It'll Come Naturally

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, eat," Rain said, sliding a bowl of food towards her. He sighed. Seeing her being so understanding and calm made Rain think that he might have worried too much earlier. "Rain, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, fire away."

"What did you give them to make them agree to let me go?"

Tiana's heart ached a bit still. She had lived with them for more than twenty years after all. Her feelings and attachment towards them wouldn't disappear overnight.

"That's a thing of the past. Don't think about it anymore. Just relax. You're always welcome here," he replied, averting his gaze.

"I don't want to be a bother," she said faintly. Tiana heard that Rain and Annie were going to have a wedding. It would be inevitable that they would want to get some time alone. On top of that, she didn't want to get in the way as they started their family

"What are you talking about? You won't be. This house is big enough for all of us. It would be a waste if no one occupies any of these empty rooms," he reassured her. Just then, a car was pulling up in front of the driveway. 'That must be Annie, 'Rain thought. He stood up from his seat to meet her and the kids.

"Thank you, Rain," Tiana said politely. The usual spoiled and haughty tone of hers was gone. It was as if she had matured overnight.

"Don't mention it," he replied. "Annie and the kids are back. I'll just go meet them." He walked up to the front door with long, quick strides. He gave the knob a turn; Joyce and Huey were already there, waiting with big smiles on their faces.

"Daddy!"

"Hi dad!"

The kids ran straight into Rain's arms as soon as they saw him. An overwhelming warmth flooded through Rain. He beamed back at them, kneeling down to give them a tight hug.

"Hey there! Did you miss daddy?" Rain gave them both a big kiss on the cheek.

"We did. And daddy, Huey made a girl cry today," Joyce said, suppressing her giggles.

"Oh, really now? Huey, why did you do that?" Rain asked seriously. He had high regard for the children's education -- not only at school; it was important for him that they were taught the right value.

"I didn't! She wanted to play with me and I didn't want to play with her, so she cried," Huey answered defensively.

"Oh, I see... But she is your classmate. Why didn't you want to play with her?" Rain asked, his voice lighter. He suddenly understood Huey better after thinking it over. Huey rarely even talked with his sister, let alone other girls. In spite of that, Rain still didn't know how to handle the issue.

"I just didn't want to," Huey replied as he rolled his eyes. "I don't like girls. They're so immature." "He's just like Justin, 'Rain thought.

"Daddy, does that mean Huey thinks I'm immature?" Even though Joyce didn't quite understand what being immature meant, she figured that it couldn't mean anything good since her brother said it.

"No, darling, that's not what Huey meant," Rain said as he tried to mediate the two. "Yes, it is! You're just defending Huey because he's your favorite," Joyce said, looking like she was about to cry. Rain forced a smile. "No, it's not like that, sweetie." He was starting to panic. 'Is God mad at me? Why did HE have to send these two imps to corner me like this right now?

Is this my punishment?' Rain thought to himself. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that Annie was already walking over to the house.

"Joyce, be good. Don't you see we have a guest in the house?" Annie said as she took Joyce into her arms.

"Guest? Where? Who is it?" In an instant, Joyce's mood changed, her voice suddenly full of excitement.

"It's your aunt," Annie said with a smile. She thought to herself how smart Joyce really was -- although she was happy about it, she wondered if Joyce was getting too smart for her own good. "Aunt? Is Aunt Leena here?" Huey asked joyfully. Leena was the very first one on his mind; he had missed all the mouth-watering food that she cooked.

"No, it's not Aunt Leena. It's Aunt Tiana," Rain told them.

"Aunt Tiana? Who is she? How come we have never met her?" Huey wondered.Content is property of NôvelDrama.Org.

"Come. Now's your chance to meet her." Rain gave them a sly smile and led the children into the living room.

Tiana got to her feet at the sight of the kids. "Hello, guys," Tiana said to Huey and Joyce, waving her hand.

"Huey, this is your Aunt Tiana," Rain said as he put Huey down.

"Hi, Aunt Tiana..." said Huey politely. He looked at her inquisitively, trying to figure out where he had seen her before.

"Joyce, say hi," Annie said to Joyce.

"Hello, Aunt Tiana! I'm Joyce," Joyce said. Compared to her brother's greeting, Joyce sounded more sincere. She looked at Tiana, a million questions running through her head.

"Hello to you too. How adorable you are!" Tiana had already seen both of the kids before.

"Oh, I know you. You had dinner with daddy the other day and then later on you were with a bad woman," Huey declared innocently. He had remembered who Tiana was, thanks to his remarkable memory.

"Um..." Tiana's face turned red with embarrassment. She knew that the 'bad woman' he was referring to was Eleanor.

"Okay now," Annie interjected with a nervous laugh, trying to spare Tiana from further humiliation. "Go play, both of you. Aunt Tiana needs her rest." She knew Huey was referring to what had happened in the restaurant the other day.

"Oh no. It's okay. I'd actually like to spend time with them," Tiana said with a slight smile. She needed the kids' company right now; she figured that playing with Joyce and Huey might preoccupy her enough to forget about the pain she felt. "Yeah sure. I think that's a great idea," Rain agreed. He had guessed what she was thinking. Rain winked at Huey, and nodded towards the garden.

Huey took the hint and walked over to Tiana. "Aunt Tiana, let's go play in the garden," He took her hand and led her outside. Aside from his mom's, he had never held another female's hand before.

"Huey, wait for me!" Joyce called, running to catch up with them.

Soon, they were all out of the house. Rain let out a long breath of relief.

"Honey, what do you want to know? Go ahead. Ask me," he said to Annie. He was sure that she must have been wondering why he had brought Tiana home.

"Was Tiana hit again?" asked Annie. A few days before, Rain had told her Tiana had been hit by her mother in front of her workplace. She wondered if the same thing had happened again.

"Worse. They locked her up and wouldn't let her out unless she agreed to marry that old man," Rain said scornfully. Every inch of the Ke's residence reeked of dirty business and revolting ideas.

"So you got her out of that place for good, right? But even so, we could only help her for a while. What about next time? She's still a member of the family after all," Annie was worried. 'The Kes are really horrible!' she thought to herself.

"Oh, speaking of which, I need to apologize to you -- I traded the evidence of the scheme against you for Tiana's freedom," Rain said slowly. He looked at Annie, wondering how she would react.

"What? You found evidence? Was it really the Ke family who did it?" Annie had always had doubts about that car accident. It couldn't have been that simple and ordinary.

"Yes. Sorry that I made the decision without counseling you." Rain felt bad. Since Annie was the victim, it just seemed wrong that he chose what to do with the evidence and not Annie.

"Why are you apologizing?" Annie said with a smile. "I wasn't badly injured in the accident anyway. Since the evidence could be traded for Tiana's freedom, I think you made the right decision." Rain smiled back, sighing in relief. Either way, the car accident case had already been reported to the police. Right now, they just had to wait for the result.

"Thank you for understanding." Rain wrapped his arms around Annie and hugged her tightly. "But..." he continued, "there's one more thing."

"What is it?" Annie asked anxiously.

"Tiana is not daughter of the Ke family." Annie pulled away from Rain. She was more shocked by the news than Tiana had been.

"What? No way! Are you serious?" Annie's eyes widened, looking at Rain in disbelief.

"It's true. I have just found out about it," Rain didn't tell her, however, that it was the Mayfly that had confirmed the information. The Mayfly's existence was supposed to be confidential.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐