𝑌𝑜𝑢 | 𝐽𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑜

07

"Wow. So this is where Reiss lives?", I ask Jadon, at the front door.

I lean on my suitcase and stand in front of the house.

"Yes. This is where he lives," he says, taking a key from his pocket.

"You even have a key?", I ask, a little surprised.

"Yep. Seems so," he says and unlocks the door.

I look after him, leaning over the suitcase so much that it rolls away a bit, I lose my balance and fall onto the floor.

I quickly get up again, hoping that Jadon hasn't seen me.

But as I stand back up and quickly clean my hands on my pants he is standing in the doorway looking at me.

"Did you just fall over your suitcase?" he asks as he emphasises each word.

"Um no. There... Um... My phone fell down and I quickly picked it up," I say and walk past him as if nothing had happened.

I just hear him laughing behind me but I ignore him.

"Uncle Jadon," two small children suddenly shout, coming running from somewhere in the house.

They jump on him and hug him. They are two boys. Probably twins, because they look exactly the same and they are both probably around 2 years old.

I just look at the three of them in confusion.

"Uncle Jadon?", I then ask him, confused.

"Yes," he replies and goes back to looking after the little boys who are trying to climb up him.

"But how? Who are these kids?", I ask, still confused.

"Wait... he didn't tell you?"

"No? Jadon. Who didn't tell me what? Answer me," I demand of him.

"I don't think I should be the one to tell you about this"

"What the fuck is going on? Please just tell me okay?", I shout and throw my arms up in the air in bewilderment.

"Those are Reiss his kids" he then finally says.

I can't believe what I just heard.

"It can't be. He would have told me about it, wouldn't he?", I ask him again, but he doesn't answer.

"Jadon. Look at me. He would have told me about it wouldn't he?", I ask him again.

I suddenly notice my eyes start to tear up. I don't know why.

I sit down on a bar stool and put my head in my hands.

When I look up again, everyone is still standing in exactly the same place as before.

"It feels like I just walked back into his life and he didn't even want me to. I don't know how to describe it, but none of this feels right. Maybe it would be best if I left again," I say and stand up.

"Hey. No," Jadon says somewhat comfortingly, coming up to me and giving me a single hug.

"Trust me, if he hadn't wanted you to be here today, you wouldn't be here now either. And during the time you were away, he talked about you a lot," he says and pulls away from me again.

I don't know what else to say.

"Hello?" we suddenly hear a call from the entrance.

"Daddy's home," the twins both call at the same time and run to the front door.

A few minutes later Reiss comes into the room with the two in his arms.

I don't know how to act. I could play offended now because he didn't tell me about them. But what good does it do me?

"What are their names?", I ask him then and he looks at me a little apologetically.

"I'm really sorry. I really wanted to tell you about them but I haven't found the right moment to tell you yet," he says, coming towards me a little.

"It's okay Reiss. But what are their names now?", I ask him again and walk a little closer to the little ones.

"They're called Beau and Ciel," he says, pointing.

"Why French?", I ask him.

"Their mother is from France," he says and smiles.

"Those are really two beautiful names," I then say to them both.

"I'll take them both back upstairs for a moment. Probably Celeste is asleep," he says, taking them upstairs.

"Celeste is his wife?", I ask Jadon, turning to him once Reiss is out of sight.

"No, just girlfriend. They're not married yet," he answers me.

"Okay," I just say and nod.

"Here I am again," Reiss says as he walks down the stairs.

The house is really nice. A lot of it is white and everything is open.

"So what else should we do today?" he then asks us again after we have sat down on the couch.

"I don't know," Jadon replies.

"We could go out for dinner tonight or something. I can make a reservation somewhere," Reiss says again and turns on the TV.

"Yeah that sounds good," Jadon says again.

"Yeah for me too. But then can you maybe show me the room first? I'd like to take a shower first," I tell him and get up.

"Our guest rooms are all on the lower floor. Just choose one," he says.

"How many guest rooms do you have?" I call out to him from the hallway.

There are about seven doors here. Which one should I take now?

"Four," he calls again and I just open the first door that is there.

But no. It's a bathroom.

So I open the door right next to it and I'm lucky. It's actually a guest room.

So I go in and put all my stuff in the little chest of drawers next to the door.

I'm surprised that so many things fit into this little suitcase at all.

"Aaya? Are you finally done?" the two of them call me from outside.

I don't know what's wrong with them, it only took me 2 1/2 hours. For me, that's really not long at all.

"I'm already done," I say, a little annoyed, as I come out of my room.

"Aren't Celeste, Ciel and Beau coming to dinner with us?", I ask when I see only Jadon and Reiss at the door.

"No. They didn't want to," he says and opens the door.

"Oh okay," I reply. I hope it's not because of me.

"Let's go then," he says again and all three of us walk out the door.