THE ICY COLD BROTHER-IN LAW

Brynlee exhaled many times while looking at the two-story house with a large yard in Ansley Park that looked very beautiful. The building was dominated by gray and white with a long staircase at the front of the house to go up to the terrace which was bordered by a short white fence. Brynlee liked her sister's house because there were lots of plants and big trees planted in the yard. To the right, above a large maple tree, she could see a simple swing hanging there very beautifully. The swing reminded her of long-forgotten childhood memories. She used to have a swing in front of her parents’ house. She had many happy memories of the swing her father made. Not wanting to get too lost in her childhood memories, Brynlee immediately parked her car in the spacious yard of her sister's house. Her sister was looking forward to meeting her. Since days ago—even since she announced her plans to move to Atlanta and open a restaurant, Lillah had never stopped terrorizing her with all kinds of screams of happiness. She knew Lillah was very excited about her move to Atlanta. Since she was the only family Lillah had, it was so normal that she would be happy to have her there. Before getting out of her car, Brynlee took a paperbag from the back seat. A homemade chocolate cake neatly wrapped in a paper bag using a very pretty red ribbon. She thought she needed to bring Lillah's favorite cake, which had been her favorite ever since they lived together and became a family. Oh... how she missed those times. She had punished herself so harshly over the past few years that she had forgotten that she still had someone who was worried about her all this time. Ting tong The bell was pressed with a hint of hesitation. Honestly, Brynlee was really nervous. She had not seen Lillah in years and rarely heard from her. In the last few days, she always rejected Lillah's idea of ​​making a video call because she wanted their first meeting to be something sacred. And she didn't want to ruin it with a video call. "I'm coming!" Brynlee almost pressed the bell once again, but her finger immediately stopped in the air when her sister's voice, which she knew very well, came very loudly from inside the house. Maybe one thing remained the same and would never change about Lillah. Her loud and shrill voice would be her trademark forever. "Brynlee!" As expected. Lillah hugged her tightly, almost strangling her, while rocking her body like she was hugging a five-year-old child. “Hi, Lillah.” She awkwardly hugged her sister while giving her a few pats on the back with the intention of signaling her not to hug her tightly. She almost ran out of breath because of her excited sister. "Finally, after so many years of not seeing you." There were tears welling up in Lillah's eyes as she looked at her. Inevitably, Brynlee also felt the same sadness when she looked at her sister. “I'm here now, Lillah. I really miss you." "Me too. It's been a long time and I almost didn't recognize you before. You've grown and become a beautiful woman, Bryn." "You too. You've been a great mother." Brynlee let go of her arms and paused to look at her sister's face, which was flooded with tears. “I knew that times like this would come. Let's go inside." Brynlee smiled wryly and immediately entered Lillah's cozy house. The first time she stepped foot into this house, she immediately felt at home and completely familiar with the atmosphere. Like she had known this place for a long time, and she knew the ins and outs of this place very well. “Beautiful house.” The living room was very organized. Several paintings hung on the living room walls along with photos of Lillah's wedding and other photos that made Brynlee jealous. Lillah always got what she wanted most. Lillah got along easily with other people because of her cheerful personality. Meanwhile, Brynlee couldn't make friends with children her age because she was shy. "So this is your husband?" Lillah was wiping away her teary eyes when she looked up to look at Brynlee who was observing her wedding photos one by one. "Yeah, he's an unlucky guy for getting me as a wife," Lillah laughed at her own joke. But Brynlee didn't laugh at all and instead stepped closer to Lillah's largest wedding photo to take a closer look at it. "I'm guessing he wasn't the one who beat you." "He's not the typical flamboyant guy. But I'm proud of you that you managed to snare this ice man. Oops...” Brynlee suddenly realized that her words had crossed the line. "Is Elyseen home?" Brynlee whispered nervously while looking all over Lillah's house. She hoped her husband wouldn't hear her outrageous words. "Don't worry, Elyseen isn't home from work yet. He always forgets to go home when he has a date with the documents in his office that are always piling up. By the way, what is that you're carrying?” Instantly, Lillah's eyes shifted to the paper bag that still hung perfectly on Brynlee's curly fingers. “Special chocolate cake for my dear sister.” Lillah shouted enthusiastically, and she couldn't wait to snatch the paperbag from Brynlee. "Give it to me. I'll take it to the kitchen and put it on the table for dessert later. You wait here a moment. I'll be right back with your handsome nephew,” Lillah said while blinking coquettishly. She waited for Lillah with awkwardness starting to creep into her heart. She heard the roar of a car engine approaching. Her heart began to pound loudly waiting for Lillah's husband to walk into the house. She took a deep breath. Inhale oxygen through the nose and exhale through the mouth. And then the man came in. He seemed surprised by her presence in the living room. The man, Elyseen, stopped in the doorway while looking at Brynlee with a very disturbing suspicious gaze. The Elyseen she saw in the photo looked friendly. But the real Elyseen showed no friendliness on his face. "Hello, I'm Brynlee," Brynlee said stupidly. She didn't know what to say in front of her brother-in-law who looked as if he was staring at a disgusting alien who suddenly appeared in his house. But Elyseen's silence did not last long, he immediately entered the house and slightly nodded his head in courtesy. “Hi. Lillah already told me about you. You're her younger sister who just moved from New York, right?” "That’s right. Nice to meet you." To ease her nervousness, Brynlee licked her lips several times while kneading her icy palms. Oh Lord! Brynlee groaned inwardly. Her initial reaction when she met her handsome brother-in-law was embarrassing. Her shy nature, which had been ingrained since childhood, suddenly emerged, making her feel ridiculous in front of Elyseen. “Mm… you just got home from work?” Stupid question! cursed Brynlee inwardly. The man would definitely judge her as a stupid boring woman. Obviously, he had just come home with a black briefcase in hand and work clothes that were no longer neat because of his tiring busy life today. But stupidly, she still asked the cliché question. "Actually, Lillah told me to come home two hours ago to welcome you, but there was an urgent matter that made me come home late." "Well, thanks. I think Lillah is overreacting about my coming today." "Elyseen?" Lillah's voice from inside managed to make Brynlee breathe a little easier. Finally, Lillah came to save her from her silly nervousness in front of her brother-in-law. "Daddy!" "Hey captain." Elyseen stretched out his arms and bent slightly to catch his son who was running towards him. The little man in his early four years looked very cheerful in his father's arms while occasionally kissing his father's face, which was slightly overgrown with a beard. "You two have met each other. Oh, forgive my husband, he came home late today." "It’s okay. Actually, I'm sorry if my visit today disturbs your busy time.” "We're not busy at all. Oh dear Levi, this is Aunt Brynlee." “Aunt Brynlee?” "Hi, darling." Brynlee smiled gently at her cute and handsome nephew. Levi inherited his father's handsome line. Her copper brown hair was very similar to Elyseen's. Levi was a mini version of Elyseen. But, in a warmer version. Brynlee couldn't see Lillah in Levi at all. "Give Aunty Brynlee a hug." Elyseen put his son down and took the opportunity to take a shower. "I'll follow you to the dining table after showering." "Don't take too long, babe. I don't want to starve Brynlee." "No need to rush." Hugging cute Levi, Brynlee looked at Elyseen, “I'm not that hungry yet. I just wanted to play with Levi for a bit.” "Honey, can you take your aunt to play in your room? I'll prepare the dining table." "Okay, mom. Come on, Aunt Brynlee. I have a new remote control airplane toy, from my father,” Levi enthusiastically pulled Brynlee's hand towards his room on the second floor. Like most four-year-olds, he raved about his friends at school and the things he found amazing. Brynlee discovered she really liked her nephew and she couldn't wait at the prospect of taking him to visit her new restaurant. -00- "What do you think about her?" Elyseen had just come out of the bathroom when Lillah suddenly gave him a confused question. "Who?" "My sister." "She seems like a nice woman." An annoyed snort escaped Lillah's lips. "Come on El, she is indeed a good woman. Can you be a little friendly to her? I saw that she was very nervous when she faced you.” "I've been trying to do that." Elyseen looked indifferent. He was busy drying his hair with a towel, then walked back to the bathroom to hang the towel. "Why don't you wait at the dining table?" "They're still playing. Levi loves playing with his aunt." “Yeah, he finally has an aunt who hasn't shown up for years. She didn't even come to our wedding," Elyseen snorted. He was still annoyed with his sister-in-law's indifferent attitude towards Lillah, while Lillah always praised Brynlee's achievements in front of him. “El, I think we've discussed this before. Brynlee was busy with her studies at the time.” “Has college made her forget her family? You even told me that Brynlee didn't stay at home any longer after your parents died." “Father and mother suddenly died in a bright and cheerful summer. I guess Brynlee decided to leave because she couldn't stand her own grief. Please don't judge her like that." "I still don't agree with her attitude. Don't force me to like your sister so soon. I need to see how she behaves in order to give the next assessment.” "Tsk, you always judge others like you're judging your employees in the office," Lillah snorted. But she approached her husband and wrapped her arms around Elyseen's sturdy neck. "I love you, Elyseen," Lillah whispered softly in her husband's ear while leaning her head on Elyseen's shoulder. “The thing I've always been grateful for so far is knowing you and having you in my life. Thank you for making me the luckiest woman in the world.” Elyseen was silent when Lillah deliberately teased him by playing with the buttons on his polo shirt. Lately, Lillah had been too sensitive about her feelings. His wife often expressed her love in front of him while playing with his shirt’s buttons or teasing him by touching sensitive parts of his body. "When are we going to eat?" asked Elyseen as she let go of Lillah's arms. Ignoring the disappointed expression on Lillah's face, Elyseen walked out of her room without saying anything to Lillah. The door closed with a bang. Lillah was still standing where Elyseen had left her. He looked sad and disappointed. It wasn't the first. There were dozens of rejections this month that Lillah couldn't understand. Maybe she had made a mistake that caused Elyseen to be like that. Lillah was sad to see Elyseen's coldness towards her. She had indeed made mistakes in the past, but she felt she deserved an apology from Elyseen because she did it on purpose. But since that incident, Elyseen's attitude towards her slowly turned colder. Elyseen had already said that he was okay with it, but her little heart kept denying that Elyseen hadn't really forgiven her.