11 The Twins
“Gianna, what the hell! You told me they were asleep! Isn’t that Kathleen’s voice?” Athena delivered to Gianna an incredulous look, her words shrouded in an accusatory tone.
As she spoke, her legs moved hurriedly out of the sitting room to the well lit hallway.
Gianna hurried after her, cussing intermittently at the swift change in the atmosphere. She didn’t fail, however, to plead her cause.
“Athena, last I checked, they were asleep. I even double checked. How was I supposed to know they were awake?
Athena had no response to Gianna’s question and plea. She only hoped that the shout she had heard earlier was from protest, and not from pain.
But when she steppe
into the room, a sharp cry of anguish escaped her lips.
“What is happening here?!” She screamed thereafter, when she saw her children hugging themselves on the floor. They were crying intensely, passionately.
Athena’s heart–rate plummeted seriously. She hurried over to them, and repeated her question, anxiously.
At her voice, the two children, male and female, aged six, looked up to her with startling blue eyes that reminded Athena of Ewan.
“Mom, an ant bit Kate…” The male responded, deftly pointing the area of pain to Athena, who had settled on the floor right beside them.
Athena sighed in relief at the small sight of red on Kathleen’s arm, before asking Gianna to get the pain reliever.
But Gianna wasn’t at the doorstep when she turned. Her friend was already off to the dining area to get the first aid kit.
Gianna was perceptive enough to know that the pain relieving ointment would be needed.
Just when Athena was about to comfort the little Kathleen who looked at her adoringly, she saw the laptop that was open and running, near them.
Her eyebrows furrowed. Her children hadn’t been asleep in the first place!
“What were you both doing awake?” She asked calmly, almost abandoning Kate who now squirmed underneath her gaze.
Her son licked his lips slowly in response.
Athena had to resist from cursing at Ewan–with all the willpower she possessed.
His resemblance to her son was too canny. Nathaniel was truly a chip of the old block!
“We couldn’t sleep, mom. We were waiting for you. We decided to play some computer games when we saw that you weren’t coming back anytime soon… especially after Aunt Gia tried
11 The Twins
“We couldn’t sleep, mom. We were waiting for you. We decided to play some computer games. when we saw that you weren’t coming back anytime soon… especially after Aunt Gia tried tucking us into bed.
Even Nathaniel’s aloof countenance as he finally gave an answer to her question reminded her of Ewan.
Athena sighed tiredly, and took her daughter in her arms again, comforting the little one by rubbing her arms softly and repeatedly.
“I’m sorry about that, Nate. I got caught up at the party. There was a lot to be done, a lot of people to be introduced to.”
Nate shrugged his shoulders, as if he couldn’t be bothered. “How did it go?”
Athena thought about the likely loss of her relationship with Zane, and shrugged her shoulders too. “Not bad.
However, a furrow marred her forehead when she saw the strange look on her son’s face.
He looked at her like she was a liar.
Athena piqued her eyebrow, and when Nate remained undeterred, she sighed.
“Nathaniel…please don’t tell me that you did that again. You promised not to use that skill again! You promised not to spy…”
Athena palmed her forehead in frustration.
Behind her, Glanna tiptoed out of the room, after dropping the ointment on the floor, beside Athena, already knowing where this particular conversation was heading to.
She wasn’t ready to bear the brunt of what she didn’t understand! The twins could take care of
themselves before their mother.
Even so, Nate said nothing. He only donned the nonchalant demeanor that was Ewan.
Athena gave him a side glare before applying the ointment on Kate’s arm–Kate, who kept staring at her mother and brother intermittently, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
After Athena was done making the application, she carried Kate to the bed and tucked her in, muttering sweet words of encouragement to her. Thereafter she dropped a kiss on the latter’s cheeks.
Only after that, did she turn to Nathaniel with a scowl on her face. “You are grounded for a week, boy. Let me have your gadgets!”
Nathaniel hesitated, then bowed his face in submission, under the heat of his mother’s anger.
He stood up grudgingly, picked up his laptop and then his phone, and handed them over to his
mother.
He cast a side glance at his sister who watched them keenly.
“Now, get on your bed…”
- The Tamme
Athena cocked her head to the side, studying her son. It won’t happen again, has occurred more than a hundred times over the past two years!
Three years ago she had discovered his passion for computers, and had pushed him into that
path
Nevertheless, she was beginning to wonder if she had been wrong, especially as he could hack into surveillance systems at such a young age.
Athena sighed after a few beats. She couldn’t be angry at her children for long, not when they looked at her like that; like she was the best thing ever, like they would be condemned to death if she punished them.
She pulled Nathaniel up, hugged him, and then tucked him into bed.
“Mom…” Nathaniel tried again, but Athena placed her finger on his lips.
“It’s okay, Nate…I have forgiven you. Sleep now.”
Nate dropped a kiss on Athena’s right check, wished her a good night, and closed his eyes.
Athena got to her feet, looked at her children sleeping, and inhaled deeply. These two were her world. She would kill for their sake.
Again she wondered what would happen if Ewan saw them.
She shook her head free from the disturbing thought, and checked her children again. When she was satisfied with their sleeping state, she walked out of the room.
She needed to talk with Gianna about Ethan and his reports.
But immediately Athena left the room, Kate opened her eyes.
She waited for some seconds, to stop hearing her mother’s footsteps, before jumping down from her bed, and hurrying to her brothe
“Nate! Wake up!”
Nate pretended to sleep, but Kate knew him from the inside out.
She hit him on the arm. “Get up! We aren’t done watching the surveillance.
“Mom will really go crazy when she discovers you are the one behind the hack–ins, Nathaniel opined, refusing to open his eyes, even after Kate’s nervous laugh.
But Kate wasn’t one to give up. She hit Nate again on the arm.
Nathaniel cussed softly and opened his eyes.
“You really are bent on entering mom’s bad books today.” He cited, stepping down from the bed.
Kate ignored him, and brought her own phone. A few taps in, and she was watching the live feed of the party.
“So that’s our father? He looks like us. What do you think, Nate?”
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11: The Twins:
“He is our father. I checked him out some days ago, before our return.”
“Well he seems hell bent on discrediting our mom. What’s this nonsense about adultery? Is he okay?”
“Not likely.” Nathaniel answered. “We will deal with him though. He will regret doing this.”
Kathleen sighed. “Should we give him another chance?”
“He just lost the last one.” Nathaniel somberly took the phone out of his sister’s hand, turned it off, and led her to her bed.
“By the way, when are you going to tell mom you are more of a tech guru than I am?”
Kate shrugged her shoulders, before laying down on the bed. “I don’t think she should know yet.
If she does, she won’t let us help her. Let’s stick to the story. We need to protect her.”
Silence.
“You think we should tell her?”
Nathaniel shook his head. “No. You’re right. What about our godfather?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll give him one last chance for reconciliation. If he doesn’t take it, he’s out.”
