Always, Tulip

▫️ Thirty-five

"Hello ma'am," he cleared his throat once before greeting and I took his free hand so that he'd stop bouncing it over his leg.

"Yes sir, it's better now." I heard him reply followed by a series of another yeses and alrights.

My parents had left a day or two after visiting Grey at the hospital due to issues about work. They had called severally to ask how I was doing but I knew they really wanted to know how Grey was fairing.

"Yes, it's a good time." I heard Grey reply again and I looked up because I didn't know what they were saying.

"Thank you ma'am," he answered again looking at me before he nodded again and replied, "See you soon, Olive."

That was mama's first name!

Grey handed my phone back and mama shared with me that we would go visit them a week later on Friday.

The call ended soon afterwards and I turned to ask Grey if he was fine with the arrangement. I didn't want to push him but from the look of it, he appeared excited.

I guess it was safe to give in to this if he was now addressing mama by her first name.

The door bell startled me shortly afterwards as I placed my phone on the bed. Grey looked at me as we listened to the voices that filled the floor below us.

And of course it wasn't hard to miss the familiar voices of Reece, Nana and Mayella. They were silent for a minute before Reece drawled out.

"Come down man, is this really the time to be sleeping?" I held back a giggle when Grey scowled and I took his hand to lead us to where the rest were.

From the stairs, Nana shushed Reece by whacking the back of his head and pulling him to sit. Mayella was calmly watching them in a smile.

"Hello everyone," I made our presence known, Grey choosing to clear his throat instead. Nana quickly stood to greet us.

"Elle, Grey, how are you? Is there any issue?" She cupped my face before pulling me in a tight embrace and patting my back affectionately.

"We're good Nana," she smiled with more ease after my assurance, her warm hands wrapping over mine.

"Grey's not being hard on you, is he?" I shook my head and noticed Grey pretend to pout as he gave Nana a see? look.

She moved to embrace him, her head only reaching to his stomach. Despite her small side, she scolded him over a few things making him go silent.

"Don't you get tired babysitting?" Reece greeted me next in a joking manner and I peeked over my shoulder to check if Grey was listening.

"That's not good Reecie, Masha is not a baby." Mayella argued next as I hugged her. She didn't seem to care that her brother looked offended by her betrayal.

Reece again mumbled, he's nowadays acting like one but this time Grey heard him. I could tell from their greeting as they clasped hands on each other's shoulders.

We weren't even settled before the doorbell rang again and I opted to check who was there with Mayella who was still on my side.

"Surprise?" Dalton smiled brightly as soon as the door opened, his grin widening when he noticed Mayella was with me.

"Lora, Dalton, come in." I let them in, Mayella wanting to get off my hip so that she'd join her companion and I let her.

The two walked hand in hand to where the rest were seated as I talked to Lora. I had missed work for almost a month now but she assured me to take my time in helping Grey.

"Is this your friend Dalton who you keep telling me about?" We walked in to Nana smiling at both kids as they told her about what classes they were in.

"Yes, he is my best friend." Mayella tugged his arm forward, her joy making me smile at how cute those two were.

Lora then greeted Reece and wished Grey a quick recovery before she came to Nana. The two had seen each other a bit at the hospital.

"Nana, this is Dalton's mother, Lora." I introduced her before turning to Lora, "This is Grey's grandma."

They exchanged a brief handshake then slowly began to talk about their origins and some of their hobbies.

Reece moved to the kitchen to prepare some tea for them while Grey, Dalton, Mayella and I went to the backyard.

The two children were excited to play after not seeing each other outside of school for the past month.

They chased each other round the house so we chose to sit at a place where we could still be able to watch over them.

We sat in silence just watching the two play, their laughter filling the entire compound. Grey stared at the space in front us, his thoughts seeming to be far away.

"What are you thinking of?" I nudged his side twice before he switched out from his trance. He looked at Dal and Maya one last time before smiling at me.

"Something I would want to have one day," he stroked my arm, looking ahead and before I could probe further, he said it was a secret for now.

We watched Reece join them in their little game and I almost when he tripped on the slippery grass due to the morning due.

The three played for quite sometime before they followed Reece in the house to get a bottle of water.

"I feel so lucky to have this many people concerned about me," Grey shifted beside me, his eyes staring at one spot on the ground.

"They are all your friends and family of course they care about you," I slowly tilted his jaw so that he'd look at me, "and I love you Grey."

"I'm here for you, we are here for you." He hugged me into his chest, his head resting on the crook of my neck as he nuzzled his nose.

"You brought this all to me," he leaned back to look at my face then softly pecked my lips. "I love you Ginelle, you're my baby."

I smiled into his chest at his confession before I heard opening and closing of doors then the movement of feet.

"Elle, I have a surprise for you!" Dalton ran towards us with his mother's phone and squeezed himself between Grey and I.

"Really? Can you show me?" I stroked his hair out of his face, his bright blue eyes shining up at me. He turned towards Grey for him to guess what it was he wanted to show us.

Grey too shook his head and then gave me a small smile when Dalton began to scroll down the phone.

"Look," he tugged my arm, pointing at the screen with his other hand. "I already know how to skate, this is me."

I lowered my head to get a clearer look of the video. There were children skating down the rink as their parents watched over them.

I smiled after spotting Dalton and Jace, his best friend, near the front. I lifted my hand to stroke his cheek, Grey mirroring my actions.

"That's awesome!" We said the words at the same time and locked eyes for a few seconds, making Dalton laugh as we both held his cheeks.

"You are copying each other," Dalton looked between us as he continued to laugh and I looked at Grey while shrugging.

"No, we're not." Dalton shook his head then turned to Grey and frowned after looking at him for a while.

"You're starting to sound like Elle," I looked at Grey over Dal's shoulders as he looked down to listen to what the boy had to say.

"Do you know why?" He asked again and Grey shook his head wanting to hear more though I kept thinking of one thing.

What secret was it he kept from me?

✪ ✪ ✪

Secrets, secrets, secrets! Try not to overthink like our girl here. An easy guess of what this is about?

(⁠๑⁠˙⁠❥⁠˙⁠๑⁠)