Chapter 7

"Mum was already waiting for us at the door, and as soon as we opened it, and she greeted us with the warmest smile, but I could see through it, there was worry behind her eyes, just as much as there was in our hearts. 

Something wasn't quite right, and I could sense it the moment I stepped into the house. I had no idea what Aaron was thinking as he walked over to mum and gave her the warmest, tightest hug. "Hi mum," he greeted, "are you okay? Have you been well?" 

"Yeah, yeah," she replied, "I've been great. It's good to see you, I mean I'll be better if you guys visited more often." 

"I was literally here a couple of hours ago but I guess I don't count." I grumbled and mum rolled her eyes.

"Don't be such a drama queen. " she chided.

"Yeah Jazz. Tone down the drama." Aaron concurred and the glare I shot his way was oscar worthy. 

Then he turned to mum with his million-dollar smile, the kind that had my mind drifting back to the strange dream I had last night.

"I've just been very busy with work, you know, but I promise to visit more often."

"Well, you better because I do intend to prepare you the most delicious meals and just spend time with you, you know? I Miss you guys." I cleared my throat at their exchange, wanting some attention for myself as well.

My mum had learned to love Aaron so much that sometimes I couldn't help but feel like a third wheel, even though I was her daughter. I couldn't really blame her though,  Aaron was charming, or at least he pretended to be. And unless one was perceptive like me, it was hard to see through his acting. Thankfully,  I had figured him out a long time ago and I now knew him for the asshole that he actually was.

"Jasmine, how are you?" She greeted me at last.

"I'm fine," I replied, forcing a smile but .um didn't seem convinced. Maybe my smile would have been more genuine if she had asked me how I was a long time ago and not spent the last few minutes dotting over Aaron.

"Yeah mum, she's fine." Aaron chimed in and I wanted to beat him with a stick.

Still, I couldn't help but find it a little annoying that he called her mum so comfortably, even though I still struggled with referring to his dad as my dad. I mean, don't get me wrong, Aaron's dad had been everything my father, my real father, hadn't been. He was kind, he was present, and more so, he cared about me. But for some reason, it still felt like a struggle whenever I did manage to call him dad, because the man would always insist on it. It felt like I was committing some sort of crime, and I always felt guilty. But I knew that I was making progress, you know, especially since his last birthday when I had given the most emotional speech that left more than a few people teary eyed.

"Are you sure you've been well?" Mum asked, giving me a once-over from my head to my toes, the kind of look that made me feel somewhat self-conscious.

 "Yeah, mum, I'm fine. I mean you saw me like a couple of hours ago, what could have possibly come wrong in that time?" 

"Yeah, ah, I guess you are right," she replied, sounding unsure. Mum seemed unsure about a lot of things these days, and that kind of bothered me, but I didn't want to dwell too much on it, so I asked instead,

 "Where is dad? Is he in his room?"

 "He is in the study actually," she replied, and Aaron and I exchanged looks. 

"He said he wanted to see us, so we are just gonna go up and check on him," Aaron explained to mum. 

"Oh, did he now?" She asked, a distant look in her eyes

"Yeah, he did. But he didn't say why. Do you know why?" I asked, trying to get a hint so that we could at least be prepared before going in. 

Ah, I...I have a general idea," she replied, "But it's honestly not much to go by. I'm honestly just worried about him. Since he fit back from this trip he just seems different." 

We nodded in understanding. "Don't worry okay, we'll go check in on him. I'm sure its nothing too serious."

She nodded hopefully abdAaron and I made our way towards Dad's study. Aaron knocked gently and let us both in. Dad was sitting behind his desk, typing away at something on his computer. He usually liked to separate work from home, usually because mum insisted, but he seemed to be very busy today, and it felt like an intrusion that we were there. "Hi dad," I said. He didn't seem to hear me the first time. 

"Hi dad, how are you doing? How was your trip?" Aaron said, louder this time, and that seemed to catch his attention. 

"Oh, you are here," he replied, giving us the brightest smile. "I've been expecting you." He declared, closing the laptop and focusing on us.

"Is everything okay?" I asked worriedly, going over to stand beside him. 

"Of course everything is okay. In fact everything is great." He replied, and I searched his face trying to find a hint of deception, but his smile was so genuine, so real, I couldn't find any underlying meaning. 

"Really? you're fine, but...you...you..." I stammered, unable to form coherent words. 

"Your text left us a little worried," Aaron stepped in, and I couldn't help but nod in agreement. 

"Why?" He asked, seemingly genuinely confused. "Is it now a crime to want to see my children?"

 "No, but you said that you were retiring," Aaron continued. "You never entertained thoughts of retirement. Hell, I thought you were gonna work yourself into the grave." 

He chuckled lightly, "i actually thought so too but you see, this trip that I went on has opened my eyes to a lot of things." His face sobered a little before he continued.  "While I was away, I heard about the death of an old friend, and how he spent most of his time working, and he didn't have time to actually live. I don't want to be that person, you know. Also, I got the chance to see the wonders of the world, so many beautiful things, and although that trip wasn't intended to be a vacation, I didn't know when I turned it into one." He paused thoughtfully before continuing. "Oh and for the record, I left some tasks unconcluded because of my impromptu vacay so I'm depending on you two to complete it for me. Anyway, the world is so beautiful, there's so much to see, so much to learn, and I want to experience some of those things before I'm no longer able, and I wanna be able to do that and share that with my family. There's no deeper reason than that for me wanting to retire." 

"So, you just decided to retire because the world is a beautiful place?" I asked, still trying to understand. 

"Does it need to be more deep than that?" He replied. 

 "I guess not." I replied thoughtfully. 

"But still,  you can't just decide to retire, not without a plan. " Aaron pointed out and I couldn't help but agree. 

"Who's going to take over the company? Nobody knows it like you do."

"I wouldn't be too worried about that, not when I have to smart and talented children who can do anything they put their minds and hearts to. "