For My Mother

Xuan smiles and gives a light chuckle. "It could have went much worse. She still accepted me as a friend and sister. And I am fine with that..."

She looks away for a moment but then looks back to her mother. "Is it okay to be this way...?"

Mrs. Schultz smiled as she was glad that Junko and Xuan have turned out just fine as only friends and sisters. She was afraid that a big misunderstanding could've led to worse things, but thankfully, that didn't happen. When Xuan asked if it's okay to be this way, she simply sighed and replied, "Well, I would rather prefer for you to have a special boy in your life. But if that is how you truly feel, then I don't have to stop you from being yourself. I'll always love you no matter what you decide...that will never change." With a smile, she kissed her adopted daughter on her forehead to confirm her love.

Hiro then waved to Xuan and called out, "Hey, Xuan! There are a lot of ducks and ducklings coming out to greet us! You wanna come and join us?"

Inwardly, Xuan wondered what it would be like if Hiro and Junko brought home nice men and Xuan brought home a woman. It would have been awkward. But, her mother said hat she wouldn't carry about it if it did happen.

Hiroshima invites Xuan to come see ducks with them. "Mom. Dont let me get in the way of your special day." Ahe walks over to her sisters after.

"Go on then, dear, they're waiting for you." Mrs. Schultz watched on as Xuan joined her new sisters to the lake. She couldn't help but giggle as she remembered when her husband followed both Hiro and Junko to see the ducks and feed them before they return to swimming. And it looks like the new daughter would do just that.

When Xuan got there, Hiro would playfully quack like a duck to try and communicate and feed them. Junko simply watched on and walked with the ducks to know about their rounds in the park. It's all up to Xuan to decided what to do.

Xuan arrived. She watches Hiroshima play with the ducks while Junko went to see where they were going. Taking a look at them both, Xuan couldn't decide what to do. Until, a baby duckling waddled up to her and hopped up on her shoe.

Smiling, she bends down to very slowly and gently pick it up.

The baby duckling would quack as she was picked up by Xuan. She took a good look at her and tilted her head in wonder what the heck is she being held by. But after seeing the smile, the duckling jumped and quacked to see that Xuan was friendly and waddled closer to snuggle her feathers into her hand.

Hiro would notice this and giggled, "Heehee! I think she likes you, Xuan!"

Something so defenseless against Xuan. Her first instinct was to care for it. But then again, it was a duckling. As it cuddled up to her, Xuan would giggle.

"Yeah, I think she does too! Junko, look!" She would call out for her sister.

Junko would hear Hiro calling her and she immediately up to them to see what's up. When she saw the duckling in Xuan's hands, she would smile and say, "Awww, how adorable! You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you get a job as a veterinarian or animal trainer." She put an arm around her adopted sister to show her that she is doing a great job adjusting to her new life.

Hiro would take a few snapshots of the duckling and Xuan with her phone to put in her special surprise for their mother later.

After Hiro took her pictures, the duckling would let out a few chirping quacks and flutter its tiny wings. Xuan kneels down o let it free and walk back to its own family. Xuan smiles softly at the ight of all of the ducks getting together and swimming away.

"Hey, come on. We surely still have a lot to do for mom today right?"

After having enough pictures of the ducks with Xuan, Hiro nodded to her and said, "Yup! Let's go!" The three girls regrouped and joined their mother as they walked out of the park together. Now that they're back in the streets of the town district, the daughters can proceed to the next thing planned for the day.

Junko turned to Mrs. Schultz and said, "Okay Mom, next, we're going to do a bit of shopping here. We want to take you to the places you and Dad went when you two were still dating."

Mrs. Schultz smiled and replied, "That would be wonderful, Junko. I must ask though, how do you know so much about these places?"

To that, Junko said, "Well, we used to look through our old photos and we figured we can relive those fun times for this special day."

"That's my good girl." Mrs. Schultz hugged her daughters closely as they all headed to the first shopping location. It was called "The Closet of All Trades", which is a bright and vibrant clothing store where numerous designs have been imported from all over the world. It was also here where Mr. Schultz helped picked out some new attire for his wife-to-be.