Glow

"Dad, I know! I know!"

"If you know, why are you still doing it? You are no longer a child! In a few months, you will be 18 years old. Have you decided what you want to do with your life? You can't depend on me and your mother forever."

"Yes, I already know that daddy. Don't worry, I'll be a good daughter and study hard to be able to do what I've always wanted: to be a marine biologist! Besides, that's still months away. Stop being so boring…"

The sighing noise echoed through the room, the source of that sound was a man with short black hair. In front of him, a girl with facial features similar to his own lifted her lips upward and bared her white teeth.

"Very well, but don't forget what I just told you in! Anyway, in addition to having this conversation with you, I came here to let you know that dinner is ready. Your mom has prepared something new this time, and she wants me to be the first to try it…"

The man's tone darkened as he uttered the last sentence, causing the pretty teenager in front to give him a sympathetic look.

"Dad, don't worry, I think this time she must have already learned how to make pasta-!" The black-haired man's hand was extended towards the young woman before swaying sideways.

"It's tropeiro-bean, she made tropeiro-bean…" The look on his face was so dark that even the night would blush with embarrassment when comparing herself to him.

"So that's it, and to think that Mr. Esmorte would die like that…"

The young teenager threw her head back and brought her hand to her forehead, enacting with her lousy acting skills something that should express her pain and regret.

Unfortunately for her poor father, however, the smile at the corner of her lips was unmistakable.

"Very funny! I'll make sure to save a whole plate of your mother's delicious tropeiro-bean for you, my dear daughter Judith."

The teenager named Judith froze.

"Hh! I-I was joking, yes, it was all a joke!"

"No need to pretend my dear Judith, I'm going to tell Ms Jessica that you want to try her tropeiro-bean."

Judith tried to reach Esmorte, but that act was in vain. The man in front of her left before she could even say other words to convince him not to sacrifice her along with him!

"Dad! You villian!" Her smile was buried under her tearful face.

.

.

.

Hours later, at the dinner table.

"Judith, your dad told me you wanted to try my tropeiro-bean too!"

The smile on the face of the woman with long blond hair shone like the morning sun, full of loving warmth.

Judith wanted to vomit, yet she forced herself to smile with her lousy acting skills.

"Thank you so much, Mom! I'll definitely want to try it, but I'm not that hungry. I think Dad is much more willing to eat his tropeiro-bean than I am!" Her pale, slender fingers were directed at the cruel man who had brought her into this world and dared to call himself her father.

"Hahahaha! Our Judith has grown a lot. She's even trying to refuse your food because she's too embarrassed to eat too much. Don't worry, we love you so much. There's still plenty of leftover tropeiro-bean on the table for all of us to eat."

No way in hell would he fall into that pit alone!

Shame? Honour? Throw it all away! That tropeiro-bean would make whole armies of tough men cry at its hands like newborn babies!

"Hahaha, I'm not that hungry either Loreto. In fact, I made these two dishes thinking about the two loves of my life!" Jessica dodged the bullet like a ninja, leaving no room for further arguments.

She placed two plates full of tropeiro-bean in front of them both!

This was her deathblow!

"That's good dear, that's good..." Loreto Esmorte found himself swallowing saliva, his forehead was furrowed and his smile that didn't expose his teeth opened up his state of agony.

"Yes, Mom, I'm glad you think so."

"Jessica, the truth is, Judite and I talked before and we decided to let you try the food first. Isn't that true, daughter?" The smile of undisguised agony on his face was worth more than a thousand words.

"Yes!"

Judith's hands then went faster than storks and brought a porcelain plate to the table.

Jessica didn't even get a chance to say anything when the tropeiro-bean she made was dumped forcefully into that dish.

The white plate contrasted with its death-black content.

At that moment, the father and daughter pair joined hands to face the mighty enemy!

In war there were no eternal enemies, only eternal benefits!

"T-this…" The smile of the great enemy froze on her face.

Jessica did not expect this turn of events. She was lost from the start when she tried to face the scary father-daughter pair! The grown woman then sighed, removing the three plates of tropeiro-bean from the table and throwing them straight into the smooth can.

She didn't even bother to keep the china plates, they were also gone with the food.

In her view, rubbing enriched uranium into those objects might have been more hygienic.

"Very well, you won. As I knew that maybe you didn't want to eat what I prepared, I also made lasagna," her hands were also as nimble as her daughter's when she took an iron pan from the oven.

"Here it is."

In that iron pan, the aura and golden smell of the melted cheese washed away the former sad atmosphere. Before, death hovered over the dinner table: but that all changed when this brave, glowing lasagna came and defeated the great enemy, freeing everyone from death!

The smell was pleasant, and Loreto didn't hesitate to make use of his skills to get a large chunk out of this appetizer hero.

"Dad!"

"Loreto Esmorte!"

The man's actions froze in midair, and after cursing under his breath, Loreto didn't have the necessary balls to contract his wife. His daughter? Perhaps, but with regard to his wife, he wouldn't even dare speak out loud.

She spoke his full name!

Not even the devil would want to hear his name invoked by such a frightening woman.

"W-what is it?" His hands cut the large piece of lasagna into something smaller: enough to calm the fury of the two lionesses.

"It's nothing, daddy!"

"It's just that you look beautiful today, dear."

Loreto Esmorte's eyes sparkled with sadness.

'This is the sadness of modern man', he thought before cutting the smaller piece of lasagna and stuffing it into his mouth.

The taste was really, really good. It was so good that, instead of having his sadness washed away by eating it, Loreto just felt the emptiness in his chest grow. His stomach was full, but the hole in his heart was irreparable.

The two lionesses didn't miss looking at the pitiful man, they were butchering the innocent lasagna with their knives and forks. Shortly after, only the fat from the oily food was left on their plates.

"Honey, your lasagna is as good as ever."

"Yes mom, your lasagna is the best in the world!"

Their full stomachs agreed with these statements. The tiredness they were feeling after eating this sumptuous meal was enormous, even without any exercise.

"Thanks you two," her dimples turned pink.

"You two are-!"

*BLURP*

Jessica let out a mighty belch, crushing her beautiful holy figure into ashes.

"..." She remained quiet, her cheekbone turning red.

The father-daughter pair couldn't hold back their laughter, making Jessica's face even redder than the red pepper that was present in the lasagna.

The woman in question said nothing, just sighed and stood up. Along with her, the three of them were taken to the sink where they were left to be washed later.

"Good night, mom!"

"Good night, daddy!"

Judith said goodbye with energy and disappeared before her parents had a chance to say goodbye. Despite the failed attempt to say goodbye, the couple was too tired to care.

"I want to sleep in the corner." Declared the woman with long blonde hair.

"Yes darling."

Loreto did as usual and waited for his beloved wife to lie down on the corner of the bed, close to the corner of the wall. As for him, the man with short black hair just lay down on the bed and waited for sleep to come.

This was the true sadness of modern man.

There was no heated activity after an intense day of work at night with his beautiful wife.

Loreto Esmorte was about to fall asleep and start the repetitive cycle of life when something changed.

A light started to shine from nowhere in the middle of the couple's room!

'Hm…?'

The glow engulfed the whole house within seconds!