It was spring. The sky was bright, and flowers were in full bloom. It was the perfect weather to go out on a picnic. The young man seated in the lawn, however, didn’t seem to be in the mood to appreciate it.

He was talking to someone on the phone, and looked troubled. After a moment, he heaved a sigh and said,

“Okay.”

“I can understand why you’d refu-…pardon?” the voice from the phone was surprised.

“I said I’ll do it.”

John said with a laid back attitude. He had been flustered when the agent or whatever the other person was, asked him if he’d like to take in two kids. Said kids were the children of his late-cousin.

He had heard of his cousin’s passing only a couple of hours ago, and then this person came to ask him if he’d be willing to take in that cousin’s children.

“You do realize that you’re agreeing to take care of two children. The older one is eleven, while the younger brother is eight. I can’t fathom why you’d agree to it.”

John was somewhat amused when he heard the other person say this. Wasn’t that person here to make him agree to take care of those kids? But then again, what the man had said was true. Taking care of children was a huge responsibility, and John was sure that he definitely wasn’t qualified to say that he could do a good job.

But,

‘This person said that there was no other relative willing to take them in.’

If things were to proceed like that, those two kids would be sent to an orphanage. And John knew that an orphanage wasn’t an ideal place to stay at.

In fact, it was far from it.

John talked with the other man some more about the process of adoption. After exchanging some pleasantries, he hung up.

‘Two kids, huh.’

It might be hard, but it shouldn’t be too bad.

‘What kind of stuff do I need to buy for them?’

After taking a shower, he surfed the internet, ordered a few things and went back to his ‘office.’

It was a room that had initially been a bedroom, but he had remodeled it to fit his needs. Although it wasn’t very big, it wasn’t cramped. Everything was orderly. The room really did look like a proper office.

John was a programmer. He worked from home, and made enough money to live decently, which was why he was willing to take in two kids. He had enough money to support them, and since he worked from home, he didn’t need to worry about leaving the kids alone at home.

‘It should be okay.’

 

The next day. 

‘How is this okay?’

His flight to the city where his cousin’s funeral would be held, got delayed.

‘I’ll be late.’

John frowned as he paced around the lounge. His blue eyes, unlike their usual calm, showed frustration.

Initially, he would have reached just in time for his cousin’s funeral, but now,

‘The funeral would long be over by the time I get there.’

He ruffled his black hair as he thought hard about what to do in that case.

‘Surely, they won’t leave those children by themselves.’

As it would turn out, they did leave those children by themselves. Seeing those two little kids standing alone in front of two graves made John’s blood boil.

He hurried towards his soon-to-be wards.

‘Wait, how do I greet them?’

He was introverted and didn’t like interacting with others. Usually, he wouldn’t care about the minor details, but now that he was faced with talking to kids who had just lost their parents, he was at a loss about how to talk to them.

The older sister was a cute eleven year old with wavy brown hair and green eyes. The younger brother was eight. His eyes were the same as his sister, but his hair was a darker shade of brown.

John had seen their pictures before, so he knew who they were, but he still blurted out,

“Hello. Are you two Grace and Evan?”

‘Hurray auto mode.’

He thought sarcastically as he saw the girl put her guard against him. He took a step back and thought about his next sentence.

‘I’m sorry for your loss.’

But he couldn’t bring himself to say that. He felt as if they’d start crying if he said that. Instead, he only introduced himself.

“I am John Greenwood, your father’s cousin. If you both are okay with it, I will be your new guardian.”

Hearing what he had said, the little boy, Evan, looked at him curiously. Grace, the older sister, eyed him suspiciously, but seemed to have relaxed a little.

“Let’s go.”

John gently patted the two kids’ heads and then turned around. The two seemed a bit hesitant to follow him, but when he’d moved a few steps, they started taking small steps towards him.

‘Do I look scary or something?’ John wondered as he saw the two kids hesitantly follow him, ‘maybe I should’ve cosplayed as a superhero.’ Kids wouldn’t not follow a cool hero. But it would’ve been inappropriate given the situation.

“Have you two had lunch?”

It was way past afternoon, so he was almost certain that they would’ve eaten something. Seeing the two kids shake their heads, he was a bit surprised.

“Hmm, is there a particular restaurant you both would like to eat at? You see, I’m not from here, so I don’t know which places are good.”

“I’m fine. I don’t feel like eating anything, maybe Evan…”

“I don’t feel like eating anything either,” Evan said dejectedly.

John didn’t know what to say to that. He understood that the two kids were distressed and didn’t feel like eating anything. But,

‘They should still eat something.’

They had been walking as they talked, so they were now a bit far from the graveyard. An ice cream truck passed by. It stopped not too far from them.

“Let’s buy some ice cream. Tell me which ones you both want to buy,” John said. 

“I’m fine.” “Me too.”

Said the two siblings.

John felt helpless as he heard that. He observed the two kids and they really didn’t seem to be interested in any ice cream, so he heaved a sigh and said, “We’re going to your house to pack up.”

He hailed a taxi and accompanied the two kids to their old home. As soon as they entered the house, the two kids rushed to pack their belongings. Seeing them move in such a hurry despite having such sad expressions on their faces, John said, “There’s no rush. We have all day, so take your time.”

The kids nodded and slowed down a bit.

Evan was trying to fit a lot of toys in a box. Seeing that, John picked another box and helped Evan. Grace, on the other hand, seemed to be faring well on her own, so John didn’t really need to help her. Still, he did help where he thought he could.

“Thank you.”

Grace thanked him so respectfully it made him feel complicated.

“It was nothing. Besides, as your guardian, this much is only natural.”

John wanted her to be more at ease with him, but he knew it wasn’t something that could be hurried. Bonds between people took time to develop. Since the two kids would be staying with him from now on, he had enough time to take it slowly.

                                 ————————

As it would turn out, taking it slowly seemed to be a bit too slow. It had already been two weeks since the two kids moved in with John, but they were still very formal with him.

After they had been done with the packing, and John had gone through the adoption procedures, they had moved back to John’s house. The days had been uneventful, and much more mundane than John had imagined they’d be. 

The only difference between his life before adopting the kids and now was that he had to make two more servings at mealtime. He had asked the two kids if there was anything they liked in particular, but they said they were fine with anything, so John went with what he’d found after extensively surfing the internet.

He made all sorts of things kids liked to eat, but from the two kids’ expressions, he couldn’t tell if they liked it or not. He did ask them, and they said it was good, but from the look in their eyes, they were sad. 

John reckoned they missed their parents, so he would stroke the two kids’ heads every time they finished eating. He wanted to slowly shorten the distance between him and the kids, but,

‘There hasn’t been any substantial progress yet.’

“Grace, Evan, lunch is ready,” John said as he knocked on the two kids’ room. He had remodeled one of the three bedrooms in his house for the two kids. The other two rooms were his office and his own bedroom.

“We’re coming,” said Grace from behind the door.

The two kids quietly came out of the room and went to the dining table. John had already set the table, so they started to eat right away.

“School starts in two days, so I was thinking of taking you both to buy books and other stuff today.”

Grace looked troubled, but she was grateful and thanked him.

‘Again, there is no need to thank me for such things.’ John didn’t want to be thanked about things that were his duty. He had told Grace before that there was no need for her to thank him for such things, but she still did it anyway. It was the same with her younger brother, Evan. He would also thank John for every little thing.

‘Do they still feel insecure.’

That was most probably the case.

The two kids had been reserved, a bit too reserved, ever since they moved in. They didn’t make a noise, seemed to be okay with any of his arrangements, and they didn’t make any demands. Heck, they didn’t even play outside. The two seemed to be content with staying in their room all day.

John had gone into their room a few times, and saw them drawing or just reading a storybook. At first, he had thought that it might be their favorite past-time, but the two children never came out of their room except at mealtimes.

It was okay for one or two days, but after a fortnight, it was pretty obvious that things weren’t okay.

‘Are they scared I would send them to an orphanage if they didn’t behave?’

This wouldn’t do. He was now their guardian, so he had to do something to close the distance between him and the kids. And the best way to do that would be,

‘To hang out with them.’

They’ll go shopping today, which should give him the opportunity to get closer to the kids.