"I have a letter from Madame Athalena sir."
My secretary places an envelope on my desk. I stare at the envelope with my name. Pain. Anger. Disgust. I am flooded with mixed emotions that are hard to keep contained.
"I shall take my leave then sir."
W...
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LEO
"Thank you." Alena says as I open the door for her and the kids. As soon as they enter, I take a deep breath as I close the door of the pizza parlor.
It's been surreal, being with my kids; getting to know them. Lei and Lucca still seem to be a little weary of me but Laila is starting to warm up to me.
My little princess.
I see two of the kids seat themselves inside one of the booths. Alena, meanwhile, is talking to one of the staff.
"... one more seat please?" I hear Alena say as soon as I'm by the booth.
The waiter quickly complies, putting a seat at the head of the table.
"Mom, take a seat." Lucca says.
With that, Alena seats herself inside the booth followed by Lucca.
This puts me at the head of the table, with Laila and Lei to my right; while Lucca and Alena are to my left.
"One large Hawaiian, one fries platter, one Chicken platter, two Cokes, two orange juices and..?" The waiter says, looking at me as soon as I'm seated.
"Huh?" I say not following what he was saying..
"Add in one large Meatlovers Pizza will you Michael." Alena says looking at the waiter. She then turns to me and asks "What drink do you want?"
The pieces click into place and I come to realize what was happening. "Coke for me as well please." I say, looking both at Alena and the waiter.
As soon as the waiter takes his leave, an awkward silence fills the booth. Alena looks to be replying to a text while the kids are looking at each other, seemingly talking to each other with mere looks.
Idiot! This is your chance. Talk to them. Get to know them.
While I rake my brain for any topic I can talk about Laila suddenly asks "So you and Mom are friends?" Laila says curiously as she places her elbows on the table.
The two brothers also look at me, expectant of my answer. Alena, meanwhile, looks tense.
"Ah ... yes we are" I answer.
"Where did you meet?" Laila continues.
Shit. An interrogation.
"Well ... it was a long time ago..." I say.
"When?" Laila asks expectantly.
"Ahhh ... long ago ... before you guys were born." I say confused at how I am supposed to answer.
Laila nods while replying "Oh okay."
I sigh out of relief. Got past that one.
"But why didn't we meet you before?" Laila continues.
Oh sh*t.
Yes Leo what was the reason again?
Shut up! Stop being sarcastic. Think of an answer.
"Well Laila, that's because—" "Excuse me Ma'am Sir, your drinks." The waiter says interrupting Alena.
"Yes please go ahead." Alena says smiling to the waiter; seemingly glad for the distraction.
As the waiter distributes our drinks, I try to quickly think of a new topic. Think. THINK.
"So Laila do you play a sport?" I ask as soon as the waiter takes his leave.
Laila nods before replying "Yep. Softball."
"Wow, that's nice. How about you Lucca?" I continue, turning to the boy.
Lucca just gives me a shrug as his answer. A pang of hurt pierces my heart but I choose to ignore it. "Lucca is good with a lot of sports but he didn't join any club." Laila responds instead.
"Oh okay." I say. After which, an awkward silence fills our booth. I struggle to think of something to talk about when Lei suddenly says "So Leo what do you do?"
Again, all three kids look at me expectantly while Alena looks even more tense.
"I own a business." I say simply, smiling at the kids. Speaking of which, I now have heirs. I look at each of their adorable faces and wonder which one of them would be interested to follow my footsteps.
"Oh. So what do you do when you work?" Laila continues.
"I ..." I pause thinking of the simplest way to explain my work to the kids; "... boss people around".
"Oh okay. Sounds boring." Lei says while shrugging. Lucca, on the other hand, seems to have his interest piqued.
"Excuse me! Food's here!" The waiter suddenly says from behind me.
"YEYYY!" Lei and Laila exclaim in unison. Lucca meanwhile gets a bottle of hand sanitiser from Alena's bag and offers it to Alena.
As soon all the food is set, Lei grabs a slice of pizza. However, before he can do so, Lucca motions for him to stop and says "Pray first and please clean your hands." He then passes the sanitiser to Lei, motioning him to pass it on when he finishes.
"Okay. Geez you don't have to be so bossy." Lei retorts.
"OKAY! KIDS! Clean up and then lets pray." Alena says to halt the argument.
As soon as everyone has cleaned their hands, Alena says grace.
"Amen!" Laila says. "Itadakimas—"
"WAIT!" Lei suddenly shouts.
We all look at him surprised while he looks at me with a dead serious look on his face.
"Leo?" Lei asks.
"Yes Lei?" My heart starts to beat fast with the sudden seriousness.
"Do you like pineapple on your pizza?" Lei asks seriously. The other two kids also start to look at me with a serious face. At this my heart beats even faster. It feels as if my whole future hangs in the balance. Leo ... get the answer right!
"Ahh ... yes?" I answer.
"Are you sure?" Lei asks with narrowed eyes.
"Yes." I answer, this time with conviction.
He continues to look at me seriously, gauging if I was telling the truth. Suddenly, he gives me a wide smile while nodding as if satisfied with my answer. "Okay! Let's eat!"
Good job, Leo, good job.
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