The Second Life's

XXV - Our Togetherness

Felice silently smiled up the stairs. The little girl retreated a few steps further back, opening the door to her room not far from the stairs and slamming shut in a voice that was not too loud but enough to make Julia and Marvin hear it.

After performing that series of actions, Felice walked naturally towards the stairs and deliberately made a soft sound that only came to a glimpse when she stepped on the tiles on the steps.

As Felice suspected once Julia and Marvin heard the sound of the door move, the couple immediately separated themselves by a polite distance and adjusted their expressions. As they see Felice coming down, Julia smiles while Marvin is already at the living room table to put down her bag.

"Felice, why haven't you taken a shower, son?" julia asked when she saw her daughter still wearing her school uniform.

"I came down to get my bag and Feline's, we left it on the couch, Ma," Felice replied as she climbed down the stairs.

Marvin who was closest to the sofa also saw two bags lodged in a mess on the sofa and took both bags before handing them to Felice.

"Thank you, Pa."

Marvin rubbed the top of Felice's head and gave a small smile.

"Already, go take a shower first," said Marvin.

Felice nodded obediently and lifted each bag on both of her small arms before hooking it to each of her shoulders. Seeing Felice's actions, Marvin offers to help, "Do you want Papa to help bring it up?"

Felice raised her little face and shook her head in a serious way like an adult and replied, "No need for Pa, Felice can take her up on her own. Papa also has to take a shower later Mama can be angry if Papa is still wearing work clothes while dinner time is about to arrive."

Marvin raised next to his eyebrows and did not answer his daughter's words while Julia who heard and witnessed the interaction quietly held a smile that bloomed due to the cuteness of her eldest daughter.

After leaving her words of wisdom, Felice returned to climb the stairs smoothly despite carrying two burdens that seemed too heavy to be carried by a child like her. Julia sighed under her daughter's overly kind adult demeanor and made her somewhat sad.

She would rather have Felice rely more on the help of an adult than put herself in that chair and force herself to grow up more mature and reasonable compared to children her age.

After Felice stood on the stairs and was out of sight of her parents, the originally serious-faced little girl revealed gentle emotions on her little face. He carried both bags which in Julia and Marvin's eyes were considered too heavy to carry and swung the two bags to hold him in one hand easily before opening the door of his room.

After Felice boarded, Marvin cleaned up his belongings and went to take a bath at the suggestion of his eldest daughter while Julia went straight to the kitchen, washed her hands, and began preparing dinner.

Each member of the family does their own activities with a lighter mood. At dinner, Feline pulled her older sister down with full fervor. When the two of them went downstairs, Julia had already finished cooking some dishes.

Their mother went to the kitchen to finish off the leftovers that had not been cooked. Feline and Felice sat in their seats and waited obediently at the dining table. Not long after they came down, their father also came down from above. Felice blinked her eyes once when she saw Marvin wearing his nightgown.

Unexpectedly Marvin who always sat quietly in the living room with his laptop to finish his work at this hour, was willing to listen to his words and break the usual routine of the adult man.

"Why have you taken a shower? Usually Papa is still working in the living room," said Feline with an innocent expression of confusion.

Marvin just rubbed Feline's head. The man's cold face softened under his affection for his two daughters. After sitting in his chair, Marvin answered his youngest daughter's question, "Someone told Papa that if Papa doesn't shower before dinner is ready, then Mama can get angry."

Feline tilted her head in confusion, but the moment she saw the look in her father's eyes directed at Felice a pair of Feline round eyes finally shone brightly with sudden understanding. He turned his head towards the older sister and gave his thumbs up with a big smile.

Felice smiled slightly.

Not long after, Julia finally came out of the kitchen with the last two dishes and placed them neatly on the table. The mother returned to the kitchen to put her apron and brought four rice dishes in a large tray.

When the dishes were arranged in front of each family member, Feline took the spoons and forks with a sparkling look fired at the plate containing her favorite boiled fish.

"Good meal!" feline said happily and scooped up a large piece of fish meat before moving it on her own plate.

"Good meal."

Seeing Feline scooping up the flesh of a fish that still had small bones in it greedily, Felice who was sitting next to her sister lifted a large piece of fish meat from Feline's plate and moved it to her plate.

Feline, "??!!"

The little girl looked at her brother with a pitiful expression that made Felice lift a smile on her lips and said, "There are a lot of bones inside the fish. Brother will separate it for you, lest you accidentally swallow the fish bones."

Feline's sad expression instantly brightened back and the little girl nodded obediently. She glanced at the dinner table and looked at her brother's usual vegetable kale and scooped up a large spoonful before moving it to her brother's plate. As a result Felice's plate is now full of fish and kale.

The scene of the two little girls amused their parents. Julia felt warm when she saw Felice's concern for Feline. She is also happy with Feline's dependency and her affection for her sister, who has never changed even though Felice's attitude is not the same as it used to be.

As Julia smiled with the interaction of her two little daughters, a piece of chicken was placed on her plate. The woman stared at the perpetrator who put her down and smiled gently.

Marvin does not say affectionate words like a couple in general, all he does to show his care is through action. Just now the stiff man placed the largest and fattiest piece of fried chicken on Julia's plate without making a sound.

Even when Julia looked at him, the man did not flinch and continued eating as usual.

"Eat more a little. Tomorrow you will also work," said Marvin in his usual tone.

Julia has a beautiful and slender face and body shape despite already having two daughters. Despite having a graceful and beautiful figure, in fact Julia is a carnivorous eater. He loves to eat meat and does not like vegetables. In contrast to his wife, Marvin was a herbivore who did not really like eating meat compared to vegetables.

Feline and Felice also have inversely proportional tastes. Perhaps their taste buds were also passed down from their parents. Feline loves meat, especially fish while Felice prefers vegetables. Of course this was just taste, not that Felice could not accept meat. In her previous life, after Felice lived in America, she slowly changed herself to conform to the culture of Europeans. The opportunity to eat vegetables was very rare so after her rebirth, Felice spent her time enjoying the vegetables she used to have a hard time with.

Seeing the stiff affection from her husband, Julia's smile grew even sweeter and she moved every vegetable on the plate to her husband's plate in large numbers to the mountains and said gently, "You too, eat more. You've been getting thinner lately."

Julia's unexpected behavior makes Marvin's earlobes blush uncontrollably even though his face has no trace of any hue. Felice and Feline quietly stared at the sweet interactions of their parents. This is not the first time that both parents have behaved this way. Sometimes Marvin will act very soft and show warm actions to his family, but sometimes this man will also behave very stiff.

And when Marvin is in a rigid phase, Julia will turn to show great affection to the husband like a new partner. Then yeah.this is what happened.

Sometimes Felice is amazed by Julia's sharpness. His mother really had such great eyes that even his father who dropped a kilo could be detected by his mother before Marvin even realized that his weight was down.

The four-member family enjoyed a loving and harmonious dinner with sweet feelings fluttering in their hearts.