57. Aquarium

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"Marley." The person who placed their hand on my shoulder called, a beautifully warm smile lit up his face as I took him in.

"Louis." Yaser says in a surprised greeting before I could get a word out, a light chuckle leaving his lips. "Small world. What are you doing here?"

The two men embraced each other quickly, Louis' eyes straying to me before his arms opened as more of an invitation. I walked in to him and gave him a hug before he pulled away, calling for someone else that was across the room. He was very loud.

"Phoebe! Come here!" Louis turns back to us as a young girl comes running over, her dirty-blonde colored hair waving out behind her. "Phoebe's been in a funk lately so I decided to take her out to a place I know she loves. Which is here. This makes me an amazing big brother. What's got you two to this place?"

"Well, I'm sure you've heard of Marley's work ethics." Yaser answers. I haven't spoken yet, but I smiled down at Phoebe who had a fistful of her brothers shirt. "I wanted to bring her to a place I know she'd love. She misses the marine animals she's used to working with in Florida."

"How nice of you." Louis chuckles. "Being a good father, I assume?"

"Awh, Lou." Yaser sighs, an embarrassed chuckle leaving his lips as he rubs the back of his neck. "You know how all this came to be. You know she isn't mine."

"Nonetheless, it sounds like you're treating her like a daughter." Louis looks over at me and my eyes meet his. "He is being nice, right? You can tell me if he isn't."

"Oh, yeah?" Yaser challenges playfully before I could answer. "What are you gonna do if her answer isn't what you want?"

"I'll have to beat you at another arm wrestling match, Mr. Malik." Louis answers with a dead expression on his face.

"He's being an amazing father," I say. "Figure. Father figure." I quickly correct myself.

"Good on ya." Louis says, patting Yaser on the shoulder. "So, how's the rest of the family?"

"We all love Marley." Yaser says with a proud fatherly smile. "And I think she loves us, too."

"Of course I do." I answer with a soft chuckle.

"Patricia included?" Louis asks, his blue-ish green blended eyes watching my face for any immediate reaction.

I parted my lips to answer, but I look away from him instead. My hatred toward Patricia is still on the shore of confusion right now and I'm almost positive that its because I'm in such a great mood lately.

"We'll see on that." I finally answer, giving a soft smile.

* * *

We spent an hour with Louis and Phoebe, and she never unclasped her hand from her brothers shirt since he introduced her to me. She would smile up at me, but when I found her doing it, she'd look away as if she's been observing the marine life all along.

"Are there any marine shows here?" I ask Yaser, interrupting the conversation he and Louis were sharing. I wasn't quite ready to leave just yet and we were heading toward the exit.

"Marine shows?" Phoebe asks, peeking up at me. "What do you mean?"

"Well," I start, watching her with slight amusement because I finally brought up something she found an interest in. "I was mainly asking if this Aquarium holds a live entertainment around here, if they taught the animals any commands and tricks so they can perform in front of crowds."

"Oh," She looks away from me shyly and sighs. "I wish. They only have a part of the aquarium where you can hold some of the critters."

"Is it as cool as you make it sound?" I ask Phoebe, causing her to give a tiny giggle.

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