Sihan rubs his eyes as he walks downstairs to the delicious smell of breakfast.
Noah smiles happily as he sees the golden pancakes with cream and chocolate syrup, he hurries to the table kitchen apartment then hugs Amani's thighs. “Good morning Noah, away from the stove please.”
“Blueberry pancakes?”
“Yes, with milo tea.” Amani answers with a smile.
“Yes! Thanks dad!” Noah runs to sit at the chair with pillows inside as Sihan smiles shyly.
Sihan tiptoes behind Amani trying to pique in the pot with his hand behind his back, Amani chuckles at the cute behaviour.
“French toast, some fruit toppings and lastly beacons by the side for tea, a bit of homemade espresso from yours truly.” Amani flips the spatula showing off.
“How did you know?” Sihan asks timidly.
Amani grins as he places the plate and cup on the table, “let… me… guess… you should really guess, put your service to the test, tie your napkin round your neck Cherie and I'll provide the rest. Haha.”
Sihan thinks mani is quite silly, but he feels helpless about it and soon Amani joins them at the table with a combined breakfast. Noah's mouth was stuffed with pancakes. He really likes it a lot, and Sihan finds it adorable. It's really rare to see Noah do something so childish and carefree, so he loves seeing his baby eat pancakes.
Sihan looks at Amani who was eating breakfast, he uses the knife to cut into the pancakes as he uses the fork to pick it up to eat but somewhere between lowering his head and stuffing his mouth. Amani's eyes rise looking at Sihan who is looking at him.
The two eyes lock on each other and Sihan smiles, mouthing, “thank you, this means a lot to me”.
Amani smiles then looks at Noah who was busy being one with his pancakes. Amani looks back at Sihan saying, “no, thank you.”
After breakfast, Sihan and Noah got dressed. They both get into Amani's car as he heads towards Sihan's parents' town.
Sihan fidgets with his fingers as he thinks about his parents, Amani notices then uses his left hand to touch his hands reassuringly.
“Bambi, it's okay to be nervous.” He smiles at him.
“I'm scared, I did desert them without explanation… twice. They will probably be angry.” Sihan said as his expression darkens with sadness.
“I'm sure they will be angry, but I feel like first before being angry they will feel relief then sad, if not guilt it
will be an on stream of emotions. Because if they are caring parents they will feel several emotions but most of all happiness,” Amani said.
Noah, who was playing a game on his tablet, could agree that in the novel the parents died from stress and heartbreak due to being unable to help their child. Noah watches as every support system for the protagonist got taken away to be a secret mistress, yes indeed Nathaniel did indeed marry but his marriage was anything but peaceful.
A loveless marriage between the two, did Alex in the book love Nathaniel? No, so one could ask what changed? Simple everything and everyone. But the butterfly effect will kick in soon and Noah is preparing for it.
Sihan feels better until he opens the glove compartment to look for sweets but instead finds a pack of cigarettes, Amani freezes as Sihan pauses.
“I haven't smoked any,” Amani chuckles awkwardly.
Sihan looked at him silently for a while he was worried, “but are you planning to? It's okay to want to release tension for a while, and you may not feel comfortable confiding your troubles to me but just so you know. I am here, so it's okay we all want to ease back sometimes.” Sihan smiles.
Amani relaxes and smiles, “you know Bambi, you've changed a lot since then.”
“Hm?”
“Even if things don't go as planned, I think you'll be better this time around.” Amani said.
Sihan didn't understand but he feels sure of himself, Noah thinks the same.
After arriving at their destination they said their goodbyes as Sihan looks at his parents home, he presses the doorbell and a while later someone opens the door and before he could react he feels a warm embrace.
“Oh my baby! My baby… your back… your back…”
Carlton hearing his wife cries rushes as he sees the silhouette of his child he rushes to hug him. “My child, my beautiful Ger! Oh God.:
Noah covers his ears, his grandparents cries sounds ugly, but his heart soon softens and tears fall as well.
A/n
Sihan's mom
Sihan's dad