Chapter 185: He Eats.. actually more..
They all blinked and stared down at the little one.
"He actually gulped it down..." Eris said.
"How’s that possible...?" Azure stared at Sunnie. "Is he supposed to do that?"
Sunnie blinked as well. She didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t think that was supposed to happen. She cleared her throat and said, "Maybe he was hungry...?"
"Mama, he wants meat!" Maren insisted. They stared at the little one, who was looking at the meat in Luka’s hand.
Ronan was staring so eagerly as though it was something he always had and wanted at that moment.
Luka blinked and stared at Sunnie. "What do we do...? Should we...?"
Sunnie hesitated and then slowly nodded. She wanted to see something. "Let’s give him a bit and see."
Luka listened and did as she suggested. He took a small portion of the meat and placed it at the cub’s mouth. Normally, they believed he was too little to eat a piece of meat himself, even the tiniest bit.
But Ronan effortlessly took it in himself as if it were nothing. Shocked, Sunnie brought forth a bigger portion of the meat, and Ronan ate it up as well.
He soon ate a whole meal, then two more plates. Sunnie and the rest simply stared in immense shock and disbelief, their eyes wide open as they watched the cub who was born that day eat like a full-grown adult.
As Ronan ate, he kept smiling and giggling and stretching his hands out for more. The adults were curious to see how far he would go.
He ended up eating four portions of the meal and was still reaching out for more. At that moment, Sunnie had to stop them from feeding him anything else.
"Don’t... just don’t..." She shook her head in shock. Everyone was amazed; the women simply started smiling.
"So adorable, he has a big appetite," one said as another giggled.
Maren said with a smile, "Wow, little brother eats a lot... just like Papa Bear." Everyone looked up at Luka, who was sitting down and also staring in shock.
"What?" Luka questioned.
Eris shook his head and said, "I guess I was wrong. He really did take this from you. And now I think we’re doomed." He slowly nodded as they stared at Ronan stretching out his hands with bubbling giggles, as if he hadn’t eaten almost five people’s worth of food that night.
---
Life at home became even more bubbly and chaotic with the birth of Ronan. The little one didn’t come as peacefully as they thought he would. He was rather more chaotic and troublesome than Maren had been back then.
In the following days, Sunnie didn’t seem to get enough rest. No one did.
Whenever Sunnie would head to bed, Ronan would leave his father’s side and come to stay with Sunnie. Sunnie would let him sleep by her side.
Sunnie would hum some melodies for little Ronan to help him sleep. When he finally drifted off later on, Sunnie would finally get some rest.
But in a short while, the little cub would wake up and begin tapping Sunnie to wake her. He didn’t necessarily cry. When Sunnie woke up, he would sit there giggling and smiling while staring at her.
Then the little cub would start muttering inaudible words and playing around her. Sunnie would play with him for a while and then get exhausted, but the kid was never tired. One time, he literally kept muttering and playing until morning.
Sometimes he would be demanding something to eat.
One morning, Sunnie decided she was tired and told Luka, "Can you please take care of him for the next few days, huh?" She wanted to get some rest from staying up all night.
Luka agreed. "Don’t worry! I’ll keep watch all night!" Luka was enthusiastic about the task, sure he would do well.
The first night, Luka didn’t sleep a wink. He stayed up all night, staring at the cub, who kept playing with him and muttering inaudible words. Whenever Ronan wanted to run off to meet Sunnie, Luka dragged him back and said, "Here, play here."
The cub simply pouted, looked around, and continued playing in his corner. While the other husbands were already fast asleep, Luka spent the whole night watching the kid play.
He did that for about three nights. On the fourth night, he started breaking apart. Luka was struggling to stay awake; he forced himself to sit down and watch the kid play and even play with the kid.
But he couldn’t stay up any longer and simply dozed off.
The next second he opened his eyes, it was already morning—bright morning.
Luka panicked as he looked around. Ronan wasn’t there. He panicked, knowing he had slept off without keeping an eye on the little one. So he got up and rushed out.
As he got outside, he saw everyone also standing and staring at the scene before them. It was a mess. The pot of meal prepared last night that was supposed to last them throughout today had been spilled.
Little Ronan had poured out the entire meal while he was busy playing around with the pot. He sat there on the dirty floor covered in soup, staring up at them and smiling while he ran his soup-covered hands around his face and mouth, trying to get a taste of the mess he had made.
"Papa..." Ronan smiled brightly as he saw Luka standing there as well. Everyone turned to stare at Luka too, then looked back at the baby in the mess he had made.
"Mama..." Ronan smiled as he stared at Sunnie as well. Sunnie stood there, speechless. She didn’t know what to do.
"Well, look on the bright side. He learned to say two words: Mama and Papa," Eris shrugged.
"Three, actually," Sunnie said with a deep sigh.
"Which one?" Azure inquired.
The little bear cub giggled aloud, playing in the soup as he said, "Mama! Papa! Food!"
"...." Everyone paused and stared at him.
"And that..." Sunnie sighed.