Chapter 61: Chapter 61

"Dad won once again!"

My face contorted as Garren took down my last chess piece. The exasperation I'm feeling heightened when I saw the smug grin plastered on his face.

God knows how much I want to tear off that arrogance in his face.

After we got tired of ambling around the park, Garren took out some board games that he brought so we could idle away the hours.

Greyson has been playing this game for two years now, so he's good at it. But what made me fall for that notion was because he defeated his father. Then the latter challenged me into a game.

I also know how to play chess. And since it's been a long time since I played one and I kind of miss it, I took on his challenge. I was confident that I'd be able to defeat him because his son did.

But he proved me wrong. Because in the two sets that we played, he defeated me in the most humiliating way possible. I was only able to take down three chess pieces of him from those two games.

It turned out that he was just goofing around earlier and let his son win on purpose. He absolutely crushed my confidence.

"That's alright, Cleo! You still put up a great fight!" Greyson must have seen the despondency in my expression and consoled me.

I chuckled. "I don't know if that's genuine, but thank you nonetheless."

"It's genuine!"

"Cleo really needs that moral support, buddy," Garren chimed in, grinning haughtily from ear to ear.

My nose flared up. "You don't have to rub salt to the wound, sir. I already accepted my defeat."

He laughed. "Sorry not sorry. Anyway, it's pretty late. We have to eat."

He set aside the chess. I looked at the time on my phone and saw that it's already quarter to twelve.

Garren got one of the huge picnic boxes and took out some foods.

"This looks and smells so delicious, dad!" Greyson exclaimed as he opened one of the containers.

The piquant smokey smell of the shrimp and sausage creole pervaded my nose.

Aunt Cora cooked that cuisine once and it instantly became my favorite.

"I personally cooked that."

I arched my eyebrows at Garren. But he suddenly turned to me, so hastily discarded my frown, but it's too late because he already saw the look of incredulity in my face.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not lying. I took the time and effort to cook that dish. But of course I asked Aunt Cora to help me."

He doesn't need to be thin-skinned.

"I believe you, sir."

"You better be," he grouched.

Our petty bantering was disrupted when Greyson giggled.

"Is this what lover's quarrel looks like?"

My cheeks turned scarlet. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just laughed it off. While Garren didn't even reprimand his son.

This behavior of him is baffling me. Isn't he getting uncomfortable with his son teasing and pairing us up? Because I do.

Fortunately, the laughter died down and we began eating. There are other cuisines too like roast pork and chicken pop corn, but of course, I still went for the creole first.

"How was it?" Garren asked.

I smiled, with my eyes abstracted on the sausage. "It tastes great."

I was telling the truth. I hate to admit it but Garren is undeniably a great cook.

I was bewildered when I received crickets. I raised my gaze, and frowned upon seeing Greyson and Garren obviously trying to stifle their laughter.

"W-What?"

"I was asking Greyson, not you. But thank you for praising my cooking skills. I genuinely appreciate it," Garren replied, barely holding a titter.

I looked away in mortification and inwardly castigated myself.

After we ate lunch, we rested for a bit and talked about some random stuff, mostly about Greyson and his studies. They're both lying on the mat while I remained sitting.

"Your Aunt Claudette has always been a spoiled brat. Mom and Dad gives in to everything that she wants. She's also so loud and talkative that it annoys me sometimes."

I smiled hearing Garren's story about his younger sister. I miss Claudette. It's been a long time since we met and she hasn't visited us on the mansion yet.

"Your Uncle Xavier, on the other hand, was the most notorious student back then. He was a complete pain in the ass."

He dropped that like a bolt from the blue.

"Really? That doesn't seem like the truth. Uncle Xavier is the kindest person I've ever met," Greyson replied.

Even I refuse to believe what he said. I don't know Xavier that much but his description of him is far from what I know. That man is seriously one of the most calm and composed person I've ever met.

Garren chuckled. "Trust me, the uncle you're seeing right now is different from the one whom I used to deal with. He's always called on the disciplinary office for various offenses like vandalizing and picking fights with other students. He even brought an alcoholic drink at school once that almost got him kicked out if it wasn't for your grandpa."

I was astounded. Xavier really did those things? I can't imagine.

"He only changed because of someone."

"Who is it?"

Garren smirked. "That's something that I can't tell you. If you want to know, ask your uncle personally."

"Now I'm madly curious."

"Sorry, bud. But anyway, don't you dare do the same thing that he did once you get in High School, alright? Be like a role-model like your dad!"

He really loves blowing his own trumpet.

"I don't believe that!"

Garren chuckled. "But I'm telling the truth. You can ask anyone from our batch and they'll tell you that I'm the most responsible and smartest student!"

Although his arrogance makes my blood boil, I can't deny that that's a fact. Even Claudette told me that.

They talked for a bit more. It only stopped when Greyson urged his father to fly a kite because he saw the kids nearby doing the same thing.

And now, we're inside the store where you can buy your own kite. After minutes of cogitation, he settled with the owl-shaped kite. Garren surprisingly asked me what kite I want. Since I miss doing this stuff, I didn't hesitate to pick one for myself.

Back in Arranmore, Archeus and I used to fly kites on the pastureland near our house, while our parents watched us in glee.

This picnic is making me miss and reminisce a lot of my childhood memories. I should thank Greyson later for urging his father to drag me with them because I'm definitely having the whale of time, aside from those times that Garren put me on tenterhooks.

When we went back to our spot, Greyson didn't wait any longer and began flying the kite his father bought. The wind is perfect so it didn't take that long before it flew high up in the sky.

"Cleo, look! My kite looks so cool up there!" He exclaimed happily.

"It really is!"

I gave Garren a once-over, but that supposed glance turned into a stare because I was amazed on how he professionally maneuvers the kite.

Mind you that it's also a multi-line acrobatic kite with several strings attached to it.

I turned away from him and began fixing mine. I threw it on the air and was expecting that it would easily go up because it's wuthering, but it ended up falling on the ground.

I scrunched up my nose and repeated the same thing- but the outcome is still the similar.

"What am I even doing wrong?!" I groaned.

"You're mindlessly throwing the kite, therefore it wouldn't really fly. You should it hold it on the bridle."

I turned my attention to Garren who suddenly appeared beside me.

"Let me teach you."

Before I could even respond, he went behind me and held both of my hands that completely caught me off-guard.

"These three strings are the bridle. You have to hold them up until it catches the wind."

I can't utterly focus because I can literally feel his breath tickling my neck, to say nothing of that his body is pressed against my back and his arms are wrapped around me.

With this position, anyone would think that we are hugging each other minus the kite.

Curse this man. Doesn't he know the concept of distance and personal space now?! He's making me uneasy!

I could feel my cheeks burning, and there's this strange sensation in my chest and stomach that I can't explain. It's as there's a bunch of bizarre creatures rumbling my stomach.

I wanted to push Garren away but my body isn't cooperating. Even uttering a word became grueling for me to do.

"As soon as your kite catches the wind, let go of the bridle and begin to let some line out."

He began rolling out the strings, and as if spellbound, my hands just let him do that.

"The line should not be slack, but taut with a little give. You have to pull on the line to point the kite up. That will  help to elevate the kite into the air," he added.

I almost got blinded when he looked at me, the distance between our faces is less than an inch.

"Did you get it?"

My knees quivered a bit when I smelled his minty breath. What the hell does this man use and he never had a bad breath?

I banished that thought from my mind.

"I appreciate your teaching, but you don't actually have to be this close to me, sir," I said impassively when I found my voice at last.

I didn't bother hiding the distaste in my voice.

Garren quickly distanced himself, finally liberating me from that asphyxiation.

Thank heavens.

"I'm sorry. You should've told me earlier that you were uncomfortable."

How could I tell him when he just hugged me all of a sudden and caught me shell-shocked?!

I chose not to make a fuss.

"Have fun kiteflying though!" He said and left me alone.

I shook my head and resumed what I was doing. Despite our suffocating proximity a while ago, I was at least able to take notes of his lessons.

I did exactly what he said and gladly, I managed to make my kite fly high up in the air, at last.

A smile crept between my lips while watching it. Since it's color blue, it somehow compliments the color of the sky. The white clouds that appear to be soft cotton balls above even made my view more beautiful.

I feel like a kid once again. This euphoric feeling... I want to treasure this.

Watching the kite made me forget the weird feeling that Garren stirred on my system.

My peace was disrupted by a shutter sound. I searched who took a photo, but I found no one.

I'm probably just hearing things.