Dynamis reached the restaurant as he got off his bike as he walked inside the restaurant and saw customers as he spotted Christine giving the food, she saw him as well as she stopped for a bit before she turned away and went to work.
'Right now I should do the job.' Dynamis thought to himself as he went to meet with Emma.
He saw the mother working and making food as he reached the kitchen as she saw him and she smiled at him.
"Hey Dynamis, can you take this to table 5?" Emma asked him as she gave a tray of food.
"Sure." Dynamis said to her as he took the tray.
He went to the table and dutifully placed the food, the woman who was at the table noticed him as she looked at him and saw his physique as she gained an interested look on her face. The man she was sitting with noticed that as he looked at Dynamis and saw his body.
'Goddamit, did he have to come?' The man thought to himself as Dynamis walked away from the table.
That wasn't the only case as other women in the restaurant also noticed him, and he could also see that the number of women in the restaurant had increased as well. He is just happy that they can't fully see his face due to the cap and mask which he is thankful for.
After the job was done for the day, the three of them sat at a table, though he could see that Christine is looking quite nervous and hesitant as she sat there. He also saw Emma giving her looks as well, and he got an idea as to why they were acting like this.
"Christine." Emma called to her daughter with a calm look.
"I know I know." Christine said with a nod at hearing her mother.
She looked at Dynamis as she took some breaths to calm herself down. Then she sat straight and looked at him as he watched her. Then she bowed her to him as his eyes widened a bit.
"I'm sorry Dynamis. You just wanted to help us and I acted that way. I shouldn't have done that and got angry at you, nor should I have talked that way with you. I'm sorry." Christine said in a sad tone as she kept her head bowed.
"Raise your head up Christine. You don't need to bow to me." Dynamis said to her slowly as he didn't like seeing her bowing to him like this.
"But I..." Christine said hesitantly as she raised her head a bit and looked at him.
"Look, I didn't know that you would act like that, and you wouldn't have acted that way normally without any reason. So please, don't bow to me. I don't like it." Dynamis said to her with a calming face.
"O-Ok." Christine said as she sat straight with a guilty look.
After that the place was silent as the three sat there without any one of them talking. Dynamis thought over what to say to them before he came to a decision and looked at the mother and daughter, as he had been curious about it ever since her outburst.
"If I may ask, why did you react like that Christine?" Dynamis asked her curiosity as he looked at the girl.
"It's... umm..." Christine hesitantly started before she glanced at her mother.
Emma sighed when she saw her daughters gaze as she looked at Dynamis who also looked at her in confusion.
"It's... because of what happened to us in the past." Emma said hesitantly as she rubbed her left arm.
"If you are uncomfortable with it, then you don't have to say it." Dynamis said to them immediately as he knew that it is sensitive.
"No no, it's fine. You have been a great help to us and we trust you Dynamis. Besides, this isn't that serious." Emma said with a slight smile on her face.
"As if." Christine muttered under her breath but Dynamis heard her, but decided to stay silent at the moment.
Emma looked down as she took a few moments to gather her thoughts before she looked back at Dynamis again.
"You know that this shop was made by me, right?" Emma asked him with a smile.
Dynamis just wordlessly nodded to her in response as she hummed at his actions.
"I was young, and a bit adventurous. To keep it short, I had fallen in love with a man and we had planned to marry each other. But my family didn't agree to it and in my youthful recklessness, so to speak, I ran away with him. We married, got money and made this restaurant. I owned the restaurant and he also did another business. Then Christine came into our life, and I truly thought that I would be able to live a happy and fulfilling life, after all, everything was going pleasantly." Emma said with a bitter tone as she looked down.
Christine grabbed onto her mother's right hand and gently sqeezed it as Emma returned the gesture. Then she looked back at Dynamis with a resigned look on her face.
"But it was not to be. You see, even though we had a stable life, my husband didn't love me as I loved him. A few years after I had ran away with him, I was working at the shop, and then he called me. Of course, I was expecting some pleasant news or small talk, only for him to tell me that he is leaving us to go away." Emma said to him as she looked down.
"Wait, he just left you two?" Dynamis asked in surprise when he heard that.
"Yes. I was devastated at hearing that and asked him why he was doing that. And he told me that he has gained a great opportunity to become more rich and powerful, so he left. Do you know what he said to me when I asked him what I meant to him?" Emma said as she looked at him with some tears in her eyes.
Dynamis stayed silent as he didn't know what he should say to a woman like this, but she decided that his silence was approval enough as she looked down and let out a shaky breath as her hand was sqeezed by Christine again for comfort as the young girl has a frown on her face.
""I can find a woman like you anywhere in the world. But this is something that I can only get once in a lifetime. So I am leaving you two, because this is more important." That is what he said to me, like I, we, were nothing to him." Emma said as she choked our a sob after finishing talking.
Dynamis' eyes widened when he heard that as he didn't expect the man to actually say something like that right to his wife and then leave them like this. He also spotted Christine's frown deepening when her mother finished talking.
"He took every bit of money and property in his name when he left. He had been planning that for a while. Fortunately for us, the restaurant was in my name, so he couldn't take it and we started to live here. Well, after I got through my depression of course." Emma said as she looked down.
"It must've been hard, huh." Dynamis said with a sad look.
"Yes. I couldn't believe that the man I had fallen in love with and had married would leave me and our daughter like this, while also taking away all the money. I also couldn't return to my family after running away. I fell into depression and would've probably wasted away, if not for Christine being with me. I remembered that I have her with me, so I started to work again, to make sure that she will at least be able to live a stable life." Emma said to him as she wiped her tears and smiled at her daughter.
"I told you that you don't have to do all this for me mom. I am happy with how we are." Christine said to her mother sadly.
"It's fine. I am your mother, it's my duty to make sure that you will be able to live a better life than I did." Emma said to her with a smile.
"But that doesn't mean that I like seeing you always pushing yourself for me." Christine said to her with a frown.
"Perhaps. Well, after Christine learned about the reason her father had left us, she started to work with me to help me, but she has also become distrustful of people and men due to that." Emma said to him as she looked at her daughter.
"Really?" Dynamis asked in surprise as he didn't see her act like that with him.
"I am able to talk with them normally, but I don't trust them and I hate my father as well." Christine said to him as she looked to her right.
"You managed to gain her trust after all the times you had helped us and talked with us. We can see that you are very good and kind person Dynamis." Emma said to him with a smile.
"Well, I'm glad to see that you two trust me as well." Dynamis said with a smile as he looked at them.
"Yeah. And uh, about the outburst. After learning about what my father did, I wanted to show him that we didn't need his help to live here and I wanted to make our business more successful and live a good life despite him leaving us. It was kind of an obsession really." Christine said as she looked down in embarrassment.
"Then, when I gave you that money..." Dynamis said as he started to connect the dots.
"It was an illogical reaction. Even if you wanted to help us, getting outside help felt like you were insulting us. It felt to me like you were saying that we need help from others to succeed and get a better life." Christine said to him guiltily.
"The money you gave us isn't small as well. I mean, Dynamis, the money you have us was almost the amount we make in two months." Emma said to him with a slightly nervous smile.
"I uh, didn't actually know how much money my sister had given me to be honest." Dynamis said to them as he looked at them.
"Still, when I saw that I couldn't control my anger and I lashed out at you, when you were only trying to help us. I know that you care about us, but when I saw that I couldn't control myself and my anger resurfaced so I..." Christine said as she rambles on before she was stopped by her mother.
"She is saying sorry and that she regrets what she had said to you and how she has acted with you." Emma said to him with a smile as he nodded to her.
Dynamis then thought about what he had learned in the last moments before he decied to ask a question that he wanted to know the answer of.
"You don't have to answer me if you don't want to but... Do you regret what you did?" Dynamis asked her slowly as he looked at the mother.
Emma was surprised at the sudden question while Christine looked at him and then at her mother at that. Though she wouldn't fault her mother if she did regret her decision, after all, she had lost much and suffered a lot due to her father.
As for Emma herself, she thought about the question for some moments before she smiled at him. Then she hugged her daughter close to her as Christine was a bit surprised at the sudden actions of her mother.
"There were many things that I do regret I my life, but, not her. I did suffer and go through hardships due to my decisions, but I got my beautiful daughter because of those same decisions." Emma said with a charming smile as she looked at her daughter.
"Mom." Christine said in surprise at hearing her mother's words.
"So, I don't regret it. Because my daughter is here for me and I know she cares about me. She is the most precious thing to me in the world, and I will make sure that she will be able to live a happy life no matter what." Emma said to him with a gentle smile on his face.
"I see. I'm happy to hear that." Dynamis said after a few seconds as he smiled at her answer.
Emma smiled at his words and then hugged her daughter closer as Christine blushed at her mother hugging her like this, while also being in front of Dynamis as well. Though she also smiled as he watched them.
'They are beautiful.' Dynamis thought to himself absentmindedly as he saw the mother and daughter hugging each other with smiles on their faces.
A/N: Been a long time since the last update but here is the new chapter. Life has been hectic and fast paced and I can't even keep track of time. I do hope that it was good and you guys will comment about how it is. Thank you for reading this book and the support. Hope you have a nice day.