Chapter Text
Chapter 14: Avoiding The Unavoidable
Juno had never gotten back to him. Not a call, not a text, nothing. And she was always so good at returning calls and texts quickly. It had been Friday morning, well, afternoon really, when she and Louis had woken up to realize what they had done the other night. And now it was early Saturday morning, and there had still been no word from the Beastar.
Louis wasn’t surprised, but he was somewhat concerned. He’d called her five times, asking her to call him back, and he’d texted her twelve times. A little excessive, he knew that, but this was important, and they needed to talk about what had happened between them. Due to her lack of responses though, it was obvious that she had chosen to ghost him.
Well, that wouldn’t do. Regardless of what had happened, they were still business partners of sorts. She was still endorsing his company and he was still donating to her charities and giving funds to her events, so they couldn’t avoid each other indefinitely. And as far as Louis was concerned, the faster they dealt with this issue, the faster they could move on from it. Juno, however, seemed to prefer to take the avoid and ignore route.
That route didn’t work for Louis though. In his experience, avoiding and ignoring things only caused them to come back later as even bigger problems, not to mention they continued to hang over your head the entire time. And so, as he sat at the table that morning, he once again typed out yet another message to the Beastar, this time flat-out telling her to stop ignoring him.
“Come on, Juno,” he grumbled irritably.
He hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he did. And across the table, from where she was eating her cereal of berries and oats, Lillian perked up. “Are you texting Miss Juno?”
His eyes shot over to her, then over to Azuki, who was preparing her own breakfast; like the penthouse, their beach house didn’t have any servants on the property unless they were called down from the mansion, which they hadn’t done this time.
Cursing himself for his stupidity, Louis glanced at his daughter again. She’d already heard him, so there was no point in denying it. “Yes, it’s for work,” he told her, attempting to sound casual. “So you don’t need to worry about it.”
Having finished making her breakfast, Azuki joined them at the table. “I’ve actually been doing some brainstorming on some new business strategies. With her current status as a hero, we should take advantage of her rise in popularity to boost our business.”
Louis’ grip on his phone tightened. While Juno deserved the recognition as a hero for saving Lillian, he didn’t like the idea of what felt like benefiting off his daughter’s trauma. It felt like he would be exploiting her. But his wife had given him an excuse for why he needed to get in contact with Juno that actually was business related, and so he took it. “I was thinking the same thing. I was hoping to get in contact with her about it now so we can discuss it when we go back to the city to tomorrow.”
Suddenly, Lillian’s face lit up. “Can we invite Miss Juno down?”
Louis blinked, surprised by the question. “You want to invite her here?”
Lillian nodded enthusiastically. “I’d love to show her our beach.”
Much to Louis’ surprise, Azuki ended up agreeing with her. “That’s actually a good idea. It’ll allow us to show our appreciation for what she did for Lillian as well as discuss strategy on how we can monopolize on the headlines about what happened.”
Feeling somewhat irritated at Azuki’s blatantly stating that she wanted to monopolize things, he raised an eyebrow at her. “You want her to stay here, at our beach house?”
She shrugged. “We have a guest room, and it’s not like we haven’t had friends stay over before. And like I said, it would show her our appreciation for having saved Lillian. I’m sure she would appreciate a day of relaxing on the beach to get away from all the new publicity surrounding her.” She paused in eating and gave him a suspicious look. “Why? Is it a problem?”
Attempting to remain stoic, he shook his head. “No problem, I just… thought we came here to get Lillian away from all that, but now you’re suggesting that we bring Juno down here to discuss how we can use the situation to our advantage.”
Azuki gave a small shrug and inclined her head in Lillian’s direction. “Inviting her down was her idea.”
“Can we please, Daddy?” Lillian asked hopefully.
Louis considered this. He needed to speak to Juno, but he wasn’t sure if having her be around his family, especially in the same house, was a good idea after what happened between them, at least not until they talked about it. But considering she was currently ignoring him, until further notice, this might be the only way they could have that conversation. And, if he was honest, he found the idea of her sleeping under the same roof as him to be very appealing, but he ignored that.
But how to extend the invitation? As she was currently demonstrating, Juno was unwilling to take his calls or return his texts or voice messages. He wondered if, perhaps, she had simply blocked him before dismissing the idea; Juno wasn’t cowardly enough to do that, plus, they needed to be able to communicate for business purposes. So how to invite her without it looking suspicious?
Glancing at his wife, an idea struck him. If Juno wouldn’t respond to him, perhaps she would respond to someone else. “I have no problem inviting her. But how about you call her, Azuki? You never did get the chance to thank her. You can do it now and extend the invitation as part of your thanks.”
Azuki cocked her head to the side in thought. “Yes, I suppose I could do that. You’re right, I do have yet to thank her.”
“Hooray!” Lillian cheered, throwing her hands in the air. “Miss Juno is coming!”
“Hush, Lillian,” Azuki scolded as she scrolled through her contacts on her phone. “Mind your manners; you’re at the table.”
The young deer sank into her seat. “Yes, Mother.”
Reaching over, Louis covered her hand with his own. “And remember, sweetheart, she’s a Beastar, so she might be too busy to come.”
But Lillian simply perked up some more. “She’ll come. I know she will.”
Louis could only hope.
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Juno was utterly miserable. Ever since she’d so cowardly fled Louis’ apartment, she’d been wallowing in her misery.
After having her driver take her home, she nursed her hangover until it was finally gone, then spent the rest of the day moping around before curling up on her sofa with a tub of ice cream and watching sad movies before finally going to bed.
She hadn’t felt any better the next morning, and so had thrown on a disguise and left her house. She made her way to the local church where she prayed for forgiveness for what she had done, but when she exited, she still didn’t feel any better. She still felt like the same dirty, sinful person she had when she had woken up in Louis’ arms the other day. She wondered what her fans would think of her if they saw her now.
And speaking of Louis, he’d been trying to get in contact with her all day yesterday and today. He’d sent her a number of texts that she’d ignored, and had attempting to call her several times, but she’d declined his calls and ignored the voicemails he’d left. She briefly considered simply blocking him, but quickly decided against it. They were still business partners after all, and so she shared a responsibility in that. And even though she may have been ignoring him for now, she didn’t want to cut him out of her life, nor was she cowardly enough to do so. Or, perhaps, she just couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Just then, her phone rang again. She sighed, thinking it was Louis trying to reach her again, but when she checked her phone, she was surprised to see Azuki’s name on the caller I.D. She wondered why she was calling her. While they had exchanged numbers, it was really only Louis she conducted business with, and so he was always the one who called her. Had Louis gotten her to call her instead since she was refusing to take his calls?
Should she decline it? No, better not. She didn’t know what Louis had told his wife regarding what happened, if he told her anything at all. Ignoring Louis was one thing, but if she ignored Azuki, it might look suspicious… Or was it suspicious that she answered for Azuki and not for Louis? Did Azuki even know she was ignoring Louis’ calls? God, what a mess.
Hoping she was making the right decision, she answered the call and spoke in as cheery a voice as she could. “Azuki, good morning! How are you?”
Azuki’s own voice was as stoic as ever. “Good morning, Juno. I hope this day finds you well.”
Quite the opposite actually, but she wasn’t going to tell her that. “As well as I can be.”
“Hi, Miss Juno!” Lillian’s voice echoed in the background.
This was immediately followed up by Azuki scolding her. “Lillian, you know better than to do that.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
Juno couldn’t help but to smile slightly; Lillian always seemed to be able to make her smile. “Tell her I said hi,” she told Azuki. “So, what can I do for you?”
“Yes, well, I’d first like to offer both my apologies and my gratitude. I have yet to personally thank you for what you did for my daughter.”
Juno blinked. That was why she was calling? She immediately relaxed now that she realized that it had nothing to do with what happened between her and Louis. Granted, she still felt horrible about it, and it didn’t make talking to Azuki any less awkward.
“Oh, of course,” she replied. “As I told Louis, I’m just glad she was ok. Is she doing well?”
“She’s doing fine. You don’t have to worry about her. We’re at our beach house right now, but will return to the city tomorrow, and she’ll be back to school the next day.”
Juno frowned slightly, not quite sure what to say to all that. “Oh, well, that’s good, I guess. I hope the two of you are having fun.”
“Yes, I suppose we are. In light of that, we would like to invite you down for the day.”
Juno blinked, surprised by the sudden invitation. “What, you mean today or tomorrow?”
“Whichever. Consider it as our way of thanking you. If you come down today, we have a guest room you can stay in, and then we can give you a ride home when we return the next day.”
Juno blinked again. This was… anunexpected development. “Oh, um, thank you, but that’s not really necessary.”
“I insist. It’s the least we could do. And also, there are a few business matters to be discussed, so this will allow us to mix business with pleasure.”
Juno considered this offer. Azuki also wanted to discuss business? Did that mean that Louis was there too? She didn’t think she should be around him right now. But wasn’t he supposed to be taking care of the whole lawsuit thing? That meant that he wouldn’t be there. Azuki was a business woman as well, so she was fully capable of conducting business without Louis present. But still, was it a good idea to be around the woman whose husband she had just slept with?
“Well, I don’t know…” she muttered hesitantly.
“Please come, Miss Juno!” came Lillian’s voice again.
“Lillian, what did we just talk about with that?” Azuki scolded.
Juno’s heart melted at the little deer’s request. She really didn’t have the heart to turn her down. And besides, she wanted to personally check on her and see for herself that she was doing ok. And maybe forcing herself to be around Louis’ wife would help her come to terms with what happened.
“Well, if it won’t be a bother,” she relented.
“No bother at all,” Azuki replied dismissively. “The drive should be about ninety minutes to two hours. Shall I send someone to pick you up?”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. You can just text me the address and I’ll have my driver bring me there.”
“Very well. It’s a gated community, so I’ll tell the guard to expect you. See you in a few hours.”
“See you later, Miss J–”
“Lillian, I thought I told–”
The call abruptly ended, and a light chuckle escaped Juno; it at least sounded like Lillian was doing ok. But then a frown crossed her face as she immediately began reconsidering her decision. What the hell was she thinking accepting an invitation to Louis’ beach house, even if he wasn’t there? Why hadn’t she just said that she was busy and taken a raincheck? She didn’t think she was ready to face Azuki yet. What if she gave away what happened somehow?
No, it would be ok. She needed to stay calm. She could do this, she was a Beastar, even if she didn’t feel worthy of her title right now. She would just act normal. And maybe when she got back, she would be ready to face Louis and they could have that talk she ran away from.
At least he wouldn’t be at the beach house when she went down there.
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Louis could tell by the look on Juno’s face when he answered the door that she had not expected to see him. At first he wondered why, but then he figured that it made sense.
He’d told her before that Azuki and Lillian had come up to the beach house while he stayed behind to take care of business, so she likely thought that he was still back in the city doing that. And thinking back to the conversation he’d heard Azuki have with Juno when she had invited her up here, she had never said that he was here. It made him wonder if she would have accepted the invitation if she had known. Probably not.
“L-Louis?” she practically squealed.
A smile made its way across his face. “Good afternoon, Juno. Glad you could join us.”
“Wha… What are you doing here?” she practically demanded in a hushed voice. “I thought you were taking care of the lawsuits.”
He raised an eyebrow at her; so her reasoning had been what he had suspected. “I filed them already, and I have my lawyer on the job. There are waiting periods though; these things take time. So I decided to come up here and join my family.”
He noted how her grip on her overnight bag tightened and she glanced back at her limo parked in the driveway, looking like she might go back to it. “Sorry, maybe I should–”
“Miss Juno, you’re here!”
Lillian suddenly rushed past him, throwing herself at the Beastar and hugging her tightly around the middle. Juno nearly toppled over from the impact, and Louis reached out a hand to steady her. Once she had her balance again, he saw Juno’s face light up and she dropped to her knees to return the hug. Louis took the opportunity to wave off Juno’s driver; he wasn’t about to let her run away again. The zebra behind the wheel stuck out an arm and waved back before he began backing the limo out of the driveway.
Sufficiently distracted, Juno broke the hug and began looking Lillian over. “How are you doing, sweetie? Are you ok?”
Lillian nodded. “Yes, Lily is a big girl.”
“Don’t refer to yourself in the third person; it’s childish,” Azuki told her as she joined them, then turned her attention to the wolf. “Hello, Juno, welcome to our beachfront property.”
Juno stood up. “Oh, yes, hello, Azuki. Thank you so much for inviting me. You have a very lovely…” she trailed off as she looked around and noticed that her limo was gone, “a very lovely place here.”
Azuki nodded. “Yes, I suppose. It’s right by the ocean, and we even have a private beach.”
“It’s so pretty, Miss Juno!” Lillian declared. “I can’t wait to show you. Did you bring a bathing suit?”
Against his will, Louis’ mind suddenly began conjuring up various images of Juno in a bathing suit. That was a sight he very much wanted to see, which was almost strange considering the sight of her naked was still freshly and permanently burned into his memory. He pushed the inappropriate thoughts aside though, telling himself to get control of himself.
“Allow me to take that for you,” he said, reaching for her bag.
Juno recoiled from his reach. “T-That’s ok, I got it.”
Louis frowned slightly. He understood though, it made sense why she might not want to be touched by him right now, but it still hurt a little to have her pull away from him like that, as if she couldn’t stand his touch.
The uncomfortable moment was broken though as Lillian seized Juno’s hand and attempted to pull her inside. “Come on, Miss Juno! I can show you to your room.”
Juno smiled slightly as she allowed the young deer to pull her inside. “Oh, well, thank you very much. And thanks again for inviting me.”
Louis closed the door. “Of course. You’re practically family at this point.”
Juno glanced back at him with a light glare that only he saw before she let Lillian drag her off. He wondered what that glare had been about. Had she thought he had been insinuating something with his comment since they had slept together? He hadn’t been, but he supposed he could see why she would think that. Heck, she might even think that he had tricked her into coming here while she was trying to avoid him. Which, while not exactly true, wasn’t exactly untrue either. He’d simply gone along with his wife’s suggestion of inviting her, despite knowing she was avoiding him. But they needed to talk, and the sooner the better.
“Does she seem a little… on edge to you?” Azuki asked him.
He glanced at her. “It’s probably stress. With everything going on and all the extra publicity she’s receiving, I’m sure it’s been a tough couple days for her.”
“Hmm,” she muttered. “You would think that she would be used to it by now.”
“It can still be exhausting,” he pointed out. “In any case, it was a good idea to invite her. I’m sure a day of relaxing will do her some good.”
Azuki raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t forget the actual reason we invited her. We have business to discuss.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” He sighed. “I better go save her from Lillian so she can get settled in.”
He made his way to the guest room where Lillian had dragged Juno off to. He found the two of them inside, where his daughter was busy talking the Beastar’s ear off. Juno didn’t seem to mind though, as she smiled at what the child was saying.
“And there’s a really amazing water park nearby too,” Lillian was telling her. “And a really cool mini golf park. You should see all the different courses it has, it’s huuuuuge!”
“It sounds like a lot of fun,” Juno replied. “Maybe I’ll check it out some time.”
Leaning against the doorframe, Louis couldn’t help but to smile. “Lillian, you’re not bothering Miss Juno, are you?”
His daughter turned to him with a big smile on her face. “Daddy, can we take Miss Juno to mini golf later?”
He inclined his head. “That will be up to her.”
Juno quickly shook her head. “Oh no, please don’t go out of your way on my account. You were nice enough to invite me down after all.”
Lillian frowned at her. “But you’re the guest.”
Chuckling, Louis gave his daughter an amused look. “Let’s give Miss Juno some time to settle in and get unpacked.”
“Ok,” Lillian replied, sliding off the bed. “And mini golf later?”
“We’ll see.”
The little deer scurried out of the room after that. Louis watched her leave with a smile, but then sighed and looked back at Juno. Her back was to him as she started to unpack. It was clear that she was ignoring him, and he got the sense that she was annoyed with him. Again, he couldn’t blame her for that since it had clearly been her plan to avoid him for the time being.
“Juno–”
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” she told him. “I was planning to see how things went with Azuki and Lily without you around. I know I don’t have a good Poker face, but I hoped that if it was just them here that I would be able to get my bearings. But with you here too…”
Sighing again, he closed the door so they wouldn’t be overheard and stepped closer to her. “For the record, it was Azuki’s idea to invite you. Well, Lily’s actually, but Azuki agreed. She wanted us to discuss business so we could strike while the iron is hot.”
A scoff escaped Juno. “It figures. Not that I mind discussing business, but I would have thought that you’d take a hint.”
He crossed his arms. “We need to talk about what happened, Juno, but you ran off before we could and have been ignoring my calls and texts ever since.”
Juno finished unpacking and aggressively threw her bag down on the floor, still not facing him. “Obviously, that means I’m avoiding you.”
“Juno, we have to talk about this.”
She finally turned to him with a glare. “Talk about what, Louis? Because in case you’ve forgotten, we’ve been through this once already, only this time we went a lot further than…” she paused for a moment and glanced at the closed door before lowering her voice, “than a kiss.”
“I’m aware,” he growled quietly. “But ignoring what happened isn’t going to change what happened or make it go away.”
“I know that!” she snapped. “I just… needed some space for a bit. Is that so much to ask?”
The two glared at each other. Neither seemed willing to back down, but Juno was the one who eventually broke eye contact when she turned her back to him and ran her hands through the fur on her head as she muttered, “Damn it.”
Louis felt her frustration and reluctantly admitted that now was not the best time to have this conversation. But he had to make it clear that this discussion needed to take place.
“I can give you space for now,” he conceded, “but this talk needs to happen, Juno. You might be able to ignore it, but considering I’m married, the matter affects me a lot more than it affects you.”
She winced at that. “That’s not fair.”
Maybe not, but they needed to resolve the matter, and the sooner the better. “Perhaps not, but that’s the reality of the situation.” He didn’t get a response to that and turned to leave. “We’ll talk later.”
Opening the door, he stepped out of the guest room, giving her the space she requested, but intending to bring up the subject again later. He made his way into the living room, where he found Azuki sitting on the couch with her laptop. She briefly glanced at him before returning her attention to the computer. “Everything alright?”
He nodded. “Yes, she’s getting settled in.”
“Why’d you close the door?”
Her question surprised him. He’d only been in there with the door closed for a little over a minute. She’d noticed that? He didn’t even think she would be paying attention. She didn’t suspect… did she?
“I just went over the basic premise for the new business strategy we wanted to talk to her about to give her an idea as to what the plan was. Considering it involves what happened to Lillian, I didn’t want her to overhear since I thought the matter would still be sensitive for her.”
Azuki just stared at him for a few moments before looking back at her laptop again. “Yes, I suppose it would be.”
As strange as it was, her indifference irritated him. Both he and Juno were beating themselves up over what had happened, and yet Azuki was acting as if she couldn’t care less. True, she didn’t know what happened, but still, the indifference irked him. It didn’t even feel like it was because she trusted him, just that she didn’t care.
With a sigh, he dropped into an armchair, his thoughts on the wolf a few rooms away.
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Louis couldn’t keep his thoughts clear. Juno in a bathing suit was far too distracting. Try as he might, he kept losing his train of thought, and he had to make the conscious effort to not constantly look at her and admire her slim figure.
Once Juno had settled in, the four of them had gone down to the beach. They decided to get business out of the way first, and so had opted to go for a walk along the beach while discussing matters. He, Azuki, and Juno walked along at a leisurely pace as the water splashed against their feet while Lillian joyfully ran up and down the shoreline ahead of them out of earshot.
“The attention is doing wonders,” Azuki was saying. “With you having saved Lillian, the daughter of the head of Horns Conglomerate, it’s basically free advertising for us.”
Juno frowned at Azuki’s words. “While that’s good for your business, is it really a good idea to exploit her trauma? I’d imagine that she’d just want to forget about it and move on. But by focusing on this, it’ll be constantly in her face. Do you really want to use her in such a way?”
“Lillian will be fine,” Azuki assured her. “I’m of the mind that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This will be a good lesson for her to use whatever hardships life throws at you to your advantage. You just do your part and let us worry about her.”
Louis cleared his throat. “It’ll be in her face regardless of whether we use this or not. We’ll do our best to help her through this, but I’m afraid it is something she’s going to have to face and deal with. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure she’s alright. But our company aside, think of how this could be good for you too. You run several charities involving abandoned or orphaned children, right? Well, this help draw attention to them. I’m sure your donors and even those willing to adopt will skyrocket with this.”
“Hmm,” Juno muttered thoughtfully. “I suppose that’s true. I still worry for Lily’s sake though.”
“Lillian will be fine,” Azuki repeated. “She’s a strong girl, and we’ll be there for her. I mean, just look at her. Does she look traumatized to you?”
Juno glanced at Lillian as she seemed to be examining different shells that had washed up on the beach. “Trauma can run deep though. And with her being in the spotlight about what happened may be harmful to her. I’m not saying there will be an issue, just that I’m concerned for her wellbeing if there is one.”
Azuki sighed. “We have it under control. We’re even going to have her talk to a child psychiatrist, and we’re going to enroll her in self-defense classes.”
Louis knew that Juno was already aware of the first part, but he hadn’t mentioned to her the self-defense classes he planned on having Lillian take. While she had a security team when they went to certain places with large crowds, more often than not, she didn’t or couldn’t have one, like when on her class trip where the incident happened. So he wanted her to learn how to defend herself if it came to it.
He was about to get into more detail on his plans for Lillian’s self-defense lessons, but another glance at the wolf had him, once again, too distracted. Juno’s bathing suit consisted of a simple white bikini top and bottom. It was as plain and as basic as a bathing suit as could be. She certainly wasn’t out to seduce anyone or draw attention with it, he knew that much, but she was doing it all the same without even trying or realizing she was doing it.
In contrast, Azuki’s bathing suit was more elaborate, made with the intention to show off her body and draw the male gaze. Yet it was Juno who held his attention. Both she and Azuki were gorgeous with fabulous figures, but it was still only the Beastar he couldn’t tear his eyes from.
He immediately began berating himself. These were not appropriate thoughts for a married man. If he focused on anyone, it should be his wife, but it wasn’t. And what was worse, seeing all her exposed fur only served to remind him of Thursday night as he caressed those areas while being buried deep inside her.
Damn it, he needed to get control of himself before he ended up with noticeable situation in his bathing suit. But then he was saved from any embarrassment as his daughter came running up to him with a handful of shells.
“Daddy, look what I found!” she declared, and held a shell up to him.
Louis took the shell. It was a rather pretty color, and he was somewhat surprised to see that it was completely intact. “Nice job, Lily. Good eye.”
She giggled and held up another one to Juno. “I found one for you too, Miss Juno.”
Juno graciously accepted the shell. “Oh, wow, it’s so pretty. Scallops are my favorite too. Thank you, Lily.”
“And this one’s for you Momm– Mom.”
Azuki took the shell and looked at it unimpressed. “Yes, it’s a very nice shell, Lillian.” Then she handed it back to her. “Here, why don’t you see how far you can throw it. Or maybe try skipping it on the water’s surface.”
Lillian’s shoulders sank. “You don’t want it?”
Azuki sighed. “It’s not so much as not wanting it as it is a question of what am I supposed to do with it? It’s just going to lay around.” She eyed the other shells in Lillian’s hands. “And don’t expect to bring those back either. You know the rule about shell collecting.”
Juno stared at Azuki in disapproval before taking note of the sad look on Lillian’s face, and she forced a smile on her own. “Well, I’m keeping mine. I think maybe I’ll make a pendent out of it to wear.”
Lillian’s face broke out into a huge grin. “I can find more for you if you want.”
Before Juno could answer, Azuki spoke up. “That’s very kind of you, Lillian, but not necessary. I’m sure Miss Juno doesn’t need a bunch of sea shell necklaces laying around.”
The young deer looked disappointed, but nodded, “Yes, Mother.”
She took off back down the beach. Once she was out of earshot though, Louis sighed and glanced at his wife. “Really?”
“Don’t start with me,” Azuki told him, tossing the shell Lillian had given her into the water. “We’ve talked about this. We have a beach house home, we can’t have her constantly collecting shells, otherwise we’ll just have a bunch of them all over the place. It’ll be a mess.”
Juno cocked her head to the side. Shew understood what Azuki was saying, but she felt that there was room for compromise. “They don’t just have to be left lying around. You could use them to decorate the outside of the house, maybe have a shell garden, or have them be used for arts and crafts, or you can make them into something, or you could have a simple organized shell collection, or even have a little stand on the side of the road to sell to passersby.”
But Azuki just waved this off. “Such a waste of time. And having a collection of anything is just a pointless waste of time as well, be it stamps, bottle caps, cards, or whatever. If she has such time to waste, it can be put to more important things. It’s only those who work hard who get places in life that really matter.”
Juno frowned. “But she’s a kid. It wouldn’t hurt to indulge a bit.”
Azuki glanced at her in disapproval. “Louis and I are preparing her for the future and will raise her as we see fit. If you wish to indulge children’s pointless activities, then kindly do so with your orphan charity cases until you have your own child to spoil.”
Her harsh words stunned Juno to the point that she stopped walking. Azuki continued onward while Louis paused by Juno’s side. He allowed his wife to put some distance between them before sighing.
“She didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he told her. “Azuki had a very… strict upbringing, so she thinks things need to be done a certain way, and she doesn’t like contradiction. She wants what’s best for Lillian, but doesn’t always convey it properly, and her methods can come across as harsh and unfeeling.”
Juno glanced at him. “I know it’s not my place to say anything about your parenting, but in my experience in working with kids, it’s important to their upbringing to actually let them be kids, even when trying to prepare them for the future. And that’s not just my opinion, there have been many studies done on this as well in regards to child development.”
Louis nodded in agreement. “I’m not disagreeing you, I’m just pointing out that the way Azuki was raised has caused her to prioritize things differently than most, where she focuses on what she deems important in life and dismisses things she considers unnecessary. That comes to how we raise Lily too. She’s focusing on the things she thinks are best for her. And while I understand her perspective, I don’t always agree with some of her methods on certain decisions. So I do my best to try and give Lily what I feel Azuki deems unimportant. For the most part, she allows it as long as she still feels like she’s on the right track.”
“Hmm,” Juno muttered thoughtfully, and they began walking again.
There was a bit of a distance between them and Azuki now, and Louis chose to use the opportunity to break the ice. “And speaking of important things, you know we still need to talk about what happened.”
Looking irritated, Juno glanced at him with a light glare. “Really, Louis? Now? Your wife and daughter are right there.”
He gave her an accusatory look. “If you would stop avoiding the issue, I wouldn’t need to keep bringing it up. This isn’t something you can just ignore indefinitely.”
“And you want to talk about it now?” she pointed out again. “I thought you said you said you were going to give me some space.”
He sighed, silently admitting that she had a point. Two points actually. “No, not now, but we have to talk about it sooner or later, and I’d like for us to at least have an estimate of when that will be.”
“Later works for me.”
With that, she walked faster to catch up with Azuki and Lillian. A light growl escaped Louis at her blatant attempt to avoid the conversation they needed to have and her keeping him at arm’s length. But try as she might, she wouldn’t be able to avoid things forever. Until then, he would just have to be patient.