Love Full of secrets II (part 2)//ft. Pedri Gonzalez

Chapter 4 ~ birthday

I open my eyes wide and sit up, sweat runs down my forehead. And my hands are completely full of sweat, Pedri wakes up startled and looks at me worriedly. ''Amor, are you okay?'' ''J-ju-s-t a nightmare.'' ''Come here.'' He opens his arms and I crawl into them. The warmth and strength of his arms make me immediately feel safe again. I'm so lucky to have him.. I fall back asleep slowly, but the thoughts won't go away. What if it's really going to happen? What if I'm going to lose everyone? What if this is going to be the end of my life...

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My thoughts still go back to last night, I still get the shivers when I think about it. But I don't have time to think about that, because my tough boy has his birthday today! He's already turning 7, time flies. Pedri and I got up extra early to decorate the house, he wanted a Spider-Man theme this year. So the whole house is decorated with Spider-Man flags, balloons and all kinds of other decorations. Auri and Gavi also helped, otherwise it would have taken even longer. We put a table against the wall with Léon's name behind it and with of course a big balloon in the shape of a 7. The big Spider-Man cake is on the table, which turned out pretty well. Auri and I really went all out for that cake and it tastes pretty good too.

All of Léon's friends are coming too, so that's going to be something. We opened the pool, so the kids can go swimming later. But most importantly, first wake up our birthday boy. We carry two presents with us, he can open the rest later. In the meantime we have also woken up our little princess, we quietly walk to his bed, ''Happy birthday Léon!'' we all shout. He opens his eyes and a smile appears on his mouth. We all give him a big hug, ''Now, open the presents.'' says Pedri. I give him the two presents and he immediately starts to tear them open. His eyes start to sparkle, in front of him are 2 new toy cars and a new FC Barcelona outfit that he doesn't have yet. ''Gracias Papa, mama y Lycia.'' ''No problem you're a big boy now, go get changed. Your friends will be here soon.'' I go downstairs, while Pedri helps our princess get changed and brush her teeth. Léon is never really into presents, he never asks for anything. He thinks everything is fine, it is sometimes frustrating but also not. But okay I have to make breakfast now, Auri and Gavi have already gone home to take care of their twins.

It's already a busy place, all his friends have just arrived and it's already chaos. The entire gift corner is full, the snack table is almost empty and there's rubbish everywhere. There are about 15 children, me, Gavi, Pedri and Auri look at each other. ''This is going to be a long afternoon.'' says Auri, we all nod. ''Shall we start with the cake? So that they can go swimming or play afterwards?'' asks Pedri. ''Yes I think that's a good idea.'' I say. ''BOYS AND GIRLS, ALL GET TOGETHER WE'RE GOING TO EAT CAKE!'' Gavi suddenly shouts. Not a second later all the children are already standing by Gavi, ''Léon go stand in front of the cake, then we'll all sing together first.'' I say. He does what I say and Auri lights the candles. The singing starts and everyone sings along loudly, really loudly.

After that, Léon blows out the candles and Pedri cuts the cake. I'm so glad that this singing is over. Everyone takes a piece of cake and starts eating, I think this is the only moment when they're calm. But it doesn't last long, because not a second later there are children running around again. I look at Gavi and Pedri, Pedri whispers something in Gavi's ear and he nods. ''THOSE WHO WANT TO SWIM CAN PUT ON THEIR SWIMMING CLOTHES.'' Gavi shouts then. There they go again, everyone runs to their bags to change. Some already have their swimming clothes on under their normal clothes. Me and Auri walk around to help the kids, while Gavi and Pedri fix something at the pool. After everyone has changed, the first ones jump into the pool. We just let them play, me, Gavi, Auri and Pedri grab a beer and sit in the garden to supervise the kids.

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It gets quieter and quieter, the kids are all exhausted and their parents will come and pick them up soon. I'm actually really glad it's almost over, it's fun for the kids. But as a parent it's so hard and then to realize that it has to be done 3 times a year. The twins, our princess and then Léon. Oh well, we do it for the kids, as long as they have fun it's fine. Not much later the doorbell rings, I walk to the front door to open it. There's a parent, ''Hi! Come in, they're still playing.'' I lead her to the kids so she can pick up her child. It goes on like this for a while.

It's an hour later and the kids have all gone home and now it's time to clean up. It's really a mess, but they're still kids. Everyone is helping and within 2 hours everything is neatly cleaned up. We still have to go to my parents, because we've agreed to have dinner there to celebrate Léon's birthday. Pedri's family is there too, so I think it's going to be a nice party again. We say goodbye to Gavi, Auri and the twins and get in the car. Off to our parents! I'm really glad we don't live that far away from our families, but that doesn't apply to Pedri's family. They live all the way on the Canary Islands, but Pedri's brother lives nearby so his parents come here quite often. They're also at almost every football match, so they do their best to watch their son play.

After a while we arrive back at the well-known mega villa, the gate opens and our parents are already standing there. We park the car and untie the kids, who immediately run to them. They must have missed Grandpa and Grandma, we calmly walk over to them and give each other a hug. ''How are you doing?'' I ask, ''It can't get any better when we see the little ones again.'' Pedri's mother says. ''Well I think you're hungry or not? Come on then let's go inside.'' My mother says. We all walk inside and soon I find my brothers. ''Mateooo, Ciroooo.'' my little princess screams, she really loves Mateo and Ciro. On the other hand Léon really loves Thiago and before I know it he is already playing with Thiago. I let them play with my brothers for a while and go help prepare the food.

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Well we had another delicious meal, our parents and Pedri are still chatting at the table. My children are playing with Ciro in front of the TV and my other two brothers are sitting on the couch. I decide to sit with my brothers, I plop down next to Thiago and start rubbing his hair. ''Did you miss me little brother?'' I ask playfully, he looks at me innocently with a smile. I start tickling him, ''say then, did you miss me?'' He starts to laugh and tries to say something while he's laughing. ''YES.'' He then shouts, so I stop tickling him. ''Good boy, I missed you too. Mateo, you missed me too, didn't you.'' He nods briefly and continues playing on his phone. I open my arms and Thiago immediately crawls into them, they have really grown up. Thiago is almost 18, Mateo has just turned 16 and Ciro is 11 years old. They will always be my brothers, no matter how old they are, they are still little babies to me.

The rest of the evening we played games together with the family and watched a movie. It is always fun with this family, but everything comes to an end. It's already very late and the children are already half asleep. I think it's time to go home, we say goodbye and pick up the half-asleep children to take them to the car.