Chapter 167 - Aunt And Father-in-law

Julie noticed the way Aunt Sarah stared at Donovan with wonderment and question in her eyes. Aunt Sarah noticed how compared to the delinquent, this man appeared to be someone from a magazine. Wearing a black coat, where one side had fur and he stood as tall as the delinquent whom Julie had brought home. The woman's eyes shifted to meet her brown eyes, and she said, 

"Who is this person, Julianne?" 

Julie wondered how to introduce Donovan to her family. She cleared her throat, ready to introduce him to be someone from Veteris, but the Elder vampire was too eager to speak. 

"I am Roman's elder brother," Donovan brought his hand forward, offering it to Aunt Sarah, and he said, "Azazel is my name."

Roman turned to look at Donovan and glared at his father. As if being his biological father wasn't enough, now this man wanted to replace the position of Tristan in his life. The Elder vampire's appearance looked not more than a thirty-five year old human, and referring to him as Roman's brother wasn't that hard to pass. 

Aunt Sarah didn't know what to say and she gave him a nod before offering her hand. The handshake was hard and for a moment, Azazel Donovan forgot that this was a human and he squeezed her hand a little too firmly, that had the woman quietly glare at him. 

At the same time, Mr. Winters, who wondered what was taking his wife this long to return from the front door, came there. 

"Julie, you are home," said Uncle Thomas, a little relieved that his niece was home. "I was going to call you to check where you were as it was a little late…" his voice lowered on seeing an unfamiliar man. 

"Ah, we got caught up in the amusement park, and it took a while," answered Julie before she introduced Donovan, "Uncle Tom, this is Roman's… brother." She then turned to Donovan and introduced her relatives, "This is Uncle Thomas and Aunt Sarah." 

"How wonderful to finally be able to meet you," Donovan's hand reached for Julie's uncle, giving another firm shake and noticed Mr. Winters looked down at his hand as if wondering if it was still in the same shape as before. "I have heard good things about you from Julie." 

"You did?" asked Uncle Thomas with a polite smile while staring at the posh looking man. When his eyes turned to the side, he noticed how his neighbors were taking a peek at them and the man who didn't belong to this neighborhood.

"Oh, yes," Donovan gave a nod, and he took a step forward by walking between Roman and Julie so that he could stand in front of the human. "I can tell that you have loved and cared for her very much, which is why she speaks about you both in such fondness." 

And though Uncle Thomas was smiling, Aunt Sarah had a small frown on her face as she stared at the delinquent as well as the delinquent's brother. 

"Please come in," Uncle Thomas welcomed Donovan and Donovan was more than pleased by the invite, taking one step inside the house with a smile on his face. Julie and Roman were the last ones to enter the house, and at that time, both of them shared a look with each other. "Take a seat," her uncle was being hospitable and being a good man, he turned to look at his wife. "Why don't we offer Mr. Moltenore a cup of tea." 

"..." Donovan's smile faltered, while Roman's lips quirked up with a subtle smile on hearing his father being referred to as a Moltenore. 

Aunt Sarah didn't protest and went straight to the kitchen. Julie didn't dare to leave the room, because she didn't know what Donovan was planning. 

"What brings you here, Mr. Moltenore?" inquired her uncle and a tight smile appeared on Donovan's lips. 

Before Donovan could speak, Roman said, "Azazel is here to sightsee. He enjoys taking holidays and taking up people's time." 

The Elder vampire chuckled, "That I do. After all, family is very important and you know how college students get so busy that they don't find time. I was around and thought to come to know you better. After all, we'll be family." 

At the man's words, Uncle Thomas blinked and so did Julie, before her eyes widened. 

"Huh?" asked Uncle Thomas, as if he heard it wrong. 

"I mean Roman and Julie will eventually end up with each other, right? That would make us family, wouldn't it?" came the unfiltered words from Donovan. Roman would have interrupted in between but what Donovan said wasn't wrong as it was something that would eventually happen. 

"Isn't marriage a little too soon, Mr. Moltenore," said Aunt Sarah, who returned to the living room where they were sitting. She placed the juice on the table and said, "The milk is almost over and we need to buy it," she said, when her husband gave her a look after he noticed it wasn't tea. 

Donovan didn't care if it was juice or tea, as he was enjoying the expressions of the humans. He picked up the glass of juice and took a sip. Roman turned to look at the Elder vampire, noticing the slight pause between Donovan sipping the drink and gulping it down. 

The Elder vampire cleared his throat, taking a moment before he said, "I don't think I spoke about marriage, but then that you have mentioned about it, I don't think it's a bad idea. What do you think about it, Rome?" He turned to look at Roman. 

"I think you should leave it to Julie and me instead of getting ahead of us in excitement," replied Roman. "We'll get married when Julie is ready," and his eyes met her brown ones. 

Wait, how did Donovan inviting himself end up with her being married? Julie smiled, "What's the rush? We are still studying." 

"Maybe after graduation then?" proposed Donovan and he took a look into the glass of juice before looking up. 

Aunt Sarah gave a look to her husband, who raised his eyebrows, not knowing what she was indicating. The woman spoke, "If I am not wrong, Julianne and Roman have been going out for only a few months. I would say to give it some more time to see if this works out than see it pan out later. We wouldn't want anything happening in a rush to go wrong."

Donovan nodded his head in agreement, "I understand your concern, Mrs. Winters. I had the same notion and didn't want Julie dating Rome. Because I felt she was a misfit and nothing like us," this had Aunt Sarah's jaw fall. 

And though Aunt Sarah didn't like the idea of Julie getting close with this delinquent, she didn't like that this man came to her house and was speaking about one of the family members being a misfit. 

"It's not like we were too keen on seeing Julianne being with the boy," said Aunt Sarah and it suddenly felt like her aunt and the Elder vampire had stepped into a showdown between them. "For someone who makes the girl skip instead of letting her study and attend classes, I am not sure what to say about it. We might not be as fashionable as you, but we sure know what is right and wrong." 

Donovan chuckled at Aunt Sarah's words, and the air in the room turned slightly thick, "Then have you ever wondered why they are still together? I am sure Julie is a smart young lady who knows what is right or wrong. And just to correct something, it is Mr. Donovan, not Moltenore." 

Uncle Thomas's eyebrows furrowed. He asked, "Are you both not related?" 

Roman cleared Julie's uncle's question, "Azazel is not related to me. Not directly at least. You can ignore his rude comments."

"What an unruly thing to say. It would be a sin, Rome," said Donovan, who had turned to look at Roman, his eyes turning bright red before they returned to black. 

"I have many and something so little shouldn't matter," came the reply from Roman, where his voice had fallen low enough for the humans to be unable to hear. 

Donovan turned back to look at Julie's relatives and he said, "Roman and I are very much related. By blood," and he stressed on the word blood. 

"Unfortunately, yes," agreed Roman, and Julie, who was hoping things would settle down, saw the conversation spiral in the most unexpected way. He continued, "You see, our father was an odd man. Someone who didn't know how to take responsibility, he abandoned my mother and was selfish. I was adopted into another family, while Azazel lived with our father, in a different place," he offered a subtle smile to Donovan, who tried to keep the smile on his face without letting it falter. 

"Now now, he wasn't that bad of a father," Donovan raised his hand, and he turned to look at the relatives, "Our father was amazing, I mean look at us, we are such gentlemen. Rome is just exaggerating things, so don't pay heed to it. And before you misunderstand it, our father didn't know about Rome's mother being pregnant."

"Doesn't remove the fact that he abandoned and let the woman live alone while being scrutinized by people," Roman remarked from where he was seated. 

"Our father cared very dearly about her, Rome. I am telling you, you should believe in my words," came the solemn words from Donovan, and during this conversation, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Thomas had leaned towards each other. 

Aunt Sarah tried to whisper to her husband by saying, "I told you that he wasn't from a good family. You never know if he's going to leave Julie in a week or month after the wedding." 

"Let us talk about this later," Uncle Thomas hushed his wife. 

Julie bit the inside of her cheek, because one this was not the place for Donovan to be causing chaos and two, the vampires in this room had excellent hearing to be able to hear the whispers going on between her uncle and aunt. 

The Elder vampire then turned to look back as if wanting to continue the conversation from where they left a few seconds ago, "Mrs. Winters, I think you took it wrongly when I said Julie was a misfit." 

"I think your intentions are quite clear that we aren't of equal standing. But we are not from the old period, but from a modern time. Julie is brilliant in her own way, when it comes to following things," bluffed Aunt Sarah, and Julie wanted to hide and merge into the wall, because she felt people's eyes fall on her. 

Julie noticed one corner of Roman's lips pull up, because he had seen her visit the detention room more than anyone else in this room. 

Her aunt continued, "I think my niece deserves a more stable relationship." 

"And what might that be, Mrs. Winters?" questioned Donovan, and now the conversation seemed to be steering in a way where the man looked like he was here to ask Julie's hand in marriage to his son. "Did you know that Roman is the topper of the university? The headmistress tells me that she's not seen such a brilliant student step into Veteris before."

"If Julie's mother was here with us, she would never approve of someone looking like him—"

Aunt Sarah's words were cut short with Donovan, who broke into a series of chuckles and brought a deep frown on Mr. and Mrs. Winters' face. 

"My apologies," Donovan raised his hand before patting his chest. He picked up the juice that was placed on the table, taking a sip to only realize he shouldn't have taken it. Clearing his throat, he placed it back on the table. 

The reason why Donovan was laughing was because he remembered what Opaline's reaction would have been, if she were present here under this roof. Priceless, thought the vampire in his hand. But then the great witch had lived her life lavisciously before settling down with the family and he wondered what kind of argument that would have turned out to be. 

On the other hand, Roman, who had already met Julie's actual mother and her surrogate mother, didn't have to know what responses he would have received. 

Donovan then said, "I thought Julie wasn't right for Rome, but I have come to believe that it is fate that has brought them together. They are perfect for each other and rather compliment quite well, balance is what is needed in a relationship."

Aunt Sarah stared at the man, who was Roman's brother, and she wondered how serious the person was, or if he was just making fun of the Winters family. 

"Mrs. Winters," Roman decided to finally speak to the woman directly, gaining her attention. "Julie and I, it might appear that we have known each other for a very short duration of time. But you must know, it isn't the amount of months or years that you need to know a person. Sometimes, even one minute is enough to know if the person is going to make a difference in your life. I don't plan to break her heart, and plan to stay by her side. Even if it means you like it or not." 

"Is that how you speak to your elders?" questioned Aunt Sarah with her eyes slightly wide. She turned to look at Julie, "You bring someone posing to be his brother so that your uncle and I give you our blessings?" 

"It's not how it looks, Aunt Sarah," replied Julie, a sigh escaped from her lips. "Rome is not someone who will sugarcoat his words. He might sound rude, but what he says is only a reflection which many don't hold. You both are my only family, and I would like you to accept it. Even if it means there's a lot of time for us to get married in the future." 

Before Aunt Sarah could speak more, Uncle Thomas placed his hand on his wife's hand so that she wouldn't continue interrogating the guests or his niece. 

"Let us all calm down now. Julie could have avoided us, but she's here wanting to get acceptance with this boy, who is important to her," said Uncle Thomas with a serious tone. "If she believes in him, I think we should believe in the person too. After all they both seem to be in love with each other. And I am glad to hear that Julie has someone to depend in the university and in her life," he said the last line to Roman. 

"You don't have to worry about Julie, Mr. Winters. I will take good care of her, and make sure she gets good grades this year and the next one," Roman gave his word, which translated to 'I will keep her safe from trouble and not let any harm come to her'. 

Uncle Thomas nodded his head with a smile on his lips, "I know you will. You are the top rank holder in Veteris."

Aunt Sarah had gone quiet after her husband had spoken, deciding to leave the matter behind as it was now done and dusted. 

Uncle Thomas then stood up and so did Donovan and the rest of them, when he said, "Mr. Donovan, how about you come have dinner with us. My wife is an excellent cook. It would be a shame if you didn't eat with us." 

A smile spread on Donovan's lips, and he said, "Oh, I never planned to miss dinner. Not breakfast either.. I hope you have good pillow, I find it hard to sleep without it," letting them know he was going to stay the night.