Ariel

To this, Kay replied, "So were you. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, you know."

Kyle glared at his twin, and asked, "Are you really my twin sister?"

"Who else would be so brutally honest with you?" Kay said, then grinned, "Besides Sayuri, Xing Han, Sam, Ali, and Nitocris? Oh, not to mention Dad and Mum."

Kyle rolled his eyes, while Xing Han laughed merrily, Sam smirked and Ali grinned like an idiot.

Then Kyle smiled, his heart warm. Yes, he's truly lucky in this life. He had a good life before but this life was even better. Learning from the mistakes of the past and learning new lessons in this life made him whole.

He turned to look at his wife, placed his arm around her waist, and just said softly in her ear, "Thank you."

Thank you for always being there for him, for never giving up on him despite his special kind of stupid (as Xing Han called it) in realising his feelings for her. For being the one who pampered him and was tough on him when needed.

Sayuri tilted her head to the side, wondering what her husband was going on about but didn't ask. She smiled, gave him a peck on the lips, and leaned on him.

Yes, Life was very good indeed.

✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿

The next day, at the breakfast table, Ariel was determined to put on full blast her 'ultimate cute attack' on her father. She had a mission today.

Yesterday, when she had been good and eaten her fruits well, Mummy had allowed her to follow Daddy. Giving a sweet look to Daddy meant he helped her ask Mummy to let her.

So, she had to charm her father first.

She remembered how her father wanted her to do things on her own. Serene had also reminded her this morning so, the moment they entered the dining room, Ariel let go of Serene's hand and steadily walked to the high chair. With a serious look on her face, she slowly climbed up and sat down. Patting her chest, she looked up triumphantly towards her parents and lifted both hands up.

"I did it!" she declared proudly, "All by myself."

This should make both her parents happy and proud.

"Very good, Rie," Sayuri praised her, smiling.

Kyle smiled as well, acknowledging her great efforts.

Ariel wasn't pleased with her father's reaction.

She reached out towards her father, pouting a little bit, and looked at him with her big, watery eyes, and said, "Daddy, I am good, right?"

Kyle's smile got softer and he took her little hands in his, "Yes, Rie, you are very good."

Ariel smiled widely, glad that her efforts were not in vain. Opening her eyes as wide as she could, she looked at him expectantly, her eyes sparkling as she said, "I am a big girl. I learn well."

Kyle looked at his daughter who was looking at him all innocent, blinking while waiting for more praise.

This was unlike her.

It was obvious she wanted something.

And he had a pretty good idea what that 'something' was.

Tongue in cheek, he didn't expose her as he got a gist of what she was trying to do. Instead, he leaned forward and placed his hand on top of her head, stroking it gently as he said, "Yes, Rie. You are learning very well at home, where you are safe and you have Serene to take care of you."

Ariel opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she struggled to think of what to say. Well, she knew what she wanted to say but now, it seemed to be ineffective after what her father had said.

She closed her mouth again, pursed her lips, and moved it left and right as she thought hard, "I am a big girl?"

"Yes, Rie," Kyle answered, "Big enough to learn new things today at home."

He turned to look at Serene, and said, "Nín kěyǐ cóng xià yīgè jiēduàn kāishǐ [You can start with the next phase]"

Serene nodded, "Hǎo de [Okay]."

Ariel pouted, partly because she didn't understand what they were saying and partly because she now could not say she wanted to follow him to send brother and sister to school.

She looked down at her bowl of fruits and it didn't seem as enticing as it usually did. She loved mangoes but somehow, despite its sweetness, she felt it was difficult to eat. The 'duck lips' stayed on even as she continued to eat, making her look like a chipmunk. Or fish.

Kyle smiled, satisfied that Ariel had given up, and returned to eating his breakfast. Once he was done, he noted that his kids were also done so he got up and said, "Alright, let's go."

As usual, Sayuri and Ariel sent them off and Ariel waved goodbye sadly while being carried by her mother.

"You really wanted to go again, didn't you?" Sayuri said once the car could no longer be seen.

Ariel nodded, looking down.

"You actually gave a very good effort," Sayuri praised her as she entered the house, "But your father is much more skilled. He wouldn't fall for your act earlier."

"I wasn't acting," Ariel denied, pouting.

"Oh?" Sayuri said with a slight laugh as she placed Ariel on the sofa. Serene was nowhere to be seen, having been told by Sayuri that she would be taking Ariel for the day.

Sayuri sat down on the floor, took her daughter's hands in hers, and said, "So looking at your father like he was the most precious thing on Earth wasn't an act to soften him up? Using that sweet voice of yours to try and butter him up?"

Ariel started fidgeting, her hands playing with the folds of her shirt. She couldn't look at her mother in the eye and she stared at her lap instead.

"But would you like to learn how to use what you have, to get what you want?" Sayuri asked softly, studying her daughter.

"Huh?" Ariel stammered, looking up at her mother in puzzlement, not understanding, "You're not angry?"

Sayuri smiled and placed her hand on Ariel's cheek, "No, my sweetheart. I am not. You have shown to me that you have great potential."

"Po..ten...sheel?" Ariel repeated, wondering.

"That means, you have something special within you to learn something special," Sayuri explained.

"Me?" Ariel asked, her eyes wide.

She couldn't believe that she had anything special. She had always heard how, no matter what she did, her elder brother and sister had learned how to do it faster than she did.

The gap was huge, and she felt that she could never catch up to them.

Not that they minded. Her parents never said anything or compared it either, but she always felt it.

"Not Brother Alex or Sister Rory?" Ariel asked, still not believing it.

"No, they have not shown it to me," Sayuri said.

Alex was too arrogant and emotional whilst Aurora was too innocent. Both were just too straightforward. Ariel, however, would try her best to get what she wanted - and that involved trying to butter people up by acting cute and so forth.

She instinctively knew what were her strong points and to use them to get her way.

Sayuri had been silently observing all her children to see if any of them could learn her Clan's Arts. It wasn't until Ariel came along that she saw some hope. Her efforts had been commendable.

"Wow," Ariel said, her eyes sparkling. To be better than her brother and sister in something felt great.

"Yes, yes!" Ariel said happily, clapping her hands, "I wanna learn!"

"But," Sayuri said to her seriously, "You cannot tell anyone about this. Not even Daddy."

She formed her lips into an 'O' and then asked, "Why?"

"We want to keep it a secret," Sayuri said, "If they know that you are learning this, then they would be careful around you. You may not be able to use what you learn then."

"Really?"

"Really," Sayuri said, "Look at what happened earlier. Daddy knew, so he kept saying those things so that you couldn't ask about following."

"If he knew that you were learning this, he would be even more careful and nothing you do would work," Sayuri said, "And we need to use him for practise."

"But … but … will I ever be good enough?" Ariel asked.

"While you start learning, you may face a lot of failures," Sayuri told her honestly, "That is why you have to keep on learning and keep on practising. Once you have reached a certain level, then we can tell Daddy. If you can pass Daddy's test, you'll be the best."

Sayuri knew this was a risk. To expect a two-year-old to keep such a huge secret seemed impossible but Sayuri felt Ariel was different. She seemed to understand the concept as long as you can give her real-life examples of the situation and the consequence of breaking the secret - and the rewards for keeping it quiet.

Ariel nodded, her eyes gleaming, "Okay!"

Sayuri smiled.