The Experiment © [Completed]

Chapter 73 - Meet the Faulkersons

RJ got off his side of the car and opened Dei's door. He helped her out and felt how cold her hand was so he gave it a little squeeze and smiled at her reassuringly. He helped her with her bags and pulled her gently to the house.

"Leave the suitcases, we'll get them later," he told her with a smile.

He opened the door and peeked inside. He saw his dad sitting on the sofa watching TV with a bottle of beer in his hand, and he smiled. "We're here!" he announced, opening the door wider and letting Dei in.

They heard someone shriek "RJ!!!" and saw a blur of something blue from the stairs, and then almost at once, his sister, Rizza, had her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. RJ laughed and returned her hug, twirling her around for a few seconds before gently putting her back down on the floor.

Rizza looked at Dei excitedly and gave her a warm hug too. "Finally!" she said, and Dei returned her hug, trying not to be too awkward. RJ beamed at them happily.

"RJ, how was your flight?" His dad asked, smiling as he got off the sofa.

"I'll tell mom you're here," Rizza said and ran to the kitchen that was on the left side of the living room. "Mom, RJ and Dei are here!" she called loudly.

"It was okay," RJ answered, giving his dad a little hug. "Dad, this is Dei. And Dei, my dad." RJ introduced.

Dei smiled at Mr. Faulkerson and shook his hand politely. "Nice to meet you, sir."

She noted how much RJ looked like his dad - from their height, to the shape of their faces down to the form of their noses. RJ's eyes and eyebrows were different from his dad's though and she figured he probably got it from his mom.

"Aw, call me Rick," he said, waving his hand. "And nice to meet you too, young lady. We've been looking forward to this meeting."

"Yes, we've been wondering when RJ would finally let us meet you and I was so close to flying the whole family to the Philippines just to see you," his mom butted in, walking towards them from the kitchen with a warm smile on her face. She was wiping her hand on a piece of cloth and she had a blue apron on. Dei saw at once that she was right about Richard having his mom's eyes. "We've been following your project with TrendBuzz," she said, winking at them and for some reason, Dei felt herself blushing.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," she said shyly, bowing her head a little.

"Oh, come here," his mom said and pulled her into a tight hug. "And it's Rose," she told her warmly. Rose held her at arms length and studied her appearance. "My, my, she looks so much prettier in person. I can already imagine how gorgeous my little grandchildren would be," she said, looking at RJ, and Dei blushed some more.

"Thank you, Rose," Dei said, and there was a catch in her voice as she uttered RJ's mom's name. "Can I call you Tita Rose and Tito Rick instead?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Of course!" Rose said, laughing while Rick nodded with a smile. She pulled Dei and RJ's hands and led them to the dining area that was right beside the living room.

There were about a dozen different types of food laid on the table and all of them looked mouthwatering. She saw a platter of garlic breadsticks and glanced at RJ. He was watching her with a smile on his face.

"RJ said you liked pasta and breadsticks," Rose said, handing her a piece of bread.

"I do. Thank you so much, Tita," she said gratefully, touched that she even made an effort to cook her favorites. She took a bite on the bread and loved it instantly. The bread was still warm and very soft, and she could taste the strong flavor of garlic and butter just exactly how she liked it. "Hmmm, this tastes so good, Tita. Thank you."

Rose beamed at her and let both of them sit. "Are you okay now?" Richard asked her softly as he placed some fettuccine pasta on her plate.

"Yes," she whispered, grinning at him. "I already love them."

"And I can see they love you too," he said, kissing her nose.

The rest of the meal went on rather comfortably. RJ's family had loads of questions about her, but none of those seemed too awkward nor too intrusive; they just genuinely liked to know more about her, and Dei enjoyed the conversation so much.

Rose was such a nice and amiable lady and she looked after Dei a lot - asking if she wanted more food, if she was eating enough, and also making sure that her water glass was always full. She had the heartiest laugh Dei has ever heard too. It was so infectious and she couldn't help but join her each time.

Rizza was a ball of energy. She was perky and talked a lot and she was able to tell them about how her whole school year went in less than 30 minutes. She was a working student, taking up a Masters Degree in Language and Literature, and she liked to travel a lot.

Rick, on the other hand, was more subdued, but he always had a cordial smile for her.

RJ has a brother too, but Rose said he had been staying in Florida for his job.

"I prepared Rizza's old room for you, Dei. You can stay there while RJ stays in his old room," Rose told her. "Unless you want to stay in his room too, that's totally fine by me."

Dei ducked her head and blushed. "Oh, I'm fine with staying at Rizza's room, Tita. If that's okay with her," she replied, glancing at Rizza.

"Oh, totally fine! I'm staying in a loft with a friend in Brooklyn anyway," Rizza said smiling.

"By the way, mom, we won't be staying here the rest of the vacation. We really want to be able to visit as much places as we can, so we're going to book a hotel in the city," RJ butted in.

"Oh. Okay," Rose said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Don't worry, mom. We'll stay here for two days and we'll sleep here during weekends too," RJ told her.

"That's fine," Rose said waving her hand. "I want you to enjoy your visit as much as possible," she said with an understanding smile.

After dinner, RJ invited Dei to the porch, and they sat with a glass of red wine each while his parents lounged in the den.

"You see that tree over there?" he asked, pointing at an old tree beside the house across them. "I fell from it when I was fifteen. Had a broken arm and a twisted ankle and mom was crazy mad," he said laughing.

Dei giggled. "You must have been such a troublemaker in high school," she said, looking at him curiously.

"A bit," he answered. "But I always got away with it," he added, winking.

Dei laughed and shook her head. "Oh, hey. We promised our followers updates, right?" Dei told RJ, remembering their promise to Matt and their followers.

"Yep," he replied. "Come here, let's take a selfie," he said pulling her chair closer to his, and placing his arm around her shoulders. "I still can't believe you're here with me now. Here, in the place I grew up in," he said, smiling at her as she pulled out her phone.

"Me too." she answered. "And I'm happy to be here," she added, kissing him just before she took their picture.

They looked at the photo and loved how it showed just how happy and contented they were at that moment. Dei smiled and posted it on their snapchat account.