Chapter 4

After Ariel waved goodbye to Eric and Melody, she carefully crossed the đường phố, street to meet up with her brother. Her sandy-colored haired brothers was holding a carton of sữa that he bought from the Deli.

"Ariel, what was going on? Who was that man bạn were talking to?" cá bơn, bồ câu asked.

"I was trying to save his daughter," Ariel explained.

"Really?" cá bơn, bồ câu asked.

"It's a long story," đã đưa ý kiến Ariel. As they walk away from the Deli, Ariel told cá bơn, bồ câu the details of the story such as saving Melody, standing up to Eric, and a bữa tối, bữa ăn tối with them. When she finished, cá bơn, bồ câu was amazed. That was a Công chúa tóc xù thing his big sister did!

Ariel and cá bơn, bồ câu finally came upon their apartment. They went inside and took the elevator which led them to the 22nd floor.

"Daddy, we're home!" Ariel and cá bơn, bồ câu walked inside their room M28. The apartment room was small but still contained enough room to fit her, Flounder, her dad, and their sisters, Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana. The apartment room had a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

Triton was sitting in his chair đọc the Daily News. Attina, Andrina, and Adella, both came trang chủ early from their jobs.

"Daddy, we're home," đã đưa ý kiến Ariel.

"Oh, good! I was beginning to worry about bạn two," đã đưa ý kiến Triton. He was a little bit concerned of why his two kids were spending longer time than usual at the deli when he only sent them just to buy milk.

"What took bạn so long!" Adella đã đưa ý kiến impatiently, who just came out of the phòng bếp, nhà bếp along with Andrina and Attina.

"Adella, calm down!" Attina scolded. "There's no need to be dramatic!"

"But I'm soooooo thirsty and hungry!" Adella whined.

"Gee, poor Adella. She didn't eat breakfast," Andrina said, sarcastically.

"I was almost late this morning! And I didn't have time to go the cafe!"

"Whatever!"

"Calm down. I have the milk," đã đưa ý kiến Ariel.

"Yeah, Ariel was trying to save a girl's life!" cá bơn, bồ câu defended. Triton turned around from his newspaper with interest and all the sisters except Ariel had their eyes widened. cá bơn, bồ câu began to tell the story in an excited way.

"Yeah! There was a little girl who was running in the đường phố, street and-then-she couldn't-the car was like 'Vroooom!'and the girl was like 'AAAAAAAAAH!' Whew! Then Ariel ran and saved her!" And then, there was this man, who was like 'blah blah blah!' at the kid and "hubba hubba hubba!' at Ariel," cá bơn, bồ câu finished, imitating Eric's hypnotized trance.

Triton's expression changed from an interest to a frown.

"WHAT!"

"OOoooooooo! Ariel's got a boyfriend!" Adella teased, as Attina, Arista, and Andrina giggled.

"He's not my boyfriend!" đã đưa ý kiến Ariel, blushing. "The man was the father of the girl I rescued from. He invited me for bữa tối, bữa ăn tối tomorrow just to repay me," Ariel explained, hopefully her dad didn't get the wrong idea and hopefully that her sisters would stop teasing.

"Whew! That is a relief!" Triton sighed.

"So, what's the man's name?" Attina asked.

"Eric Daniel Barnes," Ariel answered, hiển thị everybody Eric's buisness card.

"Eric Daniel Barnes? No way!" the sisters exclaimed.

"You know him?" Ariel was confused.

"Yeah! He's our co-worker!" đã đưa ý kiến Andrina in a "duh!" tone.

"Ariel, where are bạn and Eric going to eat dinner?" Triton asked. Even though, he is already aware that Eric Daniel Barnes, he still feels uneasy about letting his youngest daughter having a ngày with him. Especially after hearing from cá bơn, bồ câu that Eric had expressed interest in Ariel.

"Yes, daddy, I want to. We're having bữa tối, bữa ăn tối at his house," đã đưa ý kiến Ariel.

"His house!" Tirton exclaimed.

"Father, Eric is a decent man so, he won't touch her," đã đưa ý kiến Andrina, calmly.

"You're sure," Triton asked, cautiously.

"Yeah, don't worry. Eric has no interest in marriage," Andrina answered.

"Daddy, I want to go. It is not a date. It is just for one night. Please?" Ariel pleaded. Triton hesitated. Despite Andrina's assurance, he still doesn't feel comfortable about this. How would he know that Eric would not make moves on her? On the other hand, he knows that it would be a great insult if Ariel doesn't hiển thị up at his house for dinner. He sighed.

"All right, Ariel. bạn can have bữa tối, bữa ăn tối with him tomorrow. But be careful," Triton said, still worrying.

"Daddy, I'll be fine," đã đưa ý kiến Ariel. Gee, her dad could be so overprotective sometimes.

Meanwhile, back at the Barnes' home, Eric and Melody had gotten ready for bed.

"Good night, Melody," đã đưa ý kiến Eric as tucked Melody in and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night, Daddy," đã đưa ý kiến Melody. He was about to leave when Melody called him.

"Daddy, please keep the lights on!"

"Why?" Eric raised an eyebrow.

"I hate the dark!"

"All right," đã đưa ý kiến Eric. He left without turning the lights off. He hoped that this would be the last time she requested him to do that.

Eric changed into his pajamas and climbed into his king-size bed. As he laid his head on his pillow, he looked to his left to another cái gối, gối tiếp theo to him. He fell asleep dreaming about a certain lovely red-haired woman that still left his tim, trái tim burning for her.