Chapter 32 –– Mating Reception

After the binding ceremony was over, everyone gathered at Chieftain Nura's house for the mating reception. The party was conducted at their backyard, with barbecue and traditional Hyaena tribe cuisine. Different from the customs of other tribes, the mated couple in Hyaena tribe did not stay at their designated seats waiting for the guests to come to them and were allowed to roam freely to meet the guests instead. They were even allowed to meet the guests they personally invited separately instead of walking together as a couple.

"Noam!"

Suddenly, a girl hugged Noam from behind. She was so tiny that she could only hug him to his waist. Noam then turned his head around to see who it was.

"Fatima! You're here!"

Noam was elated to see her at the reception. He hugged her back and lifted her up. Fatima was so excited to meet him.

"Greetings, Lord Noam. It's a pleasure to finally be able to meet you again. You look beautiful in that suit."

Lady Rochlin approached Noam during the feast. She came with her mate–– Lord Hamza–– and her children–– Dawoud and Fatima.

"G-Goodday, Lady Rochlin, Lord Hamza. The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for coming all the way here. Please, have a seat."

Noam put Fatima down on the ground. Fatima, however, did not let go of his hand and kept holding him. Noam smiled at her and patted her head.

"It's alright. Where is the mated couple?"

Lord Hamza refused to have seat and asked the whereabouts of the couple instead. He was holding a present, probably something to give to the mated couple.

"Uhh....."

Noam tried to search for his brother and his sister-in-law. Seemed like they went on their separate ways and merged into the crowd. Noam didn't see them at the moment.

"I'm not sure.....but my mothers are sitting over there."

Noam pointed at the seat closest to the stage. His mothers were sitting along with their relatives.

"I see. Let's go, Fatima."

Lord Hamza opened his arms to carry Fatima to meet Noam's mothers. Fatima looked reluctant to go with him, saying that she wanted to stay with Noam a bit longer.

"Come on, we'll come back to talk to Noam again. Your brother wants to speak with him," Lady Rochlin said, giving some space for Dawoud to talk to his intended.

"Don't worry, Fatima. I'll come to see you again after this," Noam said, reassuring her.

Fatima finally let go of Noam and came with her parents. They went to see Chieftain Nura and Varda, one of the couple's parents.

After they left, Dawoud and Noam met eye to eye. It was awkward at first, given how long the last time they saw each other.

"Why the long face? Did you miss me?"

Dawoud put his arm around Noam's shoulder and pulled Noam closer to him.

"As if!"

Noam tried pushing Dawoud away from him, trying to maintain a distance. Deep down, Noam was glad that Dawoud's carefree attitude broke the ice.

"Aww! And here I thought the feeling was mutual...."

Dawoud tried to tease Noam like he usually did. Since Noam was already familiar with Dawoud's mischievous attitude, Noam was accustomed to handling him in such situations.

While the two of them were goofing around, another family came to see Noam. This time, it was Moshe's.

"Good day, Lord Noam. Where can I see the mated couple?"

Lady Zara, chieftain of Felixia tribe, came with her mate and her two sons. Without any small talks, she went straight to the point to ask about the couple's whereabouts.

Noam and Dawoud were startled and caught off guard. They immediately put their act together and greeted Lady Zara courteously.

"Good day, Lady Zara. I'm not sure where they are right now, but my mothers are over there," Noam said, while pointing at the location of his mothers, just like what he did to Dawoud's parents.

Noam saw Moshe and Aaryn standing behind her. They made eye contact. Noam was happy to see them at the party.

"Nice meeting you again, Lord Noam."

"The pleasure's all mine, Lord Kohen."

Lord Kohen stuck out his paw to give Noam a firm handshake. Unlike other members of the family, Noam barely had any interaction with Lord Kohen. He felt awkward around him and felt the need to approach him after this.

"Well, we're gonna go meet Chieftain Nura and her mate. Are you two coming?" Lady Zara asked her sons.

Moshe stood still in silence. It looked like he didn't really hear what Lady Zara asked him.

"We'll be there in a minute. You guys can go first," Aaryn answered on Moshe's behalf.

Lady Zara and Lord Kohen then went to meet Noam's mothers, with a gift in their hand. Seemed like everyone had prepared a gift for the mated couple before coming to the reception.

"Long time no see, Noam."

Moshe finally spoke after being silent this whole time. Everyone turned their heads and looked at him, with his shiny golden-coloured suit.

"It's only been a month, but... nice seeing you here, Moshe," Noam replied awkwardly.

Unlike Dawoud who was good at reading social cues, Moshe was not very good at such social events and situations.

"You look cute in that suit," Moshe said straightforwardly.

This whole time Moshe was silent, he was mesmerized by Noam's outfit of the day. Noam looked so different than he usually did. He really looked good in Hyaena tribe's traditional clothing.

"Thank you. You look handsome too," Noam returned the compliment.

Noam blushed and his face turned red. He didn't expect Moshe to be so blunt.

Dawoud then made an eye contact with Moshe. The two of them stared at each other. The two suitors seemed to be on each other's toes, annoyed by the other for being so close to Noam.

Aaryn noticed the tension in the air and decided to run away from the scene.

“Well, I’m gonna go grab some drinks.”

Aaryn then walked away and gave some space to the love triangle.

"So....how are you two––"

Before Noam could finish his sentence to break the deafening silence in the air, someone rushed towards him to give him a hug.

"Noam! Congratulations!"

The person hugged Noam so tightly that Noam almost couldn't breathe. After she released Noam from her hug, Noam shouted her name out loud.

"Amal! You're here!"

Amal came from the capital to meet Noam at the party. She was so excited to meet him that the first thing she did was hug him with all her might.

"I thought you couldn't make it?"

Noam was excited, yet perplexed to see her. The last time he sent the invite to her, she said she would not be coming. And yet, here she is, attending the party whilst standing right in front of him.

"It was hard, but my supervisor finally allowed me to have the day off. I will be leaving tonight, though."

Amal saw Dawoud right next to Noam. The two of them made eye contact. Sometimes Amal still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she was friends with her ex's future mate. What a weird relationship these three have.

"Too bad you couldn't stay for the night," Noam said, sad that Amal will have to leave soon.

"Well, there's still several hours to go, no need to be sad."

Amal then excused herself to go to the toilet. The moment she turned around, she bumped into someone who was coming to see Noam.

"Ah!"

Turned out, the person Amal bumped into was carrying a tray with drinks on it. He accidentally dropped the drinks and spilled them on Amal's bag.

The two of them fell on the ground with drinks spilled on the grass and Amal's bag. The guy who spilled the drinks apologized to Amal while trying to clean her bag.

"I am so sorry," he said, while wiping the drink on Amal's bag.

Turned out, the person Amal bumped into was Aaryn who brought some drinks for the three of them. He was startled to see Amal turned around all of a sudden and accidentally bumped into her.

"Oh no! My report's in here.... I hope it didn't get ruined...."

After checking the contents within the bag, Amal noticed that some of her report got spilled with the drink. She tried to wipe it but it got even worse.

"Come. Let's see if we could find something we could use in the bathroom," Aaryn said, offering Amal to find something to help fix the situation.

Without any hesitation, Amal nodded and came with him. She didn't think of anything except to recover her report. Aaryn then grabbed her wrist and took her somewhere else to clean the bag and the content within.

Noam, Moshe, and Dawoud who saw what happened before them immediately felt like there was something about to be going on between the two. They didn't say a single word, but just from looking at each other's faces, they knew instantly what the other was thinking.

After that, the three of them talked some more about what happened during the past month they didn't see each other. They took a stroll around the backyard to talk to other guests.

"Congratulations on your son and daughter-in-law, Nura, Varda."

During the party, the mate-binder approached the mothers of the groom to congratulate them for their son's mating ceremony. He also brought them a gift, despite he was the one who bound the couple.

"Thank you, Lord Farid. It's been a while since we last saw each other."

Chieftain Nura and Lady Varda remembered the time when they both had their mating ceremony, bound by Lord Farid. Time had passed and the memory was still as fresh as yesterday.

Soon after, Lady Rochlin and Chieftain Hamza came towards them with their daughter at hand. They came to congratulate the couple in person, but since they couldn't find them, they went to see the mothers instead. They gave them a matching couple of bangles as a gift, made from special ores processed in Caninus Village. The mothers humbly accepted the gift and thanked the family for coming to the party.

Right after that, Chieftain Zara and Lord Kohen approached them to ask for the couple's whereabouts. Chieftain Nura and Lady Varda shrugged as they didn't know where the couple was either. In the end, Chieftain Zara relayed the gift to the mothers to give it to the couple. They gave them a Rhizanthella flower pot, a rare and precious type of flower from Felixia Village. The mothers were surprised with the gift and appreciated the kind gesture.

Meanwhile, while the older generation was socialising among themselves, the mated couple met an old friend who came to their mating reception.

"Senior Beryl! Long time no see!" Talia shouted in excitement.

It'd been years since the last time the couple saw him. They couldn't believe that he actually came to their reception.

"Oh my, my two lovebirds finally mated. Congratulations, you two!"

Beryl walked towards them while holding his baby son. He was the couple's senior back in the military, before he retired to take care of his son at home.

"Where is Senior Oman?" Yeshua asked.

Even though Talia was closer to Beryl, Yeshua was closer to Oman, another senior which happened to be Beryl's mate.

"He couldn't make it. He had some stuff going on back at home," Beryl said, saying that Oman would not be coming to the reception today.

"Ah....that's sad."

The two of them were disappointed that Oman couldn't make it to their reception. However, since Beryl and their baby came on his behalf, the couple were grateful for their presence.

After that, Beryl introduced the couple to his 2 year old baby son. The couple found him super cute and kept playing with him. The three of them then had a long conversation about their time in the military together, feeling nostalgic by recalling the memories of the past.

While taking a stroll around the backyard, Noam saw someone familiar coming to the party. He saw the silhouette from afar but didn't realise who it was until the person actually got closer to him. The two of them made eye contact and was surprised to see each other. Never would they have thought to meet each other in such an event.

"H-hey there....Noam...." the person greeted Noam awkwardly.

Noam stood still in silence, too shocked by whom he saw. He saw the person holding hands with another guy, presumably his partner.

".....Jared."

Noam spoke of his name, a name that he thought he had forgotten already. Moshe, Dawoud, and the guy Jared was holding hands with looked super confused by what was happening. They couldn't figure out what was going on.

The three of them didn't knom. Noam never would have guessed, that he would meet his ex in his brother's mating reception.