The Scars Within

Chapter 4

Meg's POV

"I know it might not be my place to say this..." says every human on this earth right before they cross that personal boundary

"...But I consider you my daughter so I have to say this..." Translation: she was surging ahead to say what she wanted to anyway

"...Don't you think you ought to have gotten married by now?" And there was the boundary crossing question.

What? I thought as I stared at my aunt who I hadn't seen for almost four years now.

It was evening the next day and I was currently at my mom's family dinner. I had purposely arrived late, an hour-thirty minutes after the arrival time to be precise, with the hope of avoiding meeting the older guests by just having enough time to meet my nieces and nephews before dinner was served

But unfortunately my plan failed because it seemed like not just me but everyone was late for some other reason so the dinner that had been set for four thirty was pushed back to six o'clock

As I soon as I walked in my mom began her usual ramble about my insufficiencies but I successfully evaded her by making a beeline to where the kids were situated.

They had all been at the mini playground my mom and dad had carved out for me and my siblings when we were younger. Luckily for me the only people with the kids were my brother Josh and his wife who were the only two people in the family I was comfortable staying with

When I walked to the playing children, they all paused and stared at me curiously. Some bravely gave me shy smiles while some just gave blank stares. I stared back at them like little specimens too. 

I recognized each of the children present from the pictures sent on the family group chat. Most were my nieces and nephews but some I recognized as my cousins children. The oldest amongst them was about seven years old.

Josh sighed when the staring continued for a long while

"Guys, this is your aunt Megan" Kris, Josh's wife, finally spoke. Introducing me to the kids

"Aunt Megan!" They all seem yell at the same time

All of a sudden, I was toppled over by fourteen kids who tackled me with different sizes of hugs at the same time. At first I did nothing but hug them back and received the love but after a while I began to choke on too much love. A bunch of kids on your stomach doesn't leave much room for air.

It took a lot of work but I managed to detach myself from the kids enough to give Josh and Kris a questioning look

It goes without saying that just hearing my name got such a positive response from them. The older ones had gone back to playing but some still hung on to my leg after I stood.

"They hear a lot about you" Kris replied

"And who wouldn't be excited to see the aunt that sends the best gifts every Christmas" Josh said with a smirk before adding "though they're too young to understand it all stems from guilt" he mumble

"Josh!" His wife said in a warning tone

"What? It's the truth" he replied

The look Kris and I sent him had him raising his hand in surrender and saying " Alright! I'm glad you could make it here. Sis, I missed you" he said before enveloping me in a bear hug.

"That's much better" I replied, hugging him back before I had to quickly add "I miss you too but you're choking me"

Something I should mention was that the guys in my family were built huge, so one tight hug from him felt the same as getting trampled on by fourteen children

We pulled apart from the hug and started having leisure chats while watching the kids. We had barely said much when my aunt called me to the side to discuss about my marital status

So, I was currently giving my aunt a blank look after she asked me what I believe to be a rhetorical question

"Right? My dear?" My aunt prompted me

Oh! So this was for real going down and I was supposed to answer the question of if I thought I should be married by now.

I realized that attempting to answer the question would most likely end up with me insulting the busybody and that would cause a scene at my mom's dinner which would I turn lead to my mom once more accusing for being the cause of all her problems. I thought it better to maintain silence because we all know whom silence is suitable for...

"I mean your brothers are married with kids..." she continued when I didn't reply

Yeah, that's because they met the love of their lives in highschool and got married as soon as they were financially stable duh!!! I replied in my mind

"... And your sister has kids also and the first child is already turning eight!" She added

Yes because she got pregnant in her final year of college and set her hooks on the guy and got married as soon as she graduated! I yelled at my aunt... Once again, in my thoughts

"So, are you in any serious relationship now?" She asked.

Woah this lady need an award as the best nominee for the world most busybody family member.

I made a hum sound which she assumed was a yes because her next words were

"Good, make you bring him to see the family soon. You're not getting younger, my dear" she said

I gave her a tight smile in response. She open her mouth to say more but I luckily saved by my dad who announced that dinner was served. I walked away from her into the house without bothering to notify her that I leaving.

She was right behind me when I entered my family's dinning room. I made certain to seat as far away from her at the dinner table. I noticed she tried to follow me and seat next to me but as soon as she saw I decided to seat between the children she turned right around. Everybody's avoided sitting with children because of the mess they were prone to making but I didn't mind because I saw it as a saving gracing. I saw them as two guardian baby angels one on my right and the other on my left.

After a few welcome greetings from the hostess and self appointed semi-hostess, my older sister, they began eating. I busied myself with feeding the children around me, slyly feeding them sometimes from my plate of food.

Unfortunately they all got full and had to go take a nap before my plate was completely empty. I had like a three-fifth portion of food in my plate.

I partially listened to the conversation going on around me while still contemplating what how to throw out the rest of the food. Then my mom suddenly commented to everyone's hearing

"Megan, I've been watching you all evening and you've not eaten a bite of your food"

Yes, all eyes in the room were now on me.