For a long time nobody spoke, Grayson stood holding Eryna’s shoulder and looked at her with disbelief, His attention was diverted suddenly when he felt a tug on his jacket. He looked down at the kid who was looking at him with revengeful eyes.
“Are you the monster who has captured my Mommy?” Simba was furious.
Grayson was taken aback by the kid’s words, he looked at Eryna and then glanced back at Simba.
“Is he, is he your—“ Grayson paused with a questioning look on his face.
Eryna’s lip curled into a smaller and she nodded, “Simba! Meet Uncle Grayson, He is my brother,” Eryna sat beside Simba and told him.
“He is a good person?” Simba tried to reassure.
“Yes, he is a very good person,” Eryna nodded. Simba after hearing his mother looked at Grayson and then clung to his legs.
“This!” Grayson was not very good with kids and it surprised him how frank Simba was to him. He slowly reached out to his head and touched his silky straight hair and rustled through it.
Simba did the usual thing he rubbed his face onto Grayon’s legs and giggled. Eryna knew Grayson wasn’t sure how to deal with Simba but she waited for him to open up on his own.
“Can I pinch his cheeks?” Grayson looked at Eryna and asked.
“I don’t know, Try it, Who knows if my little lion will like it or not,” Eryna replied with a grin.
Grayson looked back at Simba and crouched beside him.
“Hi!!...I...AM...GRAYSON...IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU,” Grayson spoke in a robotic voice.
“Grayson, kids can understand when you talk to them in a normal tone, you don’t have to act like a robot,” Eryna spoke sarcastically.
Grayson looked at her in surprise, “ They do?” It was as if he had found a huge secret of the universe.
“I AM SIMBA...NICE TO MEET YOU TOO…” Simba interrupted them by grabbing Grayson’s face and turning it towards himself, he too replied in the robotic voice, Grayson was taken aback by those actions, “ AND YOU CAN PINCH MY CHEEKS…” he added still in a robotic voice. Grayson’s lip twitched and a smirk appeared on his face.
He slowly lifted his hand and stroked his puffy cheeks and chuckled.
“You are such an Oddball, just like your mother,” he lightly pinched his cheek before lifting him in his arms.
“Let’s go and play by the flowers,”
Eryna was surprised to see Grayson walk away with Simba. She was left behind with Renya who was standing beside Simba’s grave.
“I am glad you finally decided to move on,” he muttered.
“It is hard...living with pain and memories of things you can not have,” Eryna approached her slowly. “We weren’t fated together, so we parted. But there is one thing I will never let go of, is the feeling of belonging Simba gave me, HE Made me feel like him.”
Eryna sat by the tombstone and dusted off the mud. “ I will never find a home, now,” She whispered, her heart melted and she pulled out a flower from the bouquet and placed it on the stone.
Reyna placed her hand on her shoulder and patted it lightly, “ We are your home now,” Renya Hugged her from behind. “You have Simba, You have me, and I promise this time I will not let you go,” Reyna replied in a deep voice. Eryna curled up in her embrace and closed her eyes lightly.
“It’s warm…” she rubbed her face against Renya’s shoulder and made herself comfortable.
The cold breeze blew and Eryna felt it against her cheek, Eryna was just like a kid craving for love and affection, she wanted someone Thea would love her and would hug her tightly that would make her forget her sadness. And right now when Renya has held her like she used to when they were kids her heartfelt warm and happy, and the cold pricking wind that would usually make her shutter and tremble was quite enjoyable.
“Sigh! You are such a traitor, You are celebrating your family reunion without me?” It was Hunter’s voice. Eryna opened her eyes suddenly and looked up to see him standing before her holding a white plastic bag in his hand.
“What are you here for?” Eryna muttered while pouting.
“I am here for a family reunion too,” Hunter pointed at the gravestone beside Eryna. “Did you forget I was your brother-in-law so it makes us a family,” He replied in a joking manner.
Eryna saw him hiding his loneliness behind his smile, so she laughed with him.
“Do you know your sister almost killed me the other day,” Hunter changed the topic? Eryna looked at Renya with shock before asking, “Almost? Why didn’t you do it completely?” She asked sarcastically.
“This woman!” Hunter grinned his teeth before throwing the Bastia bag over Eryna’s stomach.
“Ah!...” Eryna made a painful expression.
“Did it hurt?” Hunter swiftly sat down beside her and asked.
“It’s been a while, my stomach has started hurting again,” Eryna muttered while picking up the plastic bag.
“Is it serious? Should I bring you to the hospital?” Renya asked her as she pulled onto her shirt.
“No, it’s nothing serious, I will go there on my own if there is something wrong,” Eryna placed the bag away and sat up.
“What is In there?” Eryna glanced at the bag.
“Ok, there are a few snacks from when we were in the college,” Hunter happily opened up the bag and pulled out a packet.
“Look what I have here for you,” he grinned as he waved the packet in the air.
“Those— are those candied nuts?” Eryna asked in a shocked voice.
“You guessed it right,” he gave it to Eryna and pulled out another packet, and gave it to Renya.
“Here try this, Simba is not here so you can eat his portion,” he spoke with a scoffing expression as Renya had beaten the hell out of him a few days ago.
“Stop looking at me like that, I already said sorry,” she pulled the packet out of his hand and spoke.
“Your sorry doesn’t make my head hurt less,” he replied.
“Shut up both of you,” Eryna frowned.
“Okay, as you wish,” Hunter looked away at the field where Grayson had plucked out half the flower path just because Simba told him to do so,
“You told him,” Hunter spoke in a low voice.
“I couldn’t stay away from them anymore,” Eryna replied while tossing the nut into her mouth.
“By the looks of it, I think our flower farm will become a grazing field if this keeps on happening,” Hunter muttered.
“Sigh! I think so too, but look how happy they are,”
Grayson was smiling ear to ear while playing with Simba.
“The Opening Party is just around the corner, Are you ready for it?” Hunter asked.
“Around the corner? When is it?” Eryna jumped in surprise.
“Stop acting like that, I told you about it before!” Hunter nagged at her,
“But-“
“No buts, it’s not like you have to do something, just be there and it will be okay,” Hunter replied.
“But what about the model? I haven’t selected any,” Eryna muttered.
“I knew you were going to do that, that is why I selected her on my own,” Hunter added and tossed a few nuts into his mouth.