An Awkward Introduction

After the court hearing for Lily's adoption is finalized, the group head back to the Buenavista Estate where a scene that Lily has seen before greets her. Upon making it to the front of the estate, Lucario gets out of the car first then turns to offer Lily a hand. Lily takes the offered hand with complete trust and gets out of the car where she is then picked up by her new father.

"Men of the Buenavista Family! Greet your new young master," Lucario announces as soon as he turns to face the sea men that stand before them with Lily in his arms. "Lily Buenavista is the next heir to the Buenavista Family. You must serve and protect her as you do with me if not even better than how you treat me. Your lives are now in her hands. If she doesn't like you, you will be disposed of. If you manage to curry her favor, you will become part of her personal bodyguard squadron. If I smell even an inkling that you do not approve of her heirship, I will kill you with my own hands. Do I make myself clear men?"

"Yes, Father Lucario!" a loud roar shouts in obedience. "We greet the new Young Lady of the Buenavista Family."

Slightly taken aback, Lily clutches onto Lucario's collar which gets his attention. "Daddy?" she calls to him.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"What do you mean about what you said to them?"

Lucario looks over at Lily and gently smiles. "I'll tell you more about it over lunch if you would like to know."

"Okay!" Lily answers with sparkling eyes.

—

"Miss Lily, you have tomato sauce on your face," Ryan comments as he lifts Lily's napkin to wipe her face.

"Thank you, Ryan," Lily giggles after her bodyguard finishes.

"Lily," Lucario calls while he swirls the spaghetti around the fork with a spoon. Once he sees that Lily is paying attention to him, he places the fork down. "Do you like the thought of being the next leader of this family?"

Tilting her head in confusion, Lily's eyes wander a bit as she tries to figure out what Lucario means by that. "I don't understand," she simply answers after not coming to any sort of conclusion. "What do you mean the next leader of the family?"

"The first born of the Buenavista Family becomes the leader of the family once he becomes an adult," Lucario starts as he places his hands on his lap. "You are my first child, so when you get older, you will become the leader of the family. Are you okay with that?"

Realizing that Lily is still not understanding, Billy steps in. "Lily, do you remember when Mr. Lucario mentioned this morning that he is a CEO?"

"A CEO is the person who is the boss of everyone in a company. Nobody can boss the CEO around because the CEO is the most important person. Right?" Lily recalls very proudly.

"That's right, Lily," Billy compliments with a small laugh. "Mr. Lucario is saying that when you get older, you will become the CEO of this family. You will be the person who bosses everyone around. You will be the most important person in this family. Do you understand it a bit better?"

Lily looks over at Lucario who waits quietly for her to understand. She glances down at her plate, then over to the windows that line the hallway. She sees the men from earlier guarding the door, pacing around outside, and obeying what her father ordered.

"So, all of the people we saw earlier will do whatever I say because I'm the next leader?" Lily concludes after turning her attention to Billy and Lucario. "And Daddy is asking if I'm okay with those people doing anything I tell them to?"

Billy and Lucario swiftly nod their heads to Lily's question.

"I don't think that that will be a bad idea," Lily giggles to herself. "Daddy will teach me how to do it properly, right?"

"Of course!" Lucario immediately answers. "I will teach you everything slowly so that you won't feel overwhelmed. Billy and Ryan will also help you in case you don't quite understand."

"We want you to be as strong as Mr. Lucario so that no one can hurt you," Billy reinforces with a thumbs up.

Excited about learning something new, Lily smiles from ear to ear as she goes back to eating her meal. However, Ryan looks down at her with concerned eyes. He knows that Lily will end up changing throughout her growing years if she goes down the route of becoming the Mother of the Buenavista Family. He fears that she will lose who she is now.

—

Walking around the estate, Ryan gives Lily a proper tour of the area since she never got to see the estate while she stayed with Lucario as a "hostage".

"Good afternoon, Young Miss!"

"Young Miss! Hello!"

"Hi, Young Miss!"

"Ryan, why aren't there any other women on the estate?" Lily blurts out after observing the workers on the estate as they walk towards the dogs' pen.

Unsure of how to answer, Ryan scratches the back of his neck. "The men who work here don't live on the estate. They have homes outside the estate where their wives and children live."

"But why aren't there any women working on the estate? Where are all of Daddy's aunts and cousins? Where is Grandma?"

Bombarded with the sudden questioning, Ryan's head spins as he doesn't know if he can give Lily the truth. "I think that Mr. Lucario can answer that question better than me. Do you want to visit him after we meet with the dogs that protect the estate?"

"Where are the doggies?!" Lily shouts as she scouts the area.

"They are over there," Ryan answers, pointing at the medium size house surrounded by a fence. Once they reach the front of the fence, Ryan picks Lily up. "The dogs aren't very friendly with new people, so I'll hold you in case they try to hurt you."

A bit scared by what Ryan said, Lily holds on tight to Ryan's neck as he whistles towards the house. Almost instantly, the dogs run out of the house and line up along the fence, sitting excitedly for Ryan to do something.

"Miss Lily, hold your hand out so that the dogs can smell you. Don't be sad if they don't like-"

Doing as she is told, Lily holds out her hand to the nearest dog when all of the dogs suddenly get extremely excited. Shocked, Lily quickly retracts her hand and hides in Ryan's shirt.

"Miss Lily! Are you okay?" Ryan asks as he tries to check Lily's hand. Noticing that there's no wound, he rubs her back to calm her down. "I'm sorry, Miss Lily. I didn't expect them to react that way."

Shaking her head, Lily glances back over at the dogs. "They were just happy, that's all," she defends. "I was surprised that they were so happy to see me."

Ryan stares at Lily in amazement as he wasn't expecting this reaction from her. He thought that Lily would have started crying and saying that the dogs were bad, but here Lily is defying his expectations. "Would you like to try again then?"

Lily nods her head, so Ryan leans her closer to the dogs so that Lily can hold out her hand again. Like earlier, the dogs become very excited, but Lily doesn't shy away. Giggling from the ticklish kisses from the dogs, Lily pets the heads of each of the dogs in front of her.

"They are just big babies that want attention," Lily laughs while Ryan is doing his best to keep the dogs from toppling over Lily.

"No one has ever called these monsters of dogs 'big babies' before," Ryan says to himself as he shakes his head in disbelief. After cleaning the dogs' saliva off of Lily's hand, Ryan fixes Lily's hair. "Let's go see your father in his office now?"

"Okay!"