The Tournament of Queens

Chapter 7: Missing Person

Matthew lay in bed, the warm sun gracing his face. A warm body held tightly to his arms as her curved figure melted perfectly into his. He smelled a waft of his wife's sweat from last night's previous activities. This was all he could ever ask for. This is where he was meant to be.

He had 10 more minutes before his and his wife's alarms went off. He would cherish this moment before the chaos of the day started. Matthew smushed his face into his wife's soft curly hair and drifted back into a half-awake slumber. The sound of the alarm when it went off did not do much to awaken him. Yet his wife's warm body leaving his side did.

"Matthew, will you wake up the kids this morning? I have to get my portfolio together before my meeting,"

Matthew grumbled as he threw the sheets over his head already missing the once quiet morning. He knew his wife's work was important though so he untangled himself from the sheets and stretched making to show off his muscular form (growing dad bod) to his wife. After making sure she enjoyed the show Matthew threw on some shorts and walked out of their shared room.

"Wake up!" he yelled as he banged on his children's doors

From the other side, he could hear the grubbling and creaking of beds. He continued his loud shenanigans until all three kids groggily made it out of their room. And thus started their daily routines. His oldest daughter would always snag the bathroom first. His son would always be the last to come out of his room and usually only with his pajama bottoms on.

His youngest daughter would always bolt downstairs and demand a fresh plate of pancakes. How could he say no to her cute face? So while his older kids got ready he made pancakes with his youngest. Once the other two deemed themselves ready for school they came downstairs and ate the pancakes with their father and sister.

Alejandra would always come downstairs and snag a few pancakes before wishing her family good luck for the rest of their day. Once the kids were done eating Matthew found his wife and announced his departure.

"Im off to work, good luck on your meeting today, make sure Clara gets to daycare on time," he said before he kissed his wife lovingly

"I forget Clara once and now it always, don't forget Clara,"

The two laugh as they remember the incident when Alejandra forgot to take Clara to daycare and was surprised to find her four-year-old daughter asleep in her back car. Matthew and Alejandra shared one last kiss before rushing out of his house with his two eldest.

"Lunches," Alejandra enounced as Matthew started his car

He grabbed his children forgotten lunches and gave his wife one last kiss before he hopped into the car and gently threw the lunches at his kids. Before he knew it his two eldest were at school and he was back at his nine-to-five job. Matthew is an insurance broker. Very eventful. Sometimes Matthew liked his job because of its relaxed schedule giving him plenty of time to be with his family.

As well as the pay is good. But he could not say that he enjoyed the repetitive nature of the job. But if it meant Alejandra could pursue her passion in building architecture then he would put through with this mostly boring job. It wasn't like he gave up his hopes and dreams for his family though. When he and Alejandra got pregnant at the young age of 17 she made sacrifices too.

She held off her dream of going to college and exceeding in her dream career while Matthew went on to become a pro hockey player. He did that for a while before an injury to his knee made him realize that he had lived his dream and now it was time for Alejandra to do the same. So with the satisfaction of a successful hockey career, he stepped aside to find a job that would allow him more time to spend with his family. Alejandra finished college when they found out they were pregnant again with their youngest.