11. The Unfilial One.

dissip"

*Cough*

Nich muttered in a low voice, which earned him a slight cough from his dad.

"And dad."

Alice who was still from the shocked regained her sense and said.

"Mom and dad, you are back, why didn't you inform us?"

Alice asked, trying to maintain a natural expression.

But alas, it's not like it's going to work, with the sweat that rolled down her face it was obvious to even Nich much less their mother or father.

"Yes, we saw what happened, read it too actually, Alice, you are quite famous now."

Nich's mother, Jasmin walked in, besides her husband Ethan, while his father stopped, His mother came closer to him.

Right now, she was staring straight into Nich's eyes.

Then she moved her hand, close to his face, then rested it on his forehead.

Nich's mother was rather short so it was slightly awkward.

Nonetheless, her expression was serious, and after examining him for a bit, she heaved a sigh of relief, then hugged him tightly.

Nich was standing still like a mannequin, slightly dazed but then, he lifted his arm to pat her back slightly.

After a few seconds, Jasmin let go of him, then looked towards Alice and said.

"Glad to see you both are alright, Alice, in fact seemed more enthusiastic today."

She nodded and looked at Alice, who had to explain alot of things.

***

After some time, Alice had managed explained the situation to the parents, she was not flawless at it, but Nich decided to help where he could, though there were some questions still remaining in the heads of their parents, they were mostly glad that their children were well.

Now they were at the dining table.

"Well so much happened."

Ethan said, his tone slightly grim.

*sigh*

Ethan was a tall and well built man, though he was usually a cheerful person, right now he was serious.

"We had to come back on such a short notcie, and i am afraid we will leave as soon as well."

Ethan said.

Nich looked up, into his father's eye.

Ethan looked, at Nich as well, and then smiled.

"It's only been two day, yet You look better now Nich."

Ethan said.

"Yeah, My headache is gone so now i get to sleep as much as i want."

Nich said nonchalantly, but his words brought everyone's attention to him.

"Well actually, it's gone for a while, i just didn't get the time to say."

After the silence continued, Ethan said in a cheerful tone.

"Thats brilliant, although try to keep us informed of these things from now on."

Everyone began eating again.

Then after eating Ethan and Jasmine were leaving.

"We have to return, there is no one to look after grandpa and grandma."

"Alright, take care."

The siblings both bid farewell to their parents, and soon the back light of their car disappeared from their veiw.

Nich walked inside the door, and looked back at Alice.

"Come on in, it's getting cold."

Nich said, which brought Alice out of her daze, she looked at Nich for a second, then moved inside.

Nich went towards his room, closed the door and then slumped on his bed.

He remained still for awhile, then burried his head in the pillow.

'What a mess.'

Nich thought.

Not just about himself, but about his family as well.

Nich's grandparents are both kind-hearted, and they had two kids, the younger one being Jasmine, while the older being Nich's uncle.

Nich's uncle was a scoundrel, and several times he had betrayed the trust of Nich's grandparents.

From a young age, he despised the idea of going anywhere near school, often running around the village picking up fights.

Till that point, Nich's grandpa was tolerative, after all everyone has different talents and not everyone can be good academically.

Jasmine on the other hand was quite good at academics, but after she finished school, there were no college around due to the area being rural and remote, so she had to give up on her dreams.

Nich's grandpa's financial situation wasn't bad, at least not at that time, he could have easily afforded to sent Jasmine out for studying, but his concerns for his older son came into the way of that.

At the age where he should either be studying or working for the family, Nich's uncle became a total drunkard, not really caring about anything but alcohol.

Nich's grandparents tired several times to stop his behavior, they thought that trying to set him up for a job will suffice, but he keep leaving any job, saying things like 'it's too much work, ' or 'i don't want to do it' or 'i would rather have a business of my own.'

They still tried to give money, to start something of his own, and with the money Nich's uncle left for a city, where they only heard from him one and a half-year later, when he spent all the money on gambling, alcohol and women.

The scoundrel did not show up on even Jasmine's wedding, yet he was here without any prior notice when his funds ran low.

What was strange was that he still had the audacity to ask for more money, and what was stranger was that Nich's grandma still thought that maybe he was redeemable at that point.

Even when grandpa strictly refused, grandma tried to purse him endlessly, hoping that he would give her son a last chance.

And they gave him all they had saved up.

However, living a 'luxurious' life or he had considered it, to this point, Nich's uncle was not satisfied with the seemingly 'low' amount of capital, knowing that they had more, he outright demanded that he wanted more.

Grandpa almost educated him with his sword, but grandma and their neighbors managed to calm him down.

That was when, at night while everyone was sleeping he took the keys from grandma's cupboard, opened the safe and ran away with all the money or documents that were inside.

'Truly irredeemable.'

Nich thought.

Seeing her son's betrayal, grandma felt guilty for trusting him remaining silent whenever grandpa cursed at him.

What was worse was that grandpa was not really hiding that money, he just had medical conditions that needed to be tend to, but Nich doubted that his uncle was even aware of it.

Feeling ashamed at his son's behaviour, Grandpa's condition deter deteriorated, and after so much time had passed, all that had remained to their name was a crushing debt.

'That's the part of it.'

Nich thought.

Jasmine's demeanor also changed alot during the past year, she was constantly worried about her father and mother, and she began staying in a bad mood for the most part.

'Ah my head hurts.'

Nich said, for a moment he thought that the hateful headache was back to assualt him, but looking at the clock which pointed at 11 pm, he heaved a sigh of relief.

It's a natural headache.

Nich turned around, now laying on his back, and saw the familiar ceiling.

Grandpa will be shifted to the city, as Ethan and Jasmine could not stay at the village for too long.

Nich shook his head, and stopped thinking about the matter, deciding to sleep.

He was particularly sleepy today.

Not bothering to put on the blanket that was laying around his feet, he turned the night lmap off and slept peacefully.

Too peacefully, to the point that he forgot to oppress the buzzing alarm clock, choosing to cover his ears with a pillow.