Evergreen

reunion (III)

A family is like the ocean, wide and vast- they push together to combat all that wish to challenge them. It can never truly be destroyed....and they can all feel one and the same. Yet, this can also apply to the fact- that, just like the ocean- a family can hold many, many secrets along its sea floor. Secrets that outsiders, those that adventure among the ocean's depths, would be fascinatedly horrified to see.

Even though their ocean, is quite the same.

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"Is that everyone?" A booming voice shook the lining of Zahri's eardrums- causing him and most of the other guests to redirect their attention from the two people who had now entered the Dining Room, to the person standing on the raised platform at the head of the room, much in similarity to a stage.

The person standing there had an appearance in likeness to Ashley, pale skin, soft mannered but stern, gentle black eyes and silky black hair that flowed like the purest springs of water along his stature. The only differences between them were their demeanors, their eye colors and their hair lengths. Other than that, they looked practically the same. This man was Emil Smith, also known as the father of the household.

He flashed a jolly smile on his face as he realized he'd managed to catch their attention. "Sorry, Sorry for the rudeness. Just making sure everyone's here- Ah....Ha...." he chuckled to himself as his eyes grazed the huge outlook of invited guests that sat at their designated seats, looking up at him earnestly.

"Welcome Family, Family friends and Miscellaneous to the Smith Family's 75th Annual Reunion!" The entire room roared to life at his greeting, some were clapping, some were cheering while some were happily nodding in silence. "Thank you all for coming- the turn out this year is- riveting to say the least- my wife and I are absolutely ecstatic to be among so many that are so closely related to our family. Happy isn't even a close enough word to describe how we both are feeling right now." A small range of applause was made before Emil put his hand up to stop it, his smile only growing larger as he looked to the right of the stage.

"Speaking about my wife, Kirei, why don't you come on up here, Hm?" After a bit of time- and a little oo-ing and ah-ing from the crowd, a woman- a bit over half of his height-had quickly made her way onto the stage. She was quite pleasant on the eyes; her hair was puffy and voluptuous whilst her skin was a memorable dark brown like caramel. She wore a very informal jumper and had little yellow stars adorned her cheeks as minute sparkles donned her arms. It was safe to say that her demeanor was far from the privileged air the other night goers adorned, yet that didn't stop her one bit. "Hello everyone~! So nice to see all of you!" She beamed; her smile able to draw in millions.

Zahri knew Kirei, or-more accurately- Mrs. Smith, very well. She was the mother of the house despite her slightly youthful appearance and a very calmly, put together individual, so much so- Zahri could never imagine her becoming mad or distasteful in any way, shape or form. Therefore, it wasn't surprising, that when she came onto the stage- her previous energetic, bubbly, demeanor, melted into a softer, endearing one, as she waved to her son and his company.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith soon locked arms, staring at each other lovingly before Mr. Smith continued in following up in his speech. "More than thirty-two years ago- I met this beautiful woman at a similar event... and ever since then, I've been madly in love with her. To this day, ever since we had Ashley, I always make sure to say the story of how we first met at the start of every single reunion...but this year..."

"-This year I convinced him to.... hold off on such a..... lovely story- since, I'm sure... if not all of us- most of us have heard it." Mrs. Smith interrupted her husband.

The crowd erupted in laughter. "I've heard that story so many times I think even my unborn children know it by heart..." Whined an individual near the four friends. Zahri moved his attention from the stage to the voice a little way beside him, to no surprise, he was met with one of the twins' older brothers, Jessie, 3/7, to be exact. He scoffed as he folded his arms, shaking his head in disapproval. "HA! More like their grandchildren- it's burned into our blood by now!" Another person said mischievously under his breath, briefly high-fiving Jessie from across the table. Zahri didn't recognize that one very well though.