The Elmore Mansion was located in the Shade City of the East Province of the Crane Kingdom. Inside the large mansion, on the second floor at the middle section. The Elmore and Stern Families sat in the fairly large dinning hall, beside a long rectangular table.
Seated at the table were twelve people but in the room itself thirteen could be seen. At the edge of the table to the right, sat a dark brown haired bulky hundred and twenty years old man— Vans Elmore.
Opposite Vans to the other edge was Darren Stern, at the right hand of Vans was his wife Mia Elmore, his two children and that of the sterns. To his left, Kaleb Elmore his youngest brother, his wife and three children.
The hall was silent of anything except the clinking of cutlery with plates and bowls and of course, the munching sounds from the Sterns and one Elmore in particular. Seated between Clara Elmore and Bella Elmore, his mother and younger sister respectively. Zlatan Elmore stuffed more and more pieces of ham, pork, chicken and beef in chunks into his mouth.
It was a wonder how he managed to get all that to fit in at once, one moment they were on his plate and the next, gone like they never existed. Even though he'd got the largest servings from the large trays at the centre than everyone else at the table. Zlatan had finished long before any could be done with half of theirs, being almost done with a second plate also.
*BURP!!.
The room went dead silent immediately, everyone else seemingly petrified. "Sorry!" Zlatan quickly apologized, his hands going up to reach for the last piece of ham on his plate. Shoving it in, he covered his mouth, his cheeks reddening with his head down, wishing he could curl up into a ball and roll away to enjoy his meat now.
Although this wasn't the first time he done it, this time round was much different for it was in front of another family. It was a family of a lower social class compared to theirs as a matter of fact, despite their bonds and relationships.
*CHUNK!
*CHUNK!
*CHUNK!
Zlatan instinctively flinched with each chunking sound, as knowing exactly who it was coming from, just didn't mean anything good. Glancing at the direction of the sound, Zlatan could see his father who was seated next to his mother, holding the cutlery knife firmly in his palm instead. With each passing second he stabbed his ham slowly and deeply, his pace gradually increasing. Still, Zlatan couldn't help but lick his lips at the sight of the meal when all of a sudden, Kaleb stopped.
"You —" He was about saying when Vans cut in, drawing the gazes of everyone seated at the table
"Hah! That was a good one kid. Hahahaha!" He broke into a round of laughter, and as if giving the command without uttering it, the room was soon filled with laughter and occasional burps from the table.
Zlatan was laughing away with a mouthful of meat once again, his cousins already devouring their pieces and more to keep up with him. The tension in the atmosphere had eased up with everyone beaming, well except two people. One was still with his eyes fixed on his cutlery knife and the other staring at him with an odd worried look up her face as if she was afraid— his father and mother.
"Watch mine!" Belle called out loudly to Melis Stern who sat opposite her, slicing up and munching on her meat more nobler than an Elmore.
Already caught in the moment of imitating and keeping up with Zlatan, also being hyper now. She grabbed the chicken thighs before her, and beastly shoved them up whole in her mouth without swallowing. Beside her, where her twin sister sat, busily reading away as usual. She was a vegan having her plate filled with nothing but salads, still untouched with her concentration absolutely on her book. Belle didn't care to spare her plate as she never did, even if everyone else offered theirs— she'd take the exact one which wasn't offered to her. So also emptying it's contents into her widely opened mouth. She filled herself up like a loaded cannon to be fired, she began to gulp as she challenged herself to take it in one go like Zlatan miraculously did.
"Belle! Belle! Belle!" Cheering began from the Sterns children, soon drawing the attention of others as they smacked the table with each cheer.
"Belle!! Belle!! Belle!! Belle!!" Jaisal and Elena joined in the cheers, drumming with their cutlery to match their cheers. Still busily stuffed up and also having a chicken wing in one hand and another in the other, Zlatan cheered in his own possible way. Looking at them, Mia turned to look at her husband and seeing Vans having his gaze on the young Elmore with a smile up his face, she felt at ease.
"Hahahaha, she's gonna cough it out." Zlatan now able to speak once again, laughed hard at his younger sister's efforts while taking a bite from the wings. As the previous chunks of meat that filled his mouth, now joining the huge amount of fat on his body.
Belle was trying hard and had already gone halfway without biting in a short time, taking it in one go as she planned. Still, it seemed she wouldn't be able to continue with her eyes watering, her jaw and throat hurting. Hearing her brother's words, her determination to finish up the challenge shot up through the skies.
Using her hands, she reached out to Bella and with three taps on her shoulder. A pack of tissue paper were instinctively placed before her, still unconcerned with the ongoings around and not taking her eyes off her book for a second.
Gulping down slowly, the cheers still incoming, her head held up high. Feeling for and pushing the tissue to the other side, Melis quickly grabbed it and was beside her in seconds.
Slowly she wiped off the tears which blurred her vision, making her lose concentration.
"Belle!!! Belle!!!" The cheering continued with Zlatan laughing away as he munched, reaching into the plate besides him only to notice something— it was empty. 'Dang it, that was mother's?'
The table was now void of almost every ounce of meat, majority swimming around in the bottomless pits of his body. Yet, he wasn't down yet, craving for their tastes once more. His eyes darting around, there seemed to be no hope for another round for him.
'Wait!' Zlatan remembered something as he struggled but, managed to turn to look back, catching the view of the sizeable piece of ham resting on the plate before his father. 'He isn't going to eat it, right?'