The Flowering Quince Smells of First Love
That morning, the fog peculiar to this countryside covered the residential area as if to hide it. It felt so out of place in the clear air of early spring that I—Shizue Sato—stopped sweeping the porch and
"It's still so cold..."
I muttered to no one in particular. Then,
"Shizue-chaaan!!"
More than the sudden calling of my name, I was bewildered by a voice I definitely shouldn't have heard in this place, but I called out toward the porch where I still couldn't see anything,
"Yu-chan...?"
And
"You got it!"
My grandson Yu, clutching a bonsai tree with pale red flowers for some reason, jumped into my arms with a smile that looked like he was about to cry, his right cheek swollen.
"...For now, shall we go inside? It's almost spring, but it must have been cold in February, right?"
Yu must have walked all the way here in the cold despite it being early spring; his body was completely chilled and he was shivering slightly.
The Tanaka residence I am renting was the house the landlord originally lived in, so it was a house I was grateful for as I got older, with a water heater and a large bath. After losing my husband to cancer five years ago, I had been living like a shell, but my tea-drinking friend Tanaka-san, who had also lost her husband to illness early on, said,
"If you stay alone in the house you lived in with your husband, you'll end up losing your mind too! How about this? It's just a suggestion, but the house I lived in with my husband is still there. If you'd like, would you mind living there as a caretaker?"
"You're right... I'm sorry, but I'll take you up on that."
And so, I am living there now, but it is a house too beautiful for someone living alone. There are two six-tatami rooms that can be accessed through sliding doors, the kitchen is a dining kitchen, and the system kitchen that Tanaka-san was particular about is unified in pale pink. My current hobby is slowly drinking various flavored teas at the single dining table placed there—which I made pale pink since I was at it.
Since I started living here, Tanaka-san has been overjoyed,
"I knew you were meticulous and liked cleanliness, but I'm happy to have you living in the house so beautifully."
She often comes over for tea, and we go out to eat together saying,
"It's a rare luxury, isn't it?"
We have built a good relationship and I have no anxieties, but there are some dissatisfactions. —That is—
It was around this time last year that my son Tadashi said he was getting a divorce. He said bluntly,
"My wife was cheating on me, I'm taking Yu."
He just said that and left without even drinking tea, as if to say he wouldn't let me say anything. I was a little angry at his attitude, and the face of Yu, who was still in elementary school, came to mind, leaving me with an indescribable feeling.
As expected, given Yu's state today, I felt irritated at Tadashi, let Yu into the living room right after entering the entrance, and turned on the stove,
"I'll make something warm, is cocoa okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Shizue-chan."
While feeling reluctant to leave Yu, who answered while looking down, I boiled water in an electric kettle in the kitchen in the back, and when I was vaguely thinking about how to ask Yu about it, a familiar ringtone rang from my apron. When I answered in a hurry, it was Tadashi as expected,
"Yu is gone! Isn't he at your place, Mom?"
When I opened my mouth to answer, Yu was there before I knew it and shook his head.
"He's not here. Did you look properly? I'll look for clues here too."
When I said that and pressed the call button, Yu said,
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to see Dad right now."
While hugging Yu, who was crying his eyes out, I said,
"It's okay. Come on, let's go over there and drink some cocoa together."
I had Yu hold his favorite white cup with cocoa in it, and while brewing tea for my own cup, I was racking my brain on how to ask the reason for the parent-child quarrel.
When I returned to the living room, I sat in front of Yu, who was blowing on his cocoa to cool it down,
"How is it? Are you okay? Have you warmed up a little?"
"Yeah..."
Only the sound of sipping drinks flowed in the quiet living room... Then suddenly Yu started laughing,
"Yesterday's commotion feels like a lie."
I made a smile and said,
"Hmm, what commotion?"
Yu froze for a moment—he probably let it slip—but as if he had made up his mind,
"Shizue-chan, will you listen to me?"
"Sure."
Then Yu began to speak bit by bit,
"I found someone I like... It's the homeroom teacher at the junior high school I'm going to now."
"I see, that's a wonderful thing. To like someone."
"And, before winter started, she gave me this flowering quince bonsai. I was so happy, so happy... Shizue-chan, do you know the flower language of the flowering quince?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not very familiar with it."
"There are several, but one is 'love at first sight,' and I misunderstood that the teacher liked me too."
"Why did you think it was a misunderstanding?"
Here Yu said while crying,
"The person Dad introduced yesterday as someone he 'found that he likes'... ugh, it was the teacher. I accidentally said 'Teacher, you idiot!', and Dad... hit me."
When I hugged Yu, he started crying loudly,
"I... I'm the idiot, right? If I think about it, she wouldn't like a brat like me."
I looked into Yu's eyes and said,
"Yu, you are a wonderful boy, and you are smart. You actually knew when you received the flowering quince bonsai, didn't you?"
Yu wiped his tears and said,
"One of the flower languages of the flowering quince means 'leader.' Also, when she came for a home visit before, Dad called her 'Megumi-chan'."
"Ah... there was a little girl with that name next door a long time ago. And then?"
"Several times, when I went to play with friends on my day off, I saw the teacher and Dad talking happily at a cafe."
When I was struggling to think of what to say, Tanaka-san suddenly said at the entrance,
"Shizue-san, your son is here!"
"Oh no, Shizue-chan, what should I do?"
I said with a smile,
"It's okay! Leave it to me."
When I said that, I went to the entrance. Tadashi, looking very grumpy, was waiting there.
"Mom, can you stop hiding Yu?"
"Tadashi, you have things you're hiding from Mom too, right? Like 'Megumi-chan'?"
To Tadashi, who was speechless, I said,
"You have a child in puberty like Yu, so this isn't exactly commendable behavior, is it? 'Megumi-chan' must have been aware of Yu's feelings too, right?"
"That... apparently she wasn't aware at all. Yesterday, she came home with her shoulders slumped, saying, 'It's unpleasant when the homeroom teacher is a mother, isn't it?'"
Hearing that, there was a sound of a sliding door coming off its track behind me, and Yu said,
"Dad, is that true?"
He is hanging his head in disappointment. Poor thing... Then Tadashi said,
"Yu... that bonsai is a keepsake from 'Megumi-chan's' grandfather. She was worried about Yu, who lost his energy after I got divorced. So, when I realized we were childhood friends, she apparently gave me that bonsai."
"...Why?"
"She apparently wanted to say that just as those small flowers bloom in early spring, the winter season will also end someday. She was speechless when she heard the flower language."
Yu raised his face and said,
"What, I'm the idiot! Dad, if you make the homeroom teacher cry, I'll blow you away next time."
"...What does that mean?"
"It means be happy."
"Yu~"
Tadashi rushed to Yu and was rubbing his cheek against him in tears. Yu, while half-crying, said,
"Dad, it hurts. Go shave your beard."
He was just letting it happen. Then Tanaka-san came and said,
"Has the talk finally settled? You must be hungry, eat some of Tanaka-san's homemade red bean rice balls."
She brought a large plate full of rice balls. Tadashi and Yu cheered,
"Man, I love you, Tanaka-san!!"
They said while biting into the rice balls. Watching that with Tanaka-san, I said,
"That's good, isn't it, Shizue-chan.""Yes, it really is."
"Sorry for the intrusion, Shizue-chan, thank you for this morning."
"It's fine, but... what about the bonsai?"
Yu whispered to me secretly,
"Leave my first love here."
His smile was refreshed.
"I understand."
At that moment, Tadashi said,
"So it's to keep from getting senile, huh?"
I don't think it was a mistake to give him a knuckle sandwich for the first time in a while.
Please keep it a secret that I talked with Tanaka-san about the future bride after seeing them off.
The End