FOUND
"Well, the night you escaped, you did escape, right?"
"No, Lia kidnapped me."
"For goodness, it was not a kidnapping. It is called rescuing." I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night."
"I came to check on you that week, thinking you were in the compound since Mr. Rogers called me to come over and he sounded shaken. I went in and asked what happened; he told me you were dead, that you escaped with the kids and got killed by his enemies. I felt devastated. I was coming to tell you about the kids."
"What about them? Are they sick? You said they were alright, so what happened?"
"I told them everything about you, well, most things. They are very smart, Luna. I didn't know what to tell them when I got home. All I said was you were okay as you love them a lot."
"Mr. Larry, What are you not telling me?" He sighs.
"They are alright Luna, I didn't want to tell you this, but the kids don't like it here."
"Why? Don't you love them? Did you beat them?"
"Come on, you know I will never do that to your children. I love them."
"You see, the kids found out that they were not my kids, I mean, our kids."
"How?" I was shocked. "You said you would tell them when they're of age, are they of age? Should they be at least sixteen or eighteen before you tell them, right?" I said, getting perplexed.
"Look, Luna, it is not easy to take care of children that are not yours. I tried my best, I did. But my parents didn't like the fact that I was taking care of them."
"Why?"
"You see, everyone knows us here. As you can see, this town is very small, and people gossip a lot.
They started going to school when they were four, but as I said, people talk. One day the kids came home sad.
They didn't eat. They kept crying. I didn't know what was wrong; they wouldn't talk. I thought it was because they didn't like the school.
When my wife got home, she noticed the kids weren't eating. She asked what happened. The kids told her, ``Nobody wants to play with us; they said we are not your children, are we, not your children, papa?" I was surprised, okay.
After that day, I homeschooled them. I made sure they didn't go out without us. As long as we were with them, nobody said anything bad to them, well that was until my parents came to visit.
The kids were ten at that time. I wasn't home, and my wife was at work as well.
Since my parents had my home key, they went in without knocking and saw the kids. The kids went to hug them, but my mother insulted them.
She called them bastards, told them I wasn't their father and that they were orphans. When I got home, the kids had run away.
I searched everywhere for them, and I couldn't find them. I was angry at my parents and felt bad. I couldn't keep my promise to you. I filed a missing report at the police station.
When I got home with my wife, they were at the door, just staring at us. I tried talking to them, but they wouldn't talk. I have never seen them so angry and hurt before, Luna. I opened the door and let them in.
They ran to their room. They stayed in for days, only coming down to eat and have their classes. They wouldn't look at us, talk to us. I was worried.
After five days of behaving that way, I couldn't take it anymore. I called them down and told them the truth. They wanted to know everything about you."
"Did you tell them everything you know?"
"I couldn't, but they do know that they have older siblings, and you love them a lot."
"And last year, my wife had a baby."
"Wow, doc, congrats," I said, smiling.
"Where is the baby?"
"Sleeping, but that's not all. Ever since my wife gave birth, it has gotten worse. My parents made sure they're always here to check on their grandchild.
The twins felt left out. Did you know they told me to place them back at an orphanage home, or we should take them to you?"
"Why would they want that?"
"They got jealous Luna, you know my wife and I have been so focused on the baby, they think we're going to abandon them, you know, to send them away, I told them not to listen to anything anyone tells them l will never do that to them, but I don't think they want to stay with us any longer it's good that you came at the
right time."
"Why?"
"We were going to take them to the orphanage home."
"Why the hell would you do that? Is that acceptable, can an orphanage home take in kids their age?" I asked Lia, getting annoyed by their decision.
"Calm down, Amour."
"Well, answer my question."
"Look, Luna, you can't blame us for
this; it's their decision."
"What kind of decision is that? Why would you let them control you?"
"They are not controlling me; I am just trying to make them happy, Luna.
You don't know what they've gone through in this town, and if they're leaving here and going to the orphanage home makes them happy, I'll do it."
"How are you sure they would be happy? What if they never get adopted by anyone? They would spend the rest of their life hating me, thinking it's my fault they are in that situation.
I don't want my children to hate me, doc, I don't want them to think I abandoned them or I don't love them," I said.
"Am sorry, Luna, but at least you're here now. I'm sure they would be happy to see you. Would you like to see them now?"
"Are they not asleep?"
"No, they're just reading. They love reading a lot. Shouldn't we like, let them be?"
"Stop trying to avoid this; the earlier, the better, Luna."
"Alright." I nodded.
"Kids, get down here."
