You smell like love

Chapter 20

When he had imagined the twins' first months, Carlos had had a lot of ideas. He liked to organize things and had made lists of things he wanted to buy, which he would do with TK, all ways he imagined taking care of him.

However, TK's kidney stone wasn't one of the equations he had counted on, neither was his weakness after childbirth and needing his mother because he didn't have enough energy to parent Luna and Daniel and take care of TK at the same time, he hadn't prepared himself for any of that.

Luckily, Andrea was a true miracle for them. While they were learning to take care of the twins, helpless little creatures who needed them twenty-four hours a day, their grandmother seemed to know everything, seemed to have it all under control.

"You need a break." His mother had told him that morning. "That doesn't make you a worse parent, or a bad partner for TK. He needs to sleep and rest as much as possible so he can feed the twins. You on the other hand, need a moment to breathe and if you need to cry and you don't want to do it in front of TK...or even me. Go for a run in the park, go out for half an hour, buy yourself a nice coffee and when you're a little more relaxed, come back and still be the perfect boyfriend and father you want to be."

Carlos gave him a bit of an argument about leaving the house for a coffee, because no matter what he needed, the needs of his children and TK came before anything else.

But in the end, she had convinced him or rather driven him out of the house.

"Right now your family sleeps. Take this time as a break. You'll see you'll be better later."

The good or bad thing about his mother was that she was always right and that day was no exception. He went to do some fresh shopping, fruit and vegetables. When he wasn't feeling well, TK really appreciated his vegetable creams and huge platters of fruit.

He also embraced the idea of going for coffee and sitting at a table for ten minutes in complete silence. He felt selfish but at the same time, his body thanked him, because suddenly the tension he noticed in his shoulders disappeared.

Once calmer and with an extra bag of sweets, chocolate and some liquor chocolates for his mother, Carlos returned home. He had a different spirit, he was calmer and it seemed silly but he was breathing better. He was ready to take care of his family and carry TK's weight if he needed to.

When he walked in, the smell of freshly made hot chocolate reached him, but the loft was silent. He figured the kids were asleep and with any luck, TK was asleep too.

He found his mother in the kitchen, she had Daniel leaning on her shoulder, while she danced and hummed, to keep him asleep. With her free hand she was checking if the bottle in the bain-marie was hot enough to feed the children.

Carlos approached, trying not to make any noise so as not to wake the baby. He stroked his little head and placed a kiss on his forehead.

"How are things around here?"

"The kids are asleep. You know Dani is a lighter sleeper than Luna, but I think he does it because he likes to be with his yaya."

Carlos smiled. "I'm not surprised. "And TK?"

"I heard him go to the bathroom. I'm sorry honey I had both hands tied up with the twins and I couldn't give him a hand. I asked him if he could wait, but he said he needed to take a shower... You know how stubborn he is. Almost as stubborn as my son."

Carlos burst out laughing and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

The sound of the shower caught his attention. "How long has TK been in there?"

"I don't know, but now that you say it I think it will take almost twenty minutes. I was so busy with the little ones I didn't notice."

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll take care of it."