Melody sat down with her brother across from the Goddess sisters and their mother Julia, clearly not expecting to revisit Uncle Jack and also meet the genius Julia Young. Even she did not ever recall that Uncle Jack knew Julia but then again she had been invited by Jack before for these dinner meetings but she had always been busy with one thing or another while seeking her revenge.
Unlike his sister, Alex was relishing having more people accompany them to the dinner as he had expected this visit to be much more tense and stressful. Looking over at Minerva and Diana, he saw that they were just as confused as to why they were meeting up with this brother and sister pair that happened to be who they were gaming with.
Oblivious to the turmoil everyone was having, Alex walked up to Jack. "Hope there's no hard feelings boss. How has the Cafe been since I left?"
"After I kicked those brats to the curb, I decided to close the shop for the time being. It was more of a hobby than anything and I now just use the kitchen to cook for myself and these dinner dates. How about you kid? What have you been up to lately?"
Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex told a shortened version of their adventures thus far inside of the game while leaving out some of the more secret parts of course.
While still a bit tense, everyone dug into the food on the table with relish as Jack's cooking could contend with Michelin star chefs, or at least that's what Alex enjoyed telling and everyone else agreed on much to the very slight blushing of Jack.
"So Boss, how do you know Miss Julia?"
Wiping his mouth, Jack looked up in thought for a moment. "Ahhh right, I used to protect Julia here and Markus when they were young. I always came to help them out whenever they were bullied, little tykes always did know how to rub people the wrong way back then. Who would've guessed that the little miss here would become some bigshot genius and Markus would end up being the Co-Founder of NuGen Tech. Meanwhile, I'm just lazing my days here after getting out of the military. Thankfully Julia takes care of little ol' me and keeps me company some days."
Rolling her eyes while stuffing her mouth, Julia shrugged. "Just because other kids were being dumb when I tried to explain things to them doesn't mean they should get to bully me! Plus I know very well that you have more than enough to live a life of luxury till you're over 150 years old. But yeah, that Markus has been busy with his company these past few years. Plus, you always make my favorite beef fried rice! How could I not come by whenever you're cooking?"
Pointing her spoon towards Alex and Melody, Julia tilted her head slightly. "So who are these two youngins? I don't remember you telling me anything about them? Did you decide to pick up a few strays? Am I not good enough for you Pepperjack?"
Looking up confused, Alex looked between Julia and Jack and thought to himself. 'Strays? Am I a lost puppy or something?!'
Almost choking on his food trying not to laugh, Jack hit his chest a few times till the food passed into his stomach. "Same ol' Julia, more in love with mythology and her work than anything else. And no, they aren't strays Julia, you're being rude. Alex here used to work in the Cafe when I had it open and got used to him. He can be a bit clumsy at times but he has a good heart. Melody here is his younger sister and they are pretty close from what Alex has told me before. Also haven't I told you not to call me that anymore!?"
"Is that so?" Looking Alex up and down, she smiled and nodded to herself. "Well young man, I haven't heard of Pepperjack here speak so well of someone else in a while. He's nice to those he cares about but he can be a real demon when you get on his bad side. So which of my daughters has caught your fancy? Diana or Minerva? I wish you the best of luck!"
"MOM!"
"MOM!"
Shouting in unison, Diana and Minerva blushed furiously at their mother's words.
"Wait, your names are actually Diana and Minerva? I thought those were just names in the game?"
Sighing at her mother's antics, Diana answered. "Our mom here loves Mythology, Roman and Greek most of all. She has read everything you can about mythology and even has done some archeology. Even going as far as to play any game related to Mythology, she enjoys the God of War series the most. Whenever she isn't working she is usually in our home library or her gaming PC. Because of that, we were named after her two favorite Roman gods."
Furrowing his brows, Alex was surprised that Julia had such a love of Mythology that she would do such a wide range of things. It would make more sense if she just read them but also do archeology and gaming too, almost reminds him of a certain tomb raider. "So is Julia also someone in Mythology? I don't remember knowing any, of course, I don't know much aside from the more obvious stuff."
Julia chuckled. "While I joke that my name is after a more feminine Julius or Julio, no my mother just liked the sound of Julia and I found no reason to change it to something more mythologic centric. And before you ask, no I don't have a husband. My two precious daughters are from a donor I selected and modified the sperm and eggs bit. That reminds me, Pepperjack, have you found anyone yet?"
Groaning, Jack ruffled his own hair a bit. "No. I have enough troubles feeding and taking care of you, I can't imagine also being in a relationship."
Smiling widely, Julia laughed. "Don't blame me for being unlovable. But don't worry dear Pepperjack, I'll keep you company in the meantime. As for you Alex, I wasn't joking earlier about courting my daughters here. Diana may seem cold on the outside but she's very Tsun Tsun, and Minerva here is shy but I'm sure she'll be a wildcat in bed."
Wanting to melt into a puddle and fade out of existence, Minerva slumped in her chair as her brain started to overheat in embarrassment. Diana on the other hand grit her teeth and glared at Alex as if saying if he were to try anything at all to herself or Minerva that she would torture him terribly.
Shivering and looking at anything else but the glaring Diana, Alex nervously joked. "I wouldn't dare think about dating your daughters without their consent first. Besides, I doubt they could handle all of this anyway."
Everyone burst out laughing and the tense atmosphere melted away as they all got into eating and chatting about various topics. There were a couple of times where Julia got a bit rowdy but overall everything went fine. After dinner was finished, Alex offered to help clean but Jack just shooed him and Melody away and told them to go home as it was getting dark."
On their way home, Alex was in a good mood as he had learned a lot about the two sisters and their cute and funny mother. Even his boss had a bunch of connections and secrets that he never knew before. Melody followed behind Alex, brooding in her own thoughts.
"Are you okay Mel? You didn't talk much at dinner and are so quiet now. Anything on your mind that you wanna share? I might not have any good answers but I'm confident in my listening skills."
Looking up at the sky, Melody wondered what she was feeling at this moment. She hadn't realized just how overwhelming and consuming the desire for revenge was in her other life. Melody wondered just what else she had missed and if her current aspirations were strong enough. It is no doubt that Melody was able to grit her teeth through her many defeats and eventually climb high enough to enact her revenge and get to this current life. But now that Melody was here, she felt as if the happiness at being reunited with her brother had dulled her abilities and determination.
A sharp pain to her forehead brought Melody out of her daze. "What are you doing ignoring your big brother huh? I told you already that I'll always be here for you, for better or worse. You can't be getting all soft on me now, who else am I going to talk to about picking up cute girls?"
Rubbing her injured forehead, Melody punched her brother hard on the shoulder. "Pffft, what do you need help with that for. Didn't you hear Julia? Diana and Minerva are free for the taking. They aren't as cute or beautiful as your sis, but they'll do."
"You really think so? I do think they are pretty good looking and we all seem to get along well together."
Putting up a shocked look on her face, Melody replied as honest sounding as she could without laughing. "Of course not, I was joking. They still work for one of the biggest companies in the world and not to mention their mother is THE Julia Young. While they were joking with you I doubt they actually consider you anything more than a friend they met in-game."
"You didn't have to be that harsh sis..."
"Common now, I'm in the mood for some dessert. Let's go home big bro."
Julia let her daughters get in the car before talking with Jack in private. "Are you sure about those two Jack? What do you really know about them? I can't have my precious daughters potentially be in trouble now."
"You worry too much Julia, She has taken an interest in them. You should know they are trustworthy if She thinks so."
Furrowing her small brows, Julia looked in the direction of Alex and Melody. "Is that so, She was always a very independent one. I suppose I'll let my daughters keep an eye out, what has She been up to anyway? She doesn't come to visit me much these past few years."
Crossing his arms, Jack laid against the doorframe. "You should know more than anyone else that She'll do whatever She feels like, even if She treats me as an adoptive father."
"Yeah...I just hope that She doesn't get too out of hand. Anyways, see you again soon Jack. Make sure to invite them again whenever you do the dinner meetup."
Grunting in response, Jack watched as the Young family drove away.