Chapter 15 Meeting at the Park

    Outside the park near Lena’s apartment, Vincent had just stopped the car in the parking lot.

  It wasn’t a pleasant drive considering there was a weird boy who refused to speak, sitting in the backseat. Surely, it saved Vincent’s trouble of trying awkward conversations. Still, Vincent felt uncomfortable being under the same roof with his son, who was practically a stranger to him.

  He held his breath the whole time, and finally felt relieved a little when the park popped into his anxious eyes. After parking the car, he got off first and then walked around to the backseat to open the door for Charlie.

  The boy had been sitting there quietly all the time, holding that small teddy bear in between his hands. After Vincent pulled open the door, he raised his head and stared at his father’s face.

  It somehow made Vincent feel restless again. He cleared his throat with a cough and then said, “Get out.” His voice was harsh, even rude due to his nervousness.

  The boy didn’t get scared. He was too excited about meeting his sister. He lowered his head and started to fumble the buckle of the safety seat with that bear still in his hand.

  That was when Vincent realized what a shitty father he actually was. He didn’t know he needed to use the safety seat to take a boy out, and he didn’t even realize Charlie was too young to unbuckle himself.

  A torrent of shame burned his heart. He clenched his fists, and then bent over and helped the boy unbuckled.

  Charlie then slipped out of the car carefully with that bear still in his hand. The strange, noisy environment of the city was new to him and kind of scary. The boy had never seen so many people walking, talking, and laughing around him all together at the same time in his whole life. After Vincent closed the car door and turned, he immediately grabbed the hemline of Vincent’s blazer again.

  Vincent lowered his head with a frown and then saw the boy’s big brown eyes and the flustered fear inside them. He couldn’t help but press his lips. An Alpha wolf should never feel such things as fear. The boy would be sucking at being a leader. But on second thought, it was kind of his fault for having Charlie being Charlie. Hadn’t he been absent from the boy’s life for 4 years, things might have developed differently.

  He sighed, and then took the boy’s hand off his clothes and held it in his big palm. The boy’s little hand was cold, sweaty, and surprisingly tough. It wasn’t a lump of soft meat as Vincent had assumed, but a distinct human hand with clear bones and an unfamiliar temperature.

  It was a symbol of a person, a being who could think, feel, and act as he did. And it was blood-related to him.

  At that very moment, Vincent suddenly felt the barriers between him and Charlie dissipate. He realized Charlie wasn’t weird or an alien. He was just like him, a vulnerable person who needed conversations and to be understood.

  He sighed again, and then smiled at the little boy.

  The fear in the boy’s eyes instantly faded. He smiled back shyly at his father. Vincent then said “Let’s go find your sister”, and then held the little boy’s hand to walk inside the park.

  He and Angela had scheduled to meet at the north of the park where the children’s playground was located. When he and Charlie arrived, Angela wasn’t there yet. They stood in the shadow beside a colorful bounce house and waited.

  About two minutes later, the little girl showed up from the opposite direction of the road with a blue schoolbag on her shoulders and her nanny holding her hand.

  She instantly raised her arm and waved her little hand to Vincent when she saw him. Vincent waved his hand back. He felt Charlie grabbing his hand a little tighter when the girl showed up.

  After about one more minute, Angela finally stopped in front of them with her nanny. She raised her cute little face and spoke to Vincent first. She said “Good afternoon, Mr. Lanton”, winking her left eye at the same time, implying him to play along with her.

  Vincent couldn’t help but smile and said, “Good afternoon. It’s very nice to meet you, Angela.”

  Angela introduced him to her Nanny, Chloe, and then locked her eyes with the little boy standing beside Vincent. They smiled at the same time without saying anything when their eyes met in the air.

  Vincent quickly introduced, “This is Charlie, Angela. Charlie, This is…Angela.” He didn’t mention “sister” or “brother” again in the presence of the nanny.

  Angela just smiled, kept looking at Charlie.

  Her brother looked exactly as she remembered, with short black hair, and big brown eyes. He was a little taller than her but thinner. And his eyes, they looked so beautiful but so shy, and frightened. She then knew whoever took him didn’t take good care of him.

  She then reached out her little hand to the boy, and said, “Come on.”

  Charlie hesitated for like one second, and soon took his hand out of his father’s grip and then held the little girl’s hand instead.

  When their hands touched, they both stretched their smiles to a teeth-showing grin. No word was spoken at that moment, but they had already deeply understood each other.

  Angela raised her head and asked Vincent, “Can we play at the sandbox, Mr. Lanton?”

  Vincent was still in shock that Charlie had just held a stranger's hand, but he quickly nodded his head, and said, “Of course. Call me if you need anything. I will be right here.”

  Angela then nodded her head, and then led the boy, walking toward the sandbox.

  They found a quiet corner where nobody was around, and then sat there. Angela took the schoolbag off her shoulders, placed it in between her and her brother, and then unzipped the zipper.

  She fumbled out the name tag first, and then handed it to her brother.

  “Here you are,” she said, and then added explanations, “It’s mom’s handwriting and I hid a photo of mom and I on the back.”

  The boy took the name tag and started to stare at the name on it. He was way too nervous to take the photo out to see what his real mom looked like.

  Angela had already fumbled out a toy wolf. It was the same toy she gave Lena that night. She put it into the schoolbag secretly this morning.

  “It has mom’s smell,” she passed it to her brother too, and then asked, “I need something from you. Mom needs your smell to sleep.”

  The boy took the wolf, and then passed the teddy bear to his sister. He liked the bear. It was the first gift he got from his father, but he knew his mom needed it more.

  Angela took the bear, and pouted. It got her father’s smell too. She didn’t want her father to be near her mother right now, but it was better than nothing.

  “Okay. I guess we can switch it later,” she said, and then took the other things out of the schoolbag.

  The boy saw crayons, colored pencils, notebooks, a water bottle, and some packed snacks Angela put inside behind Lena's back. Those things weren’t as fancy as the boy had already had. The crayons had so much less color. But he liked it so much more because it smelled like his mother and sister.

  “Starting from tomorrow, you are going to the same kindergarten with me. Then we can discuss how to get Mom and Dad back together,” Angela said. She kind of ordered, knowing her brother would listen.

  The boy nodded his head. It had been so long since he kept that status. He had already forgotten he could speak.

  Angela didn’t rush him. She knew her brother needed more time. She then put those stationery and snacks back into the schoolbag, and then asked, “Is she still with you?”

  The boy shivered after hearing that question, but he quickly shook his head, giving his sister a negative answer.

  Angela stared back at her brother’s watery brown eyes. She knew he had suffered, and she felt angry about it.

  “Don’t worry. I will get you back to Mom soon. I swear,” she said, and then reached out her arms to give her brother a hug.

  At the roadside, Vincent felt amazed watching the two kids talk, share, and then hug each other. He had never spent time with kids before. He didn’t know if two kids being friends so quickly was normal or not, but he indeed felt glad that Charlie started to communicate with his peers.

  About a minute later, the two kids broke free from each other. Vincent saw Angela help Charlie carry the schoolbag on his back, and then organized his clothes.

  They then held hands and started to walk back.

  After they got near, they stopped at the same time. Angela raised her little face, and asked, “Can we go to the same kindergarten, Mr. Lanton? It starts tomorrow. My brother wants to go there with me. I’ve already prepared his schoolbag,” she said to Vincent.

  Vincent couldn’t help but smile. The nanny wasn’t around him anymore. He didn’t know why Angela still insisted on calling him Mr. Lanton. It sounded very funny. And the little girl had just made an astonishing request.

  He didn’t reply right away but looked at Charlie first and asked, “You want to go to the same kindergarten with Angela?”

  Charlie quickly nodded his head. His other hand was holding the strap of the schoolbag tightly, and his eyes were filled with excitement.

  Vincent then nodded his head. Normally, they wouldn’t send pups to human schools. The others in the pack would ask questions. But what the hell, he was already an insane person making insane decisions. Not to mention that Charlie looked really happy with Angela.

  “Alright then,” he smiled at the little girl, and then asked, “Tell me the name of your kindergarten. I will have Charlie enrolled by the end of the day.”

  Angela told him the name, and then asked, “Can I take my brother to play the slide now, Mr. Lanton?”

  Vincent smiled again and nodded his head, saying, “Sure.”

  Angela then helped Charlie take off the schoolbag and passed it to Vincent.

  She smiled at him and mouthed “Thank you” to Vincent when he took the schoolbag and then quickly turned and ran off with her brother.