Kiss Me Not

Cain finally managed to fix a schedule for their departure and Kimmy immediately arranged a flight to country V. They still had Cain's mother to visit, and this time, they had managed to drag Sean along for the ride alongside Leila.

"Are you sure I'm needed here?" Sean sighed as he got seated on the plane. "I'm not even a part of your immediate family."

"You might as well be, Uncle," Kimmy scoffed. "You've been a good father figure to me, and that's more than enough for me to consider you as such."

"I'm flattered then," Sean smiled. "I'll do my best to be presentable then."

"Just think of it like a vacation," Kimmy smiled. "It's not far from the truth anyway."

And with that, their flight went on as expected. Nothing untoward happened along the way, and before they knew it, they landed in country V without any trouble.

"Back here again," Cain smiled. "It's been a while."

"I'm really excited," Kimmy chimed up. "I'm finally gonna meet your mother."

Cain could only nod in agreement. With his parents being separated, the logistics of Kimmy's family making their visit was kind of iffy for a good while. But now that everything's sorted out, there was nothing to worry about anymore. Not to mention the fact that his results showed nothing that could indicate him not being human anymore. It just meant that he was free to be himself without any of the worries of somehow losing himself to the curse of vampirism.

Well, Esmeralda being inside his head once in a while was still a problem, but nothing that a bit of time probably couldn't fix.

"Yeah," he smiled lovingly. "It's gonna be a good time."

"Especially since we brought gifts," Kimmy beamed at him. "This'll surely make things go smoothly."

Cain could only share a look with his soon-to-be mother-in-law as he mirthfully shook his head. He had constantly insisted that lavish gifts wouldn't be needed where they were going, but Kimmy still insisted on doing so anyway. Leila, unfortunately, had to acquiesce to her daughter's insistence, leaving him alone to simply sigh in appreciation.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with giving gifts as some kind of dowry," Leila justified their purchases. "It's the same as any other marriage out there anyway."

"On that, I can agree," Sean suddenly chimed in from behind. "I'm sure you'll also do the same if you can, Cain. And don't deny that."

The doctor opened his mouth to reply, only to close them as he let off another sigh. He was right. There was no way that he'd let anyone talk him out of buying gifts for Kimmy's family. As much as he wanted to deny the fact, doing so would just make him a hypocrite.

"See? Even Uncle Sean agrees with me," Kimmy smugly smirked. "Now, let's get to your family, yeah?"

"Sure thing, Kimberly."

***

The ride had been short, if not comfortable. After a few minutes of driving, they finally arrived at Evelyn's house. It was a humble home, one that Cain knew fairly intimately.

"Wait here, okay?"

With that, Cain moved forward to knock on the door. He didn't know if there was even someone at home, but knowing his mother's condition, there was bound to be at least one person inside.

"Knock knock," Cain called out as he knocked on the door. "Anyone home?"

"...Coming…"

Hearing the reply from within, the doctor waited patiently for the door to open. Soon enough, the wooden door swung open, revealing his stepfather clad in his casual clothes. "Cain?"

"What's up, Abel?" Cain let off a small smile as he greeted the man, "I'm here for a visit. I suppose everything's fine on that end? I'm sure you've heard of courtesy calls and all that."

"Oh, that?" Abel chuckled as he took a peek beyond the door. "You're getting married, right? And I assume they're the side of the family?"

"Yep," Cain smiled. "Mom's fine, I take it?"

"She's in bed right now," his stepfather replied. "Otherwise though, she's fine enough for guests, especially if it's you."

The two shared a small chuckle by the door. Meanwhile, the others that were told to stay behind began talking amongst themselves.

"What do you think they're talking about, Mom?" Kimmy worriedly asked.

"I'm sure they're just catching up," Leila chuckled. "Although, it's bad form to keep us waiting for too long out here."

"They probably just forgot," Sean chuckled. "I know I would if get caught up in conversation with someone I haven't talked to in a while."

Back to the door, Abel took another glance beyond his stepson, giving Cain a scoff as he fully opened the door.

"Anyway, I think it's high time that you and our soon-to-be extended family welcomed yourselves in," Abel smiled. "I'll go prepare some tea and what not. Maybe get Evelyn situated for her to accept guests."

"Thanks, Abel," Cain smiled, letting the man disappeared back into the house before turning to his fiancee. "Okay. We can come in now."

At his signal, the three followed him inside. They got themselves situated, and Kimmy quickly began to arrange the gifts that they brought with them on the nearest table.

"It'll be fine if I put them here, right?" Kimmy hollered at her fiance as she placed the last gift on the tabletop. "We won't need to take them all off once we eat, hopefully."

"Yeah, over there's fine," Cain reassured her. "We have another table upstairs, assuming that one's good for us to use right now."

"I've gotta say, the place is pretty rustic," Sean commented with a nod. "Very humble."

"Mom didn't like much of the fancier stuff," Cain explained with a smile. "So when she and Dad split, she found herself something that suits her style."

"I see," Leila nodded. "Then I suppose that's part of the reason why you didn't want gifts?"

"Yeah," Cain smiled with a sigh. "She's just that kind of woman. The medical costs didn't help either."

"Okay, Cain. Evelyn's ready to accept guests," Abel called out from upstairs. "She said she's been expecting you all."