I chuckled to wipe my son's crying face as tears also lingered in my eyes. This moment is so important for the two of us, who were waiting for Eli to come back, or at least, heal.
Ironically, even as we ate in tears, the taste of the food we ate was a hundred times better than those that had been carefully prepared by the imperial chefs in the palace.
Along with it was a hope that from this point forward, Eli's consciousness would become better. There might be no assurance that her memories of us would come back, but the possibility that she would soon recognize us as her family is more than enough.
In the end, Little Han was full after having two servings of food, while I slowed my pace down to keep with Eli's phase.
As Kayden advised before, it is not good for Eli to eat a lot in one go, so I know not to force her to eat that much.
I waited until she dropped her utensils and moved from her original position.
"Done?" I asked softly, and of course Eli did not answer. She just looked at Little Han and I before staring blankly once more at an empty space.
"I'm leaving a glass of water here… take it if you are thirsty…" Taking the utensils, I filled another cup with water and delivered it to her once more.
"Now… I have to bring these back to the kitchen… Little Han, let's have Mommi rest ok?"
Finally achieving such a big progress, I bent down and looked at my son to talk to him sincerely.
"Owkay…" Little Han looked at Eli once more, he was extremely reluctant to leave his mother but still obediently nodded.
"Good boy…" I hugged him and gave him a soft peck on his forehead before saying,
"Don't worry, this time I'll let Baobao and Wisey look after Mommy for a while."
"Then after bringing these to the kitchen, we will call Uncle Kayden to take a look at Mommy. Is that ok?" I asked softly.
Little Han seemed to like my arrangement as he obediently nodded and answered, "Yesh, Daddi!"
After asking Wisey and Baobao a favor to look after Eli, I quickly brought Little Han to the kitchen then we immediately called Kayden to report what happened.
Hearing the news, Kayden was elated and was so excited to know the things we did.
Even so, Kayden did not employ these methods right away as he knew that this cannot be taken lightly as well.
"Thank you for your advice, I'll make sure that these will be taken into account greatly…" Kayden looked at us with gratefulness and appreciation.
"It's what we should do…" I looked at him and responded.
Looking at my best friend's tired face, I was hoping that he would ease up with the news for just a little bit.
He had a lot on his plate.
Because apart from looking after Eli, he still had to lead with the rehabilitation of Grandmaster Andi.
Moveover. Uncle Cornelius and Aunt Yelena can only do so much for a limited time, as they too came from years and years of torture under the corrupted Pope. As such they still needed to fully recover from the long term trauma they suffered for decades.
Kayden let out a heavy sigh as he looked at his notes with worry and anxiousness, "I just hope this situation would not last that long…"
Seeing his exhausted expression, I could not help but ache for him, having to feel the great sense of responsibility after all the things that happened.
"Dear friend, you are not alone in this… You have been preaching to me that matters but it's time for me to preach the same thing as well…" I responded.
"C'mon, do not let yourself be burned out by thinking that only you could fix these things alone."
My dear friend looked at me helplessly before he nodded in acknowledgment. In any case, the good news was able to ease a little bit of the pressure he had at the moment. Both of us could only patiently wait for progress after all.
With the news that came by, the elders were also excited about Eli's improvement.
However, the next day came by and we found out that Eli rejected people again.
We tried the same method of feeding and took note of the comfortable distance she had but to no avail.
"What did we forget?" I asked Kayden as we stared at Eli who did not have any reactions even after serving the food.
"I am just as clueless as you…" Kayden answered dejectedly. Just as we thought that there would be a progressive improvement, we were slapped with a harsh reality.
We thought about it for the entire day until Little Han came in the afternoon once more, asking if he could visit his mother.
Knowing that Little Han was sensible enough, I convinced Kayden to allow him to observe with us.
"Oh… Mommi don't wanna eat?" Little Han blinked with innocence as he stared at Eli who never looked at the food prepared in front of her.
"Yes… it seems like she is not in the mood to eat today." I helplessly explained in a simple way.
"But Mommi will be sick if she doesn't eat!" Little Han worriedly responded.
Just as I was about to reply with some words of assurance to him, Little Han looked at me, and said, "Maybe, Mommi wants to eat with us again?"
Hearing his suggestion, an epiphany struck my head. Here I am thinking that it was because of the magic and the strict observance of silence and distance that Eli responded.
All this time, she responded because she was seeing people doing the thing as well.
"Little Han is a genius!" I hugged my son, who has been leading me to witness miracles from miracles.
Kayden stared at us clueless until I briefly told him my conclusion.
In the end, we both agreed to give it a try, so I put down Little Han and said, "Little Han, stay with Uncle as I cook our dinner ok?"
"Owkay Daddi!" Little Han smiled and nodded. But before I left, he looked at me once more and said, "Daddi, can Johann wequest for yummi chimken???"
"Oh… you want that?" Amused by my son's request I smiled and pinched his chubby cheeks.
"Hmm, yesh… yummi chimcken, honey fwavor…." He mumbled.
Kayden and I chuckled. With Kayden's nod, I went to the kitchen and prepared the things.
A separate menu for Little Han, and Eli, as we were still afraid that Eli's digestive system would react adversely.
As I was frying the honey-glazed chicken, I remembered that Eli was the one who taught me this recipe. In fact, there were still some flavors aside from the honey glaze.
Remembering those days, I took out another set of ingredients and fried more of the chicken wings. I prepared three other sauces, soy garlic, Korean barbeque, and garlic parmesan.
Perhaps Kayden would enjoy and relax a little with Eli's signature dish.
When I went back, I had a few servants assist me in taking the food as it was prepared for four people at the moment.
Little Han excitedly looked at the food cart and almost jumped out of Kayden's lap.
"Chimken! Chimken!" My Little Bun clapped his hands excitedly and as if it was already a rule, he went to the spot where he sat the day before and faced Eli.
"Mommi, the food today is nice!" He beamed while looking at Eli, who was also staring at him in a daze.
"Alright, settle down and I'll take out the food." Instructing Kayden with my gaze, he sat beside Little Han as well.
When all three of us were sitting in front of Eli, I already took out the tray of food and opened the lid.
For Eli, it was the menu suggested by Kayden.
Then I opened another and the fragrance of the fried chicken with the four different sauces filled the entire room.
"Wahh!!" Little Han bounced on the spot as he looked at the platter of chicken with different sauces.
"Oops, we shall say our graces before eating, my little nephew." Kayden chuckled, as he was immediately infected by Little Han's excitement.
"Oh…" Little Han realized his mistake and immediately clasped his hand.
With his cue Kayden and I also clasped our hands and closed our eyes in silence as Little Han prayed.
Little did we know that the moment we opened our eyes, we would see…
Eli was already in front of us staring intently at the platter of fried chicken that we were about to eat.
Too surprised to react to anything, we only managed to stare at her in a daze.
Seeing that we did not move or anything, she frowned and looked at us then back to the chicken platter in front.
Then finally, she pointed at the portion where the Korean barbeque glazed chicken was arranged while she mouthed the word,
"Mine!"
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