Father stared at the pictures for what seemed to be an eternity before he gave them back to me and sighed heavily.
"I wasn't expecting my first grandchild to be your child, Constantine," Father said, "You're not even an adult yet and now you're practically already married with twins on the way. I wasn't expecting grandchildren for another few years and definitely not your child before your older sister, Charlotte's child. She just had a marriage meeting last week and she accepted it." Jesse sat back down on my lap.
"How old is your daughter?" Miki Nekotama asked.
"She's turning 19 next month," Mother said, obviously proud of her daughter, but disappointed in her older son.
"Oh," Miki Nekotama said, "That's the age that I met my wife. I hope she marries a good person."
"We hope so too," Father said, "We hope that all of our children find the right people. We had Jesse really late, so we might not be able to get to know his future partner, but we're not letting that worry us. We're here now, so I think it's best to discuss the future between our sons and grandchildren while we're still here."
"I agree completely," Allyssa Nekotama said, "So, we were thinking that after the twins are born we could set up a system where we get them for a period of time and then you get them for a similar period of time, like a week or so if possible."
"I refuse," Mother said, "If I have to live with that-" Father quickly put his hand over her mouth and escorted her out of the room.169Please respect copyright.PENANA0nY03FTiDs
"I think we should talk about taking you with us instead," Allyssa Nekotama said.
"Yeah," I said, "But what would happen to Jesse?" Jesse rubbed his eyes and looked at me.
"Big bro?" Jesse asked, "Jesse doesn't like Mommy, she's a meanie to big bro. Jesse wants to stay with big bro foeva."169Please respect copyright.PENANAuTpp3E4TbQ
"I would like to stay with you too, Jesse," I said, "But you can't stay here and I have to get better before I can leave here." There was a moment of silence, before Father came back into the room alone.
"CEO Nekotama, I need to ask for a favor from you and your family," Father asked.
"What is it?" Miki Nekotama asked.169Please respect copyright.PENANAGdWGmA0OV7
"Can you watch over my sons for a while?" Father asked, "I will grab their things from home and bring them to you as soon as I can. I just realized that there's something I need to do right now."
"Right now?" Miki Nekotama asked annoyed, "This is a little sudden. If you would tell me the reasoning behind it, I assure you we will made a decision based on the evidence."
"I don't want to talk about it in front of the children," Father said. Miki Nekotama nodded and the three adults left the room. Peter looked at me and sighed.
"It's going to be okay," Peter said as he pat my head, it suddenly reminded me of Crown Prince Rueben as he did the same thing when I was feeling anxious about something. I really miss Rueben. I felt something wet on my cheeks, I guess I was crying.
"Why is big bro crying?" Jesse asked, "Does he have a booboo?"
"Sorry, Jesse," I said, "I just remembered something sad." Peter made a face that I had only seen on Rueben, like he was questioning me about something even though he already knew the answer.
"Do you want me to tell you two a story from a time long, long ago?" Peter asked.169Please respect copyright.PENANAymxIuvYUVh
"Yeah!" Jesse shouted excitedly.
"So once upon a time, there was a Prince," Peter said, "He was madly in love with a lady who he wasn't allowed to have. She was a Duke's daughter, but her father had her marry an old friend of his who used to be a commoner but became a knight. The reason was that the Duke had two sons, though neither one of them was suited to be a Duke and the knight friend was very suited to be one. The prince chased after the lady day in and day out, never stopping his love for her. The knight Duke eventually gave the lady two sons, but before the second son was born, the knight Duke died unexpectedly. The lady was met with a lot of grief and yet, even still the prince had continued to love her and now he loved her children as well. The prince asked for her hand over and over, but she thought that it would be bad because she was a widow with two young sons. The prince then declared that he loved her even still and vowed to marry her no matter what, but he had made a mistake. A huge mistake. He forgot to ask the former Duke for permission to marry her, which would've settled the issue at the beginning of the story if he had just asked before she married the knight Duke. The prince was mad at himself for being so idiotic and decided to try to fix everything, but it was too late and he closed his eyes for the final time." That was 100% the story of Rueben and Ruby told from Rueben's side. There was no denying it whatsoever, Peter was Rueben. I looked down to see that Jesse had curled up into a ball on my lap and fell asleep.169Please respect copyright.PENANAJUE3uYjcXW
"I think I know this story," I said, "But it was told by the lady."169Please respect copyright.PENANAexBY6COR6z
"Oh, did it say whether she loved the prince or not?" Peter asked.
"She did," I said, "But due to her father's pressure, she wasn't able to voice her feelings. The Duke hated the king and made it impossible for the lady to marry the prince, even after she was carrying the prince's child the Duke still refused to acknowledge her feelings. When the prince died, the lady cried for days and was accused of killing the prince. Which lead to her being killed at the hands of her illegitimate brother whilst still pregnant with the prince's child."169Please respect copyright.PENANARkf4FmNqTy
"You..." Peter said, "You mean to say that you're Ruby Morgana?"
"And you?" I asked, "Prince Rueben Carson?" Before he could answer, Peter's mothers entered the room.
"Peter, we're going to take Jesse home with us today," Alyssa Nekotama said, "And Connie, when you're discharged, we will take you with us too. If you need anything just let us know. We'll try to visit you as often as possible, you must've been lonely."169Please respect copyright.PENANAuqxNDJtCnm
"I appreciate that," I said, "But I was told that I would be discharged in two days, so as long as someone is here to pick me up at 4 pm on Monday, I'll be fine."
"Are there any accommodations that you need while you're at our house?" Miki Nekotama asked, "I'm a stay-at-home mother, so I am able to help as long as I have the time for it."
"I just started getting used to walking on my own," I said, "I was using a walker before due to my unsteady feet, but I can do most things on my own now. I'm a little hesitant about stairs at the moment, so I'm going to have to ask for a room on the ground floor."169Please respect copyright.PENANAXqmkPLc9py
"I understand," Miki Nekotama said, "And you can call me Mom and my wife Mama from now on."
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