A feast was laid out before Dylan's eyes. Chicken, healthy vegetables, seafood soup, fish, the colourful display of food whet one's appetite, making them want to dig straight in. The children were wordlessly and skilfully using chopsticks to eat. Only Charlotte and Dylan were using a spoon and fork, making them stand out.
"Eat up. No need to be courteous." An generously encouraged with a smile. Everyone nodded, thanked her for the food and started to eat.
"It's delicious, Mrs Chen." Dylan praised after he swallowed his food. His face displayed the bliss and joy of eating good food.
An waved her hand in dismissal and laughed. "There's no need to be so formal. Call me Aunty like everyone else."
"How can I call you Aunty when you look like you could be Sherry's sister? You both look so beautiful." Dylan smiled and said with a straight face. An slightly blushed, she was used to such praises but when said with such an honest and handsome face, the effect was really too much. Sherry also blushed at the unexpected attack, she coughed and continued to eat her rice.
On his side, Janine elbowed Dylan and discretely pointed at Ping with her chin. He was quietly chewing with a blank face, looking like he was unaffected by Dylan's unintentional flirting. However, an invisible pressure was being eluded by Ping's silence. It stiffened the battle hardened knight's smile and caused him to freeze in a panic.
Luckily, An diffused it with her next words. "There's no need to flatter me. Just call me Aunty."
"Haha, alright then, Aunty." Dylan replied and sighed to himself with relief. He glanced over at Ping, studying his face. He was calm as usual but the atmosphere around him was more approachable and friendly now. The killing intent from earlier was non-existent.
"What do you usually eat? You looked so starved and skinny." An glanced at Dylan from head to toe. He had a thin build and his muscles were all hiding underneath his clothes. Dylan was eating fast like usual, looking like he hasn't eaten in days.
Dylan paused and finished the food that was in his mouth before speaking. "Aunty's food is so delicious that I can't help myself. Haha, I'll have to exercise a lot to burn off the food I eat."
"Oh my, you sure do have a sweet mouth. Not only that, you must work out a lot. I always tell Shi Ming to go out but she never does. If only she would learn from your example." An mused with a sigh.
"Ma! I do go out to exercise. You just don't know." Sherry protested.
"We go out to the park on the weekdays and run around for the whole day." Fiona added. A grain of rice was stuck to the corner of her mouth so An helped her to remove it while smiling.
"Is that so? Since when?"
"Since three weeks ago. We would go with Dylan and Sherry and then he would make us run and all that. He's supposed to teach us how to fight." Diana answered in Fiona's stead. She didn't chew all the food in her mouth yet so it was a little hard to hear what she said.
"Oh, it must be inconvenient to have to travel here to play with the kids every week." An said.
"Not at all. I enjoy playing with them and find it fulfilling so it's no trouble at all." Dylan smiled handsomely and said. He gave off the impression of someone who enjoyed the outdoors and liked to be active.
"Is that so? What do you teach them? Not anything dangerous I presume."
"I know a lot of martial arts so I'm teaching them how to defend themselves in a fight. It will be helpful in case they get mixed in with a bad crowd."
"That's admirable of you." An commented but she did not pursue the topic anymore, eliciting relief from Dylan.
"Did you know that Dylan is secretly-" Fiona began to say when silence befall the dining room. Immediately, everyone shot their eyes at her, staring and warning her to not speak any longer. Fiona froze, she had forgotten and just wanted something to talk about. And now she had dug herself a hole that she could not get out of.
"Hmm? You were saying?" An tilted her head sideways and encouraged her to continue with a smile. Normally this behaviour would have been fine, but it made Fiona cry inside.
"D-Dylan is actually secretly...He's secretly a Disney princess!" Fiona shouted, her heart palpitating irregularly from the stressful situation. There was a moment of silence, everyone except the Chen couple were sweating anxiously, waiting for them to react.
"That's strange. What do you mean by that?" An asked.
"I can't see him in a dress." In Ping's mind, an image of Dylan overlapped with Rapunzel. Ping imagined him as a brutish and manly princess, with big muscles and just an overall bad look. He shivered from his own imagination and shook it out of his head.
"It's, it's coz-" Fiona's eyes swam for answers. They looked pleadingly at the others, begging for them to help her out.
Finally, Yasmin cast her a rope to help pull her out of the sticky mess. "Animals really like him. Even the animals at the zoo like him just like the princesses."
An chuckled. "That's an enviable ability to have. It must be because he gives off a comfortable impression."
The rest of the dinner went by uneventfully, with peaceful chatter about random things and just general catching up.
"(Thank you for the dinner Aunty, it's best we leave now.)" Janine politely said. It was getting late outside and everything was already all packed up so they decided that now was the time to leave, especially since the kid's parents were coming soon. It would be bad to block the driveway.
"(Why don't you stay a little longer or just sleep over?)" An suggested. Ping also nodded in agreement.
"(No, it's fine. I've got work to do so I have go now.)" Janine refused.
"(Is that so? Well, say hello to your parents for me.)"
"(Tell your dad to go drinking with me sometime.)" Ping added.
Janine nodded. "(Will do.)"
While Janine was talking to Sherry's parents, Dylan and Sherry were talking to each other with low voices. Naturally, they were speaking in Divian.
"After being together for so long, I've grown unaccustomed to being apart from you." Dylan smiled wryly. "I'm going to miss you."
"Silly, it hasn't even been a day yet." Sherry laughed. "You can just call me or talk to me telepathically if you want to. I'll always be there for you."
"Mm, thanks." Dylan chuckled, his eyes full of joy and his lips curling upwards. Dylan held Sherry's hand, intertwining their fingers together, he touched their foreheads together. Dylan smiled and spoke in a soft low tone, "Bye, see you again."
"Mn, see you again." They separated and waved each other goodbye. With that, the three left in Janine's car and they drove back to Janine's apartment.