Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions-Chapter 50

50 Gifts

The food wasn’t what Lena was used to eating, but couldn’t deny that it tasted good. It had been years since her own family had done something like this that she had almost forgotten what grilled food tasted like. The princess had opted for eating a hot dog over a burger as she felt that it was more manageable considering the limited seating and people being rather pushed together than eating a burger would’ve been. Along with the hotdog, she found her plate being filled with small portions of potato, macaroni, and pasta salad by Sam’s mother as she made claim that Lena should eat more and not worry about taking too much because there was plenty to go around.

She had found herself seated between Sam and aunt which was a slightly uncomfortable seating situation for her as she wasn’t found of the other woman who seemed to not know how to feel about the princess either. She was a modestly polite woman, but she didn’t care much for the fact that it was Samuel’s birthday party. Nor was interested in getting to know Lena who was her nephew’s fiancé or even the fact that he was engaged. The little queen had already made a mental note that if it came to them getting married, she was going to remember to not invite this part of Samuel’s family. Only his parents and younger siblings would be allowed to come.

The only satisfaction she got when it came to sitting next the other woman was the look of utter shock on her face when Lena inserted herself into a conversation around business management and had no problem keeping up with the conversation and understanding what John whom Charlene had been bragging about was discussing. John seemed to take it better than his wife did that the Princess knew what he was talking about. Perhaps because his wife enjoyed his success but didn’t actually take much interest in what he actually did with the business he owned.

Samuel was probably the only one who didn’t seem at that surprised by the various knowledge that Lena had despite how young she was. He had gotten the opportunity to hear about it first hand when he was spending the week with her. Even if there was were parts he still didn’t know about. The legitimate work world that she lived in he had heard some about.

The rest of the meal was directed more towards Samuel by his family and as friends as Charlene had become more quiet once she realized that perhaps there were other people just as impressive as her husband within the family. His parents even seemed to be a certain amount thankful that she had quieted down so that the focus could return to their son, the whole reason why the party was being thrown in the first place.

After eating, they decided to move back inside where it was a little cooler and they could play games that didn’t require so much moving around. Samuel got ultimate choice over what was played since it was his birthday. Lena didn’t decide to join in though because of the number of people who wanted to play would’ve required her to be bunched even more closely with people than they had been outside. Instead, she chose to stand back with her glass of punch and watch others play. Since it was only mid afternoon, there was a bit of time before gifts would open which was what Lena was really waiting for.

For some reason, her father had requested that she take a picture once Sam had opened the gift she had brought with her. She kind of had an idea why he was asking this, but she didn’t quite see the point as her father would be able to take any picture that he wanted once Sam had come back to live with them again. She supposed though it wouldn’t capture the same level of surprise that would come from him first opening it.

They played an array of games ranging from, Janga and trivia to scrabble, decrypto, and tsuro. Some of the games Lena had never heard before but they seemed from her perspective to be ones that were more enjoyable to watch from background first before joining in. Between how quick some games were to how slow others were and players swapping around depending on the game, she lost track of how long she had been standing back and watching. 𝑓𝚛𝚎ℯ𝘸𝙚𝘣𝚗𝘰νeƖ.c𝒐𝐦

“Thank you Lena dear for coming. Sam may not say it himself, but I’m sure he’s really thankful that you were considerate enough to come all this way for his birthday.” Lena was again caught off guard by the gentle hand that was placed on her shoulder by Sam’s mother.

.....

“It really isn’t that big of a deal. I don’t think it’s an unfair thing to do in return for him staying with us for most of a week. Thank you for having me on such short notice.” The princess replied with a slight shrug.

She was honestly surprised that despite the situation, Sam’s parents were being as warm as they were to her despite the circumstances. She doubted that there were many people who enjoyed giving their children ‘away’ under such circumstances and even though her father had helped them out financially, it didn’t mean that they were required to be as kind as they were being. It wasn’t like she would call for their heads to roll if they were cold or harsh towards her. She wasn’t quite the type of person.

“No, really, it is a big thing because I get at least one chance to meet the person that Sam’s been engaged to the last eighteen years so I can see for myself what type of person they are.” She patted Lena on the shoulder as she finished speaking. Turning to face the princess, she looked as though there was something else that she wanted to say to her, but ended not stopping because Roger did a call for the gifts to be open because he was getting impatient with how late it was getting and really wanted his friend to see the gift that he had gotten for him. Thus, his mom went over to help tidy everything up and help her husband and John bring the gifts in. Lena didn’t get a chance to ask but she hoped that her gift would be one of the last ones that was opened because she felt like it was something that would be better opened towards the end after most if not all the other gifts were opened.