Chapter 145 - Small Gathering

After more than a week of staying in the hospital, Erick would be discharged today. Erick's parents processed all the things needed before they left the hospital.

They were now heading home. Raymond was the one driving and Sarah seated on the front passenger seat while the couple was seating on the back.

"Do you want to take a nap first?" Elle asked Erick as she signaled him to lean on her shoulder.

Erick smiled at her and nodded before he moved closer to Elle as he lay his head on her shoulder.

He could smell her vanilla scent. Her sweet familiar fragrance gave him warmth and comfort. He closed his eyes, satisfied with their closeness.

Elle's free hand touched Erick's face and caressed it for a while. When Erick felt her touch, he could not stop himself from smiling.

"I said sleep." She uttered to him softly, as she felt Erick's face stretched since his lips curled up into a smile.

"How can I focus on sleeping if you are doing that?" Erick whispered to her as his response.

So Elle stopped touching his face. "I thought it might help you to fall asleep immediately."

Erick opened his eyes, raised his head and glanced at her. He was disappointed when Elle stopped.

"Why did you stop?" Erick complained. He pouted at her as he demanded "Don't stop. I like it. Do it again." 

Elle looked at him helplessly as she said: "I thought you could not focus sleeping because of that."

"I take that back. I'm gonna sleep now. Promise." Erick leaned over her shoulder once again.

To satisfy his request, she continued to caress his face until her man fell asleep.

Erick's parents could see them through the front view mirror but they just stayed silent as they did not want to interrupt the couple's sweet moment.

They turned a blind eye and pretended that they have not noticed something about the couple's interaction at the back passenger seat. 

After the thirty minutes drive, they arrived at Erick's place. Erick did not know that there was a surprise waiting for him in his home.

Upon entering the house, loud cheers and falling confetti welcomed them.

"Welcome Home Chief Lee!" The people inside shouted in unison.

Erick was stunned in a moment. He was surprised to see all the members of the Joint Task Force gathered inside his place.

Erick's parents and Elle knew about this. They gave Bryan the task to prepare everything while they were at the hospital.

They planned this surprise and looking at Erick's expression now, they knew that they succeeded.

After he recovered from the shock, Erick thanked them for this surprise.

"Thank you, everyone, for this. I really appreciate it. I am happy to see you all here." He gave them a grateful look.

"Actually, this was Elle's idea. You are lucky to have a thoughtful girlfriend like her." Bryan said to him while grinning widely.

Hearing Bryan's statement, he became more touched because of this. He did not expect Elle to come up with this kind of plan.

He immediately turned to Elle who was beside him and pulled her into a hug. He also gave her a kiss on her forehead while saying "Thank you, my Love."

Elle's face suddenly reddened as blood rushed to her cheeks. She could not stop herself from blushing every time Erick was acting so intimate with her.

'D*mn... I really love this man.' her heart was fluttering inside her chest right now.

The spectators could not bear to see this lovely couple who was feeding them dog food once again because of their sweet little acts toward each other.

Sensing the awkward silence of the other visitors, Raymond decided to break that atmosphere as he cleared his throat.

"Thank you, everyone, for being here despite your busy work. We really appreciate your presence. Let's enjoy this small gathering as a thanksgiving fo our son's fast recovery."

"I think it is better if we will celebrate in the balcony. Let's go and bring all the food there." Sarah also spoke up.

So everyone helped out in setting the table outside and transferred all the food. They were busy preparing everything outside when Charles arrived.

Elle informed him about this small gathering and invited him and Phantom.

But since Phantom had an important matter to do which was related to Elle's next mission, he was not able to come today.

Charles brought some cakes and desserts from Falcon Cafe. Aside from Bryan, this was the first time, other members of the joint task force saw Charles.

Erick's parents already knew Charles as they met him before when he visited Elle. Raymond helped him to carry some boxes of desserts.

"Who is that?" Carl asked curiously.

"He is Elle's boss at the cafe where she is currently working. He is a nice guy. He is my new buddy." Bryan said cheerfully.

He was still thankful for Charles's help. Now, his relationship with April seemed improving a lot lately.

"Really? He looks familiar to me like I already met him before but I did not remember where did I saw him." Marie suddenly blurted out when she saw Charles.

Since Marie was working undercover and continued spying in the underground, it was possible that she had encountered Charles.

Fortunately, she could not clearly remember it or else Charles's identity might be exposed. ,

Meanwhile, after hearing Marie's statement, Carl could somehow feel some familiarity also while looking intently at Charles.

"Yeah, now he also looks familiar to me," Carl muttered to them.

Bryan frowned to their remarks. April was also carefully observing the newcomer.

'Why do I feel like I also met this guy somewhere. just looking at him, he gave me some familiar vibes.' April thought to herself.

"Hey, did my buddy looks so common that you could see some resemblance between him and that someone you both knew while looking at him?"

Marie and Carl just nodded at him. Bryan just shook his head sideways while looking at them with disbelief.

Charles walked towards them as soon as he saw Bryan. He smiled at him and Bryan waved at him.

"Buddy, long time no see. I am glad to see you here." Bryan greeted Charles enthusiastically as he put his arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah. It's nice to see you too. Elle invited me and so I also bring some desserts for this small gathering."

Charles scratched the back of his head, feeling a little bit shy to see a lot of people there. And he knew from the fact that these people were all police agents.

He was familiar with those faces especially those members of the Special Task Force Eagles. He and Elle conducted a background check and had their profile and background information.

"By the way, I'd like you to meet my colleagues, this is Carl, Marie, and April. I already told them that you are Elle's boss. His name is Charles." Bryan introduced them to each other.

"Hello, nice meeting you all." Charles smiled and greeted them. But his smile became so awkward when he met April's eyes.

'D*mn, she is also here. I hope she will not recognize my voice.' He remembered how he was beaten by this girl. He became slightly nervous.

"It is also our pleasure to meet you." April was the one who spoke up.

When Charles saw her smile, he heaved a sigh of relief. 'Great! It looks like she did not recognize me.'

"Oh, you are here, boss. Where's your Dad?" Elle asked Charles, she was referring to Phantom.

"Sorry, he could not come today. He is busy." Charles gave her a meaningful look. Elle just nodded as she understood what he meant by he was busy.

Erick also joined them. "Hi, Mr. Del Rios, nice to see you again. I would like to grab this opportunity to thank you for allowing Elle to take a long leave." Erick said to him sincerely. 

"It's alright. I understand Elle's situation. It is better if you can recover quickly so that Elle can return to work now. Some customers are missing here already."

"Oh... don't be too formal, you can just call me Charles," he added. Erick smiled and nodded at him in agreement.

"Don't worry Boss, I am going back on Monday," Elle assured him. She would return to work since she had to do her next mission.

However, she would just stay out for five hours and had to return to Erick's place after that, because she was still concerned about him.

Erick's not yet fully recovered and she wanted to take care of him personally. Erick's parents would also go back home after five days.

She would grab this opportunity to do her groundwork while Erick's parents were still there with them. They could take care and watch over him while she was out.

After a while, Sarah called them since everything was already set up. A lot of foods were served on the table. They also ordered some drinks.

Everyone started to feast and taste the delicious food in front of them. Today they could eat and drink at their hearts' content.