Chapter 157 - Hate Fishing

Adam returned with his fishing kit hanging on his back and a big scowl gracing his face. Alice winced as she heard the door bang behind her. This was usually what happened when Adam came back from fishing. Alice had slowly discovered that her husband who had unlimited patience and sense of humor hated one thing. And that was fishing! But he had to go every month in order to be with his brother.

As Adam walked closer, his smell hit Alice like a tonne of bricks and she covered her nose hurriedly, stopping the poor guy in his tracks as he saw her nauseous expression. With a grimace, he abandoned his thought of kissing her and changed tracks to go take a bath and freshen up. 

Adam counted the multiple reasons he had thought of that he could avoid going fishing. After changing and making sure that he no longer smelled, Adam walked to the living room where Alice was sitting with her eyes glued to the screen. He winced when he saw the plate in front of her. She was eating cheesecake with tomato ketchup again! Yuck!

Leaning down, he placed a finger under her chin and brought up her face so that she would look at him and kissed her hard. A minute later, he leaned down and kissed the small bulging stomach, greeting his little daughter as well who had given her mommy such peculiar tastes..

Scrunching up her nose, Alice smiled as she moved a bit to let her husband sit next to her and immediately leaned onto his chest when he threw his arm on the back of the couch. "You smell human now."

"Sigh! Next time, I am not going to go fishing with Benji! It makes me go nuts! It's been six months and the six times that we have gone is more than enough for six life times! We talked more when we used to play games! But fishing is just boring! You can't make too  much noise or the fishes will be scared away! Benji has really changed after last year!"

Alice looked up at him and gently patted his chest. Everything had changed since last year. Adam had slowly discovered that Benji had suffered more damage over the years than he had imagined. It had been a difficult endeavor for Adam to accept that Benji had been the one behind their father's sudden death. 

Even though there had been multiple times when Adam had wished he had been able to kill Adken Parry, he had never thought of making it a reality. But not Benji. Benji's hatred for his biological father was much deeper that Adam's who had at least felt love, affection and acceptance in his grandmother while Benji had been deprived of all this. 

When Benji had confessed what he had done, Adam had been shocked and his first thought had bee happiness. Because at the time, his Alice had still been hanging onto life by a thread, he had not thought of the wrong or the right of it. But later, he had slowly realized that Benji expected him to report him to the police. And he would have done so had it been a few hours ago. But knowing Adken Parry had wanted to kill his wife and almost succeeded in doing so, Adam had been in a dilemma. 

He had not dared to make any hasty decisions until he and Alice were able to return to the country. And that is when their new journey had begun. Adam had confronted Benji about everything as the latter had confessed how he had used Adken Parry's scheme against him and administered the medicine that would kill him making everyone believe that he had succumbed to his illness.

Adam had been the one to convince Benji to consult a psychiatrist about his belief that he was too much like Adken Parry and forget about the past. To them both, Adken Parry had indeed succumbed to his sickness. From there on Benji and Adam had started going fishing every month because that was one activity that Benji found relaxing.

Adam sighed and complained, "Well no one, absolutely no one told me how everything smell! The fish and the bait are smelly enough but by the time we are done, we also smell like a pigsty! And that was still bearable but now that you are pregnant, I hate leaving you alone over night! Next month, our little baby will have grown up a bit more and then I won't feel like going at all. I have thought this through! I am going to think up an excuse so that next time Benji has to come here and we can avoid going fishing! We can have a barbecue to bond! It's much less smelly!"

Alice giggled at her husband's rant and asked, "Really? And what reason are you going to use to not go fishing with him?"

"It's too warm to go fishing!"

Alice shook her head and pointed out, "We will be in the middle of winter season at the time."

"Huff! Then I will say that it is too cold.."

"Won't work. The cold drafts begin later..", objected Alice.

Glaring at his wife for ruining his excuses, he said, "I'll just say that all the fishes were eaten by Otters!"

Alice giggled even harder at this and one again ruined everything, "You go fishing over a fresh water lake and otters are found in salty waters.."

"Hmpf. I'll say I have some work."

"You are already retired and the rest of your work is already being handled by Benji himself." pointed out Alice while suppressing an all out laugh.

"Fishing is not right! We must not harm the ecological balance of the marine life. Fishing is hazardous to the fishes!"

"Says the man who loves to eat fish."

Defeated, Adam slouched some more and rubbed his cheek over her silky hair as he said, "Then I guess I will have to go next month also.."

"You know you could be honest and tell him that you hate fishing."

"That would probably hurt him.."

"Not as much as when he discovers that you are not happy going fishing. He just wanted to be with his brother, you know."

"Fine.. fine. I'll tell him next time... that I am not in the mood for going fishing.. We'll go and dig up some cabbages.."

Alice shook her head and sighed.. Her husband would hate that as well! But she was not going to point that out..

Just then, Alice felt a kick in her stomach and she immediately grinned and caught Adam's hand and placed it there. This was one thing that they loved. Their daughter adding her two cents in their discussion by making her presence known. 

Finally, Adam looked up and glanced at the screen with interest. His eyes softened when he saw the face on the screen. In the last six months since they had announced their retirement, Gyeom had taken over the small screen with his direction as well as acting skills. He had already directed two shows and starred in three! The guy was just used to working too much. He did not know how to take it slow and not make them worry.

Gyeom had been ignoring them for a while and now that Felix and I.M were returning to the country, they would have to plan a sneak attack on him also! Sigh! Leaving the entertainment industry had turned him into a worry wart.

As Alice and Adam cuddled on the couch, they then received a message bringing them out of their slightly worried thoughts.

"Kieran and Zirui, cordially invite you to celebrate their wedding day on Saturday, 5th April at Church Street at 5.00 pm! Wear your dancing shoes to join in the merriment!"

Squealing in happiness, Alice immediately picked up her phone to congratulate the two! She was so happy! Kieran and Zirui deserved all the happiness in the world and she knew how Kieran had really wished that Zirui would accept him forever. 

After a brief chat with Zirui who asked them repeatedly to mark the date and not forget, Alice disconnected the call. They had been discussing about getting SKY together and now they had even found an occasion. There was no way Gyeom would miss his best friend's wedding and Apollo had already said that he would be applying for a day's leave to attend the occasion. 

Alice smiled happily as she glanced at the screen where Gyeom was playing the heartless CEO and sighed. All was well in the world after a long long time. And now that their daughter was going to come into their lives soon, everything would be perfect.

But it was said that no one could predict the future. At times when people went looking for happiness, they would find sadness in it's stead.. One could only accept everything as fate's challenge and move on in life.