FATHER ALWAYS SMILING

Chapter 03 ~~~~~~

"I'd rather have that pie again," Elain admits with a sigh.

"I know, and if we had more time to cook like before, I would." Her mother said with disappointment. With how busy they both were from working, medical school, raising kids, things like a fresh homecooked meal were few and far between them.

"It's okay. I'll be back in a bit, Mom." And then headed out from the front door and headed over to the house across the street. And the house across the street couldn't be more different than the one that she and her family now called home.

While her new home was a more modern 1990's two-story, this house across from them looked to be turn of the century. It even had a plaque with the date of when it was built by what looked to be the wrap-around porch and an attached garage that was clearly an add-on several years later but still had the matching red brick and dark wood varnished. This place was given much care. It was neat to see; Elain always did like historic homes like this. It had two stories and a window that looked to be for the attic.

"Okay, don't be nervous..." she says to herself before heading up the steps of the porch and to the front door. Readying herself to knock only to hesitate, it was something she couldn't help, this feeling of nervousness. I just told myself not to be nervous; come on. She let out a breath, knocked and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Still nothing five minutes later.

Maybe no one's home. She thought before seeing the doorbell and trying it. She decided to go for it simply because she wasn't even sure if anyone heard. After a moment, she could hear the sounds of someone coming from the depths of the house.

And when the door opened, Elain instantly froze in place from sheer surprise.

It was a man who answered the door, a very attractive man, possibly in his mid to late thirties with almost androgynous features. His grey eyes were framed by a thin pair of glasses; as his chestnut brown hair was combed off to the left side as he smiled when opening the door.

Holy shit. Was the first thing to pop into Elain's brain.

Elain grit her teeth to stop her mouth from gaping open when meeting this man. He looked similar to Amalie, except this was an adult man and not a little girl. The man had a lean, slender build, with a somewhat average height of five foot eight.

He was dressed in dark tanned slacks, a white long-sleeved dress shirt and a light blue sweater vest over top. Elain was surprised that he wasn't sweating buckets, given that it was the beginning of the summer. Yet, he didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest.

This explained where the little girl's good looks came from. The fact that Amalie's Dad had such beauty didn't seem remotely fair. She had never seen a man with such effeminate charming looks, at least not outside anime online or of people's cosplay. And even then, those online were so ambiguously gendered it was hard to tell if they were male or female just by the face alone. This man could very well have been the same.

"May I help you?" he asked, his voice holding such an interesting tone. It was soft yet had a singsong kind of way in his speech. It made him sound elegant. "Miss?"

This snapped her out of her thoughts. "Yes, sorry. Um, my name is Elain Ortiz. My family and I moved in across the street from you. A few days ago, you brought us a pie? I just came by to return your pie plate." She said as she held out said plate to him.

His smile seemed to grow. "Why, thank you, young lady." He says as he takes it from her. Then after looking at it, he asked. "Did you enjoy it? The pie?"