I have been watching a lot of Cole&Sav vlogs and they are everything goals. This chapter idea came from them. Just a heads up, I'm pretty sure this event was said to have happened in the books so now I'm just writing it.

Also, my apologies for seeming like I've neglected this story and put my other ones first. This story will actually be one of the main attractions in the near future.


Photo #90: A True Man's Smile

Her heart goes out to Kaden in this one.

Eadlyn was scared at the time and so were Ahren and Kaden. Her and Ahren were actually petrified but at least they weren't the center of the crisis: Kaden was. They were all children and this would typically be a memory that might be at the very back of the mind, but in theirs, it will forever be engraved in it. The blood, the tears - all of it was too much for Kaden to handle at that age, especially since their parents weren't home. But looking at that smile that shines on the glossy photo, Kaden came out as a trooper.

She hopes the same could happen now because at the end of the moment in the photo came the smile that made it.

-o-

It all started with a shriek. A shriek that gave Aspen and Lucy the energy to drop what they were doing prior and rush over to whatever caused the shriek to happen. They found themselves to be on guard for the Schreave children since Maxon and America are currently handling affairs in New Asia and the nanny was prioritizing her time on baby Osten (also because the other three kids were well-behaved on their own and can be left alone from time to time).

Aspen and Lucy end up meeting in the middle of the hallway, stopping in front of a closed door where the shriek must have originated from. They burst through the door and at first glance, they have no idea what is happening but the sight is incredibly concerning: there's Kaden with a splotchy face and tears rimming his eyes, Eadlyn holding Kaden's mouth open as she handles a wad of tissues in there, and Ahren holding a box of tissues while many scrunched up ones are at his feet, spotted with blood.

The three kids look at them in bewilderment as Lucy and Aspen are speechless.

"What is going on?" Aspen asks, walking slower and closer towards them.

Kaden tries to talk but his mouth is full of wadded tissues. Aspen raises an eyebrow and looks at Lucy to see if she got anything from that. Her shrug means that she got nothing. Kaden removes the soaked tissues from his mouth and drops them to the floor.

"Eadlyn was pulling out my tooth," Kaden says.

Kaden smiles, jutting out his lower jaw. He uses his tongue to show Aspen and Lucy his wiggly tooth and it looked like to could just fall right out.

"I was not pulling it, I was tapping it," Eadlyn corrects. "There's a difference."

"You're still a kid, Eadlyn," Aspen tells her. "You could've told us instead of performing dental surgery on your own."

"My mental age begs to differ."

"I was there to stop the bleeding," Ahren says proudly.

Aspen ruffles Ahren's hair as a form of praise. He pulls the twins to the side as Lucy steps forwards to handle the loose tooth situation. Kaden keeps his mouth open for Lucy to examine and she doesn't even have to be a dentist to know that tooth is hanging onto his gums but a thread.

"It looks like it's going to fall right out," Lucy tells him. "It's literally crooked in your mouth."

The tears are forming in Kaden's eyes and Lucy wonders whether or not she should've said those words, despite the obvious.

"Will it hurt?" Kaden asks, trembling a little.

"Of course not," Lucy reassures.

"Think about the tooth fairy," Aspen motivates. "Think about how valuable that tooth is, especially since it's your first! Those are worth the most."

Eadlyn and Ahren nod in agreement with Aspen's words. Despite them already being old enough to know the truth behind the tooth fairy, it still felt nostalgic for them to play along with the childhood innocence of Kaden, especially now when he needs it most.

Lucy cups Kaden's face before taking some fresh tissues from Ahren. Never in her life did she think she would have to do this. Was this a part of parenting? It definitely was. Why couldn't Aspen have volunteered to do this instead? Her guess, it's her dainty hands.

Lucy slowly and carefully wraps the tissues around the tooth. There are so many layers that she isn't sure she has the tooth in her soft grip. Kaden's cries sound like small chokes at this point which scare Lucy a bit. She takes a breath to calm herself down.

"I'm just going to rip the bandage quickly," Lucy tells him.

Kaden nods, giant tears in his eyes that resemble bombs about to blow. Lucy hopes not to trigger them as she wipes her hands on her maid's uniform before going back to his mouth.

"I thought she was pulling out a tooth," Ahren says to Aspen.

"It's a figure of speech," Aspen replies.

Speaking of the twins, they couldn't stand to see their younger brother in that state after trying to help him in the beginning. In order to cope with their own fear and anxiety, they cling tightly on Aspen's legs similar to leeches. Aspen had to admit that for two skinny kids, they had strong grips.

"Luce, could you hurry?" Aspen asks. "The twins are cutting the blood circulation from my legs."

Aspen didn't even realize that during his thoughts about the twins, Lucy already pulled out the tooth. She takes the tooth out of the tissues and puts it in the palm of her hand. Kaden peers over as everyone else joins to look at the tiny tooth. Who would've thought that such a small object could not only be worth a lot to the tooth fairy but also cause so much commotion? This was almost a sense of relief, a stab through the tension that was once there.

"And there's barely any blood!" Aspen cheers. "Did you feel anything?"

Kaden shakes his head and Aspen gently claps his shoulder. "True men shed blood and don't feel a thing."

Kaden still isn't happy about it. "But my smile will be all ugly with a tooth missing from it."

Aspen sees his point and looks at the twins who are still on him. "Go get your dad's camera."

Eadlyn and Ahren nod as they run out to get the camera. Now that his legs are liberated, he walks over to Lucy who still seems a bit shaken from all that. He puts his arm around her and kisses the side of her head to put her at ease. That was a lot for all of them, especially her and Kaden.

"Here," Ahren says, passing Aspen and Lucy the camera.

Lucy takes it and points it at Kaden's face. After forcing him to smile despite his tears, he does; and that little empty space where his tooth once was shines clear. This was a big step for Kaden today and now it will be remembered forever.

"Your smile has never looked better," Lucy says.

"Now, that's a true man's smile," Aspen compliments.

Now, Kaden smiles genuinely this time, sticking his tongue into the empty space and enjoying it.


I used to pull out my baby teeth and they never really hurt.

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Stay Tuned - (I actually have no idea what the next chapter will be since I am planning to publish so many new stories. The next lot of chapters will mostly be used as sneak peeks for those but nevertheless, they will be relevant to this story).