Chương 141: Friendship
"Then what should I do?", she asked her daughter, who seemed to have a better understanding of others emotions.
"There isn't much you can do at the moment. But after Lara comes back you should tell her about what happened and explain it to her. Then you can plan on how to continue."
"Mm, I planned to do that. But first I'll have to help Ivan to recover."
"Right, what do you think happened to him?"
"I'm not sure. But I would guess that he somehow channeled too much energy through his body. Changing my race must have consumed a lot and even though it comes from some other source, it still had to go through his body. If he is lucky, then only his body is affected and not his base essence or even soul.", Celine explained her thoughts on why Ivan would be so exhausted.
"Sounds reasonable.", Lucia agreed and then stood up, grabbing her mother's hand, "Come on, let's get you some clothes. Your old ones won't fit you."
She then led her mother to her room and the two of them selected some clothes for her to wear until she bought some for herself.
Outside Jane had shown the others around. All of them were impressed by the extensive garden and the part which could only be called a forest. Now they sat on the terrace and were chatting.
At first, they were supposed to play, but Jane instead preferred to ask them questions about her daddy.
"Greg, I'm really surprised that my daddy would become friends with you.", Jane said while looking at the fatty skeptically.
Hearing her tone, Greg pretended to be hurt, "What? Why? I'm such a great guy, so how couldn't I make your father my friend?"
"Huh? You shouldn't lie like this. If anything it was my daddy, who graciously accepted you as his friend.", Jane retorted. Usually, she wouldn't joke around like this, but teasing this guy was just to much fun.
Pia and Irena looked at the two bickerings and couldn't help but smile in amusement. Sometimes the two of them would throw in a sentence or two, fanning their bickering. Serge on the other hand just sat at the side and looked at them, with nobody knowing what he was thinking about.
That was how Lucia and Celine found them.
"What are the two of you fighting over?", Lucia asked Jane when she saw her bickering with Greg.
"Sister, this fatty said that daddy should be glad that he befriended him.", Jane complained to Lucia.
"Of course, he should. Or do you think that with his personality he could ever make any friends?", Greg injected his own opinion.
"You! What is wrong with my daddy's personality?"
Just when they were about to start their fight again, Lucia hurriedly interrupted them. "Alright, that's enough. Besides didn't your daddy said that he is very happy to have made friends like them?", she asked Jane while indicating the group.
Jane unwillingly nodded, "I still think they should be happy to have my dad as their friend."
"Of course they should, the same as your father should be happy to have them as their friends.", Lucia said patiently. "Only then can they truly be friends. Otherwise, wouldn't it just be one side using the other?"
When she heard the question Jane became thoughtful. She felt that her sister had a point. It was something she had seen often before. Even with little kids. They only looked to befriend someone because they would gain something from it. But that wasn't true friendship. True friendship required both sides to have equal standing in the relationship. If one side felt that the other should be happy to be their friend and didn't consider that he should be happy as well, then that would never be a true friendship.
Having thought it through she nodded and agreed, "That sounds right. Then what about us? Are we equal in our relationship?"
At first, Lucia was surprised by her question. Because of her mothers status, it was impossible for them to be on an equal standing. This was something she hadn't thought about before, but it wasn't hard to find an answer, "We are sisters, so there is no need to be equal. For sister's, there is always one older and one younger, but even so, they are still sisters."
The answer was a bit far fetched, but it could overcome the problem with their identity.
"Oh, so that's how it is. What you said sounds reasonable.", Jane readily agreed. Truthfully, she didn't really care that much. The only thing important was that she enjoyed Lucia's company and that was all that counted for her. In her eyes, there was no need to think so much.
Now that this was cleared up, they went back to playing around.
Greg pulled out a card game and put it on the table.
"How about we play some cards? We can even make some small bets.", he then proposed.
"Sure. But just be prepared to lose.", Pia instantly agreed. Judging by Greg's expression it wasn't the first time they would play. And most of the times it seemed like it was him loosing.
"Hah, with Serge here you won't be able to win all the time.", he then retorted, while looking at Serge pleadingly, "Help me please?"
Serge slightly shook his head while saying, "Sorry, but I'll play as well." Telling him that he was unable to help him.
"Damn.", Greg cursed when his friend rejected his plea for help. Not only would he have to play against his girlfriend, whom he would lose against most of the time, but also his friend, who was better at playing cards as well.
"Great, let me join as well.", Jane and Irena too agreed to play.
Having gotten the agreement of most of the group, Greg looked questioning at the only two who hadn't agreed yet. "How about you?"
"Um, sorry I don't really know how to play.", Lucia admitted slightly embarrassed. While she had grown up, she and her friends had played different games. And later she had spent her time looking for something to help her mother, slowly drifting apart from her friends. As such, she didn't have any opportunity to learn the current card games.
"Don't worry, I'll explain them beforehand.", Greg assured her. He then looked at Celine who hadn't said anything yet. "Would you like to play as well, madam?", he asked respectfully.
Although Celine now didn't look much older than them, her aura as well as the fact that he knew that she was older than them, made him regard her as someone of a higher status, thus making him use the address, madam.
In reaction, Celine smiled at him. "Just talk to me like you would to anyone else here. I'm not different from you and no madam.", she then lightly scolded him.
"Sure.", with Greg's character it wasn't hard for him to change his way of talking to her. It was much easier than forcing himself to talk so respectfully as before. "Then are you going to play?"
Celine shook her head. "No, I'll go and look after Ivan. You have fun and play. Remember not to bet anything valuable.", she warned them after telling them that she would leave them.
"Alright.", Greg nodded. Although he too was slightly worried about Ivan, there wasn't anything they could do. Having Celine look after him would reassure the ones playing.
Having said that, Celine stood up and walked back into the villa. She then slowly walked to her room, while thinking about how she should act when Ivan woke up.
Just thinking back to what had happened would make her blush and feel flustered, so how would she be able to stay calm and act normal in front of him?
`Maybe he won't remember what happened.`, she thought hopefully, before feeling that it would be too disappointing.
`Should I really try to act as before? After all, our relationship has changed now, so wouldn't it be more fitting to change the way I act? But how should I act? I'm neither his wife nor his lover. I'm only his servant. But do I want to just be another servant? No! I don't want to be just another servant. But what then?`, while these thoughts swam through her mind, she slowly reached her room.
The instant she saw the man, she was thinking about, lying on her bed, her thoughts gained some clarity. `I just want to be whatever he wants me to be.`, this thought filled her mind. She didn't know if it was something that came from her new race or not, but she didn't even ask herself that. For her, it was only important that she had decided on how to act now.
Having made up her mind she lightly closed the door behind her and walked closer to him. When she looked down on his pale face, she felt sad, that she was unable to help him, when she was the reason for what had happened.
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