7. Can I say that I want to push her directly?
“Dad! Mom! I’m back~”
As soon as Emilia entered the house, she couldn’t help but shout loudly. Excited, she ran quickly, her platinum hair dancing in the air, making her look like a golden lightning bolt rushing into the living room.
“Wow! My little angel is back? Have you eaten dinner? Mom just made dinner, do you want to eat some more?”
Upon hearing Emilia’s voice, a young woman in an apron walked out of the kitchen with a joyful expression. The woman looked to be around thirty, her gentle and kind face resembling Emilia’s by about fifty percent, making one think that if she were just ten years younger, she would surely be a breathtaking beauty. However, there were a few strands of white hair at her temples, slightly diminishing her youthful appearance.
She was, in fact, Emilia’s biological mother from her previous life, Lu Mengwen.
“Mom!”
Emilia’s eyes reddened slightly as she rushed into her mother’s embrace, showing a rare vulnerable side since she became an angel.
Although Mikayla had agreed to her request to visit her parents on Earth anytime, as an angel, Emilia had spent most of the last two years in Heaven. Moreover, even counting her previous age, Emilia was only sixteen now, still essentially just a minor girl, no matter how dark her personality might be.
What’s more, Emilia was still more inclined towards humans rather than her sense of belonging as an angel.
Adding to this was her regret over her impulsive actions earlier, which made Emilia value her emotional connection with her parents even more.
“Good girl~ My little angel, how is life at the new school? If there’s anything you’re not used to, just let me know, your dad and I will talk to the school about it.”
Lu Mengwen affectionately stroked Emilia’s head and pulled her into the living room. On the sofa sat a middle-aged man with white hair, engrossed in the newspaper. Upon seeing Lu Mengwen bringing Emilia in, the man’s slightly furrowed brows relaxed instantly, and he smiled at Emilia.
“Emilia is back? Ah, it’s good to be back, it’s good… I heard on the news that things haven’t been very peaceful in Worry-Free City these days. I was worried whether you, a girl, might encounter any danger living outside.”
“Don’t worry, Dad. After all, I’m an angel; it’s hard for the dangers of the mortal world to harm me.”
Emilia knew very well what her dad meant by “not very peaceful,” considering the only big news in Worry-Free City these days was related to a certain Black-robed Man. However, to prevent her parents from worrying, Emilia chose not to explain the hidden truth behind that incident.
After all, even though she said it lightly, if it weren’t for Evelyn coming to save her, she would have truly faced grave danger.
“Alright, alright, our Emilia is the strongest. Come, let’s eat!”
Emilia followed her parents into the dining room, where four chairs surrounded the table, which was set with simple home-cooked dishes. Besides a pot of fragrant rib soup, the rest were simple dishes like boiled eggs.
“Ah, I’m so sorry, my little angel. Mom didn’t know you’d be back tonight, and I didn’t prepare anything special…”
“It’s fine, Mom. After all, as an angel, I don’t really need to eat. It’s just to satisfy my cravings. Here, Mom, let me help you with the rice.”
Emilia smiled and ran into the kitchen, but when she saw her mother holding four pairs of chopsticks, she froze for a moment. A barely noticeable sense of loss flashed in her eyes. She stammered to her mother, “Mom… you picked up an extra pair…”
“Ah! Sorry, sorry, my memory! Don’t mind it, Xiaoya; Mom just took one too many…”
Lu Mengwen’s joyful expression instantly changed, and she hurriedly put the extra pair of chopsticks back, fearful of inadvertently triggering her daughter’s hidden scars.
“…It’s okay, Mom. I’m not bothered by it anymore.”
This phrase was naturally said to avoid making Lu Mengwen worry. For Emilia, that deeply etched experience, which could even be said to be the direct catalyst for her becoming an angel, could not be easily put aside.
What Emilia could do, at most, was to temporarily hide it in her heart.
At the dinner table, what should have been a warm family reunion was now a bit lonely due to this small incident. Bai Zhengping, Emilia’s father, often glanced at his daughter, looking as if he wanted to say something but held back. In the end, he didn’t say anything, and all his thoughts turned into a soft sigh that dissipated into the world.
“Dad… you don’t have to worry about my brother. Lady Mikayla has already promised me that if she detects any soul reincarnation related to me, she will notify me immediately. Don’t worry.”
As Bai Zhengping’s biological daughter, Emilia certainly knew what he was thinking. Although her brother seemingly just resided in their home, their family had long considered him as blood-related family. Her brother’s death was, for her, a huge blow, and for her father even more so, yet he was strong-willed and rarely showed his dejected side.
“I… I don’t even know how I’ll face old Yi and his wife a hundred years later… I clearly promised them that I would take good care of Xiaoya, but in the end…”
Bai Zhengping placed down his bowl and chopsticks with a bitter smile, his face flashing with pain and struggle. He stood up to take a can of beer from the small fridge next to the dining table, intending to drink it all at once, but his wife’s disapproving gaze made him lower the can and reluctantly sit back down.
“Alright, alright, I won’t drink, okay?”
“Hmph! Xiaoya only just returned once, and you keep talking about sad things! Come on, Xiaoya, let’s ignore your dad and let him drink his sorrows alone!”
“Um, Mom…”
“By the way, Xiaoya, I remember you should be living with that girl renting our house now, right? I heard she’s quite pleasant; how are you getting along with her?”
“Well… we get along… quite well, I suppose?”
Isn’t that right? They were already sleeping on the same bed; how could the relationship be poor?
“As long as you get along well… You, apart from your brother, rarely played with other kids, so it’s good for you to make friends with that girl; it’ll benefit your mental and physical growth.”
“…”
Could she say she didn’t want to “make friends” with Evelyn but rather wanted to push her directly?
Meanwhile, Evelyn, at the gates of Hell, walking her “dog”: Why do I feel a chill behind me?
