The bell rang and Shadee darted at the door. Despite the horrible racket in the living room, she had been intently listening for any sounds that could announce the arrival of her boyfriend. She checked her image quickly in a near-by window before letting Sebastien in.



‘Hey!’ she beamed and gave him a quick and playful peck on the cheek, suddenly realising that the whole room had become unusually quiet. She gulped down and turned around, facing the others in the room and grinned uneasily ‘Um…everyone…this is my boyfriend, Sebastien! Sebastien, you know Caleb, grandma and grandpa, right? The others are my aunts, Alillee and Onasis with their husbands and kids, my uncle Zenyth and his wife Brigitte.’



Sebastien nodded and smiled at the huge reunion. He had quite a difficulty keeping in mind all their names, seeing they were quite unusual. Shadee seemed to know what he was thinking, as she added barely audibly ‘My grandma has a knack for unique names!’

The buzz seemed to grow after the novelty had worn off and they were all soon seated at a big table, chatting away loudly.



‘So, young man’ Gypsy turned to Seb ‘I heard you chose med school. That’s quite a high ambition and not everyone can succeed…’

‘I’ve always been interested in the human body.’ The boy looked Gypsy in the eyes ‘It’s something that I like and, on top of that I can also be close to Shadee during college with her having chosen arts and all. The dorms are in the same building.’



The old lady nodded and smiled friendly ‘I’m really content about that, to be honest. I believe I can trust you to protect her and make her happy.’ There was a brief moment in which they made eye contact and Sebastien thought he could see a flame burning in Gypsy’s eyes; it gave him a distinct feeling that she resembled a lioness defending her cubs and the words “or else” came him to mind, even though no one had pronounced them.

‘You can be sure of that!’ he answered back and didn’t avoid her gaze. Everything went back to normal in an instant.



‘This salmon is great, gran!’

‘Why, thank you dear!’

‘I like the turkey!’

‘Granny, the lobster looks scary!’

The kids were quite impressed by the wonderful feast their grandmother had prepared. They kept bickering over which dish was more delicious, until desert came - they all declared banana split “the bestest”.



[i]’It’s not so bad after all…’ Shadee smiled looking around the big table and munching away at a particularly stiff piece of banana. She was leaving home, after having got used to being there she was once again moving away, leaving behind people that she loved.

Everyone was so loud but, having drifted off into her own dream world, the girl couldn’t hear a word that was being said. She remembered her parents, her siblings, all gathered round a table one cold winter evening many, many years ago – or so it seemed to her. For a brief, selfish moment she wished her parents were alive, sitting there instead of one of her aunts or uncle. She chased the thought away. If a more powerful, supreme being had meant it for her to be that way, she had to accept her fate and learn to deal with it. In the end, after all the twists and turns she had actually received a prize – Sebastien.

‘Shadee, honey, please help Marcus take the dishes away!’



‘Umm? Oh, yeah, gran!’

The evening ended in a pleasant gathering in front of the TV, watching some slushy romantic comedy. Everyone headed for their homes eventually, after shedding a few “I’ll miss you” tears and repeatedly hugging Shadee. Even Shadee’s grandpa stood up from his wheelchair for a few minutes, seeing his children and grandchildren out.



Not long afterwards, the grandparents headed for their room and wished Shadee a good night. The girl was about to do the same when she noticed o a dark figure sitting on the swing outside. It was Caleb.



Shadee opened the front door as soundless as possible and approached the little boy.

‘Caleb? What’s wrong?’ she leaned in to see his face better, but there was silence for a few moments.



‘Am I a horrible boy?’ he looked up and stared sadly into Shadee’s eyes.



The girl was taken aback by his unexpected question and smiled relieved. She had thought her “uncle” had a more serious reason to be upset.

‘Of course not! You’re wonderful, one of the best things that ever happened to me, grandma and grandpa! Are you serious?’

‘I thought everyone hated me…’ Caleb answered thoughtfully ‘You’re all leaving me. First Fiona, now you!’

‘I’m not leaving for ever, carrot top!’ she ruffled his hair playfully and wiped off the tears from the corners of his eyes ‘It’s just for a few months, then I’ll come to visit on holidays and during weekends. And I don’t think Fiona’s leaving you-’



‘Yes she is! She’s moving out of town with her parents! I’m never going to see her again!’

There was another moment of silence in which Shadee watched a few tears roll down the boy’s cheeks. ‘Oh…I didn’t know that… I’m – I’m really sorry for you-’

She didn’t get to finish her sentence because the boy had pulled her into a tight hug, damping her white blouse. But it didn’t matter to her. Even though Shadee tried to fight against them, tears made their way down her chin, blurring her view and choking her.



‘I love you so much, Shadee!’ Caleb’s muffled voice whispered and the boy dug his face even deeper into her belly.

‘I love you too, Cae!’



They spent a few good minutes in the front yard, hugging and crying like mad people, then finally tired down and retreated to their rooms. The girl packed the rest of her stuff into the second huge luggage and went to bed, unable to fall asleep for hours on end.

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Please excuse the plumbob's and thoughts bubbles, I made the pics in quite a hurry to give you guys the chapter and I forgot to take care of all the details...