chapter 33: with your chosen family

                                    

                                          
A/N: wassup u guys, it's exam season out here 😻😻 
i'll update every 2 weeks
tysm for the reads and votes! thanks for your time
good luck y'all ❗️
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November 1, 2023
Enid's point of view
"Enid?"
It was still dark.
"Enid?"
I remembered and opened my eyes. Neil was there. Only him.
"You had a little panic attack. Well, an enormous one, actually."
I was lying in a bed. I recognized the walls of the infirmary. I had only been there twice previously. The Crackstone thing last year, and that one time Yoko missed the tennis ball and almost gave me a concussion with the racket.
"Are you okay?" he softly asked.
I turned the other way.
"I'm sorry."
Five years.
"I..."
Five years.
"I heard our parents weren't coming, because Dante told me. And—"
"You literally blocked all of us, how—"
"He found my work email."
There wasn't anyone in the room except for us and one nurse.
"I really wanted you to meet Sarah and Julie."
"You abandoned me, you abandoned Anthony. You abandoned all of us."
"I'm sorry. I couldn't— I didn't have any other option. My girlfriend got pregnant with Sarah the first year, and then—"
"Ugh, I don't wanna know," I said, absolutely disgusted. 
"The point is, I didn't want mom and dad in my business, and neither did—"
"Whatever."
"I wanted to protect my family and peace from them."
"We're your family too."
We both sighed.
"You could've been dead for all we knew."
I looked at the ceiling. 
"You were dead for all we knew."
~~~
Wednesday's point of view 
"Oh my dear, what happened to your tooth?"
Damn. Fuck. No. 
I instinctively covered my mouth. 
"Nothing."
I thought again. 
"I fell. The wrong way."
She made her tongue click against her the roof of her mouth.
"I'll make a dentist appointment for you and arrange it with your school," Mother then said.
I nodded as a 'thank you'.
We were still sitting at our table with Dante and the kids. He had asked us if we wanted to be left alone, but Father had insisted they stay with us.
I had brought Enid to the infirmary with her brothers, but Neil asked us to leave. He wanted some alone time with her. If he were my brother, I'd probably kill him, to be honest.
"Can I see?" Anthony asked, speaking about my tooth.
"No."
He was sitting next to me.
"Pleeaase!"
I lifted my upper lip for a split second. He gasped.
"That's... SO COOL!"
Neil and Enid were not coming back, so we went for a walk around the park near the woods. I sent her a text to inform her about it and saw that she almost instantly read it.
E: Give us 5min, well be there :)
"They're joining us soon," I said.
Dante nodded, and we continued to walk. Sarah and Anthony were running around ahead of us. 
"The weather's quite good for November, isn't it?" he said.
Useless remark. A waste of breath, if you ask me. However, I had to admit that the silence was getting pretty uncomfortable.
"It's pouring rain back home," Father said. 
Silence again. We continued walking. The thing was, I had nothing to say to my parents, and neither did Dante. On top of that, we had nothing to say to each other either. Resulting in that unbearable silence sprinkled with some worry over Enid.
We were walking by the forest when Neil and Enid finally joined us.
"You frightened us," Dante awkwardly shared.
"Sorry."
I reduced my pace, so I was walking next to her.
"You fine?"
"Yes, I am."
No, she wasn't. I kept looking at her.
"I'll talk to you later," Enid whispered.
"I knew it."
She smiled.
Ahead of us, Neil was detaching the baby carrier from Dante and put it on himself. Juliana was still sleeping in Dante's arms.
I could feel that Enid was holding back some stuff. And knowing her, that could mean bursting out in tears in any second. 
"What if you tell me now, though?" I asked only for her to hear.
"Yeah, but—"
"If you're looking for us we'll be by the RIVER," I announced to the rest, not leaving Enid a choice.
She followed me and only spoke when we were far enough for them not to hear us.
"That... ASSHOLE thinks he can just pop back up in our lives, huh? That bitch-ass jerk wasn't even there to burry Lucas back then!"
I stayed silent, not expecting that big of an outburst.
"And— and he's just here? With TWO KIDS I had NO IDEA of?! Emailing is free, you know? Did you know he even CHANGED his name?!"
"He seemed pretty nice when—"
"Just coming back like that?! Like boy, you're not Reputation era Taylor! Text like any human being, for Christ's sake! Let us know. Let me know!"
"He seems like a great dad," I tried again, "and the—"
"TWO KIDS! And one on the way? It's called sending a letter. It's called a phone call."
"A third one on the way, really?"
"That's what I'm saying!"
We were already at the river. I wanted to change the subject, and besides that, it was necessary. 
"Reminds you of something?" I smirked.
"Sometimes I still have flashbacks of our boat eating up Bianca's," she said, smiling with her eyes closed. "Also of Thing beating the crap out of Kent. Ah, good memories!"
"I agree. Which makes me think... Bianca's been awfully quiet and not in my way since the beginning of this year. Probably because I have no time for fencing anymore."
"Well, you know, I guess she's happy going out with that Jericho guy. Let's be honest, we'll see her face back in December for the Snow Queen election. But you know..."
"... nobody likes her ass."
"Exactly," she grinned. 
We let out a breath at the same time, then looked at each other.
"They're organizing the Poe Cup again this year, right?" I made sure.
"I hope so. Probably."
I looked behind me and saw Sarah. She waved at me.
"I think your niece wants to join us."
"This feels so weird, all of a sudden I have a niece. Well, nieces."
"Thank God I don't have older siblings, I couldn't imagine... that."
After letting go of her big brother's hand, Sarah ran our way.
"Damn, that's pretty fast for a four-year-old!" I exclaimed.
And just as I said that, Sarah slipped and fell in the grass.
I could see Neil's concerned face from here and could almost hear him gasp, but the little girl just got up and kept on coming our way, walking this time.
"Werewolf material; strong as hell," I commented. 
But Enid wasn't listening, still stressing about possible injuries. After Sarah had traveled some distance, she finally fully relaxed. 
"Look at her," Enid said with stars in her eyes. "Look at her."
I just knew she was going to be the best aunty on the planet.