The Heart Of Their Puzzle

Chapter 28

I woke up, about an hour later. Finally, I got some sleep.

"Slept well, princess?"

My heart literally jumped out of my chest after breaking my ribs.

"GRANDPA!" I yelled, jumping up and running over to him. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, princess." He said, hugging me tightly. I snuggled into him.

"You're grounded." I said. His chest vibrated with his heavy laughter.

"What?" He asked.

"You're grounded. You had no right to stay away from me for so long. Where's Dad?" I asked, pulling away.

"He was right behind me." Grandpa smirked, before turning to look at the door.

I looked in the same direction to see Dad standing in the doorway, strings of balloons in one hand and a big box in the other.

"Thought I'd be in less trouble, if I did this?" He said, putting the box on the table and handing the balloons to someone before opening his arms. I ran into them, wrapping my arms around his middle and putting my head on his chest.

"I missed you, Baby." He said, kissing my head and hugging me tight.

"I missed you too, Old man." I said. "Just retire already. Don't stay away for so long again."

"I won't. I will try, I mean." He said, kissing my head again. "I heard about the trouble. I will make them pay for messing with my daughter."

I just hummed in response.
"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"For about an hour?" He said. "We landed today and wanted to surprise you all, but we were surprised when we came home." He chuckled.

"Don't you even think about going away like that again. Both of you. Otherwise, I'm going too." I said, tightening my hold.

"Where?" Dad asked.

"With you." I said, simply. And I am serious.

"Let's have lunch, shall we?" Dad said, as he started walking to the kitchen with me in his arms.

"Sure."

"I punched him twice, the first time he put the deal before me." I chuckled, telling Dad the whole story, from my point of view.

"Just twice?" Grandpa frowned.

I matched his expressions.
"Yeah. Now that I think about it, I should've punched him more when I had the chance."

"Right." Grandpa said, nodding.

"You know I could have easily written on a paper or something, but I wrote with Radium glue on my bathroom mirror. I'm so cool." I bragged, jokingly.

"Yeah, little dude, you're cool. I'm so proud of you." He wiped fake tears.

"Can grandpas regress in age, after having a granddaughter and a favourite grandchild?" Leo whispered.

This b-word. He knows everyone can listen to whatever he's 'whispering' clearly.

"You're grounded." Grandpa said, simply, glaring at him, making Leo gulp.

"So princess, did you meet Zack yet?" He asked.

"No." I shook my head, resisting to pout.

"Great." The A-triplets muttered together. I glared at them as they skillfully ignored it.

"He'll be here soon." Nathan said, reassuringly.

After lunch, I went to sit in the living room, with all the cousins and now Dad and Grandpa.