A TALE OF FIRE AND ICE

Lovely Glow

[ Neither the picture nor the content belongs to me. All the rights belong to the respective author. It is only used for entertainment purposes not offended anyone.]

"YOUR heart ached when you saw my face?" Lisa asked in a worried voice. "Did I do something that upset you, Irene?"

Irene looked up at him and shook her head. "No. My heart just ached from happiness upon seeing you again, Lisa."

He was relieved to hear that. The one thing he feared most in the world was being hated by the only woman he loved. He didn't know if he could live a life without his Irene. "I'm happy, too. Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "In fact, I feel better than ever."

Still, that didn't stop him from checking her out for any physical injury. Her Mana was stable now and it was back to its usual "weak" state. But he noticed one change about his wife. "Irene, I think your hair has gotten a little darker than usual. It looks almost black now."

"Really?"

He nodded before he explained. "Your hair has always been the richest possible brown shade that I've ever seen in my life. But now, the shade falls at the intersection of brown and black color."

"Does the new shade of my hair look good on me?"

"You look more beautiful, Irene."

She smiled and pulled his nape for a kiss but stopped when they heard Sentinel's loud "cough."

"Control yourselves," Sentinel warned them. "We have a baby here, you know?"

"Lisa, put me down," his wife said. "I have something I need to confirm."

He nodded, then he gently and carefully put Irene down. He didn't let go of her until he was sure that his wife had the strength to stand on her own. As soon as he took his hands off her, she ran towards Sentinel who was holding the baby.

Ah, I'm glad to see that she's as energetic as usual.

His thoughts were cut-off when he realized that Julian, Flint's baby younger, was looking at him straight in the eye. Okay, that gave him chills. Why was the baby looking at him like he knew something that he didn't?

But as soon as Irene came towards Julian, the baby tore his gaze away from him to act all cutesy to his wife. Julian giggled like an innocent baby that he was supposed to be.

His brows furrowed. That baby is–

"You're strange, Julian," Irene said the words that he had in mind. "You can't be a normal baby!"

Lisa felt so proud of his wife's perceptiveness. Ah, my Irene and I think alike.

***

Irene held Julian's soft and tiny hands while looking straight in the baby's eye. "You're strange, Julian," she declared. "You can't be a normal baby!"

Julian, for a baby, looked offended by what she said.

"I mean that in a good way," she said. "Being different is not a bad thing."

The baby giggled as if he understood the meaning behind her words.

Yep, he's not a normal baby.

"Thank you for showing me Flint's situation," she told him sincerely.

She was really convinced that the one who broke the first barrier of her heart was Julian. After all, she saw Flint's bloody image when Julian put a finger on her chest. She remembered that the first time the baby did that to her, her heart almost awakened.