Beginning of the End

Althea laughed at him. "You were here two days ago." 

"Forty-eight hours, to be exact." He said childishly, squeezing his voice a bit. 

Althea just shook her head helplessly and looked at the cute snacks he brought with him. 

It was a box of varied fruit pastries that she liked. It happened that it went well with milk. She hurriedly ate one and took another to familiarly put it in Ansel's mouth. 

He naturally opened his mouth to take it, looking like that cute little hamster that he was when he was a kid.

Ansel might be her adoptive brother, growing up with him since she was around 9 years old, but they were closer to being real siblings than other blood relatives. 

After all, they—including her now-husband who had been adopted with her—had been through precarious situations together as children. 

It was this event that made Ansel imprint on her a bit, and he often acted like a child around her (to her husband's great disdain). 

Looking at him opening his mouth again for another snack, it was obvious that growing up so big didn't do much with his maturity. 

It was much like how former high school classmates, even after decades, would act like teenagers again when they were together at a reunion. Ansel would act like a kid often when he was around her. It didn't matter if he was ten or twenty years old.

She looked at the next cute pastry that she got her hands on. It was a cute little smiling cartoon dog. She couldn't help but chuckle. 

"A store opened so early?" She asked as she placed it in her mouth. She took a quick glance at the floating digital clock above the television. It wasn't even 8 a.m. yet. 

"Well, the owner is an ex." He said, shrugging.

Althea rolled her eyes. This guy changed girlfriends every few weeks. His exes could literally line up along the neighborhood. 

More than once she and her husband saw him making out with a different girl around the house. 

Nanny (who was now rolling her eyes) had nagged him about it every day. 

Of course, depending on the vulgarity, sometimes her husband would drag him off to 'train' in the backyard afterward.

She tried to remember what 'independence-strengthening' activity she threw him to before this started but she couldn't figure out why he turned out to be such a player. 

Fortunately, all his exes were mysteriously still his (platonic) friends, otherwise she'd have beaten him up herself. 

Sensing her judgemental stare, Ansel shrugged. "I can't help it; I'm too charming." 

Instead of dignifying him with a response, Althea just wore an exaggerated disgusted expression and looked down at her stomach. 

"Don't look down on your uncle too much," She told her innocent children, "He just lacks attention."

Ansel fake-gasped and held his heart as if in pain. He leaned over to whisper to the bulging stomach. "Your uncle is too charming, he can't help it. Here, let me bless you with my amazingness.

"My little nephew and my little niece. Are you behaving well today?

"Uncle already bought you toys…"

"Uncle…" Ansel continued on his soliloquy and Althea rolled her eyes. 

"Stop teaching them bad things. Prenatal education is too important. You know, Mom once said—" Her voice was cut off as a thought came to mind: 

It would be so good if their parents were here. 

She felt a little emotional to the point that she teared up a little. Damned pregnancy. Making her think of weird tangents. Again. 

But alas, the hormones couldn't be controlled and she was sobbing a bit. 

"Mom... Mom used to say that my birth parents must have given me the best prenatal care for me, since I turned out so well." 

Ansel frowned, his goofy expression morphing into a serious one.

Althea was sad, but Ansel's heart was torn to pieces. Those were his biological parents after all. 

The three of them, along with Nanny, didn't speak for a while... letting a moment of silence pass by in remembrance of the loved ones that they lost. 

...

Ansel's parents were both very kind people. Mom was a professor of History at university, while Dad worked in a pharmaceutical company as a top researcher. 

They gave all three of them the best they could provide, even when they were so busy with work, whether it was material things or love.

They were one of the people who perished during the weird radiation wave that was like a worldwide EMP attack, taking down the plane they were in.

It was one of the planes of ten thousand that were flying at that moment. 

It was also the first sign that the sun was dying quicker than expected, although it wasn't announced to the public at the time. 

Althea had always felt that her husband's top-secret mission was also related to this event. 

After some time, Althea calmed down and wiped her eyes, feeling guilty for reopening the wound.

She pursed her lips and looked at her brother, looking at him and his formal attire. "The deal is today?" 

Ansel paused for a bit before nodding with a weak smile, though overall taking the change of topic in a stride.

They were very used to Althea's mood changes. At first, it made him panic when she suddenly sobbed, but at some point, he just learned to live with it and not let the stress kill him. 

"Yes, and they even increased their order," he said. 

Althea nodded. She and Ansel started their own company two years prior, with her as the source of technology and formulas and him as the management helm. 

She always had a special affinity for plants since she was a child. She not only liked growing them but she was also fascinated by their effects and combinations. 

She often poisoned herself by accident because of this and was frequently at the hospital. 

If she wasn't so young (and cute, according to her husband), the headmistress would've kicked her out for all the excess spending…

Anyway, one day (during her probably 37th time at the hospital due to poisoning) a visiting doctor happened to see her by chance. 

He was very amused when he found out about the cause and effect and gave her a huge encyclopedia of Terran plants, their effects, and their effective combinations.

She later found out that the old man—may he rest in peace—was one of the few pioneers reviving a branch focusing on botanical medicine, and he was at the hospital for a check-up when they first met.

Had Ansel's incident not happened when it did, it was estimated the old doctor would have adopted her instead. Still, they had been in contact until his death a few years back.

Althea showed great talent in the field and entered the Biology and Botany specialization as soon as she entered college at the age of 17. 

Now, she took her thesis project, along with a few other formulas, and formulated beauty formulas and health products. 

In the past two years, she had come up with formulas to treat acne scars, improve stamina, improve eyesight, and improve the smoothness of the skin.

Their parents were supportive and used their life savings to invest. Except for the villa they were living in—which was an inheritance from her mother's family—they had pretty much sold everything else. 

Fortunately, the products took off months before their death so they were at least rest assured that they would be able to do well when they were gone. 

She knew her parents very well: even in their deaths, they would definitely be thinking about the three of them siblings. 

Just a pity they wouldn't be able to see their grandchildren. They have been looking forward to it even before she got married.

"This would make us a lot of money," Ansel added, smug, and her lips twitched.

The deal Ansel was referring to was a deal with a country south called Delo Country. It was a closed country that refused businesses abroad. 

This was their second big client next to the military, a deal that had given the company quite a bit of prestige. 

It was not illegal in their Eden country to deal with these people, so she had no qualms about this deal. 

If anything, because it was a bit secretive on the other party's side, they were willing to pay twice the market price for it.

"I'll definitely get even better deals," Ansel said with confidence. She nodded, also rest assured. "When is your flight?"

"In a few hours…" He said, tentatively looking at the time. He then turned his head back to look at Althea, opening his arm for a hug. "Anyway, time for me to go now~" 

She naturally entered his arms. "Be careful." 

The man smiled, hugging her a little tighter.

"Of course." He said, "I love my life very much." 

…

That afternoon, after receiving a call from Ansel about his safe arrival, pregnancy lethargy attacked. 

"You should take a proper rest in your bedroom," Nanny said, gently patting her awake. She blinked, realizing she had snoozed a bit on the sofa.

"Hmm... I should," she said, lazily sitting up and stretching her arms.

The movement made her hair all messed up and Nanny fondly combed it down with her wrinkling hand. "Hm, I'll prepare you dinner so you can eat when you wake up."

"Okay, thank you. Goodnight, Nanny." She said sweetly, and the old woman chuckled.

"Goodnight, Miss."

Althea went to bed to take a long nap, and it was fine for a while. She even dreamt about her childhood with her husband. She was running after him in their game of tag. 

However, just before she caught up to him, she was abruptly woken by a mysterious force that she couldn't describe.

It was like there was an earthquake, but only the air shook. 

She sat up so quickly that she felt dizzy. Closing her eyes to calm her nerves, she looked around to see what woke her up. 

Confused, she opened her phone to look at the time—8:34pm—and quickly realized that there was no signal. 

Then, she heard toe-curling screams outside—from different directions. 

An odd feeling of foreboding crept up her spine. She ran to the only other person in the house, hand unconsciously on her stomach as she moved. 

"Auntie? Are you all right?" She asked, gently knocking on the door. 

As she did so, she could hear weird scraping sounds followed by a low growl. Her instinct told her something dangerous was in there. 

She looked around to see a broom, decisively grabbing the shaft and taking off the brush.

With a deep breath, she placed her soft hand on the handle and turned the knob to open the door—

Only to see a weird but familiar-looking creature standing in an odd posture, body parts bending at a weird angle, and skin festering with pus. 

It heard her arrival and turned, and her green eyes met with its lifeless ones. 

Bile rose up her stomach but she pushed it down because it was at this moment that she realized who it was. 

Her heart dropped and her soul shook.

Tears started forming in her eyes and her body shivered in trepidation. 

"Nanny.."