Dinner with the Aliev family.

I felt so tense I thought my stomach would turn upside down. I mean, come on! I was at the dinner table with my girlfriend and her parents, and they didn’t know their daughter and I were dating!

At least I thought they didn’t know. Something made me believe they had an idea, and it was the fact that my dear Mila seemed to talk a little bit too much about me at her house. If they didn’t think we were dating, then they at least had to believe Mila liked me.

Speaking of her, she wasn’t faring any better. She was stiff and silently poking at her food. Meanwhile, her parents didn’t seem affected at all. Mr. Aliev was about as stoic as he’d been before, if not more, while Mrs. Aliev was happily telling about her own high school days.

I smiled and nodded along. She was carrying the conversation on her own, which made me see where Mila got her liveliness. That said…

…

No, this wouldn’t do. This wouldn’t do at all.

I was finally here, meeting Mila’s parents. Whether they knew about our relationship or not, it was my chance to make a good impression, wasn’t it? Fuck, the mere possibility of screwing this up almost made me want to throw up, but I couldn’t afford to waste this chance. You can never change a first impression, after all. I couldn’t just keep quiet, but what could I say? Talking about myself without being asked seemed like a really bad idea.

Wait. Being asked?

Aha!

“Y-You went to university after high school, Mrs. Aliev?”

The older woman pouted in a way that was extremely reminiscent of Mila. God, they were almost TOO alike! “I did, but I dropped out in my sophomore year because SOMEONE put a baby in me.”

Mr. Aliev, the big, stoic, intimidating man… flinched and blushed. “Don’t make it sound like it was an accident,” he grumbled. He looked at me with serious eyes. “We talked about it. Yana didn’t want to continue her studies, so I promised I’d take care of her.”

Mrs. Aliev put a hand on her cheek and sighed lovingly. “He’s always been so manly. We got married three months after that.”

I glanced at Mila and caught her blushing madly. I didn’t have to read her mind to understand. Hearing her own parents talk about that stuff had to be embarrassing, so I moved on to another question.

“And what do you do, Mr. Aliev?”

“I’m a corporate lawyer for a big toy company.”

I blinked. “A lawyer?”

Mrs. Aliev giggled. “He doesn’t look it, does he?”

I shook my head. “N-No….” I could actually see it. What I really wanted to ask was how he had the time to train a body like that. But how do you ask without sounding rude? “Um… D-Do you practice something?”

Again, I saw the big man smile his small smile. “I used to be an olympic wrestler.”

My eyes shot wide open. “No kidding!”

“Don’t be so impressed,” he dismissed with the faintest chuckle. “My biggest achievement is a single bronze medal. To this day I keep thinking even that was luck.”

“How so?”

That got him going. Mr. Aliev began to recount how he was training as a wrestler alongside his law studies. He told me about the two times he’d been to the Olympics, and how the second time he somehow managed to squeeze third place, believing his opponent was feeling ill that day. Even I was able to tell he was in a good mood.

“I retired after that. Felt like I’d done enough and could finally focus on my family.”

“But you continue your training?”

Mr. Aliev chuckled. “Right. You exercise, too. Yes, I go to the gym three times a week. It’s ingrained into my routine at this point. How about you, Oliver?”

“Same as you. Three times a week.”

“And your diet?”

I blinked. “D-Diet?”

Mr. Aliev narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “You don’t follow a nutritional plan?”

“I eat whatever my mother decides to bring home,” I said. Honestly, his question had left me a little stunned. I mean, it’s obvious. Your muscles don’t change just because you lift some weights. You need a proper diet to go with it to achieve the results you want. That was when I understood.

I chuckled. “I think mom’s been looking out for that without me realizing it.”

We rarely ate fast foods and we had a good balance of meats, fish, grains, vegetables and legumes. I hadn’t paid attention to it until now. That said, there was likely still something odd there, something to do with whatever had changed my body overnight. But even so…

“Do you get along well with your family?” Mrs. Aliev asked me with a warm smile.

“Ah. Well, yes, thankfully. It’s only my mom, my sister and I. Things… have been getting better lately.”

I kept asking them questions, and they were happy to answer. They told me about their travels and family trips and about their younger son. Mr. Aliev told me a bit about what it was like to be a lawyer and an olympic athlete, and Mrs. Aliev told me she had a garden where she grew some of her own vegetables.

Throughout most of it, however, Mila remained quiet. Did it bother her that I was talking to her parents? Was I making her uncomfortable?

When we were done eating, Mr. Aliev directly addressed his daughter. “Mila, will you drive Oliver to his house or should I?”

Mila answered before I could even say it wasn’t necessary. “No, of course I will!”

Mr. Aliev nodded. We said our goodbyes, but not before Mrs. Aliev told me to come over whenever I wanted.

“You’re always welcome here, you hear? Look after our little girl, please.”

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. “She looks after me more, but I’ll try.”

Mila and I went to her car. She silently put on her seatbelt and drove off.

I genuinely started to get worried.

“Mila? Is everything okay?”

“Do you mind if we take a little detour, Oliver?” she asked me.

“No.”

Mila turned the opposite direction from where my house was.

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