One More Chance || Rinharu [EDITING]

Chapter 7 ✔

Haru

Haru poured the pasta sauce onto the two plates of spaghetti. When he carried the plates to the dining room, the sight of the table being laid out made him happy. Sora was an angel most days. Haru was proud that he raised such a well behaved child.

After placing the two plates down onto the table, he sat down besides the red haired girl and clasped his hands together. Sora saw this and copied her mother.

"Thank you for the food" They both said in unison.

It was somewhat a family tradition to give thanks before eating. Without further ado, they both tucked in.

"This is really yummy." Said Sora.

"It's because you helped make it." Replied Haru, encouraging the six year old.

Sora beamed at the praise. "I was a great help, wasn't I mama?"

"Indeed you were" he smiled.

There was a comfortable silence between them as they ate their supper. Haru finished a mouthful before changing he subject.

"So what did you do today at school?"

"Miss Field have me a gold star for my maths."

"Oh. What did you do in maths?"

"I did multiplication." It looked as if she was extremely proud of herself for just pronouncing the word. She put an emphasis on each syllable.

"Really? That's big kids' stuff." He said, sounding impressed. "What's 4 times 2?" He questioned.

For a moment, there was silence as Sora figured it out. "It's 8" she put fourth her four fingers.

"Well done, love. You're already so smart. Do you know what you want to do when you're older? What's your dream job?"

Although it was a little too early to be asking a question like this, Haru wanted to see what his daughter's dream job was in the eyes of a six year old, not that he expected very much.

"I can't tell you, mummy. It's a secret."

Haru glanced at his daughter who seemed to be staring into space. She had her fork hoisted in mid air as she carried on with her deep train of thought.

"Why is it a secret?" He pondered.

"Because you won't like it. You'll get upset"

"What do you mean I'll get upset'? Of course I won't. I'll be happy as long as you do it to the best of your abilities."

It was the most sensible answer he could give. Becoming a young mother forced Haru mature much faster than his other friends.

"Promise you won't get upset?"

"Yes. I promise I won't get upset"

After all, what's there to be upset about? She's just a child and probably has a crazy dream like becoming a princess or an astronaut or something.

"I'm wanna swim." Whispered Sora.

This intrigued Haru, made him happy in fact. He didn't feel a pinch of disappointment. Yet, she avoided all eye contact with him and played around with her food.

"That's fine if you want to swim. Following in your mum's footsteps." He smiled and began to eat again.

The two resumed back to eating their meal in peace. Haru saw his daughter messing around with her food. She opened her mouth.

"But I wanna swim.... In the Olympics." She declared.

A reason for being upset didn't cross his mind, he just seemed to feel uneasy. His daughter's dream job was a great dream to have. Should she succeed, only greatness awaited her. Though strangely, he didn't like the idea of it. He would always support and encourage his daughter to do great things, it was just that Haru disliked the idea that Sora could one day leave him just like...

Haru zoned out for a second and stared at his food. His mouth felt dry and he lost his appetite. Now he understood why Sora thought her dream job would upset him. However, being a grown adult, he had to take things smoothly. He just hoped this wouldn't go where he thought it was going.

"Um. Ok, so you wanna be like your father then?" Haru asked, giving Sora a feeble smile.

"I love swimming and I want to show everyone that I'm really good and win gold medals like him," she stated, "But I'm not gonna be like him. I'm not ever gonna be like him"

Haru didn't take another bite, instead he was quite intrigued yet uncomfortable by what his child was trying to convey. "Why not? He's achieved so much, he's inspired so many people."

It was now all nervous talk. Neither one of them wanted to say a word. There was a moment of silence between the pair as Haru waited for an answer. The awkwardness level in the room just went up by 10 points.

"Because daddy's a bad person."

"He's not." Haru spoke quietly. "He's not a bad person. Why do you think that?"

Again there was a lack of noise. The whole room was silent. Rin Matsuoka was a touchy subject for the both of them. Haruka had never spoken negatively about Rin to his daughter, but this was the first time he heard her talk about the man in a unfavourable manner.

"Mama. I'm not hungry anymore."

"It's ok. Neither am I. Do you want any cake?"

"No, I'm already full." She stated, rubbing her tummy in up and down motions.

"Alright then. Why don't you go wash your hands and watching tv or something?" Haru suggested as they both rose from their seats.

Sora tucked her chair in and grabbed a tissue to clean the area she had made a mess whilst eating. The crimson haired girl then proceeded to run upstairs; her sporadic footsteps could be easily heard.

Looks like she doesn't want to watch TV tonight.

With a sigh, Haru stared at the two plates before him. At least Sora was able to eat more than half the food on her plate, Haru couldn't even manage to eat that much. It was a shame really, the food was actually very delicious. It was the subject that threw them off their dinners.

Being only a small child, the blame was most definitely not directed at Sora for answering the question, but more so of the situation itself.

Throwing out the left over food, he dumped the round, white plates into the sink. He decided that he would sort them out later.

And that is this chapter done. I feel like the progression of this story is not going very fast. Perhaps I need to write less description and more speech/doing things.
-Zureru-