The sleek body of the Mercedes Mark was driving gleamed under the afternoon sun as it slowed down and reached the gate of the villa just as the latter finished opening wide. Shifting gears, Mark calmly drove the car in, and moved to the side, before stopping.
His eyes lingered on the foreign car in the courtyard as he opened the door of the backseat. Grace came down, and her eyebrows displayed a slight upward movement at the sight of the car. She thought for a moment, then smiled softly.
Leyna came over from the other side of the car and walked behind her to the door which was already being opened. But instead of Mrs Lee coming out to welcome them, it was someone else who barreled out, and went straight for Grace's chest into which she made herself crash.
"Aunt Grace!!"
Grace responded to embrace with soft smile:
"What a surprise, Jenny! You came to visit auntie?"
Jenny raised her head with a pout, her short brown hair seemingly sulking along with her as it shook with her movement:
"Aunt! You don't even look surprised!"
The motherly tone in Grace's voice only deepened at the display of emotion:
"Yes, but I'm happy, aren't I?"
Jenny turned her head to the side with a petulant, cute snort:
"At least you can pretend, aunt Grace. If not, where is the joy of giving you a surprise?"
"There, there, don't be upset."
Grace held back the faint amusement shining in her eyes. She only stroked her niece's short hair with an indulgent smile, something the latter enjoyed, but hid behind her deepening pout.
Leyna smiled as she arrived beside the two women of two separate generations. The younger one, because of her flat shoes she had completed her casual wear with was shorter than the older one on her high heels. That, plus her more modest figure, left little to imagination about who was the more mature one.
Leyna looked at the pouty small face in the imposing embrace with amusement unlike her godmother's restrained one, and let out a soft chuckle:
"Jenny, if you want to surprise us, at least don't use the Ferrari your brother bought you."
Jenny paused, her surprise making her forget to sulk for a moment before she retorted:
"Why!? I just came back and this is my first time driving it since my brother gave it to me a few months ago."
Leyna amusedly asked in response:
"Did you forget what you did after you got it?"
Jenny's lively eyes widened, and she glanced at the Ferrari of the same vivid red as the Alfa Romeo that had been sacrificed just a few days ago, before she buried herself into her aunt's embrace, warmth rising up on her face. At that moment, even she, who could write off many things with a bright, uncaring smile on his face, felt embarrassed. At least, that was until a jarring voice came from the side to interrupt her slow descent into inconspicuity:
"After all the times you have shown it off during your video calls while abroad, who did you actually expect to surprise?"
Jenny fiercely raised her head to glare at the man from whom the voice was coming, her face like a cat whose tail had been stepped on:
"So what if I showed it off? Can't I show off the gift my brother got for me? But you, Mark, you are so old already, about to have a child of your own, is it the proper behavior to quarrel with a young girl like me?"
Mark rolled his eyes, his flat look making the gesture more piercing that it should have been:
"I don't see a young girl. I only see an old lady with a bad temper."
"You!"
Jenny barred her teeth, but Mark ignored her and turned to Grace:
"Aunt Grace, let me help you with your bag."
Grace gave it to him with a smile of enjoyment at the bickering. Mark ignored the fierce gaze filled with a promise of retribution, and gave a respectful nod at his mother who had come out to stand at the door:
"Mother."
Housekeeper Lee nodded with a small smile:
"Welcome back, son. Go in, and remember to go see your wife."
Mark also smiled, affection rippling in his dark eyes:
"Of course, mother. I will go see Ga-yeong."
Jenny looked at Mark's back with the desire to swallow him until it disappeared, and she bristled in a sharp voice:
"Argh!!! Aunt, look at him. He is already so old, but look at what he is doing."
Grace faintly smiled and shook her head:
"Look at you. You are not young anymore either, but you still can't stop bickering with Mark everytime you see him."
"It's because of him!!!"
In response to Jenny's shriek filled with, Leyna's smiling voice softly came to cut into her suppressed frustrations:
"But why does it seem to me that it is because you have always taken pleasure in trying to get under his skin since you were little?"
Jenny almost jumped out from the embrace where she was finding warmth:
"Slander! Where have you heard that, big sister Leyna? Who is it that slandered me behind my back?"
"You dear brother."
Jenny opened her mouth, but found herself unable to produce any sound. Her lively eyes turned vacant for a second, the wind leaving her sails in an ultimate act of betrayal.
Grace could only shake her head slightly and intervene:
"Alright, girls, let's go inside. I don't feel like letting myself dry up in the sun."
Leyna smiled. Jenny blinked, then glared at her, before becoming the beloved, well-behaved niece of Grace Lenner once again.
"Aunt Grace, it's all my fault. Come, let's go in. Aunt Lee, please get my aunt her favorite drink, neither cold nor hot."
Housekeeper Lee nodded with a smile:
"Understood. Come inside first."
With that taken care of, Jenny turned back to Grace and moved out of her embrace to hook her arm with hers.
"Come, let's leave here, aunt. You are not in good health, so you should indeed go inside and rest. Moreover, I'm angry with you."
"Oh? And why is that? Tell me."