I don't want to be loved (Book II)

Chapter 227: Epilogue(2) - Maiastra

When it got late, Lalisa put Mai to bed and tucked her in. She would usually fall fast asleep as soon as Lalisa covered her up with a blanket and gave her some soft pats on the chest, but for whatever reason, Mai could not fall asleep at all that night.

"Mai, are you not sleepy?"

Mai grabbed Lalisa's hand and placed it on her face, rubbing her cheek into her palm.

"Yes, mother. But I'll fall asleep faster if you lay down with me."

Ever since they've arrived to Chrichton, Mai became clingier to her mother. It seemed like she held herself back in Arundel, where she had to keep up an appearance appropriate of a princess, but here she didn't need to worry about protocol anymore.

Lalisa lied down next to her. Her charming daughter was the spitting image of her beautiful mother, with her shiny silver hair, exceptionally white skin and delicate face, she looked more after Lalisa then Jungkook. On the other hand, Lalisa thought that Mai had inherited the same deep purple eyes as her father. Actually, whenever she looked carefully into her eyes, she could even make the mistake of thinking she was indeed looking at Jungkook. Her personality also resembled her father's in many aspects, so much so that Basil was said that Mai behaved exactly like young Jungkook.

"Mother, please, tell me the story of how you met father."

Looking into her daughter's sparkling purple eyes, Lalisa chuckled.

"Again?"

"Yes, please. Again."

It was a story that had been told many times, but Mai always begged to listen to it one more time. Lalisa cleared her throat and began speaking.

"When I was ten, I visited the Royal Palace with my mother. While my mother was speaking to the Queen Mother, I was playing on my own in the Palace garden when..."

"When you met father, right? And father was lying on the grass at that time."

Lalisa nodded. She could not understand why Mai always begged to listen to the same story when she already knew it by heart. However, Lalisa didn't say anything and continued.

"That's right. I didn't even know your father was in the garden. Then, something caught my eye as I was looking at the garden flowers and butterflies."

"You mean the cat that was trying to catch a bird to eat it, right?"

Lalisa couldn't help bursting into laughter. She caressed her daughter's hair lovingly. At this point, she wasn't sure who was telling who the story anymore, or if they were simply discussing past events together.

"Yes. In the end, your father climbed up the tree and saved the little bird."

And the story always ended up right there. Neither Jungkook nor Lalisa ever talked about the incredible miracle that happened later. After all, that miracle was their little secret, and only theirs.

Mai pulled Lalisa out of her reverie.

"What made you fall in love with father?"

"Well... his face..."

Lalisa blushed but her daughter didn't even bat an eyelash. Even when Mai heard her mother's embarrassing confession that she first fell in love with her father because of his looks, she was not surprised at all. In fact, the little girl only nodded her head, as though she agreed completely with Lalisa.

"Well, I also like father's pretty face very much. I understand, mother."

Lalisa suddenly realized that her daughter had inherited her tendency of preferring things based on their outward appearance.