A Surprise ⇢ Callum Ilott

THIRTYTHREE

Catherine put some dirty dishes on the kitchen counter, and she washed her hands. The auntie Ted sleepover party came to an end. The whole family met up at Benjy's new home for a New Years lunch. Everybody got back from their holidays, a way to celebrate the new year. This was probably the last time they would see each other before Catherine and George's birthday.

When walking back to her family, Catherine whistled along with a song on the radio; Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Catherine always was fascinated by the lyrics of the song, it would be the perfect song to listen with her soulmate. A smile curved on her lips; my soulmate...

"...but auntie Ted knows her!" Finn shouted.

All eyes shot to Catherine, she froze right away. "I know whom?"

"You know Saskia! You know her brother Callum, he visited you yesterday!" Finn looked hopeful at his aunt. "Can you ask Callum if Saskia and I can play someday?"

Catherine's eyes widened, and she avoided all the looks she got; shit. "You're really making work from it, aren't you?" She tried to change the subject. "I will look at what I can do, alright?"

"Yes, please!"

George looked betrayed at Catherine, and he frowned. "You saw Callum yesterday?"

"Who is Callum?" Benjy asked, confused.

"Why did he visited you while you had your family over?" Cara added.

Dad nodded, impressed. "Your Callum friend, did you guys made it up?"

"I think I have missed a lot," mum said and looked questionable at her youngest daughter.

It was an overload of questions. Catherine sighed and ran her hand through her hair. How was she gonna handle this now her six-year-old nephew spilt the tea? She licked her lips and showed them a thin smile. "Like dad said, a friend."

The face of George straightened, and he slid the table chair next to him backwards. He pointed at the stool. "Have a seat and update me on this situation," he seriously said.

"Why is this such a big deal? My goodness," Catherine muttered and sat down.

"Because you are our baby sister," Cara stated.

Benjy nodded. "But before we start on this, who is this Callum friend-dude?"

"You know Callum Ilott?" George asked. Benjy nodded. "There you go."

"Wow, wow, wow, you have something with Callum?" Benjy excitedly asked and smiled. "Go on, Ted, tell us about this. This is not just regular tea, this is high tea."

Catherine sighed and looked around, this was just bull crap to her. She started to dislike this situation more and more.

"He means something to her, she's behaving like it," he told everyone.

"Callum is someone I know, and we are having a good time together," Catherine slowly told. If she was honest, she didn't know if this was the proper use of words, but she didn't know how to explain it differently. Did their conversation yesterday really mean everything was cleared, and they would pick up their relationship again? "We had our trouble in the past, but relationships aren't flawless."

George nodded. "So you made up and started talking to him again?"

"Wait, what happened? Were you in a relationship and we didn't know about it?" Cara looked offended at Catherine. "Really?"

"We went on like four dates!" Catherine defended herself, and the heat rose to her cheeks. "And then that stupid accident happened..." Her voice changed to a soft tone. "And I fucked up because I didn't let him know what happened. We didn't see each other from the accident till Bahrain. Callum was obviously angry, and he got all the rights to be angry at me."