NOVPUBWithin the snow-covered Irio, Karma sat silently in his warmed-up living room, staring at the phone in his hand with eyes of shock.
Julian was sitting next to him, staring blankly at the wall, as he had never been this shocked in his life before.
If there was one person he thought would never get married, that would be Kiernan, as he believed that he was so obsessed with martial arts that he wouldn't care about such matters.
"Y-you're serious, aren't you, Kiernan?"
Karma asked with a shaking voice and saw the two lovers holding hands, and it was clear as the sky that there was deep love between them.
"Yes, father. I know it might come as a big surprise…"
"That's an understatement, son."
Karma said with a wry smile and then looked at the girl and noticed that she was fidgeting with nervousness.
He thought that his son was a very special kind of talent in the field of martial arts, and he doubted any normal person would be able to charm him.
'She, somehow, managed to capture my son's heart, which I don't think is an easy thing to do at all. She must be truly extraordinary.'
"Well… My name's Karma Hunter, nice to meet you. I am Kiernan's father."
He said and bowed towards the phone.
"A-ah, my name's Arakawa Aoi. It is very nice to meet you!"
Aoi bowed in response and almost hit her head on the phone, but Kiernan managed to move the phone out of the way just in time.
Shyly, she twirled her hair around her finger and playfully kicked Kiernan's leg, as she wasn't ready at all to talk with his father!
Within the living room, Karma saw his son's smile when he looked at the adorable young woman and wondered what happened between the two for those feelings to blossom.
He thought that she indeed was pretty and adorable, which would be easy enough to tug the heartstrings of many young men, but he could tell that there was something different about his son's feelings for her.
It wasn't so shallow.
"By the way, Kiernan… does your mother know?"
Karma asked.
"I… think she knows what I was planning to do. She hasn't received confirmation, but I will give her one."
Kiernan said.
"I see…"
Karma nodded, interlocked his fingers, and tapped his fingers together rhythmically, as this was not the way he expected the day to go.
"Miss Aoi, are you going to come with my son to New Rakuya?"
"Uhm, no… I know he has his responsibilities there, and I don't think I am ready to leave my grandpa yet…"
Aoi said with a nervous smile on her face.
"It looks like everything happened so quickly, even for you two, that you guys haven't thought far ahead. It is understandable, and well, if you want to visit, you're always welcome."
Karma said.
"Thank you… father."
Aoi shyly said.
Karma smiled in response and thought it was strange to hear someone else call him father, but he had always dreamed of having a daughter-in-law and was happy with it.
However, he thought it would take years for Kiernan to even consider marrying someone, but only several weeks after turning adult, he had already found someone special.
At that moment, Kiernan looked at the top corner of his phone and saw that his battery was running low, as he hadn't charged it at all.
He didn't bother to charge as he wasn't using his phone much.
"My battery is running low, so let's resume the talk once I return back home, alright?"
Kiernan asked.
"Sure, son."
Karma nodded.
"Wait, Kiernan!"
At that moment, Julian jumped into the frame and snatched the phone from Karma's hands.
"I will be your best man, right?!"
"Goodbye."
Kiernan ended the phone call, pocketed the phone, and kicked the ground to give some momentum for the swing.
The swing's rope creaked as it began swaying back and forth like a pendulum on a grandfather clock.
"Your father is nice."
Aoi said with a smile.
"He is."
Kiernan said.
"What happened to your parents for them not to live together anymore? I am sorry if this is a hard question to answer…"
Aoi said, gazing into the side frame of his handsome face.
"I am a mistake, you could say."
Kiernan said.
"M-mistake?"
Aoi's eyes widened in surprise.
"Haha, yeah. I was not a planned child. In her youth, my mother was very rebellious, and she was assigned to marry some navy rookie who was from a powerful navy family.
"She wasn't having that, and going against her father's wishes, she found a random traveler in a bar and slept with him for a night.
"That traveler was my father, Karma."
Aoi looked gobsmacked at the revelation and thought that his story was something from a movie, as it sounded so crazy.
"I ended up being born from that mistake. She carried me for nine months, and while her father wanted her to abort me, she refused and gave birth to me in secret.
"She couldn't keep me, as her father would just kill me, so she brought me to my father's doorstep, and he raised me all alone.
"Last year, I finally met my mother, and we've been in contact ever since. She gave me the ring that you're wearing, you know. It was a ring of her mother's."
Aoi looked at the ring on her finger and gently caressed it as if it were a great treasure.
"Your life is full of destiny-altering events, isn't it?"
Aoi said with a smile.
"What do you mean?"
Kiernan turned to look at her, smiling.
"Your birth can be considered lucky. You're coming here from all the places. There are millions of other places you could've gone to, and yet, you ended up here, and now I am wearing the ring you gave me."
"Yes… destiny works in strange ways, I suppose."
Kiernan chuckled, hopped off the swing, and offered his hand to Aoi, who grabbed it with her soft hand, and they walked down the swinging bridge.
"Your mother sounds like an interesting person."
Aoi said while hugging his arm and thought that she would very much like to meet her.
"Yeah, she is."
