Mia's Open Heart (Choices Open Heart AU)

Chapter 43: Home

As Ethan was quickly walking back to his car from the post office, his earphones remained in his ears, the conversation between Mia and her parents clearly playing in his head.

He quickly deducted that she must have taken her coat off, taken her phone out of her coat pocket, and was holding it in her hand because of how clearly he could hear the conversation.

Ethan tried his best to avoid eavesdropping on the conversation between Mia and his in-laws.

His in-laws.

Frankly, he hadn't pieced that information together. They had been married for about 3 months now, and yet, admitting that he had in-laws was something he wasn't used to, and for good reason.

As much as Ethan tried not to eavesdrop, he found himself doing exactly that. Was it because he wanted to protect her? Protect their family? To understand more of this twisted and sad part of her life she rarely spoke about?

Was he being overbearing? Overprotective? Curious?

As the thoughts roamed through his head while he sat within the car, something caught his attention.

"Come back home with us." A female voice said.

If Ethan hadn't known the context or the situation of what was happening, if he were any random person listening in, it would be hard to deduce who it was.

Mia had always pointed out the features he had inherited from his parents. He had Alan's jawline and eyes, and Louise's nose and pronounced cheekbones. You could stand the man with his parents and be able to easily deduct that his genetics came from the two of them.

And that's how genetics work. As much as he wanted to avoid the topic of genetics and biology as a younger individual when it came to him, it was simply true. His genetic code was predetermined, his chromosomes having been meticulously created in a time-old process, having been created by the fusions of their separate cells. Something that had happened billions of times before, his genetics came from his biological parents, as they received theirs from their parents, etc. That is how you can sit a child with its biological parents, and more often than not be able to pick out which person they got their features from.

Despite Ethan being a full fledged doctor, despite him knowing how this process works, seeing daily the result of children walking with parents whom they looked the carbon copies of. Despite all that, it was incredibly striking when he saw her father.

When Mia had walked up to the house, he made sure to stay in the car and wait until it was certain she had gone in, deducting it was alright to do so since he would likely not be seen by whoever opened the door. Part of him was nervous, it being the first time he would see her parents in person. When the door opened, and an older man answered and hugged the woman standing in shock, Ethan was able to see his face.

And just like you could with any child and their parent. Ethan could easily see the striking similarities.

The nose that Mia often complained about being "too big", she had gotten that from her father. The eyes he spent hours gazing into, the eyes that represented warmth, that were soft and welcoming yet could be powerful and striking. She got those from her father too.

Although he hadn't seen her mother, throughout the conversation, Ethan was almost shocked at how similar his wife sounded to her. Mia's father had stayed rather silent throughout the exchange, and so as the two voices spoke with one another, they could almost meld into one sound. He had to use the context of the situation to tell them apart.

So when Ethan heard Mia's mother offer her an ultimatum to either return back home or permanently cut all ties with them, he froze. He was in the middle of putting his key into the ignition to drive to the neighborhood where the house was, but he stopped, his hand dropping before he could start the engine.