One and Only

Chapter 43

Avaa POV
It wasn't a long drive to IHOP, so after a short car ride, we were parking. Koda and the triplets climbed over the middle row of seats and over their younger siblings to get out of the car. And once I was out, I unbuckled Kheris and Kior from their car seats, while Khalil got Kapri's car seat.

"Everybody out?" Khalil asked from the other side of the car and the kids let out a unanimous "yes" and we made our way into the restaurant.

The kids walked ahead and me and Khalil trailed behind them. When we have family gatherings or outings that aren't at our house, we're usually the last to show up and it's been that way ever since I had the triplets, but this time we were one of the first arrivals, after our parents and a few others. Kheris saw my mom and dad first and took off toward them with the rest of her siblings quickly following.

"Hiii babies" my mom said greeting my kids and giving them kisses on the head. Even after all these years and regardless of how old they got, she still calls all of her grandkids her 'babies'. They all replied and moved on to my dad and then Khalil's parent's, repeating a similar process.

"Hey mom" I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek that she leaned into.

"Hey baby, hey Khalil" she greeted while taking Kapri out of her car seat and soon enough, they were in their own little world, so we moved on.

"Hey y'all" we said to my dad and Khalil's parents, interrupting their conversation.

"Hey, how's the party planning going?" Ms. Vita asked.

"Planning is going fine...except the fact that it's seconds away from being a party for one triplet" Khalil said, shaking his head. By now all the kids had found their way to another table and gotten settled, so I didn't bother attempting to gather all 9 of us at one table.

"Why, what happened?" Mr. Joe asked with suspicion- I'll bet he already knew the answer.

"Them boys...all three of them" I said.

"Yeah...had the nerve to break the den TV this morning throwing the damn ball around" Khalil sighed out.

"Language" Ms. Vita admonished Khalil, "but don't that sound familiar, Joe?"

"Sounds familiar to me" Mr. Joe responded, sharing a look with his wife and Khalil looked between the two of them in confusion.

"My bad Ma, but what are y'all talking about? Me and Sam were angels at that age" Khalil said and his parents bussed out laughing. Even I had to laugh at that statement because I knew he was lying his ass off or simply being delusional, especially considering the way he acts with Jay and Yan as a 37 year old man.

"I heard my name and angel in the same sentence...I agree" Sam added, walking into the section we were seated in with Cassandra beside him and their daughter Zari in his arms.

"See Ma?" Khalil said, using his brother's agreement as proof.

"I mean, if that's what y'all wanna believe, go on ahead. But I distinctly remember the both of you breaking many a thing in my house at the boys' age...even a TV once" Ms. Vita said after her laughter died down.

"So do I, so give them boys a break...they're just babies, son" Mr. Joe added and this time it was Khalil scoffing.

"First off, you beat mine and Sam's behinds whenever we did some mess like that. Plus, they're not babies Pops. They are almost 10 and 8, old enough to know right from wrong and to follow directions, especially considering me and Avaa were the ones teaching them this stuff" Khalil ranted and he was right.

We know better than anyone what those kids know and what they don't know because we taught them. Now it'd be very different if Kior broke the TV because he's only 3 and actually a baby, but even he knows we don't throw balls in the house.