"What is it?" Elena asked her husband, noting his slight confusion."Ahh, no, nothing, it"s alright," David hastily hid the scroll back in the tube case and smiled at Elena, "Could you bring the pancakes which you cooked last night? And then I did not eat a single one. This little gang has finished almost everything we had," the man referred to the vigorous activity of Ashley and Sean before going to bed.
"Yes, there seems to be little left, I"ll bring it now, but first," Elena went up to her husband and kissed him on the lips, "Good morning, my love. Although the night was not the most pleasant, I am happy that we met this morning at home. I love you," she whispered and, with a wink, went to the kitchen.
All the tension and irritation of David disappeared as if it had never happened, the man remained standing still with a beaming smile on his face.
Nick looked at his cousin with a sympathetic look and shook his head, "Yes, brother, who would have thought it was so easy to tame you, heh."
David noticed the young man"s malicious grin and gave him the same in response, he walked slowly towards Nick, his eyes clearly showed the obvious intention of sweet revenge. "My dear little brother, I think I forgot to greet you properly."
"Ahaha, no, thank you, not worth it," Nick raised his hands in defense and backed away, but it was too late. David wrapped his arms around the young man and clasped him tightly in his arms.
From the outside, it seemed that it was a warm greeting, although not quite characteristic of David"s temperament, but only Nick could hear how his bones cracked at that moment.
David grinned and added in a whisper, "If you decide to play fast and loose with my wife ever again, you will fly on your first flight back to Africa in the luggage compartment."
Trying to regain his breath, Nick just innocently made excuses, "Come on, it was just a joke. I have only the platonic feelings for your wife, she is like a sister for me. You know that our family is not lucky with girls, moreover, my girlfriend will shoot me before you, in any case. You don"t know how terrible she is in anger." The young man rolled his eyes, the sorrow of the whole world reflected on his face.
David shook his head and ruffled Nick"s hair, however, this boy was part of his family, and the man himself was surprised that after so many years he suddenly had such a pleasant feeling in his chest.
The last time he saw Nick was before his final departure to America, before meeting with Elena, but then they did not communicate very closely, and the guy was no more than fourteen years old. Why is it now such a joy to meet him?
"Where did you get this thing?" he asked the young man. The fact that Nick brought exactly the same scroll could not be a coincidence.
"Let"s discuss this later, I"m starving like crazy," Nick immediately changed the subject and headed for the table, David followed him.
The young man was completely free from the feeling of embarra.s.sment, and the first thing he did when he approached the table was to pull one of the rolls right from Corey"s plate, "Mmmm, yummy! I haven"t eaten them for a thousand years. By the way, Nick Anderson. What is your name, beautiful stranger lady?"
Corey, smiling, held out her hand, "Corey Williams. Nice to meet you."
Although she was already quite mature and had a five-year-old daughter, Corey did not lose the pleasure of occasionally flipping through manga volumes and reading online webtoons. And this guy was the most ideal incarnation of all the bishounen[1] that you could imagine.
"You know, from the first day I was tormented by this question, but now it looks especially relevant. How can it be that the men in the Anderson family are so attractive? This is some kind of genetic injustice towards your rivals," Corey said ironically.
"Ahaha, that"s for sure. And now you are looking at the best example of this genetic injustice," Nick laughed.
"Kid, aren"t you too arrogant?" Daniel said indignantly, "You"re only eighteen years old, it"s too early to put yourself in the first place."
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"Amendment, I"m already twenty," retorted Nick and grinned, "Well, are you worried that I would take away the t.i.tle of the main smoothie in the family?"
"Not at all," Daniel leaned back in his chair, his second hand resting behind Corey, "My love, who do you think is the most attractive of us? I"m sure this is obvious," he asked the girl.
"G.o.d, Daniel, you are fifteen years older than him, but still behave like a little boy," Corey thought to herself. Despite the fact that her boyfriend was called living Adonis by the eyes, when Nick becomes older, he will surely teach his cousin a thing or two, but she could not say it out loud.
"No comment," the girl smiled playfully.
"Huh? Seriously?" Daniel gave himself a resentful look, Corey"s heart pounded with emotion.
She raised her hand and stroked his head like a little puppy that she accidentally stepped on the tail, "Okay, okay. I"ll tell you the truth," the girl leaned over and added, "To be honest, the most attractive of all the Andersons is Sean," after which she showed her tongue to Daniel and laughed out loud.
"Ah, you, sly fox!" The man grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed her to his chest, "Thinking of joking with me?" Corey giggled joyfully until she heard a low seductive whisper next to her ear, "Sean, you say? Maybe I should share my genetic material with you and compensate for this injustice towards me?"
"Wh-what?" Corey immediately fell silent, her brain began to a.n.a.lyze the information received, and with every second her face grew redder and redder.
"I say, how about getting another little boy Anderson and see who is who, huh?" Daniel repeated his suggestion loudly and clearly that even Elena heard that in the kitchen.
Corey opened her mouth, trying to answer something, and only then realized that she was sitting at the table alone, surrounded by these demon brothers, looking at her point blank.
The girl"s ears could compete with the ripest tomato in the intensity of the shade. So that she once again provoked one of them in her life? Yes, never! "Elena, save me!" Flashed through her mind, but the savior was not the one she mentally called.
"So you want to have a boy? Will I have a brother?" A ringing childish voice came from behind. All adults froze on the spot, they completely forgot that one of the children had been awake for a long time.
Corey looked at Ashley, then looked at Daniel, his face was the same panic and confusion. But Ashley did not take pity on them and dealt a control blow, asking a question that all adults fear even more than dentists.
"How do you do that?"
Dead silence fell in the room, Elena thanked G.o.d that she was in the kitchen at that moment, although she would very much like to look at Corey and Daniel at that moment. "Oh, now the story will be about cabbage or a stork," she grinned.
Nick was the first to understand what to do. The young man got up from his chair and knelt down beside Ashley, "And what is the name of this beautiful angel who came down to us from heaven and honored us with her presence?"
"Umm-Ashley," the girl embarra.s.singly lowered her long eyelashes and smiled. Corey distinctly noticed how hearts danced in the eyes of the young man.
"Mmm, what a beautiful name! And my name is Nick," he moved closer to the girl, "Do you want a secret?" Ashley"s eyes lit up, she immediately nodded her head.
"In fact, I am a real prince!" The young man winked and made an important face look, "Do you want to be my fiancee?"
Corey blinked several times, for some reason this whole situation seemed familiar to her. Once upon a time in childhood, an adult boy already told her something like that.
"The kid rocks! Hah, I remember I used this line when I was a teenager to get the girls. I even had a photograph on my phone with the prince, which I made using Photoshop," Daniel smirked, recalling his stormy youth, "But I just didn"t heat on little girls like that. Or was it once...," the man scratched his head, trying to enter his palace of mind, "It seems like there was once a girl with the same curls, like Ashley, only a little older..."
The man turned his head toward Corey, they froze, looking at each other with wide eyes.
"Yes, it cannot be," both thought to themselves and embarra.s.sedly turned away in opposite directions.
Meanwhile, Nick was looking forward to the child"s response, Ashley gave the young man an appraising look, and then looked behind him, the girl"s eyes shone, "Armand!" With a squeal of joy, she threw herself into the hands of the guest. "Mom, look, Armand has come!"
"Tks, always like that," Nick muttered to himself, discontentedly watching the young man in whose arms Ashley was laughing joyfully.
"Armand, Armand, can I be your fiancee?" The girl said, the man was taken aback by an unexpected question.
"Wha... What? My fiancee?" Armand looked at Daniel in dismay, but the latter only shrugged. The man felt a gaze directed in his direction, and only then noticed that among those present there was someone new.
On Nick"s face, discontent immediately gave way to goodwill, he approached the man and extended his hand in greeting, "Nick Anderson, cousin of these two," he introduced himself, to which Armand shook his hand in response, "Armand Taubert."
An incomprehensible sensation ran through the man"s palm when he touched the young man"s hand, "Have we met before?"
"No, I don"t remember that," Nick replied, and immediately removed his hand. Armand looked at the guy, hmm, it seems that he really saw him for the first time but something in this man made him wary.
"Good morning, everyone," Sean hesitantly went down the stairs, the boy did not expect such a crowd to gather in their house that early in the morning.
"Good morning, champion!" David greeted his son and spread his arms out to the side, inviting the child to embrace. The boy ran to his father and hugged him, Sean"s gaze focused on the new object.
"Dad, who is this?" he asked in a whisper.
"Sean, please meet your uncle Nick," David introduced his cousin, and Nick turned on the charming mode.
"Wow, is this our little prince? Well h.e.l.lo guy. How are you?" The young man held out his hand to the boy, but Sean refused to hold out his hand in response. However, Nick was not particularly worried.
"Wow, you really have unusual eyes! For the first time I see this live," the young man whistled and showed a thumbs up, "When you grow up, you can use the phrase from the X-Men to pick up the girls, like, "Baby, and you know that this is one of the mutations? Do you want me to show you my other superpowers?" Yes, and don"t forget to wink like this after that," Nick finished his seduction workshop.
"It"s not a mutation, it"s called heterochromia," Sean muttered in response.
From childhood, he was shy of his eyes, as they attracted a lot of attention. And why couldn"t he have eyes like that of mom or dad, a deep hazel color? Or at least like that of Nick - a sky-blue color? Instead, one eye was blue and the other was brown.
"So, stop teaching my son such things," David intervened, and the tension in the boy decreased as his father"s warm palm lovingly stroked his head.
"So, stop talking and let"s have breakfast already," Elena intervened too and set a large plate of hot pancakes on the table.
"Wow, pancakes! Yum! Thank you little sister!" Nick clapped his hands and with a pleased expression on his face, like a little child, plopped down on a chair in antic.i.p.ation of his favorite dessert. "Ehh, and why are only boys born in the Anderson family? I always wanted to have a sister," the young man put several pancakes on his plate.
"Mom, is there any more of the raspberry jam?"
"Do you have the raspberry jam?"
Nick and Sean asked the same question at the same time.
Elena looked in surprise at the big and small children and answered with a smile, "I"ll bring it now."
A gla.s.s jar half full of aromatic jam appeared in front of Nick a minute later. The aroma of berries spread throughout the table.
"But is it by chance not homemade?" asked the young man, this substance seemed too attractive.
"Yes, Elena has prepared it, so in honor of your arrival, I let you try. But don"t ask again," David answered with complete seriousness in his voice.
Nick smirked but did not respond to this comment. The young man put some jam on top of the pancake and bit it off. A raspberry flavor filled his mouth, sugar crystals slowly melting in his tongue.
He himself did not notice a tear slide down his cheek. The young man immediately turned away and brushed it off his cheek until no one paid attention. But this gesture did not escape the gaze of David, sitting next to him.
"Is everything all right?" the man asked.
"Ah, yes, everything is fine," Nick instantly joked, "I just didn"t sleep on the plane, apparently my eyes hurt from the lenses," he explained and began to eat up a delicious breakfast with an appet.i.te.
The company at the table had a lively conversation, the living room was filled with laughter and alluring aromas of coffee, tea and raspberries.
"You have a wonderful family, David," Nick said unexpectedly.
David"s hand froze when he was about to bring a cup of coffee to his lips. He put it back on the table and looked warmly at the noisy crowd sitting in front of him.
"You"re right. This is the best thing in my life, and I will do everything to make them happy," answered the man and continued his breakfast with a slight smile on his lips.
Nick looked at the cup of tea in his hands.
Small parts of the tea brew froze at the bottom in an intricate pattern, gradually giving off heat to the exquisite china created by an outstanding master.
The young man ran his thumb along the edge of the cup and in a whisper, audible only to him, said,
"I hope G.o.d will hear your words this time."