Happy Family!

"Both of you freshen up, food is almost ready!" Anna remarked at them with a warm smile. "Ace, you can use the guest room, it's beside Nina's room. Do you need extra clothes? Steven, do you think that your clothes will fit him?"

Steven moved his eyes between Ace's body and his. "They will fit!" he responded and thought, 'Do Anna have to embarrass me by comparing my fat-filled body with a toned muscular body.' Pulling his mouth to one side, he stood and walked towards the closet in one of the bedrooms.

In the hall, the mother and daughter gave each other a high-five and silently laughed to themselves. Although Ace felt sad for Nina's father, he smiled at the two women acting as children after he left.

Holding a towel along with folded cotton shirt and pants, Steven came out from the master bedroom and placed them on the bed of the guest room. Coming out of the room, he signalled Ace to go and shower. As they crossed each other, Steven stared at Ace from top to bottom, wondering how he build those muscles and solid structure. Standing beside his wife, she asked to look at the things in the kitchen and sat beside Nina. "Even though your mom appears fine, she hasn't been peacefully sleeping since you left. At least, make sure to call once in two days." he requested her, staring into her eyes.

Nina felt her heart becoming heavy, hearing her father's words, and his eyes appeared as if begging her to be safe and sound. She wanted to assure him as she was fine and would call him whenever possible, but the words seemed to be not coming out of her mouth. "Okay!" was all she could utter. It seemed as if her heart and mouth knew that she would end up telling about everything about the village, forest and the weird things that were going on, once she fell into the sweet words of her father.

Steven stretched his lips, forcing a smile for a second and then asked her to freshen up. Going to her room, Nina closed the door and shut her eyes. The next moment, when she opened her eyes, a stream of tears flowed down. She wanted to talk to her father or mother about everything that might happen in the next few days, and at the same time, she didn't want to make them more worried.

After thirty minutes, she came out to see Ace and her father laughing and talking. Nina approached them and panicked, looking at a picture in her father's hands. "What did he tell you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes towards Ace.

"Nothing much!" Ace responded, grinning at the photo.

"Dad??" she shouted at Steven.

"Okay!!! Okay!!! I told him about the story of this picture."

"Dad??" Nina yelled again, making Ace smile and laugh more brightly.

"Mr. Brown, Can I take a photo of this?"

"Ace!!!!" she vexed in embarrassment.

"Nina, how can you be so cute? You struck your picture on your parent's wedding photo since you weren't invited to their marriage." uttering that, Ace was giggling uncontrollably that even his eyes started tearing.

Nina blushed, seeing him laugh. The scene of his teeth appearing and disappearing as he moved his lips was very much appealing to her. His hair was untied and falling on his shoulder. His eyes were squinted as her cheeks raised because of the widely stretched lips. "How can you be so handsome and cute at the same time?" she thought to herself.

At the same time, Ace moved his fingers over the beard to smoothen and turned her gaze from the photo to Nina, who was red. Noticing that Ace caught him, she uttered, "If my parents aren't here, I would have removed that smile on your face," grinding her teeth.

Ace wanted to control, but by a glance at the photo, he was recalling the story Steven narrated. Moreover, his mind was imagining little Nina's expression when she demanded her photo to be struck, was making him laugh.

"It's already nine! let's eat!" Anna called out. Even she was smiling, listening to the conversation they were having in the hall.

Everyone sat down, and Ace sat opposite Nina. Noticing all her favourite on the table, Nina didn't wait for a second to start eating. Serving herself some rice and chicken curry along with a fish fry piece, she mixed the whole rice with the curry and stuffed her mouth. As she mixed the entire rice in one go, her fingers were covered with rice particles and gravy stains.

Watching her plate and hand reminded Ace of Czar. He grinned as he was astonished to see her that way, and he felt that Nina had the capability of surprising him every moment. He glanced at all the things on the table, so that he could ask his mother to make those dishes.

Observing that Ace wasn't eating, Anna inquired if he didn't like the dishes, to which he shook his head and replied that he loved them. Nina arched her eyes as if asking if he was okay while chewing, to which Ace smiled and started eating. Moreover, Ace loved that Nina didn't hide or change herself just because he was in front of her.

As Nina was pushing food as if no tomorrow, she choked and coughed suddenly. Steven and Anna stood up instantly, and Anna patted her head while Steven fetched her a glass of water.

Ace viewing them didn't understand whether he should be happy or cry. He didn't want to disturb just a happy family, and neither did she want to trouble his kind for her. Swallowing hard, he left the food in his hand with an aching heart. Marrying her into the village where her parents wouldn't be allowed and she wouldn't be able to come out because of the duties, didn't appeal to him. He understood that not only would her dreams be collapsed, but her parents would also have to succumb to the sadness of missing her.

Rolling his eyes around, he controlled the tears that want to crawl down. His whole body numbed, no understanding what her future would be. Though he gave her strength by telling her to enjoy the present, he couldn't stop himself from worrying about the future.

He wanted to escape or hide her somewhere, but what would the result of it be. Even if he wanted, he couldn't as James knew everything about her, and he had trusted him as his own son.