Day in and day out, my body recovered and my muscles gained strength. And in just a few days, I was able to walk around the house just fine.

Now, my feet could take more and more load without giving out and I could walk better by the day. I could lift items which weren’t all that heavy and even workout, albeit not for more than half an hour. Although exercising had a part in it, I was sure that it was mostly due to the medicines prepared by Aunt and Uncle.

However, not all things have been going good recently. For example, what happened yesterday morning…

“Thanks for the food!” With a prayer, we all started digging in.

While eating, Samuel asked, “Dad, when can we go out? I wanna show him about all the things in the village. Maybe that’ll help him remember some things?”

Uncle averted his eyes for a bit before looking up in thought. For a moment, his eyes looked a bit clouded before he sighed as he said, “Not anytime soon. Especially looking at how he still has trouble walking, even to this table.”

“But dad…” Samuel argued. “I can help him and we can always take breaks in the middle. It’s not a big deal.” Turning his head to me, he gestured with his chin.

Agreeing with Samuel, I said, “Yeah, Uncle. I can walk just fine and just walking around in the house has gotten quite boring. I too want to go out and have a look around.”

Uncle sighed as began to speak. But before any words could come out, Aunt beat him to it, “Yeah, William, what’s wrong? Not like it’s dangerous like the forests or anything. It’s just a village. You’re being too overprotective. Kids would have to go out on their own someday. You can’t keep them sheltered.”

Uncle turned his head towards Aunt before turning it back and staring at his plate blankly. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

“But Aria, we talked about it already,” Uncle talked back. “They’re not ready. Not to mention…” His voice turned into a faint mutter near the end.

Aunt shot back, “William, it’s their—”

However, her sentence never saw the light of the day as Uncle declared in a voice louder than hers, “This decision is final. None of you are going out. Period. No arguments.”

Just what happened this time? I looked around but was only met with both eating their food expressionlessly.

In the past few days, as time passed, the quarrels between the couple began growing frequent, to the point it became something which occurred three times a day.

With nothing else to do, following their lead, I continued my breakfast.

“Sigh…” After a temporary bout of silence, the sound of a sigh rang out. Raising my head to look, I saw Uncle sighing as he looked around at the table.

Amelia got up before walking to the Uncle. She patted his hand while saying, “Daddy, calm down. Don’t get angry.”

Uncle let out a breath as he lifted Amelia and placed her in his lap. Feeding her some rice, he said, “How can I get angry at you, princess. And yeah, maybe you’re right, Aria. Nevertheless, I have my reservations. So, I hope we can come to a truce and say that they can’t go out until he can walk properly on his own. Good with everyone?”

“Dad, you said something similar yesterday as well, and here we are having the same talk again today.” Samuel retorted, displeased with Uncle’s answer.

Uncle looked at him apologetically as he said, “Samuel, try to—”

“I’m done eating.” Samuel slammed his hands on the table as he jumped down his chair before briskly walking into his room.

Uncle sighed again as he leaned against the cushion of his wheelchair as he ruffled Amelia’s hair.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity for the man before me.

As if feeling my gaze, he looked at me, his eyes still apologetic. Unsure of what to make of his look, I lowered my head before continuing to eat.

A bout of silence followed the exchange where only sounds in the air were sounds of utensils clattering.

A sudden sigh rang out which attracted my attention. Lifting my head, I saw uncle staring up at the ceiling with a blank face.

“Aria, the food was great. I’m feeling a bit under the weather, so I’ll go get some rest.” Sighing, he put Amelia down before returning to his room.

So this is what Samuel meant back then? Seems pretty… saddening… I thought while looking at the back of Uncle’s wheelchair drawing towards his room.

Aunt shook her head before raising her head up. Looking at me, she sighed before speaking, “Zack, I’m sorry for what happened. I hope you can forgive William. Just don’t hold anything against him. He… He just means well for you.”

I swallowed what I was chewing before nodding, “It’s no problem, Aunt. Instead of worrying about me, I think you should check up on those two. The situation… it doesn’t look that good.”

Aunt smiled at me as she replied, “Don’t worry, we’re used to it. They’ll get back to normal in a few hours. They’re both like that. Give them what they want and they’re happy, else they will be grumpy about it.”

“Yeah, brother, big-brother and daddy like to fight a lot,” Amelia said. “Mommy says they like to fight a lot because this is their way of showing their love for each other.”

Is that so? But the situation seemed… Nah, I’m probably overthinking things. It probably is that way.

Listening to her, a smile broke out on my face as I replied smilingly, “Seems so now that you put it that way.”

At the same time, I thought, When will my father return? How will I interact with him? How will I tell them that I don’t remember anything… There’s no other way than waiting, is there? Hesitating to ask, I kept the question to myself.

“What happened, Zack? You want to ask something?” Aunt asked out of curiosity.

“Uh, Ah, Yes,” Hearing my name, I blinked in embarrassment. Stumbling for words a little, I made an excuse instead of asking the question, “I, uh, was reading a book on Magic. Yeah, Fundamentals of Magic. So I thought that it would be nice to see how the magic works. It would help me in better understanding the book.”

Aunt cocked her head to the side in thought. A moment later, a warm smile spread on her face, “It’s probably a good idea. At noon, you can take Samuel with you to the yard. He knows how to use magic. He can show it to you. And it would be a good way to see if he was slacking off again or not. And I think that he would also be happy with it. As for William…” She rubbed her eyes before saying, “I’ll have to deal with him in the meantime.”

I nodded as a smile of anticipation spread across my face.