Only I, Her Future Husband, Know How to Make Her Act All Lovey-Dovey - Chapter 1

Episode 1: Time Leap Comes Suddenly

“Huh?”

When I woke up in the morning, I felt something was off.

This wasn’t my usual bedding. 

However, there was a familiar scent in the air.

“Wait… is this a hotel? This is strange. I wasn’t supposed to be on a business trip yesterday…”

I tried to clear my groggy head. 

As I looked around, I realized I recognized the room.

“This… is my room, isn’t it?”

I was lying in the bed of my childhood bedroom at my parents’ house.

Why? I only visit my parents’ house during the New Year and Obon holidays.

“Hurry up, or breakfast will get cold!”

I heard my mother’s voice, accompanied by the sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs.

Yeah. 

This really does feel like my parents’ house.

“Mom, why am I back here at the house?”

“House? Stop being half asleep and wash your face.”

I heard the sound of her footsteps descending the stairs, confirming that she knew I was awake.

“Huh? My body feels light.”

The fatigue from work had completely disappeared. 

What’s more, even though I had just woken up, my shoulders didn’t ache.

And, I was ridiculously hungry. 

Normally, I’d be too full to eat anything heavy for breakfast, but now I felt like I could eat a steak without any trouble.

It was strange.

As I puzzled over these odd feelings, I headed to the washroom on the first floor.

I washed my face, dried it with a towel, and was about to fix my bedhead when I looked into the mirror.

“Huh?”

I saw my child-self reflected in the mirror.

My height, which used to be nearly 180 cm, was now only about 160 cm, and my face was that of a kid.

My smooth chin was devoid of stubble.

The muscles I had worked so hard to build at the gym to avoid gaining weight were completely gone.

This… is… me from high school… no, from middle school?

“No, no, no… no, no, no, no, no…”

What is this?! Is it a dream?

But everything felt too real. 

The coldness of the water when I washed my face, the feel of the towel, they didn’t feel like a dream.

“Ma-kun, what are you doing? Hurry up, or you’ll be late for school.”

As I pinched my cheek, my mom appeared, holding a ladle.

“?!”

My mom had also become younger.

She had always looked young for her age, but now, there were no wrinkles or gray hairs at all.

“Mom… did you get younger?”

“Ah, you noticed? I changed my skincare lotion. You noticed before Dad did.”

“D-Dad?!”

No way… I hurried toward the living room where the dining table was. 

And then I froze.

“Ahh… I don’t want to go to work…”

My father, who was supposed to have passed away five years ago, was eating breakfast. 

He was munching on his food quietly, emitting a negative aura.

My father had died from illness five years ago. 

Yet here he was, alive and well.

“I guess I’ll skip work today… I feel like I have a fever, maybe I’ll just take a day off…”

“You can’t skip work. You’re the CEO. You have to set an example for everyone.”

This was a scene I had seen countless times when I was a kid. 

The negative father and the positive mother.

“Come on, Ma-kun, eat your breakfast! Your body is your foundation, especially for a student like you.”

“S-tudent? Me?”

“Are you still half asleep? You got the career survey form, didn’t you? Don’t forget to turn it in.”

“……………………..”

My mind felt like it was about to explode. 

I stumbled back to my room and grabbed my cell phone that was beside my bed.

My cell phone wasn’t a smartphone anymore; it was the black flip phone I used to have.

The time displayed on the phone’s wallpaper was November 25, 2008.

That meant I was back in my third year of middle school.

I struggled to push down the rising bile in my stomach and whispered with trembling lips.

“I’ve… gone back in time…”