Chapter 220: The party’s over

This was awkward, was an understatement.

The last time I saw my grandmother was almost ten years ago, on a day, I could hardly remember what happened. I knew what transpired that day, but still, even now I couldn't really remember much of anything.  I could remember hearing some cries, I could hear people whispering things… bad things… but everything was still in a haze. 

And as I stared at the old woman- my grandmother in front of me, the haze only got thicker and my head started aching. 

And mom's awkward smile wasn't really helping.

With a big gulp, I took my seat. 

Marg was already seated on the opposite side. This was a small table and mom sat to my right, while grandma to my left. 

"Hey, Heli-" Uncle was headed this way, when he suddenly sensed the atmosphere, smiled, and turned around. 

So much for being the world's most powerful terrorist. What a wuss- or so I would have said, if I, myself wasn't shaking. 

Almost all of our relatives gave us space and moved to the other end of the room. For once, I was glad this room was really big. 

Mom cleared her throat. "Well, it's been a while, why don't we start with the greetings?"

"Ri-right." I also tried to clear my throat, it felt like something was clogging it. "IT's been a while, grandmother."

What did I use to call her again? Grandmother? Grandma? Grand-something?

I couldn't remember-

"Yes, it has." She was old, but- even for her age, she was rather healthy and her skin was still hanging tight. "You have grown." She didn't smile, she didn't frown. 

I felt slightly at ease, as I let out a small sigh in relief.

I didn't know why but she didn't feel hostile. Maybe I was just overreacting and worrying too much. After all, she was my grandmother and though she despised me deep down, she probably wasn't going to show it. 

The party meanwhile, was going pretty nicely. 

People were having fun, chatting around. 

I rarely saw so many of my family at once like this. 

Honestly, I was a bit glad to see them.

Just a bit though. 

Just a bit, okay?

Wait! I was forgetting something! "This is Marg." I pointed at her. "She's my fiancée right now, but I plan to marry her as soon as possible."

Technically, that wasn't a lie, right?

"Yes, she seems like a lovely young lady. We've been talking for some time now."

Marg just had a blank expression. Honestly, these two women were really similar. Both were looking blankly at me, as though they had no emotion. But I clearly knew, Marg was just uncomfortable and grandma just probably didn't know how to deal with me. 

Mom and Marg were rather quiet though. Did they seriously expect me to be doing all the talking?

Yesn't! 

But I did have things to ask. "So, I met a girl today." 

And I caught the attention of both mom and Marg's. Oh yeah, they were glaring alright. 

Probably should have clarified better. "I mean I met someone who wasn't from this-"… "World."

Yeah, they weren't having any of this.

"Come closer," Grandma said. 

These guys weren't letting me finish. But as none of them were actually saying anything about it, I decided to thoroughly explain it in a minute. 

I got up and went close to her. 

Before anything else, she gave me a sniff. 

I was way too flustered to move. 

'What the hell?'

I instinctively took a step back: my instincts were kind of sluggish though. I guess my body wasn't expecting her of all people to sniff me. 

"It would seem, you've come into contact with some rather questionable people." She grumbled. 

I had no idea what she was talking about but this whole sniffing thing was really freaking me out. I gave a glance at mom and she was also cringing hard. 

So yeah, this wasn't typical.

"I have some things I want to talk to you about." I tried my best to remain calm and keep a straight face.

Sure wasn't working though.

"Yes, it would seem the time is right." She sighed. "Call the otherworlder here."

Wait, what?

What did she just say?

Oh, wait, just a minute ago I mentioned something about meeting the girl from another world. 

'Didn't Raea say, she'd bring that girl here, later?'

"Mom, what are you saying?" Mom said. 

Both mom and Marg were still staring at me though.

And that's when I realized, both of them were actually still fixed on the 'me meeting a girl' part, not the 'girl being from another world' part. 

Perfect!

"She's on her way," Enira warped right behind me and wrapped her arms over my shoulder: soft things landed on my back. At this point, I kind of got used to them… okay, probably not. "It's been a while, Serena, you have aged." Enira's voice was dripping with taunts. 

"It would seem you've snuck yourself into this family just like that snake." Grandma snorted. "I thought I smelled that before."

Apparently, grandma and this half-dragon snake thingy knew each other. 

Sigh. Well, did not see that one coming. Grandma didn't seem that concerned though and she didn't seem hostile towards Enira. They just weren't on good terms but they weren't quite enemies either. 

I didn't care though.

So, Enira was really old and she wasn't lying that time?

Guess so.

Enira giggled. "Unfortunately-" She rubbed her face against mine. "He brought me here."

"Can we stop wasting time please?" It took a lot of strength to make her unhand me. I wanted to kick her, but there were far too many people here and I didn't want to look bad in front of my family. "And no, I tried to get rid of you but you just stuck around and that was all. Moving on!" I was getting pissed at this whole thing and yeah, I just wanted this to get a move on.

Enira just chuckled though. "Sure, sure." 

I stood up. I was attracting attention. "Look, there's an invasion coming and I know you know. So I want you to tell me what I can do to protect my family. Protect, you guys," I said, staring at grandma. 

I came out clean. I didn't have the patience to go through the whole process of first warming up to her and then asking questions. I needed the answers right now.

"Sit down!" She ordered. And yet, I found myself seated immediately, against my will. "The rest of you, the party's over, go home!" 

Oh yeah, now we were rolling!

"Aww, man! It's only been like an hour and a half!" One of my cousins complained. 

An hour and a half was still a lot of time though. 'It's really been that long?'

"Oh? You want me to get up from here and-"

"We'll take her away!" 

Her parents however just dragged her out of here. The same went for the rest of my cousins, uncles, and even the elders. Apparently, everyone was afraid of grandma. How the hell was she not the head of the family?

This party was pretty nice and things were going good too. It was a little sad to see it end outright like this. 

But I guess, what we were going to do was more important. 

Then again, the people leaving had smiles, as though they enjoyed this brief reunion. Well, I sure had.

Everyone offered me some pleasantries before leaving and the same went for mom and Elsa: even Marg. Our guests thanked us and congratulated me and Marg before leaving and it was really weird to hear the word 'thanks' from some of them. 

But yeah, at the end of the day, I was really glad everyone decided to show up and stick around.