Unmarked

Chapter 34

Lavina twirled the spaghetti on her fork as she picked at her dinner. Anghi sat next to her while the two girls and their brother sat across from them. Cheshire was still at the stove, cleaning up the dinner she had cooked. And then the door opened. Lavina and Anghi stopped eating and fiddling and looked at each other. Even though he was in the living room, Jasvinder was still quite loud.

"Hey, look. I'm not the one who made this problem." They heard him start. "N- no. No, Jo-, no. Ok hey, listen to me. I got this deal going through you need to fix the house, it needs to be ready. Jonathan I know. Jonathan, Jon-." He was quiet for a second. "Look, Jonathan. I've got my kids here for the week, mk, so you need to deal with this issue, swiftly and promptly. I expect the next time you call me it's to say that the job is done and the client loves it." Jasvinder walked into the kitchen and Cheshire gave him a hug and a kiss.

"How was your day, honey?"

"Oh, it was... something." She handed him a plate and he sat down next to Lavina.

"Oh, Jasvinder." Cheshire said, walking over to him. "Not so fast, dear." She tuked a napkin into his collar. "You don't want to ruin your suit now."

"Yes, thank you."

"So-" Lavina started. "Are you back for the night? Are we going to do something today?"

"Oh, yes sweetheart. Just as soon as I change out of my clothes here. We can um, go do something, yes?"

"Alright, we'll be waiting." Just then they heard a boom in the near distance.

"What was that?" Anghi asked, looking out the window.

Jasvinder sighed, "It's from Stoneage City." He started. Jasvinder looked over to Cheshire. "It's getting closer now, huh? You think she escaped?"

"Maybe, but they have the best person on the job, it'll be fine." Jasvinder took off his napkin, whipped his mouth and then got up. Just then his phone rang. He gave off a big sigh. He picked it up and then went up the stairs. Lavina looked to Cheshire.

"Stoneage City is in Utah, right?"

"Yes, it is." Cheshire started to clear the table as her children ran off.

"What's going on over there?" Anghi questioned her.

"Oh, no- nothing too much. There's just a slight situation over there." She laughed. "Don't you two want to go play with your step siblings?"

"Uh, yeah, I suppose we could." Anghi and Lavina left the table and joined their step siblings in the living room. They had the TV on but weren't promptly watching it. "Mind if we join you?" Lavina asked, barely stepping into the room.

"Yeah, come sit." Cherri said, patting next to her. Lavina sat down next to her and Anghi went next to Persimmon.

"Is he like this all the time?" Lavina said, pointing her thumb to the stairs.

"Oh yeah." Peach started.

"We're lucky to see him at all. He works almost all day."

"We see him for dinner and then he goes off to his office until we go to bed. Sometimes we even hear him at night, still working."

"He's not mean to you is he?"

"Oh, no, no. He's really nice. If he works too late he'll come in when he's done and give us a kiss if we're already asleep for the night. He usually remembers our birthdays and tries to spend as much time with us as he can."

"Yeah, you'll see. You'll like him. And he is trying his best. I mean he told us he just got this really big project, and that it's really important too. So he'll probably be working most of the time while you two are here, but that's the norm, especially for a big project."

"But he'll try. As much as he can."

"You want to play?" Persimmon said, looking at them. The twins and their brother were playing Monopoly while they sat on the floor together.

"No thanks." Anghi said, motioning with his hands. "I've never heard of this game." The twins and Persimmon laughed at him.

"You really did grow up in the Market, hm?"

"Uh, yeah, but how do you know that?"

"Our mom grew up under Finland, in Sisu."

"Sisu? They call it Sisu? And your mom is Finns?"

"Yeah, they call it Sisu, since most of them in the part of the Marked Underground were Finns. My grandmother is actually from where you are, the Marked Market system. But my grandfather is from what you could call the Sisu system. But she didn't move here until she was in her late teens, when she went to college in New York."

"Woah, so wait, you all are half Marked?"

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that, why do you think our mom was so knowledgeable about your mom?"

"Are any of you Marked." The twins shook their heads at them.

"I am, but they're not."

"Oh."

"Does it ever bother you?" Anghi asked.

"Nah, not really. But I haven't really wanted to learn. I just got a dog tag and never really bothered with it."

"What is it?" Persimmon shrugged his shoulders.

"I told you I never really looked into it."

"Alright." They heard from the stairs. Jasvinder walked into the living room. "Who wants to go for ice cream?" They all smiled at him but then he shook his finger. "Not you three. Your step siblings are only here for another two days and I haven't spent much time with them. So it's just for you two." He pointed at them. "Grab your shoes, let's go!" He said marching into the foyer. Lavina and Anghi got up, laced their shoes and followed him out the front door.