What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

37. Acceptance || Aslan ||

"Are you ready?" My hand froze while buttoning my wrist sleeve. Looking up, I couldn't not smile. My eyes loved the view in front of me.

"Joell," as if her ear tickled, she spins to look at me, her fixed, messy hair spinning so slowly and beautifully.

Chuckle—her kissable lips let out, covered by her hand. I walk up to her, her body against mine, with my arm around her waist, trapping her close to me.

"Didn't I make it clear, last night, that I want to see everything of you, to any extent?" Her free hand, with which she held her hair, comes loose, her palms pushing into my chest, trying not to slap demands into me as the irritation eats her up from the way my lips caress her neck with no direct contact.

"Aslan," she whines, trembling as she tries to support her body up with her toes, trying to get my lips on her neck. I don't think she knows I'm unable to stop at just a kiss, a hickey, not even if I dump myself in the scent of her.

"Call my name once more," I cup her nape instead, bringing her lips close to mine. No direct contact.

"Aslan!—" She hammers my chest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Did you go through a storm on the way here?" Grandma Ev judges, looking Joell up and down.

Joell was shocked, but masked the expression. She fingers fidgetted, embarrassed because we lost track of time and weren't able to finish fixing herself once more after that intense—I looked at her to my right side, up and down, my eyes hungered for her.

My eyes caught her head dipped, speechless, and at a loss for words. Her nails practically peeled at the skin, under the table with her own fingers, trembling.

I slid close to her and held her index finger with mine, "I'm sorry," caressing the top of it with my thumb, when Grandma wasn't looking. Slowly, our hands interlocked, and she rocked our hands.

"Don't be so down, I'll tell you a secret—" I kept my eyes on the lookout for when—Grandma Ev looks ahead at her, and in a sprint of a second, I was as far as I was once more, not close enough to whisper in her ear, but close enough to keep my hand held by hers. Startled, she was about to let go of my hand, but I held on tighter. Confused, she looked at me, but I didn't let go of her.

"Ahem." We both looked at Grandma Ev, whose been staring at us.

"Did you forget I'm still here?" She stares daggers at me.

"Sorry, uh—Ev—gran-uhm," Joell stumbles, trying to understand what to call her by. Grandma Ev stares at her with no expression whatsoever. Joell lifted her hands to set them on the table. I had to let go of her hands. I want them back.

Joell, however, looks so tense; she's trying so hard not to fidget her hands.

When we acted out a stage play of when my older brother and his wife met for the first time, the entire time before and after it started, Joell had been freaking out about Grandma Ev. So cute.

She said Sov mentioned Grandma Ev being excited to see her, and that was it. She stopped talking, trying to fathom how she could live up to any of her expectations. There were none, but she doesn't seem to believe that.

Grandma Ev chuckles, her own hands patted Joell's. She looks up at Grandma Ev, eyes exhausted with how anxious she's been, almost relieved to cry.

"Why are you so tense? Didn't we meet at the wedding?" Joell nods aggressively, her hands buckling her own.

"Boy, wipe her tears for me. What are you doing standing so lifeless! I'm already so sore all over. If I could, I would have hugged the nice lady too, right, Joell?" She slapped me hard with insults for my slow behavior, with just her eyes.

Joell's entire expression was taken aback, her face softens yet looks like she'll start crying. The back of her hands rubbed her face harshly in an attempt to stop the tears. I grab ahold of her wrist, yielding the two hands that were being harsh on her. I grab a tissue from the table and scoot close to her.

My thumb caresses her reddened cheek as my palm holds her jaw. "You heard what Grandma Ev said, there's nothing to cry over." Her eyes were stuck on mine. I want to kiss her tears dry instead. And, I want to kiss her back to her lively self.

She doesn't show her valuable moments as much, even during our intense moment she's been so busy with her thoughts, it looked like she had all kinds of horrified thoughts back to the wedding night.

Joell grabs the tissue from my hand and cleans her nose. I took that when she was done and got another one to dry her face with. Her smile looks less tense. Her eyes were on me. Good. Just on me.

"Young love," grandma jokes, her head shaking as she stands up. She takes a tissue and grabs the two used tissues into it before walking to the side of the table.

"I'll be back, don't be a headache and run off when I'm away," she says, especially to me, her eyes speaking very well for her.

"And you," Grandma Ev lightly pats Joell's shoulder. Attempting to stand up, she was only quickly sat down, her expression so confused. Literally reading, "Did I ever get up, or was I sat down?" Which made her try standing back up.

Grandma Ev chuckles and pushes her down much more slowly this time. Joell looks embarrassed. Her head almost twisted in my direction, but her attention remained on the elder.

"There isn't anything to try so hard for. It's only a blessing someone has chosen the other—" Grandma's scolding eyes found me. Looking at me in the second sentence, she pats Joell's shoulder once more as she looks back at her, her eyes now soft in a gentle manner.

This old hag—My mouth shut up faster than the intention of what I meant to think when her eyes struck into mine for a split second.

"As I said at the wedding, you acted wonderfully. There's no knowing how someone his age could possibly fantasize about such behavior, especially a script like that written for his wedding day. You can see how interestingly people fit one another." I didn't hear grandma's whisper at some point, but Joell looks taken aback and just looks down, nodding, but doesn't seem as confidence for how to respond to whatever was said to her.

Grandma looked at her and smiled, but Joell missed it.

"The house, El, and... myself, are lucky to have you join our family. If you have yet to."

In fast approaches, Grandma Ev was hugged by Joell, who backed away in embarrassment but only got a delightful chuckle in response, patting her arm—"You too can call me Grandma Ev, whether you're a part of this family or not." She excuses herself and walks away after a last pat.

Joell stares, struck, never averting her eyes from the spot Grandma Ev disappeared from.

I get up and wrap my arm around her from behind, my lips in contact with her ear, and I feel a shiver from her.

"She forgot to mention, I'm most lucky to have you in this family." She hides her face in my chest.

"I'm happy," she hugs me back.

Grandma had come back from where she disappeared, had looked at us from a distance, and walked out the door with a chuckle. Her expensive car, in bright pink, along with other pink accessory disappeared from this distance.

Now, I'll take Joell from this random restaurant and have a date of our own.