Chapter 67

After that issue was solved, everyone stayed at the mansion, however, a tense atmosphere was weighing down the 35th room, which was actually the room where Tian, Taria, and Ray were.

"Mm.. well I think we have to go now", Taria said, unable to get up as both Tian and Ray were laying their heads on her lap

"Mom, why is this man here at our room?" Ray said, climbing over his mother and hugging her tightly as a normal child he wasn't

"Hey brat, this was my room for longer than your age", Tian said, feeling jealous of his own son as his short arms were surrounding his lover's neck. He paused for a moment, then he got up and carried both Taria and Ray then sat them on his lap, or to be exact, sat Taria on his lap while Ray was unwilling to let go of her neck.

"Haha hahaha, I never thought having another copy of Tian would be this hard", Taria thought, swaying side to side as they were pulling her

"That's my mother, old man", Ray said

"I had her before you, baby kid", Tian said

"Guys please stop", she said

"Let her neck go", Tian said

"Or what, will you die again?" Ray said

"ENOUGH, GHA", Taria said, then she broke free from their hands and ran out of the room.

Taria went to Ve's office, yet once she entered, she realized that she wasn't annoyed at all by Tian's and Ray's attitude. A part of her was bothered by their unreasonable jealousy for sure, yet a deep part was happily dancing as she finally got to see her family together, a family she built.

"Why are you standing there smiling like an idiot, kid?" Ve asked

"Oh, brother Ve. Tian and Ray are getting crazy", Taria said, walking towards Ve to see what he was doing

"Being with one brat was so hard, but you have to deal with two now", Ve said, hiding some papers under the others for her to not see them, however, he was so late.

The name Ray Tian Leo flashed on her eyes, yet the numbers under that name shocked her more. Poisons Taken:7, Training level: C, Kills:2

Taria's eyes got wide open and she couldn't blink. She pulled the paper fast, and she kept staring at it silently, then tears started coming out of her steady face. Taria squeezed the paper, looking at Ve with a sharp cold look even though her tears were getting down her cheeks.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked coldly

"Your son's evaluation", Ve said

"Ve.. tell me the truth, you weren't planning on keeping Ray out of the family mess since the start, were you?" Taria said

"Smart, as ever", Ve said calmly

"You told me that the trainings include swords, shooting and physical training, but you never mentioned poisons and killing", Taria said with a frown, slapping the paper on the desk in front of Ve

"I never told you anything, you just never saw what your son's trainings were like", Ve said said

"He is your nephew! How could you give him poisons?" Taria shouted

"... Do you really want to know the reason?" Ve asked, yet his sudden question confused her to the point she didn't know what to answer

"If you want to know, come to the lake side at midnight. I have a mission to complete now, and don't say anything to anyone", Ve said, then he got out of the office calmly as he always is, leaving Taria to climb a mountain of questions running through her mind.

She knew that Ve wasn't a bad person, however, when it comes to poisoning her son, she couldn't stay without doing anything. Ray wasn't the type of person to complain about anything. Even though he was still a child, he never showed his weaknesses to anyone. His pain, his fears, and his feelings were perfectly hidden from the whole world. Taria felt a rock getting over her chest. She blamed herself for being a bad mother for a perfect kid, and she felt like crying but she kept her cries hidden.

She wiped her tears, then she faked a smile and went out of the room.

"Mom / Taria", Tian and Ray shouted at the same time. Their similar sharp eyes and straight hair, and their similar way of calling her forced her to run towards them and hug them tightly. Her sunshine and her blue sky, her sun and moon, her soul and heart, her everything.

"... what happened?" Tian asked after he heard her sobbing

"Nothing, I just love you two so much", she said

"Mom… are you ok?" Ray said, and his soft voice got straight into her wound, yet she didn't know if it healed it or made it worse. She looked into his eyes, then she wiped her tears and kissed his cheek softly

"Your mother will always stay by your side", she said, sneaking her words between sniffs and sobs for him to understand, then she poked his nose and smiled warmly.

Tian realized that Taria was hiding something, and he realized that that something was related to their son, however, he didn't want her to get more worried, so he carried Ray on one arm, and carried her on the other

"How about we all go to the zoo today?" Tian said

"Let me down, old man, and why would we go to the zoo?" Ray said

"Yaaaaayyyy let's go to the zoo!" Taria said energetically while surrounding Tian's neck with her arm and raising the other high, then she looked at Ray and said "It's rude to call your father an old man, Ray"

"Why are you excited for a zoo? It's just some animals on cages", Ray said

"Kid… wait you actually have a point. Honey are zoos funny", Tian said

"Can't you guys have fun like normal people? Is it a family tradition or something?" Taria asked, then she jumped down of Tian's arm and held his hand saying "I will teach you how to have fun~"

Her warm smile that curves her eyes a little, her wavy hair that was full of life, and her hand holding his gave Tian a flashback of their old times together. He saw her younger self, and he also saw his, so he smiled unconsciously and followed her while she was running through the place with their hands clasped.

On the other hand, Ray was still on Tian's arm, seeing his mother's lively side that was absent for a while. His parents' smiley faces and coordinated steps made him sure about how much they love each other, yet it also made him sure that his mother's pure heart would get broken again if she kept getting attached to people easily. His father that he met not long ago, felt like a thief stealing his beloved mother from him, yet he wasn't annoyed as he knew that she needed that strange man more than him, or that what his mind told him.