Hana was waiting for Arash's response, but nothing came in after her 'sagely' advice together with the haphazard daily report of the day. She scratched her head in confusion.
[Is he busy with something? I thought it was already late. The kids should be asleep. He should be free right now.] She pondered.
She had a bad premonition as her womanly sixth sense kicked in. She couldn't find the mood to finish up the delectable grilled catfish in her 'plate'. There was a quarter to go while the other fish was not even touched yet.
It was really not her thing to eat so much 'meat' without the accompaniment of rice. She was after all, the rice bucket of the family. Even Arash ate less rice than her. She could maintain her not-so slim figure only from the routine breastfeeding regime. At one time, Arash even bought less tasty brown rice to help curb her excessive obsession for white fluffy fragrant Siamese rice.
Looking at her pets sitting side by side while eyeing for her grilled fish, she smiled and gave in.
She pushed her plate in front of the kids, "Share please. I hate it if you guys fought for these. We have ample of fish. Tomorrow mommy can make more. Who didn't listen will have to sleep outside." She said sternly.
There was one thing which could rub the mellow over-the-rainbow Hana the wrong way, just like when one touched her 'reversed-scale' (1). It's when anything she owns was being fought over by the kids seriously resulting in injury. She hated when her family members fought for something that should be shared. It effectively drove her into lava-like rage mode. Her husband always compared it to Super Saiyan mode (2). He would say, "Don't make your mom turn on her Super Saiyan mode!" as a warning to the kids when they became too unruly.
Through its connection with its mistress, Kuro knew she's being serious. It hissed to Shiro. Shiro immediately became meek and obediently follow Kuro's arrangement.
Kuro didn't dare to take a bigger part for itself. It bit off half of both fishes and left the rest for Shiro obediently.
Hana was agape!
She realized she had saw something amazing! She saw Kuro communicated with Shiro! And the best thing was, Shiro understood its hissing. This was something revolutionary! Inter-species communication!
She knew Kuro understood her. Now she knew they understood each other. But did Shiro understood her too?
"Shiro? Do you understand what I'm saying?" She asked after it finished its meal.
Shiro looked at Hana with a confused look. It cocked its head to the side, effectively making it way cuter than a corgi pup. Hana couldn't stop herself from pouncing on the cute aarwolf-lookalike!
"Aiyoooo!!! So fluffy! I think I'm gonna die!" Hana squealed in delight while saying the famous quote of a certain kid who loved unicorns. She buried her face blissfully onto Shiro's white fluffy neck as she encircled both arms around the head. She could feel Shiro's body tensed for a minute before it slowly loosened it muscles.
The jolly aunty had forgotten how well the reindeer-horned white fox had tangled with the super strong Kuro. She would've been seriously injured if Shiro defended itself out of reflex. Without her realizing, Kuro was waiting just two steps away just in case the wretched fox forgot and flexed its claws on their mommy by mistake. This morning's incident was enough!
Hana had wanted to do this for the longest time. However, Shiro had been very defensive, she wouldn't dare to spook it lest it really would run away when its leg got better. Shiro reminded Hana of a stray cat she rescued few years ago after being abused for so long. Right now, at home, the cat was fat but extremely active, super naughty, but extremely loving. The cat had been edgy, very vigilant, and stressed out. All of them worked together to help the cat overcame its trauma. It took more than five months. She really hoped Arash didn't forget to care for their other 'kids' at home.
As she hugged Shiro's white fluffy neck happily, she asked again, "Can you understand me Shiro? Thank you for letting mommy hug you." She smiled at the confuse-looking fox.
....
The confused fox was trying to understand its mistress' request.
The talkative being didn't even gestured anything to Shiro. She just said things slowly with an infatuated expression.
[Even how slow you try to say it, I won't be able to understand! We speak different languages!] Shiro was helpless.
When it turned to the snake for guidance, the snake pretended not to see it. It was slightly angered by the snake's pettiness. It knew the snake dislike it when their mistress acted chummy with it. It didn't help that the aunty was fondling the bushy fox's fluffy neck in extreme eagerness bordering on sexual harassment. It could see the mood of the snake was getting darker as their mistress was getting more and more excited.
Truthfully it was getting a bit annoying. Too much touching. Shiro was exasperated internally.
It sighed.
It hesitated. Once it committed to Hana, it would be a lifetime of attachment. After a moment of rumination (while looking at its mistress star-studded eyes full of infatuation), it finally chose to follow its mistress wholeheartedly. At least, she had saved it during its weakest moment. She wouldn't chuck it off just like that. Maybe.
"Nip!" Shiro bit Hana's fondling left hand.
"Ouch! Why did you do that for?" Hana yelped. She was more surprised rather than in pain. The pain was akin to being lanced by a glucose-checking lancet.
Shiro ignored its mistress act and quickly chomped the bleeding index finger in its mouth.
Finally, the connection was made.
...
Hana saw the fox froze as its eyes glazed over. It shuddered a little. Hana was slightly guilty for being a little harsh on the sensitive fox. She thought she had hurt the fox's feelings, and it started to retreat from its first few steps. Admittedly, she had been a tad bit carried away. Once the aloof fox gave a bit of its calf, she had gone for the thigh (3).
Hana let the fox continue biting her finger. After all it was not that painful. She hugged the fox with her other arms and stroke the top of its head while soothingly murmured to it. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm not hurt. Sorry for shouting just now. Mommy was shocked. Mommy knows you didn't mean to hurt me."
Kuro had unknowingly glided to Hana's arm, ready to strike Shiro if it suddenly attacked Hana.
Noticing Kuro's presence, Hana stroke Kuro's sleek body too to calm the snake down. "Mommy's okay. It's okay..."
Kuro was a little over-protective. But she knew it because it cared about her so much. She was truly happy for that. It's like they were connected, although it had only been four days since they met. Sometimes, she felt ridiculous with the current development. Even love at first sight took a longer time for it to work. Nonetheless, this new little family was what made her move forward from wallowing in sadness. She still missed her hubby and children immensely, but at least now she received some love from this side to propel her forward.
Author's note:
(1) Reverse scale = if you're not a Chinese lightnovel reader, you might never come across this term. It was the most sensitive spot of a dragon (the Chinese version). Behind the reverse scale is the heart where the weakness was located. So, whomever touched its reverse scale will invoke terrible wrath from the dragon
(2) Super Saiyan mode = If you don't know this, please just go and drown yourself in tonnes of cake. It's the alien superheroes from planet Saiyan who powered up by turning into a golden hue with a suave spiky gold hair to match. So macho. It's Mr and Mrs Mooncat superheroes. During our childhood, we were more exposed with these rather than from the Marvel series.
(3) "..gave a bit of its calf, she had gone for the thigh" = as a reminder, a Malaysian proverb with the meaning of taking more than what was given to you, shamelessly. It has the same meaning as given an inch, asked for a mile. 😊