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Once the introductions were out of the way, and everyone was all acquainted and nicely settled in, it didn’t take long before we all huddled up on the dinner table for the time-honored tradition of feeling like a complete outsider wedging himself in-between a wholesome family’s reunion.

By a complete stroke of luck surely, I was situated right across from Amanda’s father, who wasn’t even trying to be the least bit subtle in studying me between every forkful of lukewarm lamb. The staring, that was all fine and dandy, but does he really have to stab the lamb with that much force every single time he goes in for more?

Poor lamb, man...

“Darling...!” I felt a sharp pinch in my thighs, I jerked, I turned to my right, and found a grinning Amanda gazing at me with all the fondness of a woman with a gun pointed to her head. “Mom just said your potatoes are amazing! They really are, aren’t they?”

Quickly, I veered my focus away from Mr. Collins’ and shifted it towards a smiling, munching Mrs. Collins scraping the bottom of her plate for bits of leftover mash.

“A simple dish, but an old favorite and also quite tricky to get just the right texture,” Her kindly, twinkly eyes eyed with me approval, plucking the fork from her lips with a relishing sigh. “What’s your secret, hm? Old family recipe?”

.....

“Oh, uh...” panic mode immediately set in me, my poor brain working overtime rifling through cabinets for any answer that made sense. “Well, y’know... a bit of salt... pepper... some milk... umm,” my brain opened another drawer. “A touch of love...?”

“Speaking of family,” Mr Collins set his silverware down, elbows propped up, and staring down at me beneath interlocked fingers. “I’m curious about yours. What is it that your parents do for a living anyway? Any firms I might know? Businesses?”

“Farmers for as long as I can remember, actually, ” I answered, then hoping to impress, added. “Good crops, good livestock... it’s nothing fancy, but it’s decent living.”

“Country folks?” Mrs. Collins piped up, cheerily hopping into the discussion. “I don’t think I know anyone from the countryside. All that fresh air, open road, the peace, the quiet. Must be quite nice.”

Yet it seemed Mr. Collins didn’t find it quite so nice himself, picking his utensils back up and firmly stabbing another piece of lamb with his fork.

“And how about yourself?” He asked. “From the country to the city, must be a major change, right? Have big aspirations in life? Tell me, what’re you majoring in currently? Economics? Business? Oh, wait, you’re in programming like Amanda too?”

With a heavy heart, and knowing full-well what’s to come, I choose to be honey. “Not studying at the moment. As far as aspirations go, I’m thinking of taking over from my Dad when he retires. City life’s just... I guess it’s just my way of gaining some fresh perspective.”

“Not studying, interesting... and how long have you been staying in the city?”

“Roughly a year now.”

“And how are you doing, money-wise?”

“Was hopping from one job to another a while back,” I replied, taking a sip of my drink despite not having a thirst to quench at all. “At the moment, I’m working as a cafe barista part-time.”

There was a pause in his questions after that one, and I took advantage of it by stuffing my face full hoping that was all he had to ask of me.

So glad I’m this close to him, I seriously loved a front-row seat where I could practically see my self-worth rapidly dwindling in his eyes before mine. He’s not even my dad and I could feel the silent disappointment. And it’s not like I don’t understand his standards myself.

Next to his bright, smart, beautiful daughter... indeed, how the hell did I wind up here? To an extent, I gotta agree with him, he’s asking the right questions.

Speaking of his daughter, I noticed Amanda gave him a look... one that he threw back at her immediately... and it was almost like they were having a full-blown discussion with just their eyes alone.

“Quite the sharp dresser though,” Mrs Collins remarked who had been intently listening in all the while. “Kind of like you, honey.”

“He’s dressed fine,” Her husband replied stoically. “It’s everything else I’m trying to... get a deeper understanding of, to put it one way.”

“And I think you’ve done enough of that for the time being,” Amanda said with a light scowl, wordlessly filling her dad’s plate with seconds. “Mind giving it a rest until AFTER dinner? It’d be nice if you could enjoy the food that I-that WE made for you all. Everything else can wait until after.”

“Oh, no, no, that’s not fair,” Mrs. Collins huddled forward, shaking her head playfully at the both of us, or actually more to me specifically. “Your father gets to grill him, but I don’t get a turn? I’d like to get to know your chosen one too, you know.”

Amanda pursed lips. “Plenty of time to do that after we eat.”

“Ah, why wait?” She replied, then like a magnet to gossip, she leaned in closer towards me, disregarding her daughter entirely. “So, how exactly did you two meet for the first time?”

“Like you already don’t know it,” Amanda said, huffing a huff that sounded all too accustomed to her mother’s shenanigans. “I told you. He was my neighbor back in my old apartment. He moved in, I baked him cake as a housewarming gift, and things developed from there. End of story.”

“Yes, your story,” Mrs. Collins said. “Now I’d like to hear his side of it too, possibly more if he doesn’t mind it.”

In truth, my story was anything but the simple open-shut rendition Amanda was reciting. No, my side of events had a lot more twists and turns to it that could very well fill the entire night. How we met was just fine, but how things developed... if I was being honest, that’s where things began to get a bit more complicated.

So let’s not be honest.

“I moved in, she baked me a cake, things developed from there,” I said in turn. “Seriously, that’s the end of the story.”

Mrs. Collins gave a subtle frown. Clearly it was not the explanation she was hoping for.

“I see...” She muttered, drawing herself back a little. Then with her stare still on me, she cocked her head a quizzical left. “Then let me ask you... were you aware of Amanda’s abduction a couple of months back?”

I was sipping my drink when she said it, nearly choking on my drink when she finished it. Seriously, who brings up something like that in a setting like this?

“Can we not, please?” Amanda groaned, vocalizing my own sentiments. “Consider that topic taboo. A sensitive subject. I still had nightmares about it. You’re gonna do this to your daughter?”

Mrs. Collins smirked at her affectionately, and simply continued on as if there was no interruption. “As you can see, she’s doing just fine and dandy now, thank God. But back then, how did you feel when you heard about the news?”

“Well,” I began, indulging just out of politeness’s sake. “After I got the knock on the door from the police, shock was obviously my initial response. I couldn’t believe what happened. I was upset, concerned...”

“Worried?”

“Yeah, extremely worried.”

“Enough to go looking for her yourself, perhaps?”

Okay, seriously... what was this and where was this going? Forget this. I’d take Mr. Collins any day over what the hell this was.

“Mom, enough,” Amanda barged her between us once again, this time wearing a real serious expression now. “Just what are you trying to get out of him with this?”

To my relief, Mrs. Collins actually backed off, giving her mildly upset daughter an apologetic smile. “I’m just trying to figure it out, sweetheart. That’s all I’m doing.”

Amanda furrowed her brows. “Figure what out?”

“Just what it is that makes this young man special,” She replied. “Because as far as I can surmise, he’s polite, he’s handsome enough, amusing when he wants to be, makes killer mash potatoes, all very good qualities, mind you.” “But sadly...” Her lips formed an obvious frown. “Really nothing special.”

Mrs. Collins stared directly at me... those hazel eyes of hers so strikingly similar to Amanda’s, and yet the way they look, how they gazed back... so very different.

Meanwhile, Mr Collins by her side remained quiet and munching all this while, but in his brazen blank stare, I could see him silently agreeing.

Tough crowd, these folks...

“Well...” I kept my tone light, trying to keep light of it all. “That’s rude.”

“I agree,” Amanda muttered, now looking even more ruffled than before. “Mom, what the hell are you-?”

“Nothing against him, of course!” Mrs. Collins immediately spoke, eyes wide towards me. “Oh no, I’m sure you’re a lovely young man!”

“Yes, he is, very much too,” Amanda said, raised brows and thinned lips holding back a patience wearing thin. “So what’s the problem here?”

“Lovely young men are a dime in the dozen, sweetheart...and especially in a city this big, too many to even count,” Her mother calmly, lovingly explained. “And if I remember correctly, you weren’t even in the slightest interested in any of them before. ‘Can’t be bothered with a boyfriend’, isn’t that what you said to us back then?”

She said that?

“You said that?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“People are allowed to change their minds, Mom,” Amanda said, giving me only a brief dismissive glance back. “And as you can plainly see, I’ve changed mine.”

At that, Mrs. Collins gave a chuckle that only the mother of the cunning Amanda could ever give.

“And what a special young man he must be for him to do that to you,” She pointed out, smirking once more at the both of us... or actually, more at me specifically. “And that’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out from him, you see?”