Seeing his expression turn sad, Riya became flustered and weakly said, "I also missed you."
"Mm? What was that? I didn't hear it? Say it again." Eric touched his ear and pretended to listen closely.
"You! You are doing this on purpose, aren't you? Hmph! I won't talk to you anymore." Riya stomped her feet in anger before entering the house.
"Hehe…" Eric laughed and followed her. Leaning over to her, she whispered in her ear, "Want to know something interesting?"
"Mm? What is it?" Riya asked, curious.
Eric put on a serious expression and said, "The thing is… you looked way too cute when you were flustered. Hahahaha!" Saying this, he burst out in laughter and ran. He knew she would become angry now and would want to hit him.
Riya was dazed and didn't understand what he meant until he started laughing. Then her face went red, and just as he had expected, she started chasing him while shouting, "Ericcccc! I'll teach you a lesson today so you won't ever say I look cute. I don't look cute. I don't look cute at all. Only kids look cute. I'm a young lady. I look beautiful. BEAUTIFUL!"
…
After running after each other for a while, both of them became tired and lay on the wooden bed, side by side, panting and looking at the thatched ceiling.
After a while, Riya suddenly called out to him. "Hey, Eric.
"Yes." Eric turned to look at her.
"I really missed you." Riya said, still looking at the ceiling.
Eric smiled. "I know." Saying this, he moved closer to her, lifted his head and placed a kiss on her forehead before adding, "I also missed you, and I'm very happy to see you again."
Riya touched her forehead dazedly before a radiant smile bloomed on her face. But because she didn't want to show she liked it, she pouted her lips cutely, lightly hit his shoulder and grumbled in a low voice, "Don't go randomly kissing someone without warning."
Eric just smiled at this and asked, "Where is mom? Is she at work?"
"Mom? Mm, yeah. She… she is at work." Riya hesitantly said, averting her gaze.
From her expression, Eric knew she was lying. He turned her face toward him and seriously asked, "What is it?"
Tears appeared in her eyes as she started explaining, "Two months ago, when Mom heard those nobles took away you, she was devastated. She immediately left to find you, but because she didn't know who they were and where they took you, so she couldn't find you. From then on, she lost her appetite. She started speaking less, and her mood was always down."
Speaking until here, Riya took a deep breath and wiped her tears before continuing, "Because she was constantly worried about your safety, she wasn't able to work properly and her employer… those bad people, they… they hit her and told her not to come back for the work again."
Hearing that his mother was beaten, Eric's breathing turned rough and his eyes became red in anger. "They will pay for it." He growled ferociously.
He then took a few deep breaths to calm his anger and asked, "So, she is out to look for work now?"
"Mm." Riya nodded. "I also wanted to go look for work and earn some extra credits, but mom prohibited me. She said if I went out, bad people will take me away and if that happened, she won't be able to live any longer. So, I didn't dare go. But I'm worried about mom. She is becoming weaker by the day. I was afraid if this went on, she…"
Riya couldn't continue speaking and broke out in sobs. She then forced a smile, "But now that you've returned, she will be alright."
Hearing this, Eric felt pangs of guilt in his heart and his resentment toward those nobles who took him away increased even more.
Extending his hand, he brought the sobbing Riya into his embrace. Gently caressing her back to comfort her, he said, "Hush! Don't cry. Now that I've returned, I'll make everything better."
"Un. I know you will. I know," Riya nodded, forcing a smile on her crying face.
After a while, she fell asleep in his embrace.
Eric didn't move in fear that he might disturb her sleep and continued to hug her. He could see that it wasn't only their mom who was distressed these past two months, as Riya said, she was, too.
After a while, his eyelids became heavy, and he also fell asleep.
When he woke up, it was already past evening and Riya had already woken up earlier.
When he looked around, he saw her in their makeshift kitchen. She was making dinner along with a woman who looked to be around 25 years old. If we ignored her old, faded and baggy dress that undermined her beauty a lot, she was still a woman who was very beautiful, attractive, and filled with mature and graceful charm.
Her exposed skin was fair and tender like a newborn baby's which right now was glistening with droplets of sweat, making her look even more mesmerising. She really was a woman who would turn heads wherever she went and any male who saw her would want to possess her. This was also the reason she always wore baggy clothes and makeup that made her look ugly.
She was Elena, Riya's and 'his' mother if we ignored the fact that he recently found out she wasn't his blood mother.
She was a woman who loved and valued her family above everything else.
Eric had seen her sacrifice too much for their sake. She would work all day so they wouldn't go hungry. Many nights when they had limited food, she would give it all to Riya and him, saying she had eaten at her employers' home.
Even though Eric had found out she wasn't his blood mother, he still loved her the same as before. In fact, he wasn't even planning to confront her about it as that would change things between them and he didn't want that to happen.
"Mom?" He softly called out.
Elena's body trembled slightly when she heard his voice. She stopped doing what she was doing, stood up and came running to him.
Whoosh!
She didn't say anything and just hugged him tightly, and didn't let go for a long time, as if worried he might fly away if she did that.
Eric hugged her back, his head resting on her shoulder and a happy smile on his face. They stayed like that.
Riya looked at the duo, a happy smile playing on her lips.
After a long while, the duo separated. Elena started looking at him up and down to see if he had any injury.
Seeing this, Riya couldn't help but say, "Mom, haven't you checked him many times already when he was sleeping? How many times more do you need to do that?"