Wing of a Butterfly

Chapter 26

Chay looked at the plate in his hand and then at the others still on the shelves thinking about how practical it would be to have multiple kinds instead of just buying more than one from the same one. He glanced at the cute little motifs for a moment, before he turned the one he was holding around so he could check the care information, only to freeze as he realised what he was doing.

He turned his head to the side where Kim was holding a multi-coloured plastic thing with a round bowl-like shape in the middle. It looked like a strange frisbee, but as Kim turned it multiple ways, the contraption adjusted in a way that the bowl in the middle always stayed upright.

"What is that?" asked Chay curiously.

"Some kind of anti-spill bowl," replied Kim while frowning. "It says it is good to hold snacks for toddlers." He looked up at the other with a strange face. "Is it too early to buy it?"

"I have no idea." Chay just shrugged and turned around to put the plate into the cart behind them. "Not like we don't have the money or the space for it."

Kim nodded and put the bowl on top of the packages of diapers that they just threw in after confirming that they got the right type and size. It was a little surreal to shop for a baby they only realised existed some hours before, but at the same time it somehow just drove home how much had changed in such a short time.

When Ace confirmed that they were free to take Venice home the next day, after the customary twenty-four hours of observation passed, they panicked for a moment, realising that even if they could do it technically, they weren't ready for it at all. The issue of the room could be handled later as they would need time to clear out the sports equipment, clean and repaint the room, but even without that, they still sorely lacked anything a baby would need. Normally something like that wouldn't have been an issue with the amount of money their family had, but both Vegas and Macau were strongly against delegating the shopping to one of their underlings.

Porsche and Chay found it unreasonable at first, but when Kinn and Kim shared the same opinion with their cousins - and Pete backed them up - the brothers couldn't do anything else but accept the cruel reality that even a newborn wasn't safe in the world the Theerapanyakuns lived in.

So instead of sending out someone to buy the things they would need in the first few days, until the nursery was properly set up, they went out themselves. Porsche and Ace stayed in the hospital with the baby - accompanied by a strangely charmed Kinn - while Pete and Vegas drove to some fancy shop to buy a baby carrier, a crib and some formula. Which led Kim, Chay and Macau to this moment where they tried to get everything on the list that a nurse kindly complied for them.

"Are you alright?" asked Kim, pulling Chay out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, it's just a little strange." Chay pushed the cart a little so they could walk over to the rows of pacifiers. "I think this is the most adult thing I have ever done in my life."

"Well I didn't think I would shop for baby stuff at twenty two either."

The older looked away as he said it but Chay could hear in his voice that he wasn't completely alright with the notion. The man was way too silent ever since he learned about Venice's existence, and it got even worse when Chay started to talk about his plans to wait one or two years before attending the university.

Chay glanced at Kim's back, watching as the man looked at the products offered, then took out his phone to search for something online, before pulling one of the pacifiers and putting it into the cart. Their eyes met for a moment, and Chay wondered if he should ask the other how he really felt about everything that happened in the last few hours, but then Macau came barreling down the aisle, his hands full of baby clothes.