74 Visiting My Parents 3

"Are you really eating that Rika?" My mom sighed.

I popped a sugary strawberry into my mouth. I moaned from its sugary goodness as Luke frowned in response.

Luke let me eat strawberry desserts with Shelly and Ellen, but he never allowed me to eat pure junk food like these. Sugar tasted the best when it was raw rather than it being cooked into pastries.

All the fancy food in the first district was made to be somewhat healthy, even the desserts were surprisingly healthy with all the fine ingredients they used.

I sometimes suspected that they didn't actually use sugar in the desserts but rather very ripe and sweet fruits to make up for the difference in the sweetness.

Before Luke could express his disapproval as usual, my dad came in from the front door.

His red hair had hints of grey closer to his scalp. This reminded me that my parents from this life were starting to age as they were losing more of their youthful looks.

"You're here Rika?" My dad looked surprised from my sudden appearance.

"And we have a guest here as well," my mom added.

Luke went out of the kitchen to introduce himself again, "My name is Luke de Roselia and I am Rika's partner in school. It's my pleasure to meet you," Luke smiled brilliantly as he helped my dad with his work bag.

My dad stood frozen for a second from Luke's brillant manners and looked as if he was someone way too good for me.

"So you're the Luke that's always with Rika in those photos," my dad started to settle into the living room.

I ignored my dad as I popped another sugary strawberry into my mouth. My dad seemed like he was instantly impressed by Luke as he observed him for a while on the couch.

Before I could eat another strawberry, Luke took my bowl of delicious goodness away from me and gave it to my mom.

My mom smiled in approval as she declared that she would make it into jam to give out to her neighbors.

"Rika must have been very troublesome to take care of," my mom commented as if she was apologizing to Luke.

"It's fine. I'm used to it," Luke smiled sadly as he replied honestly.

My mom gestured us to go to the dining table as she finished cooking the dishes for dinner.

The food did not compare to what Luke and I regularly ate in the first district. It had hints that the food was homemade with some imperfections on how the food was cut and cooked on the stove.

However, the taste greatly reminded me of my meals in my past life. I preferred eating meals like this rather than all the fancy restaurants Luke forced me to go when we weren't at his mansion or in school.

"It's good," I replied as a tear came out of my eye.

My parents look surprised from my sudden tears while Luke handed me a handkerchief.

"Are the meals at your school bad?" My mom asks with concern.

"In my school, rather than enjoying your meal like this, you have to focus more on how you eat and it makes the dishes lose all its taste," I whined while I glared at Luke like it was all his fault.

"I guess that must have been hard," my dad commented to console me.

"And it's all his fault," I blamed Luke.

"Luke keeps on taking me to all these fancy restaurants and never gives me the chance to cook. He's the one that keeps on nagging me to have proper manners while eating because I will become a 'lady' of the Roselia house," I continued to complain to my parents.

My parents suddenly stopped eating after my last sentence of complaint.

"The ways of the first district is very different from the third district. It's natural that I take care of Rika as her fiancé." Luke explained before I could say another sentence of complaint.

Luke didn't seem guilty after hearing all my complaints while my parents were still trying to comprehend Luke's explanation.

"So you're not just Rika's partner in school, but her fiancé as well?" My mom tried to make sense of the situation.

"With no choice! Luke was pushed onto me ever since kindergarten!" I complained while hoping that I would never have to marry Luke in the future as my parents didn't seem to know about this.

'You would never force me into a loveless marriage?' I pitifully questioned my parents in silence.

After a moment of silence, my mom smiled, "It's earlier than I expected, but it's nice to have you around Rika."

I was shocked. How could my mom take Luke's side while she ignored my pleas for help!

"You seemed used to taking care of Rika. I was surprised when you reacted faster than me to put away the large knife Rika grabbed when she didn't even know how to cook," my mom smiled at Luke in approval.

Luke smiled at my mom dazzlingly as both my parents couldn't refuse his goodwill.

"It would be indeed assuring to have you and Rika be together," my dad reluctantly admitted like he was losing something along the way.

It was true that I barely met my parents in the third district. I only lived with them up to kindergarten and visited them once before I entered middle school. But I thought we still had a solid parent-child relationship together!

A relationship where they would always take the side of their child rather than someone else!