Chance Encounters

Chapter 6

It's been a few days since I came back from Vegas. I was in the park with Angelique. She's playing around in the sandbox building a mountain with the sand. She giggled as some of the sand slides down from her little mountain. I sat next to her helping her with her mountain.

She tried to put a grainy hand into her mouth. I quickly stopped her, "No, Angelique dirty." I wiped her hand before she can try again.

An alarm rang on my phone. I looked at her phone to read two thirty. It was time to pick up the kids. She placed Angelique in her stroller and headed to the school.

We arrived at the school as other parents are waiting for their kids to come out. "Fancy, seeing you here." Someone said behind me. I turn around to see Edward. He gave a big smile as I faced him. "How's it going, Ann?"

I stumble on my words a bit. Why am I like this to normal people? "I'm great, really great. Just here to pick up the kids. Are you picking up your kids? Wait no, you already told me that you are just looking at the neighborhood and didn't....."

He laughed, "You are a riot Ann whom I don't know her last name."

"Oh, I don't have a last name. I never knew my parents and I live in the orphanage with the kids."

"Oh, I didn't realize. Umm, well that was bad of me." He looked guilty as he realized that he asked something that he shouldn't.

I try to remedy the situation, "Don't feel bad about it. I have a big family with the kids at the orphanage. They can be a handful from time to time but I love them all the same. Sorry, that may sound cheesy but it's true to me."

His mouth tugged into a small grin, "No, it doesn't. So, who is this little girl here?" he crouches down as soon as he noticed Angelique. He began tickling her and she began giggling.

"Ann!" I heard a familiar voice as they came running behind me. A pair of small arms wrapped themselves onto my legs. "Hi Ann, are you picking us all up?"

I turn to see Mary hugging my legs. I smiled, "Yeah, Mary I'm picking everyone up. Is everyone here yet?"

"No, Hina, Cooper, and Alex needed to go to the bathroom, Eric is waiting for them and Sophie and Kim are helping a teacher so she's running late. So, it's only me, Ben, Daichi, Henry, and Nina." She was almost out of breath when she finished. "That's everyone."

"Wow, that's some memory you have there. You must be pretty smart in school. So, what is your name, little Miss?" Edward asked as he squats down to Mary's level.

Mary giggled as she hid behind my legs "Mary. Who are you?"

"Yeah, who are you?" Daichi gave him a serious looking face.

Nina peeked behind the group. "Are you Ann's boyfriend?"

"No! Ann is ours. So, shoo you weirdo." Ben shouted as he clings to my side.

I was about to stop them from any further question but was interrupted by someone's shouting, "AAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN! You came. What are we having for snacks today? Is it cake today?" Alex asked as he ran to me to give me a hug.

I felt my body shift a bit as he collided into me. I laughed as I rubbed his hair and looked down to his grinning face. "No, just a fruit tart."

He cheered then stopped, "Who are you?" I looked at his line of sight. He was talking to Edward who was still squatting down.

The look on Edward's face was at first normal and calm but I notice the little details that most miss on people. The right side of his mouth twitched a millisecond before turning back to normal.