"I'm glad you are alive, dude."
Primo smiles before pouring the food on the prepared bowls and takes the tray out from the cabinet as he puts the food there and gives them to Daime.
After cooking for almost an hour, the soup is done together with the other side dishes that they cooked. They manage to cook something for themselves before bringing the whole meal to Aiden's room.
Aiden is waiting for a very long time for his meal. His stomach is growling and his muscles are screaming.
He is damn hungry that he can eat a one whole camel leg, marinated in red wine and grilled for almost an hour.
He sighs and waits for the two to finish cooking for their breakfast that he anticipates truthfully. He never tasted Primo's cooking before. But Daime reassures that it is more delicious than his.
Aiden licks his lips as he thinks of delicious food he would taste for the first time. He is expecting something juicy, buttery, and crispy. Something along the lines of sophistication and exquisite.
Now, he is definitely hungry and he can't wait to taste Primo's home cooking. He is grumbling along the lines of "Why are they late?" and "How long and hard it is to cook food?" and it is pissing him off.
Fortunately, before he could scream, the door opens and reveals Daime is carrying a tray of cooked food and the aroma of fresh ingredients.
Aiden is drooling.
"Why are you guys so late?! I am so hungry!"
Daime places the tray on the other side of the room and went to get Aiden's foldable table and helps him to get up from the bed carefully.
Daime is so sweet that Aiden gives him a kiss on the cheeks, making Daime smile in return.
Primo sees them and smiles on his own. They look cute together and Primo agrees to such a statement.
After Aiden had been sat up, Primo placed his and Daime's food at the table in the middle of the room and Daime puts Aiden's food at the foldable table.
They all eat quietly as Aiden first taste the food cooked by Primo. His soul is jumping up and down at how delicious it tasted.
The dish that Primo cooked is a soup. Just a mere soup that looks ordinary and nothing is special about it. But when he tastes it, it is as taking him somewhere cold and has a lot of heavy snow.
"My grandmother used to cook me that soup since Russia had a lot of heavy snow during the end of October to middle of March. She is the one who teaches me the recipe."
Aiden looks at Primo who is eating his own share of food. He had heard that Primo was adopted by the Santoros and he did his own research about them. But he never knew that there are some Santoros who lived in Russia.
The article that he read says that most Santoros lived in Switzerland or any parts of Europe and never in Russia.
It made him curious if this grandmother that Primo is talking about is his biological grandmother or another Santoro who managed to escape the treacherous life of a Santoro in the hands of Grandmama.
"Who's Grandma? The one living in Switzerland?"
Primo looks at Aiden before laughing.
"That old witch will never be my Grandmother. I would rather die than calls her something like that."
Aiden looks at Daime but the latter is just eating his own food, clearly not wanting to talk about the "evil grandmother".
"I am talking about my real grandmother. The one who teaches us how to do things before she died."
Aiden suddenly feels his heart wrenching in pain as Primo continues his story about his grandmother from Russia.
"Zinnia Novinchi. That's her name."
Aiden nods while waiting for Primo to continue his story.
"She died before I was taken by the Santoros. Have you never thought how I became a Santoro without a proper adoption?"
This time, the question do not pertaining to Aiden.
It was Daime.
Aiden looks at the two of them as Daime stops eating and stares at his cousin before nodding in agreement with the question.
"My father is forced to sell me to the Santoros after Alex denied to be married by one of your older cousins."
Daime almost choked on his own food as Primo immediately grabs some tissue to wipe away the soup from Daime's lips.
"You, fucker! Don't spit your food!"
Primo throws the tissue to Daime's direction while the latter wipes away his mouth using them. Daime coughs out as he wipes down his lips and throws the tissue towards the trash bin.
"I am sorry! I did not anticipate your answer!"
Daime retorts while looking down at his plate before looking back to Primo who is clearly not happy by what just happened.
Primo sighs deeply as he sits back to his place and clears his throat. He knows that they are anticipating whatever the next information is.
He stares at them before taking another sip from his soup.
"My father works under the supervision of the President of Russia. He was a watch dog as others call it. His work is to protect the President and ensure his safety at all cost.
He is usually busy at work and barely goes home to have dinner with us.
Around the months of October until March, my older brother and I go to our grandmother's house for fun because mom and dad would be busy in their work and due to the weather conditions in Russia.
I feel safe whenever I am with her. And the same goes to Alex.
Unlike, the old Witch that almost killed me during her stupid tradition."
Daime can't help but chuckle at what Primo just said. He, himself, would want to meet his real grandmother but she is already dead for Daime to meet.
"Years had passed since Mom died because of an accident at her work, leaving us in despair and dad went into depression and even undergo therapy at that time.
It was our desperate times but grandma never lost hope for a brighter future. She said that even grandpa is in heaven, he would always look upon us here, and the same thing is going to happen to our mother."
Aiden feels something is squeezing his heart. He never knew such things happen to Primo.
Primo is like that one proud man that enjoys life as it is together with his cousin and some other friends. But Aiden didn't know that he was like this before.
"Everything is okay… until my stupid brother met your gold digger of a cousin. That's when the family starts to fall apart, totally."