, caught off guard.

But Niklas tilted his head and looked at him with that irresistibly convincing expression only four-year-olds seem able to master.

"Pleeeease?"

For a brief moment Lisa thought she saw a smile flicker across Rokko's face. Apparently even he could not fully resist such childish charm.

But the moment the smile faded, that familiar distance returned, the guardedness she already knew too well. She saw his shoulders tighten slightly, saw his gaze flicker. The idea of going out for ice cream with her... he did not like it. She could see that. And she could feel it.

"Maybe another time," she said quickly, forcing a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. She did not want to push him.

In truth, there was nothing she would have rather done at that moment than simply spend time with Rokko. Just half an hour. Just sit, talk or be silent. But she would not pressure him.

"Please?" Niklas said softly, with that mix of childlike hope and disappointment that even a PR professional could not ignore.

Then he looked first at Lisa, then back at Rokko.

Once more, with wide eyes and a pleading look:

"Please, Uncle Rokko?"

Rokko closed his eyes for a moment, as if he needed to collect himself internally. Then he looked at Lisa. His face remained neutral, but his voice was calm:

"If you have time, we can do that."

Ice Cream Parlor, later

Niklas's ice cream bowl was almost as big as he was, piled with sprinkles, Smarties, and chocolate sauce.

Lisa had insisted on paying for his ice cream with the determined tone she otherwise only used when she was standing up for something truly important to her. Rokko had said nothing about it. He paid for his coffee, black, nothing added, himself.

Lisa herself had a vanilla ice cream. She ate slowly, watching Niklas, who talked, gesticulated, slurped, and commented tirelessly. She thought that if he had not been there, it probably would have been one uncomfortable silence.

But this way... it somehow worked. Two adults with too much past and a child who had no idea how much lay between them.

In one of the few quiet moments, Niklas was currently busy scraping the ice cream cup with his spoon, Lisa dared a careful glance at Rokko.

"I didn't know you had siblings," she said quietly, nodding toward his nephew.

He briefly raised his gaze. There was a strange calmness in his face, but his voice was different.