"Surprise!"
Iva was greeted by Xiao's joyful shout when she steps out of his room.
Behind Xiao was a table full of gorgeous looking food that she never sees Xiao cook before.
"Come on. Put away the broom and come sit down already," Xiao says with a beaming smile as he invites Iva to sit.
While still confused, Iva accepts Xiao invite as she sits at her seat. Her eyes were glued to the mouth-watering food in front of her.
"Are we celebrating something?" Iva asked.
"Well, before that, wait here for a moment," says Xiao.
He then stood up and enters his workshop, leaving Iva in confusion.
After few seconds, Xiao came out from the workshop with both of his hand hiding behind.
"What do you think about the dress you wearing now?" Xiao asked.
The dress that Iva was wearing the whole time was an oversize one-piece dress that Xiao created.
Xiao can't let her continue wearing the sackcloth, for it was already in a horrible state, so he created a temporary dress for her first. At the same time, he worked in secret on the clothes he has in mind for Iva.
"It's the best dress I have in my life," Iva says happily while looking at her oversize dress that was dragging the floor as she walks.
"Best dress, huh? Well, I appreciate your compliment, but you really can't walk properly in that dress."
Xiao felt terrible after Iva give praises for something he created in a hurry.
"So, here you go," says Xiao as he presents the thing that has been hiding behind him to Iva.
It was a set of clothes, together with a pair of boot.
The boot was brown and made in leather. It has two belts around the calf, which the wearer will fasten when they wear the boot.
As for the clothes, there was a red long sleeve hip-length coat designed with golden stripes. The coat also included a hoodie, which was big enough to cover Iva's upper face.
Besides the red coat, there were also a white sleeveless button shirt and a brown pant. The sleeveless shirt was made in wool and wood buttons, while the pant was made in leather, designed in hot pant style.
"Is these all...for me? Iva looks at Xiao in disbelief.
"That's why I say here you go. Go on, take and try them on," says Xiao.
Upon hearing Xiao's confirmation, Iva slowly faces the floor. She became quiet all of a sudden. Xiao got confused about what has got into her. He also couldn't see her expression as she was facing down.
"Why?" Iva spoke out finally.
"Why do you keep treating me kindly? I don't understand. We are not even family. What is your goal?" Iva questions Xiao. Her voice sounds like she was about to burst into tears.
Xiao was surprised by Iva's reaction. He tries to think of something to say but can't seem to find the right words.
"People hate me. I'm a curse. The only person who treated me kindly is grandma. But now, someone who is not related to me, not even a Dark Elf, give me such wonderful gifts..." Iva's voice slowly got covered by her overflowing emotion until she couldn't continue talking anymore as she fell to the ground.
This was the first time Iva cries in front of Xiao. She always stuck with her blank expression that Xiao sometimes wondered whether she could make other expressions.
But today, Iva proves to Xiao that she can be expressive as well. She was bawling her eyes out as she weeps loudly.
At first, Xiao has no idea what to say or do in this situation. But looking at Iva made Xiao remember something, his past experience with Kang, his little brother.
When they were still a kid, there was a time when Kang injured his leg while playing and he cried. At that time, Xiao remembers him doing something.
Xiao crouches down and places one of his hands on Iva's head and the other on her back. He then gently strokes her head and pat her back, just like how he did to Kang at that time.
("Great. Now I made a girl cried. Guess she went through some horrible stuff in the past.")
Iva continues letting out her emotion as she clung to Xiao, sobbing and floating her eyes and Xiao's shirt with her tears.
Sometime later, Iva slowly gets a hold of herself and stop crying.
"Settle down already," asked Xiao.
Iva nodded her head in response, and Xiao gently stroke her head.
Iva looks at Xiao with a serious gaze. Her eyes corner were red with all the crying.
"What should I do if people treat me kindly?" Iva asked him with a serious tone.
Xiao was about to tell Iva to just say thank you, but her intense gaze has Xiao stop himself from doing so.
With that, he was totally clueless on what to answer.
("Looking at how serious she is treating kindness, I should give her a serious answer. But who would go around and ask people this kind of question?!")
After hard thinking while under the pressure of Iva's gaze, Xiao speaks out.
"Well, now might be an excellent chance to learn how to accept people's kindness, I think," says Xiao, remembering a line that he read it somewhere in a book.
"Accept kindness? How exactly? By taking something from the person? Or giving them something? Could you give an example?" Iva follows up vigorously.
"Look. Just say thank you, that's all, and maybe do something good for that person in return, I guess." Giving up on coming out with a philosophical answer, Xiao blurred out his thought.
"Is it really that simple?" says Iva as she looks at Xiao in disbelief.
"It's that simple. Though it might be hard for you to understand now," Xiao subconsciously pat Iva's head as he answers.
"Because I'm a kid, right? Then I understand already." Iva sounds annoyed while she replied Xiao. What Xiao said and what he did while saying make Iva thinks that Xiao was treating her like a kid again.
("How badly does she don't want to be treated like a kid...")
Xiao shakes his head and lets out a sigh by the thought. Iva has already returned to her usual blank face.
"So, thank you." Said Iva as she bows to Xiao.
"Yup, you're welcome. So go put on it already." Xiao replied and handed her the clothes.
Upon grabbing the clothes in her hand, Iva expression brightens up. She unfolds the clothes and checks the details, getting amazed as she was checking.
And finally, she hugged the clothes tightly into her chest while letting out an expression so rare that stunned Xiao for a while.
"Now that's a beautiful smile," Xiao says secretly as he memorizes this precious moment he is witnessing.