47 This Sly Little Devil…
"P-Please, follow me" Maggie requested and started walking while the three followed her.
The restaurant Cat Café was a place where there are rooms called 'boxes' for each customer so that they can eat privately. Only the Waiters walk around while the customers are seated inside their boxes comfortably.
Maggie took Ace and his family to a box that was light pink in color and the walls were decorated with small kitty paintings which Gracie especially liked. There was a huge table along with 4 chairs surrounding it. The three entered the room, Ace and Maeve sat on the chairs and Maggie spoke.
"Please decide your order, I will return in five minutes to take it"
Ace nodded and Maggie left the box.
"Papa! See these kittens! They are so cute~" Gracie explained as she pointed towards the paintings on the wall.
"They really are..." Ace replied as he placed Gracie on his lap.
"So, what do you want to eat for breakfast?" Maeve questioned Gracie.
"Cookies!" Gracie raised her hand excitedly and exclaimed.
"Cookies? I am not talking about snakes you little weirdo~" Maeve rebuked with a smile as she flicked Gracie's forehead lightly.
"Oww! That hurts!" Gracie exclaimed as she rubbed her forehead with both her hands while she looked at Maeve with wronged eyes.
"Hmm? How can it hurt? Aren't you a big girl now?" Maeve questioned with a smirk.
"I-" Gracie was about to rebuke before she remembered her being all high and mighty in front of her mother before.
She obviously can't back down now, can she?
Out of options, she turned towards her only problem solver, her dad, Ace.
"Papa… Mama's bullying me…" Gracie complained as she looked at Ace with teary eyes.
"Ahaha~" Maeve and Ace couldn't control themselves when they saw her response and laughed out loud.
"Why are you both laughing!? Uuuu!!" Gracie complained again, this time, she was on the verge of crying. She had already covered her face with her little hands.
Ace quickly noticed that and picked her up, "Hmm? She's bullying you? How dare she!? Let's do this, when papa becomes a baddie next time, we both will team up and chase her? What do you say?
Plus, I still have to eat her later~" He spoke with a smirk as he glanced at Maeve with a corner of his eyes.
"Mm" Gracie nodded without removing her hands from her eyes, then she secretly created an opening between her fingers and glanced at Maeve, as their eyes met, a triumphant smirk appeared on Gracie's face and her small tongue popped out, teasing Maeve.
'This sly little devil…' Maeve and Ace, who noticed that thought inwardly as they couldn't believe that she would fake a cry but on the other side, they couldn't help but find this reaction extremely cute and Ace tightened her hug around Gracie.
"Alright, now tell me, what do you want to eat?" ace questioned.
"Can't we just eat cookies?" Gracie questioned back with an innocent face while she acted like she was wiping her tears. It took Maeve and Ace all their self-control not to laugh at the moment.
"We can, but only eating cookies is very unhealthy and affect our health, how about this, you eat something healthy now and we will eat cookies later?" Ace suggested and Gracie's face instantly brightened.
"Okies~" Gracie replied.
"So, what else do you want to eat?" Ace questioned again.
"Umm? How about you 2 choose?" Gracie proposed.
'Aww, she's so considerate~' Ace thought inwardly as he looked at Gracie as if she was the most precious treasure in the world.
'Heh! Now that they are choosing the food, I will be the one to choose cookies! Yay!' Gracie thought inwardly and was extremely proud of her idea. A small smirk unknowingly appeared on her face.
Maeve, who saw that instantly realized what she wanted and couldn't help but shake her head lightly.
'She's Devious' Maeve chuckled inwardly before suggesting, "Should we just order fried egg?"
"Umm no, it will already be past noon after some time, I think we should eat something more solid, meat maybe?" Ace replied and Maeve nodded.
As the 2 decided what to eat Maggie returned to take the order.
...
After Maggie left, Ace questioned, "Gracie, me and your mama were thinking of going to the beach, do you want to?"
"Hmm? Like the ones you told me in the stories!?" Gracie questioned in an excited tone.
"Mhm, like the ones in the stories, do you want to go?" Ace questioned.
"I do!" Gracie nodded in excitement.
"When are we going!?" Gracie questioned excitedly.
"Hmm? Well, we still don't know where to go… so once we decide that, we will leave as soon as possible…" Ace replied.
"How about we visit Sister Maya? She will know about it" Gracie suggested and it was oddly intelligent of her. Even Maeve and Ace didn't think of that. Maya was a local, she would surely know about popular beaches.
"Alright my little nightingale, we will do exactly as you say" Ace replied.
"Papa! I wuv you! You are the best!" Gracie exclaimed before jumping on Ace's neck and hanging on it. Ace then placed his cheek in front of her mouth and she gave him a cute peck. Ace embraced Gracie lightly and he kneaded her cheeks with his own.
"Ehehe~ Papa! It tickles!" Gracie giggled cutely.
...
After a while, Maggie returned with the food, "Elder Ace, here's your order!"
"Thank you, Miss Maggie" Maeve answered and Maggie bowed with a slight blush on her face.
*Tak* *Tak* *Tak*
As Maggie was about to leave, few hurried footsteps were heard and Ace furrowed his brows.
*Bam*
The doors of the box were knocked open and a boy followed by a couple of other young men wearing disciple robes of a Sect entered. Ace, of course, didn't recognize the sect badge as he didn't bother remembering them in the first place but he was definitely annoyed by the sudden interruption.
"Miss Maggie, what is the meaning of this!?" A young man who entered first spoke up. He glanced at Ace and Maeve and though he was taken aback by their looks, he didn't think much about it.
"We were waiting here for so long, they clearly entered after us, how dare you serve them faster than us!? Don't you know who we a- aahhh!!" The man continued but was interrupted by another man who pinched his waist. He then turned towards the man and saw him looking towards Ace with a pale face.
"E-E-E-E-Elder Ace…" The boy muttered.
"Hmm? What do you mean, do you know him? If you do then tel- aaahhh!! mmffhhh!!" The first man was interrupted once again by another boy who unlike the other one, directly used all his physical strength and punched his back before covering his mouth and taking him out of the box with the help of his other friends.
"Elder Ace! Sorry for the inconvenience we might have caused, please forgive us! We promise we won't bother you any longer! Please let it slide!" The boy who pinched the other boy begged with a perfect 90-degree bow and a pale face.
Ace just nodded though it was clear from his facial expression that he was annoyed by them but since he was here with Gracie, he decided to let them live…
For today.
The boy then quickly left the room after apologizing again and returned to his own box where his gaze fell on the man who started all of this.
"Joey, You bastard! If you want to die that badly then die alone! Why in the hell are you taking all of us down with you!?" He roared in anger as he punched Joey's face. The man couldn't resist or block since he was being held by the other four disciples so he just roared back.
"What are you talking about!? What happened? Why are you all acting like this!?"
The boy was taken aback by his questions before he questioned in confusion.
"Wait… don't you know who that man was?"
"Who is he?" Joey questioned with a frown.
"You… You seriously don't know who you were talking to?" the boy questioned in disbelief.
"Stop talking in this roundabout manner Blake, just tell me who he was!" Joey demanded irritatedly.
