"Scare her?" Cleora gasped, placing a hand on her chest. "? I would never! I was just thinking of letting the two of you know that we’re going to dine in soon, so it’s best to wrap up whatever topic you two have."
"But you still eavesdropped." Coco grumbled, shooting a deadpan stare at her mother.
Cleora quickly picked up on what her daughter was trying to say, causing a guilty expression to cross her beautiful features. "Right, I did. I’m sorry. I didn’t an to."
"You don’t have to apologize, ma’am!" Jacques squeaked out, her nerves blinking with anxiety. "It’s completely alright to do what you just did— no need for apologies! It’s just you worrying about your daughter, right? H-Haha!"
The pink haired woman let out a nervous and obnoxious giggle at the end of her sentence, making the mother-daughter duo share a glance.
"You see what I an?" Coco pointed at Jacques, her eyes narrowed at the older woman. "You scared her, and now she’s acting like this. She’s already nervous enough, mama—"
"Coco!" Jacques squealed in horror, her hand flying out of Renaldo’s grasp to cover Coco’s mouth. "Don’t say that to the Duchess!"
Duchess?
Everyone stared at Jacques with puzzled expressions, not sure what she was going on about. There’s no one inside the room that is a noble, right? Much less a Duchess.
"I’m here as Coco’s mother." Cleora turned to Jacques, her eyes soft as she looked at the younger woman. "I’m not a Duchess or anyone with a nobility title for that matter. I’m Coco’s mother, Cleora Coison, not Cleora Dilitriodix."
Announcing to everyone present her real na and status made them freeze in their seats.
"D-Dilitriodix?" Zaque stamred out, eyes widening in shock as he stared at his beloved mother-in-law. "As in, the Duchess of the north?"
"No." Cleora denied, shaking her head. "I’m Cleora Coison, Coco’s mother."
Amidst the chaos, there was only one person who was genuinely confused about what’s currently going on and it was..
"Pardon , but.. Isn’t Coco’s family na Hughes? Since she’s the daughter of Baroness Hughes?" Jonathan asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked at Coco before shifting her attention to Cleora.
"Am I seriously going to tell them now?" Coco mumbled, shooting Cleora a frown. "It wasn’t part of tonight’s dinner, mama."
"Oh, in that case, you don’t have to tell ." Jonathan was quick to take back his question, raising a hand to scratch the back of his neck. "If you’re not comfortable to tell yet, then I’m fine with you postponing it—"
"No, no, no.." Coco sighed, cutting Jonathan off. "It’s just that.. It’s quite hard to explain, so I’ll do it after dinner, okay?"
The scarred diator blinked, but nodded his head. "Sure? We’ll do it at your own pace.. No need to rush it or anything. I’m willing to wait for whatever it is, Coco."
"I’ll do it after dinner." Coco insisted, smiling softly. "I think it’s ti that you, Renaldo, and Kairo know about it."
The hybrid perked up, eyebrows raised. "?"
"Yes, you." Zaque backed Coco’s statent up by answering Kairo’s clarification. "I’m sure you get confused about certain things regarding Coco, but decided to stay quiet about it."
"Ah, no.. Not really." Kairo mumbled, lying through his teeth as he averted his gaze.
Cleora giggled at the lively interaction and clapped her hands. "Alright, everyone! Let’s take our seats and dig in! These dishes are the ones that Coco’s mostly fond of, so I prepared it with extra care!"
"Thank you, mother." Alhai expressed his gratitude, expression softening.
He was left behind with the other four residents of the Hughes household and witnessed how tough it was to cook the dishes that Cleora had made, and now that she revealed that those were Coco’s favorite food.. Well, it made sense.
Everyone didn’t waste any ti and started passing around the plates, bowls, and sauces around the table.
Each one of them had a particular dish on their plates because they were curious as to how the al would taste and when they took a bite, they couldn’t stop the noise of appreciation leaving their throats.
How could soone cook sothing so good?
"Please teach your ways, mom." Heiren rasped out, his mouth full of lasagna.
Cleora giggled as she took a seat across Coco, nodding her head. "Sure, son. Maybe tomorrow? I’ll write down the recipes and I’ll teach you a couple of them."
"Can you teach , too?" Jacques pitched in, a sauce of sweet and sour atballs evident on the corner of her lips. "These are delicious!"
"Sure, child." Cleora laughed softly and handed her a tissue. "Here, wipe your cheek with this."
"Thank you, mother." Jacques bead at the older woman and accepted the tissue, causing Coco to stop shoving her spoon inside her mouth and raise an eyebrow at her friend.
"Mother? You’re not nervous now?" Coco asked, looking at Jacques like she had grown two heads.
"Mother knows how to cook good food!" Jacques exclaid like it would explain everything Coco had to know. "Such a skill is sothing one would have to work hard to possess! But it’s also a skill that will make you trust a person faster than anything else."
Huh.. Coco slowly averted her gaze away from her friend and resud eating.
Jacques giggled at Coco, nudging her friend’s arm with her elbow. "You don’t have to understand, but I’m sure Heiren does, and that should be enough, right?"
"Right." Coco mumbled absentmindedly, chewing on the bite of beefsteak.
Jacques turned away from Coco and looked at Cleora, her eyes twinkling with excitent. "I believe that I haven’t introduced myself just yet, mother. I’m Jacques Wallen."
"And I’m Renaldo Wallen, her husband." The diator sitting on Jacques’ other side chid in.
"Uhm, I.. I’m Jonathan." Jonathan managed to mumble out, his grip on his utensils tightening as he looked away from Cleora. "I’m Coco’s friend, ma’am.."
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