Chapter 186: The Alpha Members
The moment the dwelling was completed, Lara fetched Grandmother Arlina and her grandchildren from the village. When the old woman saw the house that they were moving into, she could not help but tear up.
The house was modest by modern standards, but to Arlina, it was nothing short of a palace. The moment her clouded eyes landed on the structure—its freshly woven cogon roof, its tiny front yard bordered by a low, hand-carved fence, and the neat row of homes it was nestled among—her lips trembled.
Tears welled in her eyes. "Young lady... Are you sure we can stay here?" she asked, her voice catching on the edge of disbelief.
"Yes, Grandma," Lara replied, her voice soft but certain. She hadn’t expected such a powerful reaction, not from the stoic woman who had survived so much, nor from the two teenage girls and their younger brother, who stood silently behind her with wide, guarded eyes.
"But this is not for free, Grandma. Remember, you have to work for me, so in a sense you are also paying for staying in the house."
"Oh, young lady... As long as we have work and food, we’ll give everything we have," Arlina said, her voice thick with emotion. "We won’t be a burden, I swear it."
With a warm gesture, Lara beckoned them inside. The three grandchildren followed slowly, still hesitant, their feet crunching on the pebbled path as they approached the house. They ascended the six sturdy bamboo steps and stepped onto a tiny balcony, barely a square meter wide, yet charming in its own way. From there, they crossed the threshold.
Inside, the living room, though small, was welcoming—four carefully carved bamboo chairs arranged around a rectangular table. A low, open shelf served as a partition between the sitting area and the dining area behind it, creating a subtle sense of space.
A four-seater table, smooth and polished by hand, stood in the dining room. Through the door to the left was the bedroom, furnished with a single bed for Arlina and a cleverly designed double-decker bunk for Zeeta and Leah. The bunk’s access ladder was not just a ladder—it was a series of pull-out drawers, each drawer spacious enough to store clothes or trinkets. It was the kind of thoughtful, space-saving design reminiscent of her old world’s city condos.