Chapter 60 — Happy Family

Clave.

Thirteen.

Draven was already thirteen.

Time really flies fast.

Ryker got married to Liliana after dating her for two years. He willingly accepted Liliana's son, Vayden Valentino, as his. Recently, they had another son. He cherished the two of them equally. Just like I did. After all, I also had two children—Draven and Diva.

Diva was my five-year-old daughter.

I quietly laughed at the scenario in front of me. Diva made Draven sit on the couch and play Barbie with her. Draven just squinted his eyes in boredom, being the moody teen he was currently, but the moment Diva called him 'Aven,' he melted.

"Diva, not my hair!" he grumbled when Diva started brushing his hair with her toy comb. I wasn’t sure if I was glad to see that this hair obsession of his hadn’t changed at all over the years.

"Aven, please! I want to make your hair look nice," she pouted as she said that.

Draven narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean? My hair always looks nice."

Diva burst into a fit of laughter. "You think that. But it's not true."

"Flora loves my hairstyle!" he protested and crossed his arms against his chest.

"Still it's ugly, my dear Aven," my daughter said casually as if she just didn't burst her brother's thick happy bubble that his hairstyle was really nice.

Recently, he was going out for a mushroom-style haircut, even though I felt he didn't like it deep down. He just kept it because Flora said he looked cute. However, he did get roasted by Mysa on a regular basis, but he still remained adamant about keeping that haircut. Zinnia and I kept quiet about it, though.

I think the last blow for Draven was hearing from his beloved sister that his hairstyle was ugly.

"Is it really?" He placed a hand over his hair. "Do I look bad, Diva?"

Realizing her brother was feeling sad, she patted his head with her tiny hands and ended up saying, "Not bad. Just the haircut doesn't suit you."

"So Mysa was right. I should change my hairstyle."

"Draven, always listen to Mysa. She speaks the truth," I decided to interrupt.

Two pairs of eyes looked at me. They hadn’t realized when I came out of my personal office and were watching them fondly.

"Daddy!" Diva rushed to me and made me sit on the couch as well. "Let's play Barbie. Aven is playing with me already. Here, you two are Barbies, and I will do your haircut."

I smiled at her. "Okay, Princess."

She jumped in excitement and went to bring something.

"But Mysa teases me, Dad," Draven commented on my previous words.

I twitched my lips. "Maybe her way of telling you the truth is different, but she is honest. You can't deny that."

"She behaves so politely with everyone, but when it comes to me, she doesn't even bother to put in the effort to be nice," he scoffed.

"If she thinks twice before talking to you, then that's not friendship," I explained to him.

"I am not telling her to think twice. It's just that sometimes she should act nice to me. I feel bad when she is all polite and smiles with other boys in our class except me. All she ever does is roast me.”

I arched an eyebrow in amusement. Was that jealousy I sensed?

"Flora is nice to me, which makes me feel good," he further spoke.

"Flora is nice to everyone. Mysa is different toward you only, so it makes you special, doesn't it?" I pointed out.

Draven became silent at that. Then he glanced at me and said, "Dad, on second thought, it's okay. I will feel weird if Mysa behaves politely in front of me. If she is comfortable acting that way toward me, then it’s fine. I don’t mind. Her comfort matters the most to me."

"That's my boy," I said proudly.

"Diva, what did I tell you about not touching real scissors?" Zinnia scolded all of a sudden, making Draven and I groan.

"Let's see what your sister did this time to trigger your mom," I muttered as we got up and headed to Zinnia's personal office in the house.

Diva was standing with an adorable pout on her lips. Her cheeks were puffed, just like her mother, and her eyes were watery.

"I just wanted to play haircut with Daddy and Aven," she uttered, while Zinnia threw daggers at her.

"You will play haircut with your safety scissors. Not with real scissors. You could’ve ended up getting hurt!" Zinnia placed her hands on her hips.

Before I could save Diva from Zinnia's wrath, Draven rushed to her.

"Mom, let it be. She will keep it in mind the next time. Right, Diva?" He glanced at his sister who nodded her head innocently. "See? Now you can continue your work, Mom. Let's go, Diva," with that, Draven got out of the room holding Diva's hand.

Zinnia sighed after they left. "Draven is maturing well, don’t you think, Clave?" She walked toward me and placed her arms around my neck. "He saved Diva just like you used to save him from my scolding."

"Well, he learned from the best," I remarked and pulled her closer to me. "What's with you always scolding my children?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Your children? Well, they do stuff like that to deserve a scolding. How come you never scold them?"

"I will when I feel I need to step in. Otherwise, you can be the strict mom while I get to be the cool dad."

"So that's your intention? You want to make me the mean mom?" Zinnia gasped suddenly. "Do they hate me, Clave?"

I ended up bursting into laughter at her fear. "Seriously, Zinnia? After eight years of our marriage and thirteen years into motherhood, this is what you are concerned about?"

"Sometimes I feel like I cannot give them enough time due to our event planning business," she expressed her worries. “What if they actually end up hating me?”

We started to work together on her event-planning business, and since then, it has gotten really popular. Meanwhile, my spy agency was faring well, too. However, I didn’t take on as many jobs as I used to; I still handled the assignments, though. I wanted to give more time to my family and make sure that Zinnia wasn’t taking too much load from her work.

"The kids cannot survive a day without looking at your face. Every time they get home from outside, the first person they look for is you. How can they hate you?" I assured her. "They know how hard you are working, and they really admire you for that. They can never think ill of you."

"What if Diva hates me just because I scolded her now?"

I pushed the few strands of hair behind her ear as I said, "Have faith in Draven. He will always be there for Diva."

"Then I guess, we don't have to worry. Draven will take care of Diva even if we aren't there. That's how we are raising him," she had a smile on her lips as she said that.

"Yes, but let's not think negatively. We will be there for our children forever." She placed her head on my chest and hummed in response. "By the way, our champ might have a dilemma in the future."

"A dilemma? About what?"

I chortled. "Flora and Mysa."

"Let him handle his own dilemma then because we have dealt with ours. He is strong enough," Zinnia uttered and freed herself from my grip. "Now let's go and see what our kids are up to."

"By now, I’m sure Diva has given her brother a prince haircut. Or I guess, a Barbie haircut."

Zinnia chuckled at that, and I took her hand as she was about to go, for which she gave me a warm smile.

After all, she was my home, and I was her wedding crasher. Zinnia's wedding crasher.

THE END.