Funny stories

What was convenient was that Natasha's home was near the place of the gathering what meant that they didn't need cars to go there which, anyway, would have not been possible since the cars couldn't move due to the huge crowd present there. They just had to walk for a few minutes and they soon arrived in front of the house.

Lina didn't even reach the door yet that it got opened from inside. Matteo passed his head outside and took his time to stare at each face of the people before him before he opened wide the door and stepped aside to let them pass. He made an effort to keep an indescribable expression but Jamal could, without an effort, tell that at that moment he was feeling so much relieved.

Carla was the first one to enter in followed by Nelson, Sania, Don, Volga, and in last Jamal and Lina who was clinging to his arm and didn't want to let him go.

Lina indicated Carla the direction of Natasha's room and guided the rest of the group to the living room, she served each of them a cup of tea and placed some snacks on the table. They ate in silence and waited for Carla to come back before they could start talking, the latter returned accompanied by a young girl who went to shyly sit next to Matteo, she seemed to not be used to see so many new faces and so she was obviously feeling intimidated.

Nelson coughed, " are these kids the siblings of that brave young woman? " he asked, hoping to break the ice.

" To say the truth, they are our- " Lina could not finish what she was about to say as Jamal put a hand on her mouth.

" Not exactly. They are children we are taking care of, I'm the one who brought the boy, Matteo, he is an... a kid from Short-river and for the girl, I don't I have met her yet... ".

Dana has been staring at him for a long moment now since she had arrived, which started to make him feel a little uncomfortable.

" What do you think, girl? He is more handsome than how I described him, isn't he? " Lina, who had noticed her behavior for a while, said to Dana. She smirked teasingly, " it looks like you already fall for him, you know if you agree I don't mind arranging a threeso- " once again Jamal held her to finish her phrase.

He pulled her towards him still his hand on her mouth and whispered, " you know, you just met these guys so I don't think it's appropriate to start with your dirty jokes yet, give them the time to know you more first ".

She removed his hand, passed his arm around her neck before she went to lay her head on his chest, " honey, my dirty jokes are the main part of my personality, and they will eventually come to get used to it, and even appreciate it just like Don and Brad, " then, she grabbed his hand from the back and placed it on her on one of her breasts and made him squeeze it. He quickly got off his hand and crossed his arms a little embarrassed.

Volga glanced at Don and she didn't even have to speak as he directly got what she was thinking, he nodded at her and said, " she's right, you will quickly get used to it, you will even find it surprisingly amusing ".

When Jamal landed his sight on that young girl he didn't know but yet, was insistently staring at him, the latter startled when she crossed his sight as maybe she didn't expect that and in a little panic, she moved her sight away. Jamal looked a little confused then Lina patted softly his thigh and whispered to his ear, " I will explain to you later ".

Donald remembered that he didn't even introduce himself properly to the two other people who didn't know him yet, so he apologized before he quickly rectified his fault. After that everyone joined and one by one they started to introduce themselves, as the mood became more relaxed, Sania even confessed to dating Nelson what greatly surprised Donald.

" How? When? Whatever... I'm just relieved, I thought you would end up growing older and eventually dying alone, " the man said while waving his hands.

Everyone started laughing, especially Volga and Nelson who knew her bold and boiling behavior quite well.

" You know it's quite vexing what you just said, " Sania replied jokingly, after the corners of her lips extended in a slight smile.

" And I see that you even changed, " Donald continued to notice, " in the old days, you would have replied by another spiking comment. Now I'm interested to know what happened during the rest of the journey when I left ".

" Well, huh... " Sania would times to times glance at Nelson as if he was waiting for him to give her some idea about what to say, her story was so embarrassing that she couldn't bring herself to tell about it, " in fact, what happened was that- "

" Wait! " Volga stopped her, " it's neither fair nor interesting to let her tell her own story she may purposely ignore some embarrassing moments which are the most interesting ".

" I think you and I will get along very well, " Lina said to Volga, they smiled at each other before Volga proposed Jamal tell the story, however, Lina shook her head in opposition. " Better not, he is a very bad narrator and he can't possibly find the most interesting parts. It has to be a girl so... you, there, will be the one to narrate, " she pointed to Carla.

The young woman was surprised while everyone's gazes laid on her. She asked why would she have to be the one telling the story since it was obvious that she was not good to talk in public.

" No, it has to be you. First, because you said being from MontClay's squadron under the order of Nelson and seeing how close you seem to be that means that you were on the first seats to observe what happened to start from the moment they met until now. Second reason is that to be able to hang out with all those big shots you, who used to be a simple soldier, must be very strong but essentially very smart so I'm sure you noted all the details of the evolution of their relationship. And finally, it seemed like you used to dislike Sania, surely before she changed her behavior, what means that you will not hesitate to tell us even the most embarrassing moments, Am I wrong? "

Everyone glanced at each other speechless, especially Carla who seemed to be the most impressed about how she figured out all those things in such a short interval of time since they had just met.

Lina smiled as if that was the very reaction she was expecting from them. She gazed at Carla and the woman understood, she took a deep breath before she started telling the story.

During all that moment while people were laughing at what Sania had done during that trip, the latter was so embarrassed that she had to bury her head in Nelson's chest to try to escape from that moment, however, her man was not spared too when Carla started telling about the events with Konny and what happened with them in that city. As expected Carla didn't forget any interesting scenes and the way she narrating made them even more fun.

Sania suddenly noticed how much she had changed, just like Don had pointed earlier. She admitted that the old her would have had a very different reaction from how she was, at that instant. She thought that she would have stepped on the table and started shouting at them to stop making fun of her but now, she could understand that they weren't making fun of her but they were just trying to enjoy a good moment by telling each other some amusing stories.

Even Lina would, sometimes, stop Carla on some actions of Sania to add some comments about things more embarrassing and funnier she, herself, had done in the past, and soon everyone around started to imitate her and Sania started to gradually feel less embarrassed. She took a glance at Lina and the latter smiled and winked at her and she immediately got that she did that to make her feel more at ease.

They enjoyed that happy moment while laughing and chatting until Jamal noticed the time that had passed, he made the remark to his friends before he told them that they should probably pause their discussion for a while and go prepare, " the party organized to celebrate our return will soon start ".

" Oh come on, Lina was about to tell us how you declare your love for her, " Volga protested and soon, Don came to support her by adding, " and you just came back from a long journey, your townspeople must understand that you need to have a rest ".

" Oh, believe me, they won't understand, " Lina commented as she was standing up, " and knowing them well they would even dare to come here knocking at the door and reclaim Jamal to attend to the party ". She paused and sighed while faking her disappointment, " he has raised them with some very bad habits, you know, they now grew up being very capricious and picky with him ".

" You're the one talking, remember you are the one who taught them that trick to come knocking at my door, " Jamal replied while pushing her slightly. He turned to his friends, pointing upstairs with his thumb, and told them, " I will go up checking on Natasha, Lina will indicate to you where would be your residences and we shall meet again at the party, see you then ".

Lina held his hand before he left, " wait, I'm going with you, " then, she pointed to Matteo and said to the group, " my assistant, Matteo, will guide you to your new dwellings, and whenever you have a request don't hesitate to address it to him. And with that, I'm officially welcoming you to Stainfall, I hope you will come to like the city. Matteo, I'm counting on you ".

" Since when did I agree to become your assistant? " the boy replied with an annoyed tone of voice.

" Stop complaining and get to work, " Lina simply said, she paused and hesitated for a short moment before she added, " Dana you can go with him if you want ". Then, she pushed Jamal toward the stairs while the others started walking towards the door.

•••

" She's pretty friendly and funny, that Lina, a very interesting person, aside from her jealous side of her personality I mean, " Volga made the remark to Don as they were leaving the house while holding hands just after she told him about what happened when they first met earlier. " You should have been more precise Sania, I almost thought that she would beat the hell out of me, " she shouted at the couple walking one meter ahead of them.

" The reality is that she is not a jealous woman, " Don revealed to them, taking a casual tone, " I didn't witness that scene you're talking about, but I can affirm, with the few things I have learned from her these couple of days, that she was faking it, she was not really that mad ".

" Are you telling me that it was all an act? " Volga shook her head, " I can say when someone is lying and at that moment she wasn't lying, she was jealously mad ".

" Of course she was feeling jealous, she hasn't seen her man for an entire week, she was missing him so much and she even thought he was dead but then, the moment they finally reunited with each other, she found another woman clinging to him. What do you think she felt? It doesn't matter how much trust you give to your partner, seeing such a scene will inevitably hurt you a little ".

Seeing how concerned he was, Volga couldn't help but feel guilty. Even though she understood it was all due to the stress she was feeling at that moment, she still thought that she shouldn't have done that, " I'm sorry. By holding Jamal's sleeve... I didn't mean to- "

" It's okay, I understand so no need to mind about it too much, " Don replied while holding her hand tighter, " but what I was saying was that, miss Lina is not that kind of person of making a scene and yelling at someone she just met ".

" So why did she do that then? " Volga was confused.

Don raised his head a little and inhaled some of that fresh air of the morning. " Because she doesn't know how else to express her feelings, " he didn't wait to see the confused face of her fiancee to explain her more, " when I started to talk to her about you, how much I love and I missed you, she didn't stop questioning me about our relationship about what I did to express my feelings to you or making you notice them and stuff. I didn't take long to understand that somehow she was mirroring that with her own romantic situation with Jamal. That woman doesn't know how to express her love verbally, so playing the jealous and overprotective girlfriend is one of the only tools she has to make Jamal understand that she is actually madly in love with him ".

Volga considered that revelation for a few moments before an idea popped up in her mind, she turned her head towards him and asked, " is Jamal aware of that? "

" Hopefully for her, it seems like yes. He knows that and he still loves her too " the man responded with a slight smile.

•••

When they reached Natasha's room she was already awake and was sitting up on her bed while staring at the wall in front of her.

Even though the door was opened, Jamal knocked softly before he entered in. " How do you feel? " he first asked.

" Exhausted " Natasha turned her head towards them while yawning, " and hungry ".

The three of them laughed. Lina went to lie down next to her and grabbed her hand, " I was very worried, fortunately, you returned back alive ".

Natasha held her hand tighter, " don't worry, I'm not easy to kill, I will always return back. Moreover, I have to do my job and protect everyone since a certain person decided to slack off ".

Jamal laughed when she turned her head towards him while referring to the fact that he came late. He stepped forward and patted her head. " You did a very good job, thank you for protecting everyone, " he praised her with a soft voice while looking at her in way that she couldn't hold herself to blush.

At that moment she thought that she couldn't feel happier.

" Yeah, I agree. You even deserve a gift so tonight I will let you sleep with Jamal, " Lina said while stroking her thigh.

The young woman almost choked herself. " A-are you stupid? What are you even saying? " She stammered while purposely turning her face toward her so that Jamal would not see her blushing.

" What? Don't tell me that you want to sleep with me instead, you naughty girl " Lina continued teasing her while moving her hand higher.

" Get off my bed, you pervert, " Natasha pushed her out. Jamal caught her before she fell over.

" Well, we just passed by to see how you were doing well so I think we will leave you alone, see you at the party, " Jamal told her before he carried Lina and walked out of the room. As they were leaving Lina poked out her head to give Natasha a flying kiss.