Chapter 181: Well, it’s all according to fate
"Josh, why do you want to play with me?" Olivia asked.
"Why?"
"Yes, why?" She nodded.
The conversation was going on longer so the parents began to listen again. Just what sort of secrets were these kids keeping in their hearts so early in life?
"You didn’t like talking to anyone in class and you looked like you didn’t want to play with anyone. So, I can’t help but wonder why you want to play with me here." She asked and he started twiddling his little fingers.
"Olivia is pretty." He mumbled and this dropped on them like a bomb. What did she say?
"I know I’m pretty." Olivia said, fanning her face and trying to act cool but she was gradually getting red in the face. "Is there anything else?"
Josh saw this and then smiled, his smile blowing her small mind away.
"Olivia is just so awesome." He added and this stole Olivia’s heart.
"Ah, that... That’s..." She blushed and turned her head away to look at her Papa. She wanted to ask for help because she didn’t know what to do next.
But Noah and Michael seemed to have their brains reset after hearing that. Their daughter just got her first compliment from a boy. What to do? Was this the end?
Was she going to be taken from them so early on? Not their baby.
Alyssa saw this and decided to intervene.
"Ahem, Olivia, what do you say to a compliment?" She asked and got the eyes of everyone on her.
Why did she have to remind Olivia to compliment him as well?
"Ah, thank you, Josh." She said, her face squeezed in to try and control her emotions. "I think you’re very cute."
"Cute?" He asked, his heart racing and she nodded.
"Yes," she said and then took his hand. "I’m pretty and you’re cute, hehe."
"I think we might need to call an Ambulance," Roland said, watching Noah and Michael, who stood frozen, staring at them, holding hands.
What had the world suddenly become?
Steven saw this and laughed.
"I knew it was fate that brought those two together." He said.
"You mean you brought your kid here so he could meet mine," Noah said, breaking out of his frozen state.
"Well, it was all according to fate." He said and laughed. "Look at those two. They’re the perfect match."
"Please, they’re just kids," Michael said.
"For now, they are. But in the future, they’ll have the fate of both packs in their hands." He added. "For now, we’re at peace because of my suggestion to bring the pack together through marriage. It doesn’t have to be an arranged marriage if they fall in love with each other and want it, right? If that’s the case, will you still go against my idea and start another war?"
Noah went silent. In the future, if Olivia wants it, then there’s nothing he can do.
But does she have to be the one to carry the fate of the pack on her hands?
His dear daughter.
"Since we’re leaving the things to the future, no less than 14 years from now, please do not bring this talk of marriage in front of the kids from now on." He warned.
"Of course I won’t." Steven shrugged. "I don’t know what you think of me, but I love my son to bits. He’s my treasure and I would do absolutely anything to make him happy. Even if that means tearing the world apart," a dangerous glow appeared in his eyes, and then he blinked, letting it go, and said, "And you see, there’s this thing about kids. The more you push them into something, the more they want to get out of it. So, let’s not do that. Let them weave their own destiny."
On this day, both of them finally came to an agreement that they came to terms with.
Leave the kids to weave their own fate and have no sort of interference. If the attraction they have right now is the will of the goddess, and they will come to fall deeply in love with each other later, then so be it.
If that’s the will of the goddess and Olivia will find happiness with Josh, then Noah will not fight it.
"Are you okay with this?" He asked Michael who had not said anything.
"If he doesn’t interfere and leaves the kids alone, it’s fine." He said. "But if this exposes Olivia to danger, I don’t think I can stand for it."
"Me neither," Noah said and kissed the top of his head. He looked down at Olivia and Josh, who were conversing happily, with Olivia being the extrovert and Josh being the introvert.
The photographer came back with the pictures but then he saw the two little kids holding hands and looking absolutely perfect, igniting the photography spirit in him.
He bent over and took their picture, till they realized it and both turned to him, allowing him to take a shot of them looking at the camera.
"This is magnificent." He said. "Come on kids, look this way."
"And who are you?" Steven asked, angry that he had not given permission for the photographer to take pictures before he started taking pictures.
"He’s the man who was taking our pictures," Michael answered. "It seems he wants to take more of Olivia and Josh."
He watched the excited photographer and wondered when he’d be done with the pictures.
"Say cheese, little one. Show me your beautiful white teeth." He said but Josh was finding it hard to smile that wide.
Olivia was doing it just fine but he couldn’t do it. His lips just wouldn’t widen more than that.
"What are you doing, Josh?" She asked. "You have to smile like this." She placed both fingers on the end of her list and then widened them upwards. "Like thish." She said and he chuckled.
He decided to do what she was doing and was able to widen his lips enough to show his teeth. Her eyes smile.
"Thash ish!" (That’s it.)
Josh laughed and Olivia laughed as well.
"Josh, do you want to get ice cream?" Olivia asked, leading him by the hand towards the ice cream stand close by.
"Young lady, you already had ice cream not even an hour ago. You can’t have another now." Michael said and Olivia pouted.
"No fair, Papa." She said and Josh watched her. She got scolded. So, Olivia gets scolded as well.
He thought she was a very good girl who didn’t get scolded but surprisingly... He laughed.
"Don’t laugh Josh. But don’t worry, even if I can’t have ice cream again, I can get you one." She said and stood a little far from the truck so that the ice cream man could see her face. "One chocolate ice cream, please."
"Oh, no chocolate," Steven said. "Josh is allergic to chocolate."
Olivia’s face fell in distress.
"You’re allergic to chocolate? The sweetest thing in the world? That’s so awful." She said but Josh couldn’t say anything about it.
"I can’t take strawberry though." He said. "But just not anything that has chocolate or cocoa."
"So you don’t take hot cocoa either?" She asked and Josh shook his head. "That’s so sad." She sniffed. "I’m so sorry, Josh." Before he knew it, she began to cry, causing him to panic.
"Olivia, why are you crying?" He asked.
"’Cause Josh can’t have the sweet things I can have." She said, her arm over her eyes.
The photographer took a shot of that for some reason. It looked quite scenic, he said.
"That’s so sad, wahh."
"But I’m not sad, Olivia." He said as he began to sweat. How would he help her calm down? "In fact, I don’t mind."
"That’s because you don’t know what you’re missing." She said and Michael came forward to help her blow her nose.
"It’s fine, Olivia." He said to her. "If you continue like this, you’ll actually make Josh feel bad and he’ll cry as well." He said, and she looked at Josh, who was beginning to have teary eyes. "You’re normally a crybaby, but you don’t want Josh to cry because of you, do you?" She shook her head. "Then, stop crying, alright? Even if he can’t have chocolate ice cream, he can still have strawberry. Strawberry is also sweet, you know?"
Olivia nodded and then sniffed in.
"Then, Papa, can I have another ice cream for myself?" She asked, seizing the opportunity right away.
Michael sighed. His daughter always got him.
He couldn’t say no now that she was crying. If he said no, she could raise a tsunami with her trars.
"Alright, fine. But only one scoop and it’s all for today, okay?" He said and her face lit up. She quickly nodded and dried her tears.
"Yes, Papa." She said and turned around. "Mister, two ice creams, please. My Daddy will pay."
The ice cream looked at her and almost laughed. She was a cunning little girl who knew how to use her ultimate weapon and exploit her parents’ weakness.
"Alright, two ice creams coming up."
"Look who’s a slave for their kid now," Steven said and Michael growled at him.
"Watch it, pal." But Steven laughed it off anyway.
