A Surprise ⇢ Callum Ilott

NINE

The next morning Catherine arrived at her parents; it was her dad's birthday. She arrived on her own. George offered to pick her up and give her a ride to their parents, but he decided to bring his girlfriend to the birthday party last-minute. Catherine didn't mind to travel on her own, she could zone out in her own world and process yesterday's date.

She and Callum had a good time together; they talked a lot, laughed and just enjoyed the presence of each other. It really clicked between the two young adults. There was no next date planned, but she would love to go on a second date when it came to Catherine.

Catherine entered the house via the backdoor at the kitchen and took off her shoes; it was raining and walking in the house with wet shoes was a crime to Catherine's mother. When she heard people talk, she knew she was the last one to arrive. Catherine took off her coat and walked to the living room.

"Hello," Catherine said and smiled. She greeted her family with a hug, letting her dad wait for last. "Well, old man, happy birthday," she said to her dad.

"Thank you, Ted," her dad said.

Catherine gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. "How does it feel to be old?"

"Amazing," he sarcastically said and painfully smiled.

She laughed and padded his shoulder. "That's the spirit."

"We know you told us explicitly that you didn't want any presents," Cara said, the older sister of Catherine. "But this is a special age, so get a special gift from the four of us."

"No, I'm not accepting it," dad stubbornly said.

"You better do accept it," Benjy, the older brother, said and walked to the hallway. He grabbed the present. "We all think it is beautiful..."

"It is art," George added, impressed.

Benjy nodded. "This is what you call art," he seriously said but smiled cheekily. "Anyway, you have been talking about it a lot, and we wanted to do something special. Happy birthday, dad."

Everyone looked at their dad with a smile on their face when he unwrapped the present. It wasn't their dad who was nervous for the gift, but their mum was more nervous; she had no idea about the present.

"The looks on your faces makes the present promising," dad said when he saw his four children widely smiling. He removed the wrapping paper and looked at the printed photo in the photo frame. "Oh, goodness," he mumbled, and his eyes filled with tears. It was a side portrait of his four children; Benjy, Cara, George and Catherine.

"Beautiful," their mother said and looked at the portrait.

"This is why I didn't want any presents." Their dad was fighting against the tears; he was getting emotional. "Thank you so much," he whispered and looked at his children. "It's gorgeous."

"You are very welcome, from us all," Benjy smiled.

Mum looked at Benjy. "Is it your work?"

"Yes," he proudly said. "It was a challenge to make it work. Right, Ted?" Benjy looked at Catherine with a teasing look. "But it is one of the most beautiful works I have made because it is for dad and it is with Cara, George and Ted."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Why always me?"

"You couldn't stop giggling or being annoying. Even the kids are less annoying than you," Cara shot to her little sister.

Catherine straightened her face and looked her dead in the eyes. She mouthed 'fuck you' and looked back at her dad. "Anyway, it was a whole operation to keep this a secret because you kept talking about new portrait photos of us. And we were like: we have new portraits," Catherine said. "But we couldn't say it."