Magic of Arteria Volume 1. Eden Arc

Chapter Seventeen

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Upon reaching the inner parts of the restaurant, we were greeted by a pleasant surprise; at the center of the room was a table, it was a round table made from glass, filled with aromatic and ambrosial dishes with wine glasses filled with cherry red juices.

 

At the center of the round table was a large nectareous turkey, glazed and surrounded by rivers of sweet and lavish honey with an aroma of the divine, temptation was compelling. The turkey was not the only attraction, sitting was a fountain with waters of chocolate.

 

A chocolate fountain, one which children and adults like the most, around the fountain were barbeques of roasted marshmallows filled with fluff, the marshmallows ranged around the hundreds. The temptation road didn’t end there, as the tables beside it was a pasta mess.

 

Pizzas as wide as the table, lasagna cheesier than the jokes of a joker, a bowl flooding with macaroni and several dozens of creamy-white carbonara; the room was a mess, in a good way. It was heaven, a haven of food.

 

“Wha… what is up with this feast-like dish?!” I shouted in surprise as May chuckled, looking at us with a smile, “Have you all forgot about the reunion already, didn’t we send a message to the two of you about the date, etc. yesterday?”

 

“What reun… huh?! Wasn’t it planned to be for next week?” I asked as she led us to a larger table with comfortable red leather seats, sitting down as we look at one another. “It was rescheduled for today, I thought Alina told you already?”

 

Immediately, I turned my attention to Alina, who had a smug on her face, replying: “I wanted to surprise my dearest. After all, it is no fun without being able to see her reaction,” before she took out her phone and showed us a picture of Hikari drooling.

 

“Wa! It’s Hii-chan!” Leah said while pointing at the picture of Hikari as we all turned our attention to Hikari, who had her eyes wide open, before shouting at Alina, “Delete it! That’s embarrassing!”, burrowing her head onto my dress once more as I patted her.

 

“Anyway, if we are having a reunion; where are the others?” I asked while grabbing Hikari from her seat and placing her on my lap as I combed her hair while looking at her adorable pouting face, she was like a pufferfish.

 

“I messaged the others a while ago, and they should be arriving within a few moments from now…” she said before the sound of a phone ringing echoed throughout the room, it was the sound of a cat meowing adorably.

 

“Oh… they are here already, let me fetch them real quick!” she said before running out of the room, leaving us alone to look, smell, and suffer under the temptation of the delicious dishes around us, the aromatic smell that made our stomach cry.

The five of us waited in silence, enduring the temptation to run from our seats and towards the dishes, slicing and chewing them inside our mouth; both Hikari and Leah were drooling hard, meanwhile, Leanna had a nervous look on her face, but still maintained her professional look.

 

Alina, on the other side, was looking through pictures of Hikari, and Leah, which were taken on her other phone; they were high definition photos, the highest you could take with a mobile device, it was detailed enough that if you wanted, you could even take a photo of your skin.

 

Most mobile device manufacturers would prefer to not create a phone with such ability, though, since having too many details would creep some people out, like for example, seeing parts of your arm’s hair on a photo despite being far away.

 

After a few moments of waiting, the door once more opened with the noise of a few dozen people; most of the noise was that of a female’s voice, soon eighteen different people entered the room, most of them were identified immediately by my brain.

 

“We’re back!” May said while walking inside the room with Yui who was silent, following her were Sister Kathlyn, Layla, and Lina; Brother Kyle and Ren, who were followed by some of our former classmates during elementary.

 

“Welcome back!” Alina and I said while standing up as I carried Hikari on my arms, greeting them with a smile as Leah and Leanna stood up after us, with Leanna bowing down like a maid for some odd reason.

 

“Thanks for the greeting, little Ann and Alina! You too, little Hikari!” Sister Kathlyn said as she patted the three of us before Sister Layla and Lina smiled, “Thanks for the greeting as well!” before all of us sat on our seat.

 

“May, I wasn’t told about seeing Angelica and Alina here!” a girl with orange hair who looked to be within the same age as May complained with a bright red blush as May smiled, “Shouldn’t you be happier to see your idols in person?”

 

“I would be! If only you told me the two were here, I didn’t bring a pen and paper!” the girl complained while pinching May’s cheeks as I looked at Yui who was frowning her eyebrows, the mood around here could only be explained through one word, jealousy.

 

As I was paying my attention to Yui’s reactions, out of the blue, a semi-mature feminine voice called out to me from the back “Angelica, it has been a long time. You look more beautiful than the last time we saw you.”

 

Turning around, a woman of both Alina and mine’s age stood there with an elder sister smile; she had black hair and golden pupils with the most unique feature about her being her large chest and voluptuous body.

 

“Lisa, it truly has been a long time! You have grown even more beautiful!” I greeted back before she chuckled, “Ara-ara, says the one who once managed to win the most attractive businesswoman award of last year.”

 

“It was only by chance, there is no one who even recognizes me in public anymore, in comparison to you who won multiple awards on beauty contests, I am far inferior,” I smiled before she chuckled, patting my head as she smiled, “You really grew more confident after beating my family’s group of companies in wealth three years ago.”

 

“The Angelina Group wouldn’t even see a speck of light without your family support though, I am still grateful for that,” I said before she shook her head, “We only lent you a small hand to start your company up, it was your ability that made it a success.”

 

“Enough about me, how have you and your sister been fairing?” I inquired before she replied, “Kanon and I have been living a comfortable life after earning a truckload from our share in your companies, she even started her own record and studio by herself.”

 

“Speaking of which, is that your daughter, Angelica? She looks adorable, almost like you. Her eyes are almost like a carbon copy of yours, and the aura around her as well,” she asked before I nodded.

 

“Hikari, how about you introduce yourself to Auntie Lisa?” I looked at Hikari and smiled, placing her to the ground as she held my index finger while shuddering slightly. The hesitation on her eyes was as clear as daylight, or rather her shyness was.

 

After a few seconds of waiting, a tiny, but audible voice came from her mouth, “I… I am Hikari, nice to m... meet you, Auntie Lisa!”, bowing down as her face turned blush red.

 

“Aww! How cute! Who is the father, by the way? I haven’t heard about you marrying someone yet?” Lisa asked before I shook my head with disappointment as she asked with hesitation, “Is she an adopted like you?”

 

In response, I nodded with a wry smile before replying, “Well, even if she is adopted, the only important part everyone should remember is she is my daughter now.”

 

“True, don’t let status affect you… okay, Hikari-chan!” Lisa said while patting Hikari’s head as Hikari looked at us with confusion.

 

In the higher society, for some reason, people look down upon adopted people, especially the stepfamily since they think their bloodline was dirtied which annoys me to this day, it was only the higher society who looks down upon the adopted, not the public, lower or middle.

 

“Let’s not talk much about that, how about we eat for now? I think Hikari-chan is hungry already, right?” Lisa said while grabbing Hikari from the ground as she carried her while pinching her cheeks as Hikari looked at me with a troubled look.

 

“Mhm, we’ve been standing in the way for others for some time now,” I said before the three of us walked towards our table, sitting down on our respective seats. The plates and utensils were already prepared while we were talking.

 

On the other side of the table, both Leah and Leanna were bombarded by Sister Lina and Kathlyn with questions about how to look as professional as them; I was confused over how the two were bombarded by the two demons of etiquettes but decided to keep my curiosity to myself.

 

“Little Ann! You are back, where did you get these two? I want them, their etiquette, mannerism, etc. is absolutely perfect for modeling!” Sister Lina said while looking at me as Sister Kathlyn nodded.

 

“I hired them from a restaurant, sadly, they are on a contract with me for a long time and I have no plans of handing the two of them,” I smiled before Sister Lina pouted in disappointment, “Can you at least do it for me, as your fellow sister?!”

“What do you need them for anyway?” I asked curiously before Sister Kathlyn replied, “It’s a long story, but your Sister Lina and I have made a tiny fashion company using our hard-earned savings, and to debut, we planned on entering the Highland’s Fashion Show, the dress and etc. are already ready.”

 

“The problem is, our model who was supposed to come yesterday, all of a sudden, canceled and the fashion show is tomorrow noon, which leaves us in a troublesome position.”

 

“The Highland Fashion Show, huh… the one where only brand-new, and rising fashion companies can join; how about I lend the two of you a model from my company instead, I sadly cannot let the two go, especially tomorrow,” I said before Sister Lina responded.

 

“We can’t use your models, any one of the models you use are expensive, you know?! Do you want us to sell all our shares in our companies to earn enough to use two?”

 

“Don’t worry about the price, take it as my initial investment instead,” I smiled before the two of them looked at me and sighed, looking at Alina as they chuckled, “There is always something wrong with little Ann’s brain, it must be nice living with such a sister, isn’t it little Alina?”

 

“Well, it’s not really nice; I have to monitor her spending every day, otherwise, who knows when she will throw twenty billion Talis for some kind of food,” Alina smiled wryly as I ignored them before, all of a sudden, May interrupted while eating on some steak.

 

“Have any of you messaged Kayla yet? She said last time that she was coming, did she cancel?”

 

Immediately, the room turned silent after hearing Kayla’s name, most eyes were directed towards me; it was understandable as the one who once was the closest to her was, no other than me, after all.

 

“Kayla won’t be coming, she has other plans, I think?” Alina responded before, without notice, the door slammed open as a woman with peach-colored hair stood there with a bright and creepy smile on her face, “Sorry for being late!”