"Henry?" His wife whispered while nudging him slightly, as she also looked down, also not daring to meet the old couple's gaze who were fuming with anger.
The middle-aged man sighed inside, then slowly looked up. "F... Father-in-law__"
"Don't father-in-law me you preposterous boy." The old man cut him off while hitting hard his cane on the floor. "You dared to take our grandchildren away from us!!! And still, you have the gut to call me father-in-law!!?" He continued angrily and the middle-aged man shifted on the couch again before he slowly looked down with another sigh.
Both Carl and Zach frowned slightly and then glanced between their father and grandfather in confusion. They both wondered what does he mean by that. For as long as they could remember, the old couple had stopped being in contact and had cut ties with them, after their father married again.
"Grandpa, Grandma what do you mean by that? Aren't you the ones that abandoned us?" Zach's brow furrowed slightly, thinking back to how he had wanted to keep on living with them, but they had instantly disagreed and sent him back to City M.
"No, It wasn't our fault baby Zi, it was your father's, he forced us to do that," Their grandmother quickly defended, still glaring at the middle-aged man. She could clearly remember how she had pleaded so much with the man to let them have their little grandson, but he had strongly disagreed with it and took the child away, without allowing them to be in contact with the kids anymore.
"Father?" Carl's frown deepened and he slowly turned to the man with a dark expression and Zach's expression was not better. They should have seen this, seeing how their grandparents loved them so much when they were little, the old couple wouldn't have just abandoned them like that.
"Well, Uhmm... I... I." The middle-aged man stammered while shifting again under their stern gazes and was lost for words.
"I was honestly__" He was about to keep on speaking when their heads snapped to the large door which was suddenly flung opened and they all watched as a young man sauntered inside, with a medium-sized luggage in his hand while whistling happily and the middle-aged man gulped inside.
"Old man, I'm back__ what!?" Matt halted in his footsteps while staring wide-eyed at the view in front of him, and in the next second, his expression instantly turned dark. "Old man, what are they doing here? Has the girl finally woke up?"
"Well, you should ask that to your stupid sister... However, that's not the most important thing now, where are you coming back from?"
"Yes, and didn't we ask you to keep an eye on the crazy girl?"
The old couple's attentions turned to their son and they both sighed exasperatedly.
"Mother!? I'm not some kind of your mission boy... I also have a life for goodness sake__ you made me risk my precious life for saving those girls__ and these boys." He angrily pointed toward Carl and Zach who were staring back at him with calm expressions, then he continued, "They don't even respect me... Argh! Why am I even complaining, they literally abandoned you guys too__ Anyways, I'm off to my room."
He scoffed out loud and started sauntering upstairs while dragging his luggage effortlessly then rolled his eyes and continued whistling again while everyone's gaze followed his back and the old couple sighed helplessly.
Their expressions changed after turning back their attentions to the middle-aged man and they were about to continue berating him when their heads snapped upstairs again.
Matt who had paused in his footsteps suddenly let out a dark chuckle while his gaze slowly scanned the people downstairs. "Where is the other girl, why is she not here?
"Matt!? Leave the poor girl alone and don't try anything crazy this time!!" The old woman warned sternly and Matt rolled his eyes again with an incoherent word then continued walking upstairs.
Silence returned to the living room, and without waiting to get another glare from his wife and the old couple, the middle-aged man quickly cleared his throat and he said, "It was actually because of that boy... I noticed that he bullies Zach a lot and the boy was starting to pick some of his weird habits, th... that was why I took him away," He said softly after glancing upstairs nervously.
Even though the boy was only four years older than his first son, he was greatly afraid of him at that time. However, that was not the only reason, as he had also wanted them to be raised by his wife who had asked at that time.
The old couple stared at him perplexedly and their expressions instantly turned darker, knowing that, it wasn't his main reason. "How despicable of you Henry, how dare you call our son weird!!?"
"Yes, and are you trying to tell us that he doesn't have a good upbringing!?"
The middle-aged man stared between them in shock and quickly shook his head. "No, no... That is not what I mean..." He trailed off and sighed inside.
"Henry!? Stop adding fuel to the fire... just apologize..." His wife whispered with an exasperated sigh, then smiled awkwardly at the old couple.
"Father-in-law, Mother-in-law... I am very sorry... and I am also grateful that you were keeping an eye on the boys even when you weren't close," The middle-aged man finally muttered with a sigh, knowing that all those reasons he gave were not sensible.
Maybe he was just selfish and had wanted to raise his sons alone. His thoughts drifted back to his late wife and he sighed again. "I'm so sorry."
The room sank into silence then the old couple sighed heavily while watching his guilty expression and after some seconds, they slowly nodded.
"At least you brought up our grandsons competently and your wife is also a very good woman... So, because of that, we will forgive you." The old man muttered calmly with a soft smile and the middle-aged couple sighed in relief.
"Yes he's right, there should be no more grudges." The old woman also added and smiled softly then turned toward Zach and Mira.