Family Matters

Chapter Twenty Six

"For crying out loud Riki, leave him alone" a woman who looked a lot like Riki said as she rolled her eyes.

"What? I was just saying hello" Riki said feigning innocence. Max took the opportunity to escape from Riki and Riki sighed when he saw that Max was gone.

His eyes fluttered over to me and they widened when they saw me.

"Wow...so you're Ceres, huh?" He said as he gave me a warm smile. The woman turned her head over to me and her eyes widened as well.

The woman had straight blonde hair that fell to her midsection and green eyes that sparkled like gems as she looked at me. I couldn't help but think that she was very pretty. Her red lipstick stained lips formed into a smile before she spoke.

"Oh, aren't you just the cutest little one! It's so nice to finally meet you!" The woman said walking up to me and trying to grab me into a hug but I backed away out of instinct only to bump into someone behind me. I looked up and when I saw Kade, I immediately relaxed.

"Erika, you can't just try to smother someone upon the first meeting" Kade said and Roman who was following behind him scoffed.

"Hypocrite" he said as he passed by and Kade pouted.

"Am not..." he muttered.

"Sorry, I guess I got a little excited, haha..." Erika said while scratching her cheek a little. Riki just shook his head.

"How about a proper introduction? I'm Riki" Riki said and held his hand out to me. Unlike other times where I wouldn't even try to give a response, I reached up and shook his hand albeit a little shaky.

I wanted to at least try to greet my family properly. It was the least I could do after all.

"And this little ball of sunshine here is my sister Erika" He said nudging his head over at Erika who was also holding her hand out. She was smiling so brightly and it just reminded me a lot of Kade. Their excitement when first meeting me was very similar.

I shook hers and I instantly noticed how warm her hand was, maybe even just a little sweaty. Was she nervous?

"Little? I'm older" Erika said and Riki groaned at her comment.

"Can we take this conversation into the kitchen, yes?" Lance said when he came down and saw all of us gathered here.

We followed him into the kitchen and when we walked in, I saw an older woman and man sitting at the table.

The woman had dark brown hair that fell down her back in soft ringlets and green eyes that seemed to twinkle as they fell upon me. She gave me a warm smile and a wave.

The man next to her was also giving me a warm smile. He had blonde hair that was styled neatly to the side and his eyes were also green. He was holding the woman's hand and I figured that she was his wife when I saw the rings on their left hands.

I went to sit in my seat that was in between Roman and Ares and waited patiently for the food. I was very hungry if you couldn't tell. I had stayed in my room watching the movies that Ross had recommended to me so that we could talk about them on Monday. He was very adamant about me watching them so how could I refuse?

"Hello sweetie. I'm Tori, your aunt" She said and I nodded while giving her a small smile back.

"And I'm Aaron, her husband and your uncle" He said and I kept my smile on for him.

"We really wish we could have come sooner but only recently have our schedules allowed it" Tori said as she gave me an apologetic look.

"It's okay...if you're busy, there's no helping it" I said.