Finding You

Chapter 27

This chapter is dedicated to @AvaniVD! Thank you for your support xx

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Running has always been my safe space.

The feeling of the wind hitting your body at 6 in the morning when the world is still quiet and your feet striking against the ground at lightning speed is unmatched to anything.

The music pumping through your AirPods as your pace matches the upbeat song and runs through your veins as you're temporarily removed from all your problems, your stresses and your strife for a few minutes to engage your mindset in starting off strong and finishing even stronger. 

The feeling is addictive.

When the house comes into vision, I sprint for the last few yards before making my way inside the gate and stopping to take a break. Once my heartbeat has slowed, I check my Apple Watch for my stats. 4km in 27 minutes. Not bad.

Walking through the front door, my nostrils immediately fill with the sweet smell of chocolate cake. I remove my AirPods from my ears and make my way to the kitchen, finding Angie using oven mitts to fish out the cake from the oven in a pink "Keep Calm and Carry On" apron. When she notices me, she smiles and claps her mitts together. 

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

I smile at her and shake my head. "Happy Thanksgiving. Prepping so soon?"

She gives me a dry look before ticking off something on a piece of paper—what I would assume to be a to-do list. "How long have you lived in this house for?"

I laugh, not arguing with her. Thanksgiving is one of the most important traditions in our house. Some may even say that it could be on par with Christmas. I never knew why, but Angie and John always went hardcore on Thanksgiving. They would clear out the contents of the living room and replace them with our dining table which could seat about 16 people, excluding the huge ebony table that's reserved for the younger generation, which seats another 12. Angie and John's parents, siblings and children are invited to the celebration.

Although I never asked them why the tradition was so important to them, I suspect that it's because it brings them back to the ground, in a sense. It reminds Angie and John of all that they should be grateful for, and everything they have.

Angie and John are very, very wealthy. They started off all the way from the bottom up, with small entrepreneurship opportunities they would experiment with in the niche market. It took a good few years for them to begin living comfortably but eventually, with laser-focus, determination—and each other—they managed to take off. Now, they're proud owners of 3 hugely (globally) successful empires: dabbling in travel, retail, and even real estate.

With that kind of success and fortune, I can only imagine how easy it would be to become swept up in the heat of it all. I've seen it with my own eyes; Angie and John used to frequently miss my sister and I's birthdays, and some events that we participated in. They missed my high school graduation. 

Now, I know it wasn't necessarily their fault. Sometimes, their lives are just too busy with meetings and interviews that they can't catch a breath in their own lives, let alone their children's. I also understand that it's sometimes the price that you have to pay for success, but I think it's also at the cost of your children's well-being, sometimes. When you're constantly surrounded by different nannies and au pairs taking you everywhere, basically raising you, it takes a toll on you; not having that emotional stability and support that you desperately crave as a kid. It didn't help that they couldn't keep one of them for longer than 3 months, which meant that you could never get emotionally attached to one of them for fear of them being ripped out of your lives again. Yet, as tough as it may have been for the two of us sometimes, we never spoke about it to Angie and John.