The Love Line

Favor

***

Since the graduation ceremony of Fluke's school would be held on Friday, he expected himself to be very busy, so he called Olivia to ask for help.

"Hello, Liv?" she said in a very sweet voice.

"Hi, Phi. How are you? How are the kids?"

"We're fine. Uhm. . . Liv, tomorrow is the graduation of my school, and I would be very busy. I also need the help of Nanny Mari, so no one will take care of the kids, would you be okay to look after them until lunch time?" he asked shyly. "The graduation is only in the morning, so I will be able to get them after that, and we can have lunch together, too. . . but if you're busy, it's okay. . . I don't want to ruin your schedule."

"Ah. . .no, Phi. I would love to spend time with the kids, I miss them, too." She explained. "My appointment at the spa is not until the afternoon. If you want, you can join me at the spa, then let's ask Phi Ohm to take care of the kids, so you could relax , too. You've been very busy these past few days."

He let a sigh of relief "Phew, thank you, Liv! I was having problems thinking with who to take care of my children. Thank you so much, Liv. I owe you big time."

"Don't mention it, Phi. You don't need to worry. They were already my niece and nephew. You already adopted me as your sister, remember?" and the two laughed.

"Oh. . . Wait, will it okay with Ohm? I would love to go with you to the spa, but Ohm might have an appointment on that day. I don't want to be in the way."

"That's okay with him. I will just tell him to have a half day at work tomorrow. Don't worry, he'll do everything for you." she chuckled.

"Alright then. If you say so, but I'll treat you both to a meal, promise."

"It's okay, Phi. . . but if you really want to repay me. . ."

"Anything, Liv. Just tell me."

"Okay. Uhm. . . Can you and the kids go to my graduation on Saturday?"

"Huh? Are you sure?" he asked happily.

"Yes, Phi Fluke. I want you and the kids to be there on my special day."

"I would love to be there, Liv. Thank you so much." he said. "I will just ask someone to send the kids to your house tomorrow. Just send me your address."

"Uh. . . No, it's okay. I'll fetch them. Just text me the address, okay?"

***

Liv calling . . .

"Liv, why are you calling? Do you need anything?"

"I just want to ask if it's okay for you to just have a half-day work tomorrow?"

"Wait for a while, I'll check my schedule. . . uhm. . . afternoon? I just have a lunch meeting . . . then I'm free after that. Hopefully it would be done before one. Do you need me to accompany you? I thought you were going to the spa?"

"Yes, Phi. But, Phi Fluke called. . ."

"He called? Oh, why? Did anything happen to the kids? Is he sick?" he asked in just matter of seconds.

"Phi, calm down. Worried much?" she said chuckling. "Nothing happened to them, they are okay. Inhale. . . Exhale. . . Calm down."

He let out a sigh of relief. "It's your fault, you made me worried. . . I thought something happened to them. . ."

"I wasn't finished yet, Phi. You already panicked. . . Can I say it now? Don't interrupt me, okay? Please. . ." she heard him agreed, so she continued, "Tomorrow is the graduation of their school, and he will be busy, even their house help, so no one will be looking after the kids since they're already on vacation from school. He asked me to look after them in the morning." she explained "Since he has been busy these past few days, I asked him to go with me to the spa. So that's when you're coming," she laughed. "I told him that we can leave the kids to you while we are at the spa. It's okay, right?"

"I don't have any choice, right?" his voice sounded normal, but he was smiling from ear to ear.

"Pfft, if I know, you really like that idea, so you can see Phi Fluke." she teased.

"No!" he was giggling.

"Don't deny it Phi, I can feel your giddiness, it's vibrating through the phone."

"Hmp! I still have work to do. You're disturbing me."

"Oi, oi, oi! Keep on denying it, Phi. . . Okay! I'll see you later! Love you!"

***

The next day, when Olivia arrived at Fluke's house around seven, the kids were already having breakfast. Fluke greeted her and asked her to sit and have her breakfast. Fluke finished her breakfast in just a few minutes.

"Liv, I'll leave these two to you. Do you have any plans? You can just stay here, so you won't have a hard time, or you can go to the park in the village. It's nice there. I'm really sorry, but I really have to go now. If there's any problem, the school is just next to our house, I can come back anytime. Just send me a message."

"Phi, don't worry. I'll ask the kids what they want to do later after their breakfast. We'll be fine, promise!"

"Whoo! Thank you. Just put the dishes in the sink, don't wash the dishes, okay? I'll do it later." he explained.

"Okay, Phi. Go! I'll see you later." she said and gave him a hug. Fluke kissed his children and told them not to give their Aunt Liv a hard time.

The morning went well to all of them. Olivia and the kids decided to go to the village's park with their bikes. They played and ate. Sky taught her some basic sign language, so she could also talk to Sunny, and lo, she was a fast learner. They decided to head home around ten, so the kids could take a shower and prepare for lunch.

Fluke, on the other hand, had the event finished on the said schedule. The kids, along with their parents, left the school with smiles on their faces. The parents were very happy with the surprised performance their kids prepared to thank them.

After all the visitors had left, he sat on the chair and sighed, "Thank God, we're done." he looked at the teachers who were preparing to go home. "Thank you everyone. Next Friday is the releasing of students' cards and other stuff, then we can talk about our outing. Tell your husbands that we have to be complete. They do not have work on weekends, right?"

"Yes, Fluke. Take a rest, baby boy. We've all been busy these past few days. We'll just fix these so we could go home." Alin told her.

"It's okay, Mommy Alin, Nanny Mari and I will do that later. Just go home and rest. Let's meet again next week."

"Are you really sure?" Larry asked and continued stocking the chairs.

"Yup." he said.

"Okay, if you say so. We'll go home then. . . Wait. . . Nanny Mari is here, too. . . Where are your kids?"

"Oh. . . right! I forgot my kids. . ." He suddenly stood up. "Oh my, they might be giving Olivia a hard time. We're going out for lunch, too." He said in a hush.

"Olivia? Who's Olivia? There is a new member in the family that we haven't met yet?" Sam asked.

"Ah. . . yeah, I haven't told you about it. She was the one who found Sunny when she got lost at the mall. She's nice. . . super!" he told them. "I'll ask her if it is okay for her to join us in our family outing, so you can all meet her."

"Ah. okay. We'll go ahead." Alin said, "Go to your kids now. See you on Friday."

***