When they returned to the Hamilton residence, the three children were watching Terence and Liam playing a round of chess.
“Liam, can you be any slower?” Terence urged.
“Why are you in such a rush? You’re already so old, but you're still so impatient!”
“You've already stared at it for five whole minutes!”
“So what if I do stare at it for ten minutes? Chess is a meditative game.
If you keep being this impatient, your heart's going to give out!” Liam retorted.
“My heart's fine, thank you!”
“I didn't say that your heart's not fine; I'm just scared that your heart won't be fine.”
“I’d say you're hoping for my heart to not be fine.”
“Terence, be reasonable. That's not what I'm saying,” Liam said.
“So you’re telling me that I'm being unreasonable?”
“I...” Liam had run out of words to say, so he turned to Anthony. “Anthony, what do you think? Did I mean to say that?”
“Um...” Anthony never imagined that they would suddenly get him involved in the fight.
Right then, Terence uttered, “Tell me, Benjamin. Does he mean that?”
Benjamin was about to laugh at Anthony's misery when he, too, was dragged into the fight in the next second. Benjamin then turned to look at his brother with a half-smile, unsure of what they should say.
Right then, Kenneth and Natasha came in.
“Daddy, Nat, you're back?” Denise exclaimed and lunged toward them.
Hearing that, both Anthony and Benjamin turned their heads toward the source of the voice. When they saw that it was indeed Kenneth and Natasha, they exchanged delighted looks with each other.
“Nat's back!”
“She's back!” With that, the brothers spun around and ran toward Kenneth and Natasha as well.
“Well...” Liam was about to say something else when his gaze met Terence's.
“Forget it. I'm not going to play anymore,” he said.
“If you don’t, that means you're admitting defeat!”
“You—” Liam was about to say something else, but he finally decided not to after a while of staring at Terence. “If that's what it is, then it is what it is. It's just a game of chess. I'm not going to play with you anymore; I’m going to talk to Nat.” Upon saying that, he got up and went toward the living room as well.
Denise threw herself into Natasha's arms and cried out sweetly, “Mommy!” “Nat!”
“Nat!”
Both Anthony and Benjamin walked over happily, too.
Kenneth, on the other hand, was getting ignored.
Natasha hugged Denise for a while before putting the girl down. “Go to Daddy now.”
Hence, Denise launched herself at
Kenneth.
In the meantime, Natasha walked toward Benjamin. “How are you feeling today?”
“I'm feeling much better!” Benjamin told her with a chuckle.
“Regardless of everything, it's no minor injury, so you have to rest more,” Natasha reminded.
“Got it, Nat. Don't worry. I'll definitely make sure I'll rest until I'm at the peak of my health!” Benjamin reassured her.
Natasha smiled upon hearing his
words.
Right then, Anthony lowered his voice and said, “Nat, you came back at the right time.”
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