With Amy out of the study, Maria tapped on the glass table in front of the couch. A sign for her husband Julian who had been hiding, to come out. Sliding into the soft leather couch with his better half, Julian rubbed her shoulders, an act of love that had become so routine that it was unconsciously done, and asked the question he wanted to.
"So, what do you think of her. Do you approve or we have to find a way to destroy the budding feelings he has started to develop?"
"I think we might become grandparents before our 30th anniversary, dear. Ooh I would so love to have little children in the house again, looking cute, making messes, making messes while looking cute, ooh I can't wait." giggled Maria at the end.
Knowing that the unnecessary description was a shot at him for advising that they stopped making babies, Julian cleared his throat, subtly of course, and continued with the conversation like everything was okay, and he couldn't feel his wife pinch his midsection.
"Woah woah, hold it right there honey. Having a baby is a big decision that needs to be thoroughly thought through. I mean, he just turned 18 a month ago. Don't you think it might be too much pressure."
"Hmm, I guess you're right, I mean it's not like we know anyone who had a baby when they were barely 20. Oh wait we do, I mean didn't we give birth to Wilson when we were both 20 and our parents finances weren't as good as ours. At least I'm giving Mateo up to his 27th birthday. By then he should be married before eventually giving us a grandchild, unlike a couple I know of who got married when their son was 4 years old."
The removal of Maria's nails from his midsection, combined with all the brief hints at the story of their love life were all it took for Julian to know he had lost, and like all good sportsmen, he showed sportsmanship by asking about the plan and where his help was needed.
"So how do we get Mateo and Amy to accept each other and give us grandkids. You wanna use the old 'cutting off privileges trick' or you'll use the 'emotional blackmail method'. Just asking."
"You know about the camera in each of their rooms right. The ones we installed when a maid tried kidnapping Ayleen for ransom right. Well, according to the tape of when he broke out of the pod this morning, Amy tried kissing him, well the barrier, and accidentally got his lips. If you look closely he accepted the kiss and even reciprocated it before looking in the camera's direction and ending it."
With the video in hand, Julian watched as everything his wife said came true, right up to the moment Mateo remembered the safety camera which all the children knew were in their rooms. He watched as Amy ran and reached the door only to have Mateo appear right in front of her.
The rest of the video was cut short when Mateo opened the door and went behind it with Amy, creating the perfect blind spot for whatever they did.
Done with the video, Julian returned the phone and watched the movie with his wife in silence. Both delaying their meeting with their son to leave him anxious, just like the ending of the video left them curious.
*A few hours later*
Mateo had spent the past few hours reading the spellbook, exercising and even meditating, any thing he could do to take his mind off the meeting with his parents.
By now he could recite the instructions both forwards and backwards, for it had become somewhat of a mantra that kept him sane in this torturous period where he could neither train nor leave.
At the point where he reached the door, about throwing caution to the wind and going to storm his parents room, they slammed his door open, nearly hitting him in the process.
With sleep marks clearly decorating their faces they stretched and yawned before finally speaking.
"Mmm, Mateo why didn't you come to wake us up. Don't you know it's bad to delay meetings, especially by 4 hours." spoke his mother in a drowsy voice.
"Yeah son, is that what I taught you. I'm ashamed." backed up his father, his bulky frame on the hover-scooter a very weird sight to see.
With both pairs of eyes on him, Mateo knew that he was trapped. His 18 years of living told him that the questions weren't as simple as they seemed.
On one hand, if he took the blame it would mean admitting that the meeting was indeed delayed, on the other hand, denying the delay would mean that he was accusing his parents of being incapable of telling time, which they would take as he telling them that they were growing old.
Something they always responded to with a tag team beatdown just like a year ago.
Feeling the pressure build, Mateo decided to play it safe. "Sey eht gniteem si deyaled tub ylno esuaceb I esohc ton ot ekaw uoy pu eud ot lla eht drah krow gnieb enod yb enoyreve yletal."
Satisfiedinwhathebelievedtobeaperfectwaytododge the well aimed bullet, Mateo took a seat on the bed and looked at his parents to see whether they would still have the meeting or not.
He instead found them looking at him with weird expressions, similar to earlier in the day when he was speaking weirdly.
Waiting to find out whether he was indeed speaking weirdly, he tried performing the earth boulder spell using the small trace of earth in the walls.
A brown glow answered his question, proving that he had mana and as a side effect he would talk weird. Luckily for him, his second item countered and conquered this problem since unlike his first artifact, the blood warrior ring which needed blood to work, this one needed mana. Lots and lots of it.