"Leena, come on in! Your father is waiting inside for you." Shannon turned her head and smiled gently at Leena. Well, she was quite satisfied with her daughter-in-law for now, no matter what anyone else thought. But she still looked too young. Shannon didn't know if she could take proper care of herself. And that was something that concerned her a lot. If she couldn't take care of herself, then what good was she to Kev?
"Dad, look! I told you Kevin would come home early!" Claire walked past them before they even entered the room. She ran to Nathan's side and smugly said those words. At the same time, she looked at Leena and raised one of her eyebrows. It seemed that Leena still hadn't gotten her approval even she said so many nice things about her.
Yeah." Nathan Gu was indeed how Kevin had described him. He was a very serious man who rarely smiled. You couldn't help but fear him when he was in front of you. He had that kind of power, a quiet authority. So it was understandable that Leena was very nervous because she wanted to leave a good impression. And the only thing Claire was doing was tearing her down.
"Dad, we're back. Leena, this is our father." Kevin was docile in front of his father. He didn't joke and laugh like when he was with his friends. And that was also very different from the way Claire acted around their father. Leena didn't know if he was being this serious only because he was a soldier. She bet that it might be something else, too.
"Dad, hello! I'm Leena Leng, you can call me Leena." Leena introduced herself nicely. Only Kevin knew how nervous she was, because her hand was all sweaty even in the cold weather. But Leena wiped her hand off on her blouse, and kept herself from freaking out.
"Leena, hello. Now that you're married to Kevin, you are family now. Make yourself at home! Relax." Nathan Gu regarded Leena for a moment. All in all, this girl looked nice. But she was a bit too thin. Well, if she'd like to train in the army for some time, it might do her some good. Maybe she would even be good at it. And maybe she'd like it enough to become a career military woman.
Yes, thank you, dad." Leena replied very politely. She couldn't relax like when she was with her brothers and talk without thinking. She wanted to leave a nice impression and show them that she was a good daughter-in-law after all.
"Kev, take Leena upstairs to freshen up a little! I'm going to prepare dinner." Shannon couldn't stop smiling after she met Leena. This was definitely the kind of girl she liked. She was sweet and had good manners. She would make a good daughter-in-law. It seemed that her son had good taste in women after all. He was quite lucky to end up marrying such a sweetheart.
"Okay. Leena, come on. Let's go upstairs." Kevin took Leena's hand and turned around. But as soon as he was about to go, Leena pulled his hand so he couldn't walk away.
"Dad, excuse us for a moment," Leena said gently to Nathan. She was being very considerate and polite. And this made Nathan think that she indeed had good manners. Maybe she was from a good family.
"Go ahead." Nathan replied. It was rare for him to use proper words instead of the snort he often used to reply.
Kevin was beaming. He didn't expect that Leena would be this considerate and polite. Well, it seemed that she really wanted to leave a very good impression to his parents. And this made Kevin quite happy. It would be so much easier to stay married if they had parental approval. Leena smiled again in apology, then she walked upstairs after Kevin. When they were finally in the bedroom, she let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that Kevin's father was not as bad as she originally thought. He was just a serious man who didn't like to smile, that was all.
"Leena, look at my hand. It's all red because you gave it that bone-crushing grip. Did you feel any pain at all?" Kevin spread his hand in amusement, and lifted it in front of her eyes for her to see.
"I'm sorry! I was just too nervous. I didn't notice that at all. Well, I feel a lot better now. I finally met your family." Leena then let out another big sigh of relief. Well, now that she had already met them, she wouldn't be as nervous as she was just now when they went downstairs to have dinner. There was no way she could be any more nervous than what she had been, so it would be smooth sailing from here on out.
"You weren't just nervous. You were so afraid just now! You had me worried for a second there that you were going to faint." Kevin opened the luggage the soldiers brought for them, and took the clothes out. He paid attention to the clothes that Leena had brought with her, and just as he expected, they were too thin.
"Pffft! That's impossible! Who do you think I am?" As soon as the first meeting was over, Leena couldn't help but be smug about it. She had successfully survived the 'meet and greet,' if she said so. Now, all she needed to do was try to get on everyone's good side and get along with them, especially Claire. She had a feeling that this would be an extremely tough task.
Yeah! I almost forget that you are the little princess of the Leng family. And there's nothing you can't do." Kevin shook his head and looked at Leena helplessly.
"No, you're wrong. Everything's harder when you're around." Leena blurted out these words because she just couldn't help herself. But she didn't want Kevin to dwell on them. Because she had made peace with the fact that she could never truly have his heart a long time ago.
"How come? Why is everything difficult for you when I'm here? I don't understand." Kevin's eyebrows frowned. He was quite confused about her words. He had no idea what kind of difficulty she was referring to.
"Well... That's something you don't need to know." Leena let out a silent sigh. She had a feeling that she was never going to say that kind of things that buried deep in her heart to him. After all, she didn't want him to think that she was being petty or demanding. That was the last thing she wanted.