Best Defense

What a Surprise

I looked at Sean who was staring confusedly at me. "You can't teach Ben that way, Sean. He's too small."

Sean frowned. "Hey, you're too much, baby."

"No, I'm not." I'm afraid. "Ben has not been able to properly digest the meaning of your motivation, I don't want him to misunderstand the meaning of your words. He's even not three yet, tell him in words that his age can easily accept."

"Whoa, I think you're the one who caught me wrong, I mean, Franda." Sean shook his head, looking at me with an incredulous look. "Listen, I know how to talk to a kid Ben's age, and I can't possibly fill his head with trash. Unless you don't want me to interfere in his development." he continued in a cynical tone.

I took a breath while massaging the base of my nose. Now he misunderstood me. "Sean, I think we need to discuss this later" I said, deciding, before we had a longer debate and Ben went back into the room.

Sean glanced towards the door, looking at Ben who was carrying a bottle of water in his hand and handed it to me. "Here you go" he said.

I forced my lips to curl. "Thank you, honey." I kissed her cheek stating I was really looking forward to thank her for her kindness, and she returned my smile.

For a while Sean was silent, watching Ben and I talking about the little girl he saw at the supermarket, until his mother's voice was heard screaming from below.

"Lunch is ready, kids!" she exclaimed with the exact same voice and tone as calling Ed, me, and Mia together when we were still living in this house, when I was not married.

Then I answered in the same way. "The!" I deliberately screamed louder to vent my frustration at Sean.

Tyre immediately ran out while Sean was still in his place. His head lowered and I heard him breathing heavily. I pulled up the blanket, then lowered my legs and stood right in front of him. Both of my hands cupped his face. "Why?" I asked as he looked at me.

He raised his shoulders. "I don't like fighting with you" he said in a weak voice.

I smiled at him. "Negotiation, remember? We are only arguing, not fighting. After all, we have not discussed anything about parenting, so, this topic is on the table soon. Okay?"

Sean nodded, not yet excited. Then he lowered his gaze toward my stomach, then rubbed it with both hands and kissed it. Suddenly he raised his eyes to look at me. I'm sure our expressions are the same at the moment. Cheerful smile.

"He kicked me." he said happily, making me laugh. Her roar was adorable, and I couldn't help but kiss her.

"Come, we have to get off before..."

"Panda, lunch!"

Sean and I laughed as my mother's screaming voice came back before I could finish my sentence. Sean got off first while I galloped towards the wardrobe to pick up the shorts from there and put on them. Then immediately following down.

Arriving at the dinner table, I kissed my mother's cheek once before sitting halfway between Sean and Ben. Edward, who had been away with us for some time, was sitting next to my mother on the other side of the dinner table.

I looked one by one at the delicious-looking food on the table. Mom cooks crab soup, usually I'll eat greedily if she cooks it. Then there's fried fish, this is also one of my favorites. And lastly there was gulaschsuppe, a thick soup containing cuts of beef, the dish I liked the most among all.

I know my mom cooked all those meals for me because in the last few days my appetite has been so messed up, but none of those three foods made me feel hungry. I could eat nothing but bread and fruit, and only those two foods escaped into my stomach, other than that they would all come back out in a matter of fingers.

"Panda, why don't you eat?" my mother's voice pulled my mind back.

My mother frowned, looking at Sean and me alternately, I knew she thought that I was having problems with Sean to make my appetite disappear. "Mom, please," I muttered to her, holding back my laughter. "Don't scare my husband, he didn't do anything."

"Daddy was trying to kill mommy."

Sean and I jumped as Ben's voice played out cheerfully. Now that I understand why my mother looked at Sean like that, Ben told me about what he saw in the room.

"Ben, that's not true. Didn't mommy tell you we were just kidding?" I said firmly to Ben, the look in my eyes implying that I wasn't messing with my words. People could have misunderstood what he said and thought that Sean was really being rude to me.

Ben fell silent and lowered his head, slowly lowering his hand from the table. He's scared of me. Instantly I realized that I was too hard on her, then I quickly grabbed her body into my arms. "I'm sorry, mommy didn't mean that."

He nodded, but remained silent. I let it go for a while because I didn't want the others to be distracted. Moments like this are rare, especially in our home. Since my father died, my mother has lived with me more often and it has only been the last few months that she has returned to this house, I mean my mother has really decided to return to live in this house.

"Open your mouth, honey?" I turned to Sean, then looked at the spoonful of food he was shoving in front of my mouth and I shook my head slowly.

"I don't want to,"

"But you have to eat something, Franda. Think about the baby."

"I do, I'll eat another one." I stood up, kissed Sean's cheek once before stepping into the kitchen to see what I could find there.

In the kitchen I found Sora had just pulled out some sort of meat from the microwave. "What is that, Sora?" I flinched as he nearly jumped in shock at my voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" I said in a hurry.

He nodded while rubbing his chest slowly. "It's a yam, brother." he said. Okay, not meat. I can't even distinguish a yam and a meat. You're really great, Franda.

I looked at the yam that looked like meat for a while before speaking. "May I try?" I cut a bit of yam using a knife after Sora nodded her head, then ate it.

I don't know if I've ever eaten this type of yam before and forgotten it or if this is the first time I ate it, but surely this sweet potato taste is completely new on my tongue. And I want to eat it again. More numerous. No, very much.

Without saying anything, I turned around and stepped back to the dining table. "Sean, I want yams like the ones Sora cooks." Being too enthusiastic and impatient, I spoke in a rather high tone from the kitchen doorway, making everyone at the dining table startled and staring at me.

"Pig?" ask mom. I nodded my head quickly. "Where did Sora get the yam?" This time I just shook my head.

My mother stood up and walked past me into the kitchen. "Sora, when do we buy yams?" Sora was silent, no answer came out of his mouth.

"I bought it." Me, my mother, and Sora simultaneously turned their heads toward the source of the voice. Edward was standing behind me with a look I had a hard time explaining.

His words certainly make us curious, since when did he want to bother buying yams? But the next words he spoke were the answer to our curiosity, as well as hitting us.

"Sora is pregnant. My son."