Obsessed

6

The park bench let out a small creak as the man sat down on it and slowly leaned forward to grab the infant out of his stroller. Zach wore his little scowl, a look of complete discontent. The previous night he was crying his lungs out because he wasn’t with his mother, but now he resorted to just frowning at everyone and everything. Occasionally he’d smile or coo at the mention of her name but other than that, he was silent and grumpy.

“Aw come on now, buddy. No squeals no nothing?” Anton asked as he adjusted the baby in his arms and fixed his hat over his curls and adjusted his little sweater. Zacharias cut his eyes at his dad and then looked ahead again doing a small stretch and sucked on his pacifier like Anton didn’t say anything.

Anton looked at the small baby with a look of amused disbelief and shook his head. “You may have my face but you definitely have your mother’s sass.” He chuckled as he stroked the baby’s cheek with his finger. Zach huffed and turned his face away from his dad.

Anton let out a sigh. “I know, buddy. I miss her too.” He said and kissed his cheek and then set him back in the stroller. “We’re gonna search for her now. If we don’t find her, that’s a good sign yea?” He smiled at the baby who only glanced at him then did a small stretch and closed his eyes with a huff.

Anton started to push the stroller to where the crowd was beginning to form, but he stopped to look over his shoulder. He had the eerie feeling that he was being watched. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and he felt really uneasy. The same feeling he gets when he’s around Iliana when she has one of her episodes. It was like the source of the issue was there.

He turned around fully to see no one there at all. Just a lone leaf falling from the tree and onto the ground below. He took a deep breath and then let out a shaky breath and turned ahead. “Anton, you okay?” A female asked. He jumped a bit at her sudden appearance.

“What kind of question is that?” He asked rather shortly as he looked at her. Naomi was a female of short stature, barely two inches above five feet. She had fiery red curly hair that seemed to have a life of its own as it whipped in the wind. She had soft doe like brown eyes. Her face and nose was riddled with freckles.

She puffed out her cheeks. “Sorry, I mean you were just zoned out for a bit. I was just checking on you.” She mumbled as she zipped up her jacket. Anton clenched his jaw. “Just thought I saw something.” He said as he let down the shade on Zach’s stroller to block the wind from nipping at him which resulted in a disgruntled screech and Naomi lifted it to find the baby glaring up at her.

“Hey, sweet boy. Why you so angery?” She asked as she rubbed his cheek and he turned his face away from her but had a look that dared her to let down the shade again. “Holy shi-taki mushrooms. He has Lia’s glare perfected and how old is he? Like four months?” She asked.

Anton’s expression softened a bit when she said that and he nodded. “Stole her sass and then some. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when he’s older.” He chuckled and looked down at Zach who was looking up at the sky now.

“A whole handful and a half.” She chuckled as she looked at Anton with a smile and started to walk alongside him. He smiled a bit at her words and looked over at her and then furrowed his brows. “Wait- didn’t you just have twins? Why are you out in this weather?” He asked as he pulled the hood of her jacket over her head.

Naomi and Anton had a very platonic relationship. They argued and spoke as if they were siblings, so he had those moments where he felt like he needed to scold her for doing something so idiotic. Especially when the news of how her twins were conceived. He let her have an earful.

“If you think for one moment that I’d be sitting on my ass when my sis is stars knows where then you’re in for a rude awakening. I can’t just sit home. Plus Val and his boyfriend are watching them for me so they’re in good hands.” She said as she rubbed her hands together.