Man

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Mile stayed faithfully with me till Sasha woke up and was discharged the following day.

We went back to Mile's place, where Ellie ran up to Sasha and hugged her tightly. I nearly teared watching both girls. Sasha had a sister in Ellie and an auntie in Sister Nan, and it was heartening to see my little girl surrounded by the family she always wanted.

Mile had gone by to my house to pick up both Sasha's and my clothes. He came back with a luggage full of stuff. I looked at him gobsmacked. I expected him to only pick like 2 sets each, but he looked at me sheepishly.

"I had packed 2 sets of her clothes but figured she needed matching sleep stuff, accessories, and maybe a bag or two if she was going out."

I looked at him and glared. I opened the luggage to realize the bulk of the things there were hers, and he had only packed 1 pair of jeans, 2 shirts, and 1 trackpants for me. Clearly, this man would spoil her rotten.

"How? How do you do this? I gave you one set of instructions and what you do?"

Mile pouted at me. "But the poor girl. She needs matching stuff. My Ellie doesn't like dressing up, but she does. Let her do it."

I looked at Mile and started laughing. It finally hit me contrary to popular belief, Ellie didn't dress up the way she did because of Mile. She truly loved it. She was more like me, fuss free, but Sasha was like Mile, who enjoyed the process of dressing up. I laughed at the irony of this. Mile just shrugged at me and went to pass the things to Sasha. I just continued sitting there, going back to my paper when Sister Nan came by with a cup of tea.

"I thought I heard Mile's voice. Does he want to eat now? And did he bring back what you asked him to?"

I laughed as I filled Sister Nan in on what had happened. She laughed, but her following words struck a chord in me.

"Ellie is like her mom. Her mom was the most down to earth and fuss free person. Mile and her met when he was fighting a case for her client from the city Council office she worked in. Mile fell in love with her simple and grounded self. Though he loves dressing up, he realizes Ellie is a photocopy of his wife, and he lets her be. In a way, meeting you is like seeing Alice all over again. You and Alice are exactly the same in some ways. I bet you Mile himself doesn't realize it. But more than you, it's Sasha who he has taken a shine to. He has always wanted a sibling for Ellie but couldn't find himself opening up to anyone, and he didn't dare to, lest they left him again. He didn't want to put Ellie through another loss. But I think with you two, it's just effortless. He can't help it. I never saw him happier, and I could not be more grateful some days that he took on that case, which allowed him to meet you."

I just smiled at her softly. I looked over at the mantle piece where there was a family photo of Mile and Alice. I had seen that photo a few times, but it never struck a connection in me like it did now.

I started wondering what it would be like to have a photo like that on the mantle piece, one of him, him, and our girls.

My thoughts were interrupted by the 3 musketeers who came out of the room. Mile was on the phone as Sasha and Ellie came out. He looked like he was on a business call. I took over from him as he went into his home office. I steered the girls towards the table, and we had our lunch whilst Mile settled his work issues.

Sasha and I stayed for 2 days over the weekend. Finally, on Sunday morning, I told Ellie and Mile that we would be heading home as school was the next day, and her stuff was all at home. Ellie nodded understandingly, but oddly, Mile's face changed. He just nodded but muttered some excuse and went to his room. The rest of us looked at each other, confused until it hit me. I sighed and told them I would sort this out and went to the room.

Mile was in his home office, just on the computer. He looked like he was working, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"Mile. Can we speak?"

"Yes? Do you need a ride home?"

"Are you upset about us going back?"

"Why should I be? You are going home."

I sighed. "Our things are all still there. I'm only going back so we can get her sorted for school. But we can discuss whether we can move in here permanently. But it takes time, doesn't it?"

Mile looked up at me in surprise.

"You will stay here? With us?"

"You don't want me to?"

"No!" Mile yelped.

"I still need to ask Sasha if she will be ok with that. And you need to ask Ellie, too. Plus, Sister Nan. Jsut because the girls like spending time, doesn't mean they may enjoy living together."

Mile nodded. I sighed at this silly, grown ass man in front of me. We headed out to the living room finally where the girls were chatting. I got Sasha, and we left. Mile and I agreed to speak to the girls privately on the issue before coming together.

Over the week, we still texted and called as usual. But on Saturday morning, I woke up to knocks on the door. I opened it only to find Mile, Ellie, and Sister Nan standing outside, grinning widely.

Before Mile could open his mouth, Ellie burst out that they were there to help us move! I looked at Mile, who just grinned and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. Sasha came out, hearing all the noise, and she was surprised! She yelped in delight when she realized it was moving day.

I looked at them all and asked, "Why do I feel like I'm the only one who's out of the loop?"

Ellie and Sister Nan just grinned and hurried into the house with Sasha to start packing whilst Mile confessed that during the girls' video chat on Wednesday, they had planned this. I glared at him, and mock hit him, but he just grinned as he grabbed me by my waist.

"Move in, already. So we can then discuss about other things in time to come."

"What other things?!" I spluttered.

Mile just grinned at me and kissed me in response instead, hurrying off to help the girls.

Why did I feel like I suddenly had 3 kids instead of just 2? This Mile only seems like a mature adult but in reality, he's the biggest kid of them all.

I just chuckled to myself as I went to help them pack up. The plan was to rent out this apartment and I kept my home office whilst we all lived with Mile and Ellie. In time, if it permitted, I would sell the home and just keep the office.

But for now, it looked like new beginnings. And I was liking the sound of it.

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