Dad Next Door: Volume 1 (Under Editing Soon)

Five

The sky is dipped in indigo shades, stars twinkling and the slither of the silver moon shines brightly down, almost enough to brighten up the roads, especially when the street lights are so poorly shining. 

I pull up outside the house, seeing mum's Mini Cooper parked up outside. I trudge up the stairs and inside, kicking off my shoes and throw off the trousers, dumping them in the bin. 

I had to walk around with a hole in my trousers. I placed my apron back to front to hide it but knowing that it was there was humiliating to me. Poppy kept bringing it up and I just wanted the floor to swallow me up. 

I skip up the stairs to find mum sitting with her legs to the side of her, stroking Darcy's forehead as she sleeps, all of youngens asleep. Natalie is cuddled up to her teddy, Robin has his arms outstretched above him and Darcy is snoring softly.

"Hey mum," I quietly say, coming into the room more and bringing Robin's blanket up further, kissing his forehead. He turns his head the other way in his sleep. 

"Hey sweetheart, all okay at work?" She asks, giving me a smile. I come over and peck her cheek. 

"Besides a creep of a man making me split my trousers, everything was fine. How were the kids?"

She nods, looking back down to Darcy. "All are well, Robin had pasta chicken at lunch and a yogurt after, ate it all. Natalie did well in her dance class, her elastic in her ballet slipper snapped off though, I didn't know what type of thread to use so I didn't mend it, sorry. They all helped me make the lasagne, there's some left over for you in the fridge."

I nod along, giving her a weak smile. "Thanks, mum. I don't know how I can repay you for all the help you've given."

She waves me off. "Stop with that talk, I'm more than happy to look after and spend time with my grandchildren! Now go get something in you, you must be starving!"

I help her up off the floor and I leave the door slightly ajar, walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. 

"I'll see you soon, love you." I give her a tight hug and release her. 

"Text me if you need anything. Bye, love." And with that, she's gone.

It's silent. Too quiet that I can hear the slight ringing of the sound of silence. You ever get that? Where when everything is so quiet, it's like silence has a noise itself, a ringing almost in the ear. Yeah, that. I switch the telly on in the front room, turning the channel to Spongebob, just to have some background noise. 

I heat up the lasagne and quickly scoff my face, washing up and tidy up a bit before getting ready for bed.

...

The morning routine is the same as every morning, yet Robin had a tantrum because he wanted to wear the dress Darcy is wearing. I promised him we could go to the shop later and pick one up in his size, just to keep him satisfied. 

I get to my other work at the packing place, thankfully no sign of Louis, I mean, he wouldn't find this place, they wouldn't even let him in so if he really is stalking me, he'll just have to wait outside. 

Packing for a small business is nice. There's only a few people that scatter the grounds, we can listen to music all we want and at break time, Sarah mainly brings some sort of treat for us all. Today, it's Krispy Kreme donuts. 

I choose the Lotus Biscoff one, taking a bite whilst sticking bar codes on the back of the cards. 

"So, how did your weekend go?" Janette asks, taking a sip of tea and settling it down with a small thud.