Aatrox was surprised at the way Annie appeared, but before he could express any reaction, a giant-killing intent was directed at him from the man next to him. Aatrox looked at Anthony and didn't have any change in facial expression, he kept his face neutral and inexpressive as he turned to him.
Anthony had a very ugly expression on his face, but he knew he couldn't blame the boy for seeing his daughter that way. Anthony quickly retracted killing intent but was surprised when he saw that it hadn't affected the boy again. With an accent of approval, Anthony continued to move towards the back garden.
The two of them kept walking without saying anything on the way. Aatrox didn't mind, but he swore internally to make Anthony suffer a little during their sparring. Directing that intent to him once Aatrox may accept, since he was the father of his friend and friend of his own father, but directing it twice without an apology Aatrox would not willingly accept.
When they arrived in the garden, Amelia was preparing a jug of coffee for them to drink on the outside table. Looking at Aatrox, she opened a warm smile and greeted him. "Hey, Ben, how's your mom? I thought she would come with you."
"Hello Amelia, my mother is very well. Today she had promised to take the children to play, so she couldn't come, unfortunately." Aatrox answered.
"I see, this week was the last week of the twins' vacation, right? They must want to enjoy this weekend." She answered with elegance as always.
While they were talking, Annie came back worried to see how they were doing. To her surprise, her father was sitting quietly next to her mother while the two were talking to Benjamin. From what she knew of her father, he would definitely do something to the boy if he saw her like that, but surprisingly he didn't do anything.
Logically she wouldn't complain, so pretending nothing happened, Annie sat with them at the table and greeted Aatrox. "Good morning, Ben, why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
"I thought your father had warned you since he invited me." Aatrox responded by enjoying the taste of Amelia's coffee.
Annie hearing this turned to look with her eyes closed to Anthony. He in turn started drinking the coffee and turned to enjoy the view pretending not to realize what his daughter was doing.
Annie sighed, knowing her father, it was like him to do that. "I figured... but since he didn't say so, can you explain to me the reason for the visit? Not that I thought it was bad, far from it, I'm just curious as to why he called you."
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"I'll teach him some self-defense techniques, don't worry, it'll all work out." Anthony answered with a proud smile.
Listening to him, Amelia, who already knew, can't let go of his face. She was worried about young Ben, since she knew what her husband was capable of and wondered what he would do with the boy.
Annie was already horrified to hear what her father had said, what she most wanted to prevent from happening was happening right under her eyes. She needed to find a way to stop Aatrox from taking the class with her father.
"Ehhh... So, Dad, we're going to have a championship to play in tomorrow's game, I don't think you'll be able to teach him, will you, Ben?" Annie said clearly insinuating with her eyes for Aatrox to agree with her.
But to her disappointment, Aatrox said, "Are you talking about Clash? It's okay, we're not gonna play until tomorrow, right?" Since he also wanted the sparring session with Anthony.
Hearing that, Anthony didn't miss the chance. "Yes, if the championship is tomorrow, there is no problem Annie, the class I'm giving him will not take long. And on top of that, it will be useful for him to take care of himself in the future."
Annie hearing this couldn't help but get a pale face. Now she could only hope Benjamin didn't get angry and stop talking to her later.
"It's time to start Ben." Anthony said as he stood up and headed for a little dojo in his backyard.
When Amelia saw that Annie was wanting to go along, she quickly invented an excuse. "Annie, let the men take care of their things, I'm going to need your help inside."
Annie who was heading towards the dojo stopped and looked at her mother. Thinking about it for a while, she didn't disobey her mother and went into the house. Cheering for everything to work out in the dojo.
Now that they were just Aatrox and Anthony alone, Anthony released some of his aura to test Aatrox. As he expected, Aatrox didn't react.
Before they started talking about cultivation, Anthony decided to ask something that had been in his mind for some time. "Boy, what are your intentions with my daughter?"
Aatrox hearing this replied unconsciously. "She's one of my closest friends. I intend to remain her friend."
Anthony didn't feel a bit of a lie coming from him and calmed down a bit, but still asked. "Beyond friendship, you don't think of anything else, do you?"
Aatrox was surprised. According to what he had learned, to go further in a friendship would be to have some romantic relationship. Unconsciously Aatrox remembered the scene where he saw Annie in pajamas today and was left with doubts in his heart. If he said he didn't like the scene he witnessed, he'd be lying. Even for a fraction of a second, his heart raced a few BPM higher. But he didn't really know why. "To be honest with you, I don't know. I like our friendship very much, but I have no experience with anything related to this romantic area. For the time being, I intend only to have her as a friend."
Hearing that, Anthony didn't know how to feel. He was happy because the boy didn't lie about anything and it was noticeable that he wanted the best for his daughter, not to mention that the boy was the son of his best friend. The problem is that Anthony had noticed Annie's feelings for the boy through her look at him, if she was going to try something, she would probably have difficulty accessing his heart. "Well boy, the best way I know to meet someone is with fists, let's get to know each other better with a friendly sparring."