What now?

Chapter 31: 13 years later

So Isabella has been gone for like 13 years.

Gone as in went overseas for her work as a fashion designer obviously.

It's been a little lonely in the house.

Except the fact that there seems to be laughter next door every morning when I wake up.

Especially during the summer vacations.

The backyard is also a crazy playground for them too.

Together with 4 kids, I have been helping them nurture and grow up for the past 13 years.

That's impressive, right?

That's not the juicy part yet.

I have to raise a pair of twins, myself.

A baby boy and girl 2 years later.

Just in case you didn't know, Isabella came back after 2 years and took a year long holiday from work since she is stressing herself too much, like always. That's when we decided that our girls may be a little lonely without a younger brother.

So we calculated some risks, and our gamble paid off. Ok, obviously we didn't gamble to get another 2 babies. Better still, we got a pair of twins. A boy and a girl. But, you get what I mean. It was too much risk involved but hey, we still got a baby boy.

Well, now they are a little older, why not I introduce them from my bedroom, since I can see them from my bedroom window.

There, over there, the one that looks almost identical to Isabella when she was younger, the one looking intendly at a brown hair boy, the one with the long, flowing raven hair, with a pink bow on the top of her head. That's Rachael Flynn Garcia Shapiro, the older of the twin sisters. Just 36 seconds older. The only thing that makes her different from her mother is that she wears a pair of glasses. I guess it just makes her more dazzling than her mum.

The one not too far away from the tree in the backyard, the one studying a blueprint, the one the black-haired boy is looking at, the one with auburn hair, with her fringe curving outwards slightly horizontally, the one Isabella that thinks is a combination of mine and her's personality, and the one that looks a lot like Gretchen without specs and with bigger eyes, along with her iconic savanna hat with a red ribbon and goggles,  her name is Jessie Flynn Garcia Shapiro, the younger of the twin sister, just 36 seconds younger.

The one with a dark raven hair, tied up into a ponytail, with a light green bow topped off on the right side of her curtain-like bangs, the one helping Jessie with her stuff, while pointing out errors here and there, and pretty simple with her style, just a plain yellow t-shirt with baggy trousers, and joining in the crazy conversation, that is Sheryl Flynn Garcia Shapiro, 2 years younger than the previous 2 twins, and the younger of the younger twins, if you get what I mean, 15 seconds younger than the younger twin.

The last one, the boy just chilling under the tree, with earpieces on and sketching blueprints, with multiple crumpled editions lying around him like a moat, the one that looks almost like me, the one with the red hair, the one that the raven haired girl is looking at. That is Percival Fynn, the youngest in the family, 15 seconds younger than Valencia. And the only boy.

I smiled as I watched the three kids interact with the other 3, neighbours from the left. right and across the street.

It seems like my childhood happening all over again.

Rachael staring dreamily at the brown haired boy, who is our neighbour across the street. That boy's name is James Lock. He has this really sleek black hair, most good looking boys have, but I personally favour him, and I occasionally joke at Rachael about it. He is kind, he is well-known in school, his grades are awesome. Every kid in the Tri-State area loves him. He is quite shy when it comes to love, and has turned down every single offer to date with him.