Days before Takumi and Penelope's encounter in the restaurant, Takumi's mother who had just finished speaking to her son over the phone walked out of the room where she had the phone call.
Once she left, Luna revealed herself from behind the door. While sightseeing the house, she got lost and ended up overhearing the whole conversation taking place between her father and grandmother.
Flabbergasted by the entirety of the conversation she just witnessed, Luna uttered, " Is daddy going to attend a blind date?"
Hours later, when Haruki returned from school, he found Luna to be troubled about something. Greeting his parents firsthand, he went to meet her. Luna was seated in a corner of the room and didn't hear footsteps approaching her as she was way too into her thoughts.
" Hello, Luna!"
?
" Luna, Hello!"
?
Haruki called out to her numerous times, but there was no answer whatsoever coming from Luna. It was only when he shouted to call out to her that she finally noticed his presence.
" Good evening, uncle! When did you get here?" She greeted Haruki politely. Retorting to her earliest question, he uttered, "I was here less than five minutes ago, but you didn't seem to have noticed me. You were deep into your thoughts until I had to shout to get your attention."
Feeling very apologetic as a result, she apologized to her uncle, " Sorry!"
Her uncle then asked her, "What got you so preoccupied that you didn't even notice my presence?"
" The thing is—----------"
Luna told Haruki everything, from the moment she overheard his mother speaking on the phone with his father, and also the details of the conversation they had in between.
Once she was done telling Haruki everything, he uttered, "Ah, the blind date deal. The time has finally come to fulfill it, I guess."
" The blind date deal?" " What do you mean?"
Sighing, Haruki spoke, " There was a deal between my mother and my brother. The deal entailed that he would attend a blind date and in exchange for that, she would be helping him with your adoption."
Hearing what Haruki had just uttered, she was petrified. " Does that mean Daddy struck a deal with Grandmother because of me?"
Knowing exactly what Luna meant by her question, Haruki retorted, " My brother didn't accept the deal because it was related to you. He accepted because he truly wanted to make you his daughter, but the tides were against him at the time, so he had no choice but to comply with Mother's request."
"As for the blind date, that subject had been on for months, so it's not because of you." "Sooner or later, she would have got him to comply with her request of going on a blind date."
Feeling somewhat relieved by her uncle's words, Luna asked, " What's going to happen now?"
Stating proactively, Haruki uttered, " Knowing my big brother, he won't simply comply with mother's request. As he made a promise to her, he'll make sure to see it through to the end. I know he won't back down on this, and he might even have a plan to counterattack, but knowing our mother, his strategy will most probably backfire on him, so—--------------"
" So?"
" So, we'll have to hatch a plan to aid my big brother," Haruki uttered in a concluding statement.
Later that day, after Takumi fetched Luna from his parent's house and brought her home along with him,----------------
" Daddy, may I ask you something?"
Startled, Takumi retorted to his daughter, " Yes, of course!" He nodded, " What is it you'd like to ask, my angel?"
" Are you thinking of getting married anytime soon?"
Startled even more by his daughter's question, Takumi asked the latter, " Why are you asking such a question? Did something happen?"
The question in itself was confusing enough for Takumi who wanted to know why his daughter would certainly ask him such a question out of the blue.
Retorting to her father, Luna uttered, " I was wondering about it, that's all."
Although Luna gave a simple response to her father, the latter couldn't quite believe it. He couldn't help thinking that something was amiss. Not wanting to push his daughter further into revealing things she didn't want to, he uttered, " I have no plans of getting married now, but I do have a blind date to attend in two days."
" A blind date?"
" A blind date is a social engagement where people interested in getting into a relationship encounter each other for the first time and get to know each other on a more prospective level with the intent of establishing a further relationship later on."
Listening to her father's explanation as to what a blind date was, she asked, " Why are you going on a blind date if you don't want to establish a relationship?"
Pausing for a moment, Takumi uttered later on, " I'm kind of getting old, so I was thinking it wouldn't be such a bad idea to attend the blind date. Who knows, I might end up with the right partner on my first try too if fate decides it!"
" I have no intention of getting married now, but I can at least take my chances to get to know someone. If I were to meet the right person, then I wouldn't mind getting married straight away."
Fixating her father with her deep gaze, Luna uttered as she showed support and understanding, " I understand, Daddy, and you're right, but—--------"
" But?"
" Daddy, if it's alright with you, I'd like to help you." Staring at her father, harboring an assertive gaze, she added, "Will you allow me to help you, Daddy?"
—
Back to the present time, Takumi reaches the restaurant where he's to meet Penelope. A waiter attended to him straight away as soon as he sat down.
" Welcome, Sir!" The waiter greeted Takumi politely before handing him the menu. Before departing from his table, he said, " Call me over when you're ready to place your order!"
Walking away, Takumi fixed the menu he was holding. Ten minutes later, the waiter returned to Takumi's table and asked, " Sir, have you decided on what you're going to order?"
Retorting to the waiter, he uttered, " I'm kind of waiting for someone, but she has yet to get here. Once she gets here, we'll be placing the order together."
Just as Takumi had concluded his statement, a voice echoed in the restaurant. As the voice got closer, Takumi was introduced to his date for the night. " We will now be ordering, but in a minute."
" Alright!"
The waiter walked away for the second time. The lady who was Penelope's date introduced herself before Takumi. " Sorry, I'm late!" " I'm Penelope Sainz, your date for tonight, it's an immense pleasure to make your acquaintance."
" Same here," Takumi uttered humbly before the lady he had yet to know. " I'm Takumi Hasegawa."
Once the introductions were formally over, Penelope sat down at the table. Less than a minute later, footsteps were heard accompanied by a sweet voice.
" Daddy?"
Turning around, Takumi came face to face with his daughter, Luna, who ran toward him and hugged him lovingly.
Penelope, who was watching the scene in shock, asked Takumi, " Is she your daughter?"
Before Takumi, her date could give a formal response to her question, Luna retorted in her father's stead, " Yes, he's my father. I'm Luna Hasegawa, and it's nice meeting you, lady."
Penelope found it quite offensive to be referred to as 'lady', but there was something else on her mind at that time, so she didn't pay attention to the small issue.
When the waiter came back to Takumi's table, he was kind of surprised to see that there was an addition. Seeing the waiter standing before them, Luna uttered to her father, "Daddy, let's order quickly! I'm famished."
" Of course!"
Facing the waiter, Takumi ordered a set of meals for both of them. When it came to Penelope's turn to order, she said, " Could you order for me, Hasegawa-San?"
" Are you sure?" He asked her, to which she nodded in response. "In the meantime, I'll be heading to the washroom to retouch my makeup. Please, excuse me for a moment!"
Penelope stood and walked away. Facing the waiter once, Takumi placed the remaining order before the waiter walked away once more.
When there were only father and daughter left at the table, Luna uttered, " It would look like Lady Sainz doesn't appreciate me being here."
" Of course, she doesn't." Takumi nodded before adding almost instantly, "Who would want to have a third wheel on their date?"
" This doesn't count." Luna uttered, " I'm your daughter and I have a right to be here. If she can't stand my presence, she can just leave, am I right Daddy?"
" Yes, you're right, my angel." Father and daughter slightly grinned at each other.
Meanwhile, in the washroom, Penelope was infuriated as she made a phone call to the agency.
" Why did you match me with a married man who has a daughter?"
" A married man?" "A daughter?"
The agency director was confused as to Penelope's question and uttered hypothetically, "What are you talking about, Ms.Sainz?" " As far as I know, Mr.Takumi Hasegawa isn't married, so how could he have a daughter? He's very much single."
"He's not married?" "Are you sure?"
Finding what the agency director told her hard to believe, she asked for confirmation, to which the agency director assertively uttered, "Listen, Ms. Sainz, only single people can appear in the registry. If Mr. Takumi Hasegawa was married, he wouldn't appear in our matrimonial registry."
Moments later, Penelope returned from the washroom. The food order had already arrived and Luna had started eating. Gazing furiously at Luna eating, she asked, " Who are you, child?"