Appetite For Love

Chapter Six

"Merry Christmas uncle!" Came the sweet voices of the two van den Heever kids.

Argh.

Unfortunately the morning sun was burning Aden's eyes.

"Merry Christmas Aden." It was Heinrich's voice now.

Aden felt terrible. You know: that feeling when you've only slept for a few short hours.

Yes. That kind of horrible.

After he logged off he went right back to check all Aida's pictures and posts.
It was not as creepy as it sounded, just him trying to fill in the blanks.

Aïda had very little pictures about herself, or posts about her private life. A friend, named Zoë, loved to tag her in posts. Those posts had a lot of pictures and information. He needed to thank that Zoë.

He also realised that Aïda loved to stand up for others. She was always promoting some social justice cause.
She had been running in various marathons to raise not only funds but, awareness for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and anti-abortion campaigns. Defending the most vulnerable was her main focus it seems.

He loved that that about her the most. He felt the same.

He always gave to charities that work in rural and impoverished communities. It's not always just about finances, giving your time and love is just as important.

His status as a sports star had allowed him to speak into children's lives. To make them realize that they can come out of their circumstances by using the gifts that God had blessed them with.

He had worked closely with a group of underprivileged youths for years, even though he'd left S.A. He regularly visited them and used social media apps and regular phone calls to check in with them.

Anyway, back to the present.

"Good morning my two angels. Give me a hug," He managed to smile through the sun's rays hurting his eyes.

"Uncle I love my Barbie. Thank you," said an adorable Mariaan.
"Me too, uncle, I love my gift too. I can't wait to play outside with my friends," Edgar announced.

Heinrich took them by their hands.

"Go play in the livingroom okay. Give your uncle time to freshen up," He told his kids.
"Okay," They both agreed.

Aden groaned.

"Freshen up. I don't even want to get out of bed."
"Did you not get enough sleep? It's 08:00 now and you went to bed at midnight, how are you not rested."

He added like a headmaster.

"I had some work to do," A white lie from Aden.

Heinrich rightly did not look convinced, but he let it go.

"Okay. You take your time."

Aden felt guilty now after all it's his own fault that he was feeling that bad.

"No...erm...I'll take a quick shower. I'll help you with the braai, just give me half an hour."
"Okay."

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Church was almost over. It was  probably a good thing, Aïda thought. It was a day of giving, but no-one wanted to give God any of their time. They wanted to be home. Eating.

As is the norm on Christmas day, almost everyone was dressed in new outfits. Church resembled a fashion show and not a place of worship.

The building was full. More so than usual, but that is the norm for Christmas. The aircon saved everyone from the stiffling heat and humidity outside. Momentarily.