Emery
We fell into an awkward silence once again as we sipped from our teacups at the same time. I don’t know why, but I was quite disappointed with his answer. For some reason, I was hoping that Amelia’s pregnancy was a whim and Devyn wasn’t his child.
I was actually quite surprised when he confirmed that Devyn is his son because they don’t resemble each other at all. While Kairo had cold blue eyes and dark hair, Devyn had light blonde hair and honey-colored eyes. The child didn’t even look like Amelia, his eyes were wide, and his lips were small, different from Amelia’s sharp eyes and wide lips.
Shit, why am I thinking like this? Why am I analyzing their family? I should be happy for the both of them since they’re still together after a long time.
“That’s great,” I answered after a long time. I glanced at the two children playing on the floor and smiled. “He looks like a good kid
Emery“What are you doing here, Kairo?”He scratched the back of his head and looked at me sheepishly, “Uhm, I followed my mom here because she’s been going out frequently these days. She always says that she has some important matter to attend to, and I wanted to see it for myself. I didn’t expect to find you here as well.”I looked at Luna Lilinana for help. I hope that she can get my signal and send her son home.She went beside me and said, “Okay, now that you see what I’ve been up to, then you can go home.” She tried to push Kairo out of the door, but that really wasn't possible because Kairo’s strength was incomparable to hers. “Don’t be a stubborn child and go do your work. Don’t you have a lot of work to do?”He shook his head, “No, I don’t really have much work today because I finished them all last night. I think that I can stay here f
Arlo It was my second day of school, and I didn’t want to go. I don’t want my classmates asking where my real daddy is again. I didn’t tell my mommy about the other kids asking because I didn’t want her to be sad. That’s why I still went to school even if I didn’t want to, to make my mommy happy. My mommy dropped me off at the gate where Teacher Logan was. I greeted him with a bow and went inside the classroom. When I went to my seat, Prince was no longer sitting beside me. I looked around the room and saw that he was already sitting in the front seat. He turned back to me and stuck out his tongue. I frowned. Why would he do that? I didn’t do anything bad to him. I heard him talking to his friends, and I became even sadder. “My mommy told me not to sit next to kids without daddies. She says that they are bad.”His friends nodded while looking at me. I bowed my head down because I didn't like the way they were staring at me. I w
EmeryThe tension was so thick; it couldn’t be cut by a knife. We sat side by side, our children next to us, and none of us looked at each other nor spoke. Logan must have sensed the heavy atmosphere, so he cleared his throat and started explaining the full details of the occurrence.“I’m sorry for interrupting both of your lunches, Miss Emery and Miss Amelia, but I believe that this problem will only be truly solved with the presence of both parents.”“Damn right, you interrupted my lunch.”“It’s no problem.”The both of us spoke at the same time, causing us to look at each other. But, I quickly broke the stare-down because we were here for a different reason. We weren't here to fight.“So I was saying, this recess time, Arlo was found pushing three children down on the ground. I was only planning on calling Miss Emery, but Devyn insisted th
EmeryAll in all, we’ve had a peaceful week ever since Amelia and I’s encounter last Monday. Kairo hasn’t been pestering me since last week, as well. There was a small part in my heart that missed his presence, but it’s probably just a fruit of my tiredness.That’s right. I’m just tired. How can I miss that bastard when I’m in my right mind?Right now, I’m cooking up some Tanghulu. If you didn’t know, Tanghulu originated from China, and they roughly translate to “candied fruits.” I woke up earlier than usual today to prepare the food that Arlo will be taking on his field trip. I heard he wanted me to cook some Tanghulu so that he could share them with Devyn.I smiled as the sugar boiled into the perfect color and texture, clear and viscous. I coated the juicy and vibrant fruits in the hot and sweet syrup and left them to dry on the rack. In the meantime, I prepared some sandwi
Emery “I’ll go. I’ll go with Emery.” I choked on the water that I was drinking, causing the liquid to splatter on Arlo. “Mommy!” He whined. “Sorry, sorry.” I turned to Kairo. “What did you just say?” He shrugged nonchalantly as if he just didn’t make an outrageous suggestion. “Let’s play. Together.” He motioned at the two of us. I looked at him incredulously. “I thought you said you didn’t want to play and that you’re not dressed for the occasion? Did you already forget about it?” He cleared his throat and appeared ignorant, “That was a while ago. I’m all loosened up now. And Devyn wanted to watch me go and play, right Devyn?” He nudged at the innocent child. Devyn looked confused but nodded regardless. That was totally forced! “I’ll just go with Logan,” I said while crossing my arms. Logan smiled and prepared to lead me to stand up. “Well, I want to participate now,
EmeryThe four of us walked in pairs toward the photobooth— Devyn with Kairo, then Arlo with me. The photographer gestured for us to come over, so I urged Kairo and Devyn to go first.However, the photographer insisted that we pose all together for the family picture.“Oh, what a beautiful family you have! I wish my husband looked even half good as you.” She chuckled. “And look at these little cuties! This boy is so pretty!" She squeezed Devyn's cheeks. "And you, little sir, look just like your father.” She pointed toward Arlo.My eyes widened, “Ah—We—Umm, we're separate families so we’d like to have separate pictures, please.”“Ooh, trouble in paradise?" She nudged Kairo. "That’s no problem! You could reconcile here. Come, come, we don’t have all day. We got to take your picture now, so I could print them right away before you go ba
Emery I was biting my nails and bouncing my leg while waiting for Luna Liliana to come to our house. I sent her the location of the cottage, and we were now waiting for her to arrive. Arlo was sitting next to me, holding my hand. He must have sensed that something was wrong. I squeezed his hands and gave him a forced smile, but he didn’t seem convinced. “Don’t be afraid, mommy. I will fight the monsters for you.” He said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. My anxiety alleviated for a bit as I kissed his cheeks back. “I’m sure that you will, Arlo. I’m sure that you will.” The doorbell rang, and I hurriedly got up from the couch. I opened the door and saw Luna Liliana in her pajamas, standing worriedly in the cold night. Just by the sight of her alone, I broke down into tears. I didn’t even know that I was bottling up such emotion until now. A hand caressed my hair, but it wasn’t Luna Liliana’s delicate and warm hands
EmeryI twisted and turned in my bed, trying to fall into uninterrupted sleep. I pulled the blanket up to my face and breathed in deeply. ‘Come on, sleep. Count sheep. Take deep breaths. That’s right. Fuck.’I removed the blanket from my body and blew away the strands of hair that covered my face. I looked at Arlo next to me. He was sleeping deeply, with some drool dripping from the side of his mouth. I smiled and let him be.I carefully and quietly got off the bed and decided to get some fresh air. My throat is parched anyway, so I think a trip to the kitchen could help me sleep better. I wore my soft bunny slippers and went down to the kitchen.I fetched some warm water from the dispenser and drank it all in one go. Ahh, that feels good. I closed my eyes and relished the warm liquid streaming down my throat.“You’re still up?”I choked, causing me to cough. The person