Chapter 294: He’s Acting Strange

Chapter 294: 294: He’s Acting Strange

A few days had gone by with the coming of the new cubs.

The atmosphere had grown bustling and celebratory. The little ones were still unable to walk, and the whole tribe spent their times coming to visit the little ones.

Zuna and Sunnie stayed in the same cave room with their little ones. So everyone came to visit and play with the little ones, especially the kids of the tribe.

One morning, Sunnie and Zuna sat outside their cave, washing up their feet and hands as their bath with the warm water Maren and Mii had prepared for them.

Mar and Sunnie’s beast husbands had gone out to hunt for some meat. Mar had decided to stay in this tribe with Zuna for some time before they’d leave for the lion tribe.

And so the tribe lived happily together.

"The egg should be hatching soon," Zuna smiled as she cleaned her feet. "I can already feel the little egg moving around. I heard that some bird beastmen grow in their little eggs and can even walk in there before they are out," she explained.

Sunnie smiled as she shook her head. "Is that so? Then that’s impressive enough... I’m curious to know if our little Kan will walk by the time he’s out. And how he’ll be."

They smiled as they continued cleaning up.

Zuna and Sunnie looked up at the busy scene in the tribe. They smiled as they took their time observing.

"I recall some time ago, this place was so empty with few of us. Now look at it—it’s a full tribe," Zuna shook her head. "Felt like yesterday."

Sunnie smiled. "You’re making me feel so emotional. At least we grew. Everyone grew."

"All thanks to you, our tribe leader," Zuna stared at her with a smile.

Sunnie smiled as she shook her head and continued washing her legs while they spoke about past memories and the fun of it.

Just then, Little Black walked up to them and sat closely. Sunnie stared at Little Black, who had already grown decently enough.

"Should we still call you little? I mean, you’ve grown a bit, though. I’m wondering," she teased as Zuna laughed.

"I never called myself little," Little Black defended as Sunnie smiled, recalling when Little Black was so little.

But she had watched him grow to this. Sunnie felt like a proud mother.

Little Black looked around as he said, "Eh, but have you seen Ronan around? I asked him to help me get something, but I haven’t seen him yet. I guess that little boy is being stubborn again. Did he go out to play or something?"

Zuna thought. "Speaking of Ronan, am I the only one who has noticed that he’s been acting strange lately?"

Sunnie nodded. "I’ve also noticed this for a while now..." She said. "The mischievous Ronan has been so quiet lately, and he hasn’t been causing any trouble at all."

They all discussed how different Ronan had been ever since Sunnie and Zuna gave birth. They had realized that he had been strange and all. They wondered what could be the reason but couldn’t come up with something.

Just then, Maren and Mii also approached and made similar complaints. They complained that they hadn’t seen Ronan in a while now.

"Isn’t he supposed to be back?" Maren asked, looking extremely worried now.

At this moment, they asked around the tribe, but no one had seen Ronan anywhere. This had Sunnie even more worried.

Soon, Mar and Sunnie’s beast husbands arrived, and they informed them about it. This led them to begin discussing his strange behavior lately.

Luka said, "I also noticed how strange he was when you were delivering. I asked him, and he said he was just worried about you and all... I felt that wasn’t the only reason."

Luka sighed as he sat down. "Now I feel like a terrible father for not asking more... What if something happened to him?"

Sunnie calmed him down. "Don’t worry at all. First, we need to find him so we can know what’s happening. Don’t blame yourself at all."

Maren nodded. "Yes. Let’s go look for Ronan now." She was greatly worried about her little brother, whom she had been bickering with endlessly.

And so they kicked off to begin their search. The people who had set off to search were Sunnie, her beast husbands, Maren, Mii, Little Black, Zukka, and the twins had tagged along too. Zuna and her husband had stayed behind to take care of the cubs.

And so Sunnie and the rest set off to look for where Ronan could possibly be and why the playful, chaotic Ronan was suddenly acting all quietly and even disappeared.

---

The search didn’t take long at all. They had all decided to go find him at the place he should have been—at the riverside where he was supposed to go get some water.

As soon as they arrived there, they saw Ronan there. He was sitting down on a rock close to the water and staring into it. He was sitting there quietly in thoughts while throwing stones into the water from time to time.

As soon as they saw him, a sigh of relief escaped their lips as they smiled in relief.

Luna and Lune immediately smiled as they screamed, "Brother Ronan! Yay! Brother Ronan is here!" They didn’t wait for anyone, but the two of them instantly ran off.

Sunnie and the rest couldn’t stop them, but they simply watched as they ran off to go meet Ronan.

Ronan was surprised. He turned around to see the two fox twins running toward his direction. Soon they came to his feet, pulling him.

"Brother Ronan, what are you doing here?"

"We were looking for you everywhere!"

"Yes! Everyone was worried about you! Even Mama and Papa and Sister Maren!"

"We thought you ran away and left us!"

"Yes!"

Ronan blinked as he stared at them, surprised. "Huh? But I didn’t run away..." He said as he turned to his side to see the rest approaching.

Maren folded her arms as she asked, "Found you. Why are you here? Why didn’t you tell us or anything? Don’t you know we were all worried about you? Even Mama was so worried." Maren looked like she’d cry anytime soon.

"....." Ronan was speechless as he stared at them. "Oh no, I didn’t mean to at all. I came here and saw the pretty view and then decided to stay and rest a little. I didn’t mean to... make everyone worried," he expressed.

But Maren folded her arms with a frown.

"I’m sorry for making you worried, Sis..." Ronan said, but Maren was still frowning with both arms folded.

Sunnie sighed as she shook her head. She smiled as she came to sit down close to Ronan. Lune and Luna rushed off to stand close to Eris and the others at a distance, watching.

Sunnie stared at Ronan with a smile, running a hand through her hair while patting him. "Are you okay?"

Ronan stared at her. "Yes, I’m okay. Why? Did anything happen?"

But Sunnie stared at him with a smile. "Tell me if there’s anything bothering you. I’m your mother, and I’m always curious to know what’s wrong with you. So tell me... I’ll listen, and I’ll always understand you as your mother," she expressed.

Ronan was quiet as he stared down. He could tell that everyone had already observed, and now it was hard not to say anything.

Luka approached him and also sat down at his side. Ronan was now sitting down in between his parents, looking down and playing with the stones in his lap.

"Remember the last time you told me nothing was wrong and that it was because you were worried about Mama? I understand you didn’t want to speak. But you should know we’re always here to listen and understand you. So don’t keep us worried and share with us. We’ll all understand you," he said.

Everyone was quiet as they stared at him, watching as Ronan quietly stared down at the stone he was playing with while thinking of what to say.

After a while of silence, Ronan finally spoke. "You promise you’re not going to be mad at me if I speak?"

Sunnie smiled as she asked, "And why would we?"

Luka said, "We’ll be more than happy if you can share it with us. It would make us so happy."

Ronan hesitated, still looking down as he finally said, "Actually... when Mama was pregnant and was about to give birth, I was worried... worried about myself."

"Huh? Why were you worried about yourself? What happened to you?" Sunnie asked as everyone listened attentively.

"I was worried that Mama will forget about me and won’t care about me."

Ronan continued speaking. He expressed his insecurities about being worried about being forgotten by Sunnie if she continued giving birth.

Ronan explained that when they gave birth to the twins, he was worried that he wasn’t the little favorite of everyone now. But he didn’t tell anyone and brushed it off.

And now he was even more worried. Because the more younger ones came, no one would pay attention to him. And they’d pay more attention to the younger ones.

And then his mischievous acts wouldn’t be cute anymore, and everyone would see him as a stubborn burden now.