Vol.4 Ch.81 - We're a Couple

“Huh? Where am I?” My father suddenly jolted himself awake, “Whoa, listento this honey! I just had the craziest dream! Ed came back safe and sound, andwith a girl no less-!”“Dear,” My mother gave him a cup of tea, “That wasn’t a dream.”My dad, now thoroughly confused, turned around towards me and Anna, whosat next to each other, then nearly fainted again. Calm yourself, man! Are youreally that weak of heart?!“Oh Heavens! Son, you’re back!!!”“Yeah yeah, I just came back here to say hi though. Don’t get too excited tooquickly.”My parents didn’t seem to listen to my words at all as they gave me hug afterhug, but thankfully it seems Eleanor was all ears.“You’re not staying here?”“Oh, I’ll still be in the area, since I was planning on getting situated inSpringwood to help out Anna and her family.”“Ah,” My mother finally noticed, “So your name is Anna? What a sweetname for such a pretty little lady like you!”“Eheh, oh shucks, Mrs. Saint.” Anna blushed.“Oh no, I’m serious! But still, for my son to be dating such a cutie, you reallyshould be careful around him!”Ehh, mother…! To think she had it in herself to tease us, and also, that’s rudeto Anna! I get it’s funny and all, but I’m sure Anna doesn’t enjoy thisrelentless teasing about us being together-“Thank you, Mother, I’ll take that advice to heart.”Anna glared at me from the side, looks like she’s still a bit mad about theother night… Eh?! Wait, Anna’s… agreeing?! Hold on, when did we startdating again!? And didn’t we JUST tell Eleanor that we’re not like that?!Hey, even she’s giving us the side-eye! Oh, I get it, you’re just lying to mymom because it’s easier than having to explain our actual situation, right?“What are you looking at me like that, Ed?” Anna noticed me giving her anervous grin, “I mean, we’re not dating now, but if you’re up for it, then Idon’t see a reason why we shouldn’t start dating sometime in the future.”Everyone sat around the table was at a loss for words, including me! DDid… Did Anna just confess her feelings to me? In front of my entirefamily!? Geez, way to put me on the spot…“A-Ah, then, sure…”“Well, I’m not asking you to give me an answer immediately-”“SON!” My father suddenly jumped up from his seat, “What are you gettingembarrassed for! Answer her feelings loud and clear like a man!”“D-Dad! Ugh, thank you Anna for telling me your feelings! I will treasure youand your love for me, I love you too and I would be honored to spend the restof my life with you!”“E-Eh?! U-Uhm, th-thank you Ed for accepting my feelings! I too willtreasure our relationship above all else on this world, and am honored toknow that I have someone as kind and dependable as you to be with for therest of my life!”The aura around us was now all fuzzy because of this, but my family wasbarely keeping it together. G-Geez, what is it with parents and teasing theirkids? First it was Grim’s parents, now mine too? Ugh, if Arthur wasn’t gonnaannihilate me the moment he finds out about Anna and I, then I’m sure he’dpick on us too.“…”“Well, I didn’t mean for you two to recite wedding vows, but that’s alrighttoo, I guess. (pfft!)”“That’s it! We’re leaving for Springwood! Remember, I’m a busy guy withthings to do, and right now we need to deliver some medicine to Anna’s sickgrandfather!”“Oh come on,” My mother and sister spoke with a sarcastic tone, “Don’t belike that, we were just messing with you! (heh!)”This is why I left home, assholes…***“W-Well, your family sure is a fun bunch…” Anna tried to break theawkward silence that was filling our transport wagon to Springwood.“What the hell was that?!”“E-Ehh?”“I mean! What was that confession!? Are you crazy? There’s a time and placefor teasing, but right then certainly wasn’t it!”“I wasn’t joking though! I meant what I said, dumbass!”“Huh?”“Is it so wrong to l-love you? I mean, you’re certainly kind and dependable,add to that the fact that I gave you my first time-!”WHOA THERE! These walls ain’t soundproof, the driver can hear us!Please be more mindful of that!“Hey hey! Shhh! Don’t talk about that in public!” I yelled, “Haa, alright then,if you’re really not joking, then I’d be thrilled. Honestly, I’ve liked you for awhile now, so I see this as an absolute win.”“Really? Since when? I mean, you were the one who first went in for thesmooch the other night, so I kind of guessed as much.”This girl…! But dang, I kind of said too much in the heat of the moment. Well,no use hiding it now.“Well, I don’t know the exact moment I said ‘I love Anna and wanna hug herand kiss her and smooch her’…”“H-HEYY!!! You don’t have to go into graphic detail!”“Hehe, just kidding. But to answer your question, I think it was back when Iwas in Great Hiana.”Anna was still processing my earlier statement, so her reaction was a bitdelayed. She even did a bit of a double take and made sure to remove thehair that was covering her ears just in case she didn’t hear right.“Whoa, that early? I was sure it was back when we reunited.”“Why’d you think that? I mean, you were fun to be around even back whenwe traveled Trivis Numerica together, but it was only back then, when Ihaven’t seen you in so long, that I really started to miss you. Before I realizedit, you were all I was thinking about, and then it suddenly clicked that I wasactually kind of interested in you in a romantic sense.”“Eh? Guess you aren’t as shallow as I initially thought. I assumed you fell forme the moment you saw how much I’ve grown in the chest department sincewe last saw each other.”“Wuh- Oh come on, I’m not some horndog who’d pick his girls based on thesize of their chest! I have basic principles!”“Hmm, I dunno… Cause from what I remember, you were really going downon them back when we were having se-”“WE’RE OUT IN PUBLIC!”After I shouted my reminder to her, we both noticed that the wagon driver hasbeen glancing back at us for a while now. Seems he’s quite invested in theidea of listening into our story. Damn nosy idiot, I get we were being anuisance, but mind your own business!“Oh, looks like this is our stop. Here, gimme the luggage.”“Well aren’t you suddenly a gentleman? Back when we were just starting thistrip I never would’ve expected you to suggest this.”Ugh, and just when I was starting to think she finally mellowed out after westarted dating… I guess she plans on still keeping that pain in the ass attitudeuntil further notice, eh?“Well, I guess I’ve changed after this trip.”“See what sex does to a man?”Stop saying that worddd!!! God, how is she not embarrassed by saying thatword? Much less in public!“Huh? What was that? Having sex, now, were you?” A girl’s voice came upbehind me.Anna and I suddenly felt a deathly aura form behind us. This is just like thatfeeling I got when those Stray Wolves attacked, just much worse! We wereall too terrified to turn around, and the only thing keeping us from screamingout in fear and running away was the fact that we knew whose voice it was.“A-AHA! C-C-C-C-CECILY!? W-WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE INSPRINGWOOD?!”“…” She just quietly looked at me before chuckling, “Dude! You’re terribleat lying! What brings me to Springwood, you say? Phah, I take care of theOld Man for you and you tell me that?! You’re a riot, through and through!”Both Anna and I now felt like complete idiots, shouting about our nighttimewrestling match in the middle of town, especially now that Cecily heard us.Ugh, can’t wait for her to pester us until the end of time about it…“Anyways, did you get the plant needed to cure Arthur’s illness?”“?” I stopped in my tracks for a second, “You’re not gonna ask us about whatwe just shouted out?”“You gonna keep bragging about doing it to a maiden whose man is onthe other side of the world? Is that it?”A-Ah! I see what’s going on! That feeling of absolute terror she was exudingtowards us wasn’t because we were shouting something indecent out in themiddle of town, it’s because she was jealous! Goddammit Grim, why’d youhave to be such a late bloomer, her eyes alone could wilt flowers!“NO! We weren’t bragging! We got the plant, that’s all that’s important!”“Heh. That’s more like it.”Grim… Please come back soon, otherwise your wifey here is gonna throwthis world into one thousand years of absolute darkness…***“We’re back!”Entering the familiar shop we were all too accustomed to, we saw twopeople sitting together around the table, peacefully enjoying their cup of teawhilst eating chips (huh? What a weird combination…). Well, that wasn’t theimportant part, the important part is that those two people were Arthur andAaron, and they were actually getting along?!“Oh, thank goodness you’re back safe and sound!” Aaron got up from his seatto hug both of us, “Did you have fun?”“Boy, did they…”“Cecily! Please don’t say a word more!”Arthur ignored Anna and Cecily’s bickering and simply asked the mostimportant question about this trip.“Hmm? Well, in any case, where’s the plant?”“BAM!” I plopped it on the table, accidentally waking Nelly up from hernap, “Oh, whoops. But check it! A bona fide Andolia Baonei!”Arthur inspected it a bit closer, but worried that it was too small to beproperly made into a remedy. It should be fine, though, since from what MissHarper told me, this plant is mixed with a variety of other plants, and shetold me this much would be more than enough, but on second thought,shouldn’t we have gotten more? Sol even paid for them, I guess I felt bad fortaking too much of his money…“Eh, since when did you become a medical professional, Old Man?”“Cecily, how many times have I told you just how similar you are to Lunethis past week?”“More than enough times, Old Man.”Looks like those two got on good terms as well, maybe she’s the reasonArthur and Aaron somehow managed to get on good terms?“Well then, I’ll call Harper over and have her make the cure.”“Ed, I can’t thank you enough for going out of your way to help me like this.”“Don’t thank me yet, Gramps. Do that AFTER we know for sure that you’recured…”I was about to head out of the room, but then the unthinkable happened.Cecily decided to ruin this beautiful moment by getting back at Anna and me,and in the worst way possible no less.“So you and Ed started dating?”“Pff-WHAT?!?”Arthur was suddenly caught off guard by her question (that was aimed atAnna) and nearly choked on his tea. I immediately ran back into the room tohelp Anna out with the explanation.“THE FEELINGS WERE MUTUAL, GRAMPS! I’M SORRY FORDISOBEYING YOUR TRUST!”“Ed… I told you to look after my granddaughter, but nothing more thanthat, no?”Just while I was in the middle of my dogeza, a saving grace came by my way.Aaron decided to get me out of this one, since he was still her uncle.“Well, that’s great, isn’t it, pops? Ed’s a kind soul, certainly better than thealternative of having her be with some random guy, no?”“W-Well, that’s true… Wait! That’s not the point! You’re telling me you twojust suddenly happened to get together while on a trip all by yourselves? Idon’t trust that! Something must’ve happened to sway your emotions!”Oh God, it’s happening. The time for judgement is upon me. Arthur’s way tooattentive at times… Fuck, now I have to tell this kind old man that I sleptwith his dear granddaughter… Oh God, oh fuck…“What’s that supposed to mean, Old Man?” Cecily decided to rectify theissue in her own way, “Lune and I got together without any of that stuff. Plus,just look at Ed over here, y’think he’d have the balls to try anything on ourdear Anna?”“Well, certainly…” Arthur took one more good look at me.Hey, not nice, Gramps. I’ll have you know I lasted quite a while! Wait, that’snot the point… (Thanks Cecily!)“Even still, Ed, I won’t hand Anna over to you just like that. I need somereassurance that you two are serious about this.”“What else can I say apart from what’s already been said? Since I’m movingto Springwood, we’ll be seeing each other every day starting now. Plus, I’mgonna have a lot of free time, so I’ll just help out around the restaurant quitefrequently.”“See?” Aaron said, “That’s our General of Logistics, right there! You’relucky for having him as a grandson-in-law, pops!”“U-Uncle! We’re not married! They’re not in-laws yet!”Yet?“Yet?”“Oh shut up, Cecily!”Dang, thank goodness I kept my words to myself…“Phahahahah!” Arthur suddenly burst out in a fit of laughter, “God, now thatyou mention it, this reminds me of the time we first met, Edward!”“Is it an interesting story?” Anna asked.Ah, how nostalgic…“Sure is! Remember how when Ed first came into the restaurant, he had afractured bone in his leg?”“Yeah…?”“Well, since we needed to convince Harper he was okay with staying with usinstead of at her clinic, we had to lie our way out of it. But get this, Ed took itway too far! What was it that he said, ‘Anna’s my…‘ ”“OKAY GRAMPS LET’S GET YOU TO BED!” I quickly shut him up.“Hey, Ed! Let him finish the story at least!”“NOPE! C’MON ANNA, LET’S GO GET HARPER!”And so, my pride and dignity was safely protected, everyone was now happyand chipper, and Anna and I headed out to go get Harper before her shiftended for the day.