JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Thin Air

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Trepidation

Later that day, Carmen Zeppeli took a flight back to her home in Syracuse, Sicily. It was a regular two-storey house mostly typical for the area, except that its furnishings were only slightly more attractive than that of the adjacent houses. For the most part, it was nothing special. It was just enough to comfortably accommodate the Avdol-Zeppeli family, normally a household of six but with Monica supposed to be studying abroad, a household of five.

She took a shower then went to take a nap, her husband Khaled already in bed. He was seen sitting up, reading a book as Carmen laid down and looked at him. He looked back at her and immediately planted his lips on hers, holding a kiss for a few seconds.

"I hope the kids weren't too much of a handful for you," Carmen said to her husband in English, the language spoken in their home. "This is the longest I've been away."

"Oh, they were wonderful. And they're not that little anymore. They're growing up, habibti," my love, he said in his native Arabic. "They're learning to take care of themselves."

Khaled Avdol had a striking resemblance to his late older brother. The most notable difference was that Khaled, a forty-seven year old man, had hair whose natural black color was streaked with grey. He wore it in short cornrows that didn't extend much past the base of his skull. He also had short but thick facial hair which he kept meticulously cared for, and his cheeks were void of the scars that ran down his brother's face. Carmen stayed silent as she looked at his mature but still handsome face for the first time in nearly two weeks. She noted the changes in how he looked over their twenty years of marriage. He continued to age normally while Carmen had kept almost all of her youth and beauty. This was the only way that she realized that she, too, was getting older, just not at the rate of a normal person.

"We're getting older too, huh?" she said.

"Older, but no less good-looking," Khaled laughed in a way that was greatly reminiscent of Muhammad. After a short pause, he continued. "So, you actually met a Joestar in the flesh? Who happened to be Monica's friend?"

"Fate works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?" Carmen said. "Yeah. She's Signore Joseph's adopted girl."

"Wow... I never knew he had other children, besides Ms. Holly of course. Oh, and there've been rumors of him having an illegitimate son as well."

"Those rumors are true. The girl told me herself."

"Ah... Mr. Joestar. That man was my father when my own father refused to step up," Khaled said, remembering his less-than-ideal childhood. "I know he cherished all three of his kids right up to the very end. So how's the girl like? Is she anything like her old man?"

"Oh, not at all. She's very quiet. She's never really made an effort to talk about herself unless Monica and I really annoy her into doing it. She does have her moments, when she's doing silly things with Monica. Oh gosh, I remember this one time when we were having dinner at home, and Monica asked for the salt shaker that Shizuka, Joseph's girl, passed to her, but she'd charged it up with Hamon and it ended up dispensing way too much salt," Carmen said. "She still ate it though, and said it tasted better than my regular food, to which I said 'Is my food really that bad?" and..."

Carmen noticed that Khaled's expression had become jaded as he'd stopped paying attention to what she was saying.

"Oi, tesoro, are you not feeling well?" she asked with concern, calling him treasure.

"How could I be feeling well knowing that I might never get to see my oldest child... my oldest daughter again? That's our girl, Carmen..." he said softly, bleakness thick in his voice.

"Huh...? Are you suggesting that our daughter is going to not return? Why do you think that? Please, take that back. That was the last thing I wished to hear from you. There was no need for you to say something like that." Carmen said, beseeching to her husband.