Packing stuff was a huge pain, but what’s even worse than that? If you thought the answer was “unpacking,” congrats, you’re correct.

When packing, my worries were to not forget anything essential, protect stuff that’s fragile and not pack our clothes in a way that’d get them all wrinkled. I didn’t even think about the pain it’d be to decide where to put our stuff after we got to our new place.

Frankly, that wasn’t the main problem. The problem was that, despite Sophie’s warnings, we moved in too late because we wanted to stay longer to help her with the baby and I didn’t want to leave without visiting my mother’s grave since I couldn’t do so again until winter break came around. Unlike Sophie, we’d be visiting home during the holidays, so we could have simply brought what we needed until winter, take back the excess to replace it with stuff we’d need until spring break, rinse and repeat. That was compounded by the fact that our little rented apartment truly was a little thing, there not being much space around to store stuff, but it needed to be done, nonetheless.

We decided to start in our new bedroom since we arrived right close to the end of the day rush hour.

We both sat on our knees as we checked each box and decided where we’d store the contents before even attempt to start that process and risk running into the trouble of having to redo it again.

New life, new place, it felt like, away from our friends and family. We were on our own now because everyone we knew was busy with their own lives and hours away, if not a whole day.

Mathew when to a different town to study game development.

Mathilda and Stephen lived at his parent’s place for now. She was doing her videos for her channel while he deepened his knowledge about mechanics.

William now lived alone in a smaller apartment he moved to, alone sadly, but he bid us farewell with a smile.

Sophie, my dad and Oliver lived together now without me or Abby close by to help with my sister Isabel at my old place.

Mrs. Fletcher, Margaret and Jacob were likely enjoying their lives too at the B&B, the memory of them making me even more homesick.

Claire moved in with Paul, him now working at a water park as a marine biologist, the place also functioned as a place to study and take care of wildlife with an emphasis on ocean life.

Everything was so different now. None of the past events kids associate with adulthood left the kind of impression that moving out and being on my own with my wife did. Having my first time, drinking my first drink, graduating high school, none of that. Opening a box and seeing what I brought from my childhood home into a new one…

“Erm, honey?” I called out after finding some articles of clothing I wasn’t getting why she decided to bring with us. “What are these for?”

She looked at me, pretending to not know what I was referring to, so I enumerated its contents as I showed them to her. Our high school uniforms, her Red Riding Hood and my wolf ears, and finally, my black suit pants and waistcoat.

“Hehe, guess!” she said, her face telling me all I needed to know.

“Haah, that last Halloween got you a kink, huh?” I sighed, wondering where I should store the box so it wouldn’t be in the way but also not forgotten and out of her reach in case she wanted to used them.

“Oh babe, I’ve had that kink ever since we made that butler-milady play when you were still working at the restaurant,” she told me sounding like she was disappointed that I only now realised it. “Hehe, It’s so fun how shy and awkward you are at the start but then get really into it.”

Because a happy Abby is the best Abby and I can’t resist that.

I was a bit lost in thought about the sweet memories of those occasions, so I didn’t notice Abby coming to kneel by my side until she clutched my shorts with two hands.

“Can we take a small break?” she asked with a needy voice.

I told her we had just started, but her begging eyes and voice as Abby explained that she was aware of it, but we also haven’t had much free time to do couple-ly stuff lately was an equally undeniable fact.

Between helping Sophie and dad with Isabel, my adorable but demanding new-born baby sister, and getting ready for the moving, we hadn’t had a moment to just snuggle and enjoy some quiet cuddling, let alone anything else.

“…Do you think they are doing ok?” I asked as I sat with my back against the bed. We still had to put on the bedsheets, that was why we were still sitting on the floor.

She laughed briefly as she made herself comfortable sitting between my legs with her back resting on my chest before telling me they’d have to manage without me.

According to her, whenever Isa cried, I was right about the reason why eight times out of ten. That, she compared with my dad and her sister. My dad was right half of the times while Sophie was only right a third, at least according to her. The funniest part was that I thought she was right once I looked back into it. Funny, but that also made me worry even more.

“Here, have some stress relief, Big Mama Violet” she said, moving my hands from her waist to her chest.

“…You just wanted me to fondle you, didn’t you?” I asked as I gave my wife’s breast a wiggle and a squeeze. “And I told you many times, don’t call me ‘mum’ or anything adjacent to that when we are like this.”

She stuck her tongue out at me before resting her head on my neck and letting out a relaxed sigh as I kept moving my hands.

Even though there was the sound of hectic traffic from people commuting back to their homes after a day’s work coming from outside, the place was peaceful and… eerily quiet. I attributed the sinister feeling to the fact that I wasn’t familiar with the place.

Aside from the sinister feeling, sitting with Abby like this was feeling very nostalgic even though it wasn’t that rare of an occurrence. It was reminding me of those times Abby would sit on my lap while we studied and we’d fondle each other during a break.

“…I’ll probably go bumping into walls in the morning for the next whole week,” I said out loud, that thought having suddenly popped into my mind.

Abby’s playful response about leading me around the house in the morning came a bit after, a strange occurrence in itself.

A quick check on her and I confirmed my suspicion: she was almost dozing off. We weren’t even sitting there for that long either, but I too was feeling awfully tired, having noticed that the second we started our break. Just like spending couple time together, we’ve also been a bit deprived of sleep and rest lately.

“Should we prepare the bed?” I asked.

“Hmm,” she hummed as she rubbed her nose on me.

It was disappointing that we weren’t moving past me fondling her chest, but with how tired we were and how relaxed Abby gets when I hold her, it was to be expected.

Dad had plenty of work at the company and taking care of a new-born baby was a full-time job too, so Abby and I had been spending some nights at my place to help ease Sophie’s burden. My room would eventually become Isa’s room too and as such, we kept one of the two cribs William lovingly made there. On the nights we stayed at my place, to allow my dad and Sophie to get a bit more rest, Isa slept in the same room than us, so me and Abby were in the frontlines on those nights. On some of them, she simply didn’t want milk, have her diaper changed, or be held by any other person other than her mama, so we’d have to go to dad’s room to fetch Sophie. Sometimes, Isa simply wanted to suckle on someone, but neither Abby nor I were comfortable doing that. Still, there was that one night I fell asleep holding Isa and she showed no reservations latching on my chest, Abby taking a photo as proof of that and which I made her delete immediately. It was still amazing seeing me deep asleep and somehow still not dropping my sister. Humans really are amazing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As for when we had to call Sophie or dad, it was better for them to have a night or two where they could sleep all night than being woken up two or three times every night, maybe even four, if Isa had an upset tummy. And despite how troublesome and tiring it was, I found it very enjoyable.

Fun fact, sometimes, Isa would wake up from one of her naps crying but suddenly would grow quiet before we got to her. On those occasions, Oliver had gone and curled by her side, Isa quietly snuggling up to him and going back to a peaceful sleep.

Kinda like Abby was doing with me right now that we finished preparing the bed and got under the sheets. Only, she’d occasionally shift in bed, bumping her rear on my hips, running her fingers on my hands and kissing my hugging arm as I spooned her. Looking at her face, she was looking a bit flushed.

We had made the bed to sleep, but with Abby acting like that, I was starting to feel awake again and getting restless too.

“Everything ok?” I asked, amused and seeing the writing on the wall.

“Sorry but… I got in the mood again and I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep like this.”

“I can see that,” I hummed as I started teasing her ear.

It had been quite a while that we had made love. Something like five days if I’m not mistaken. It was only a couple more until we were in our monthly forced celibacy too.

As tired as we were, when considering that and seeing Abby so fidgety, needy and cute, sleep could wait a little bit more.

“Could you… you know,” Abby told after seeing that I wasn’t going past playing with her ear and teasing her hips.

“I don’t if you don’t say it clearly.”

“You’re being so mean,” she whined as she turned on her back and looking delectably embarrassed.

“I’m still waiting to hear it.”

“…I want one of your special massages,” she whined, putting one of my arms around her shoulders and the hand of the other on her stomach.

“And what will I get in return, hmm?” I asked with a giggle to tease her even further as I played with her bellybutton.

She told me in a whiny voice as I nibbled her neck that after I had finished spoiling her, she’d happily do anything I asked, or would let me do whatever I want to do to her.

That sounded like a good deal, and keeping on teasing her would start to be cruel, so I complied and started our bonding. Sleep came very fast after we were satisfied, so fast that we didn’t even have time for pillow talks or even enjoy the mood of the aftermath.

When I opened my eyes after falling asleep embracing Abby with entangled fingers, I felt incredibly refreshed and the room was dimly lit. Abby had a very content face as she peacefully slept in my hold, her hair and drool a mess that I tried to tame and wipe out of her face without disturbing her as I got more and more awake.

It felt like I had slept a long, long time. It was a very restful sleep, the best I had in days, but it felt too long to be honest, that getting me on edge.

Seeing the time after I picked my phone confirmed that feeling and almost made my heart fly out of my mouth.

“Honey! Honey, wake up! You’re going to be late!” I urged her as I shook her awake, that being the complete opposite of how I’d have liked to wake her up.

We had slept almost thirteen hours straight, and if she didn’t hurry, she’d miss the presentation scheduled for eight-thirty in the morning at her university.

I didn’t bother putting on my clothes, I leapt out of bed as soon as Abby was awake and went sprinting out of the door only to slam against the wall and fall on my butt. I had turned to my left out of habit when now, I was supposed to turn right.

“Are you ok!?” Abby cried out, rushing to my side.

“Yeah,” I groaned as I rubbed the spot of my head that impacted first. “Fortunately, I slowed down enough to hit the brakes and not smash against the wall at full speed.”

“Are you sure? It was quite the bang!”

Besides having to put on some ice after she was gone, I assured her I was ok. I wasn’t dizzy even after getting up, nor was I seeing double, nor was I having trouble speaking.

“Seriously, instead worrying about others, we should worry about us first,” Abby grumbled as she needlessly helped me balance as I walked to the kitchen.

I sent her off to take a quick shower while I prepared her some breakfast. We were so short on time that I couldn’t even spend more than a short moment searching for the toaster we had bought and would prepare her raw buttered bread instead, and it’d be on the go instead of together with me.

When Abby appeared again, now dressed and with her hair still a bit damp, she stopped for a second to stare at me with red cheeks. That’s when I remembered that I was still in the nude, save for the chocker.

For the first time in forever, I embarrassedly covered myself up the best I could with my hands, much to Abby’s amusement.

“Now I’m a different kind of hungry,” she said to tease me as she grabbed the paper bag with her disappointing meal. “Will I be received like this when I get back too?”

She was having her payback from how I teased her yesterday, but she also undid my arms to give me a big hug and say how beautiful she thought I was and how nice I always smelled, making me go all gaga over having to let her go out alone.

“See you in a bit,” she told me in a sweet tone after giving me an equally sweet goodbye kiss that felt too short by at least a whole minute.

I followed after her as she went to the front door. My heart was already aching for her as I saw Abby grabbing the doorknob. However, she turned around and pulled my head down as she tiptoed to give me an even longer and more passionate kiss while I tightly held her like that’d prevent her from leaving my side.

“I’m going now,” she told me a final time in a whisper as our faces grew apart and we both let go.

After she left, I stood by the front door with a hand clenching my chest.

It had already began, our adult life. From this day forward, she’d be leaving the house in the morning to only return at the end of the day while I stayed back, taking care of our house. From this day forward, we’d have many more worries in our lives. We could no longer simply shrug some things off. With so many new responsibilities and priorities, we’d probably feel too tired some days to indulge ourselves in our silliness. We might even argue more due to tiredness and stress and about utterly stupid things.

“…Maybe I should greet her like this?” I wondered out loud as I checked myself in the entrance mirror. I’d have to ask Abby about it, but despite having gained some weight, I didn’t seem to be any fatter. In fact, when pinching my belly and thighs, it felt like I might have lost some, if anything at all.

Noticing how my hair had gotten long again too, I made a note to search for a hairdresser for us and stuck the green paper to the mirror together with the other two things in a red and a blue paper respectively with things we needed to take care of but weren’t priorities right now. That had been Abby’s idea, and a very good one since we were bound to look at the mirror before leaving and would notice the sticky notes.

It wasn’t all bad though, being what society calls adults.

Today had a messy start, but it had also been fun if I ignored running into a wall. Hopefully, we hadn’t disturbed the neighbours.

It was a cheap rental, but we had our place now.

As sad and lonely as it was to be apart for most of the day, it made the idea of spending time with Abby once she got back and during the weekends even more precious and exciting.

Abby would certainly bring me gifts and surprises every now and then, and so would I do the same for her, just like we’ve always done.

We’d have our days to share in conversation during dinner, bath and/or during our pillow talk.

Even if we were too tired to engage in making love, we’d still read a bit together in bed before snuggling and going to sleep.

I could help Abby with her studies by supporting her and showing interest in her subjects so she’d explain them to me and better interiorise it in her mind.

“Right, Abby said she’ll likely come home early today. I’ll do my exercises, do some more unpacking, make a light lunch, do some more unpacking, greet her once she comes back, go grocery shopping with her, have a nice dinner together, and finish the day off with taking a bath together and making love after hearing all about her day and telling her about mine.”

Our relationship would suffer some changes, some stuff would be left behind, and others would enter to take their place. That wasn’t a bad thing, just different and another part of life.

As I was readying myself for a set of leg exercises after having put on some clothes, my phone rang the sound of a text being received. Reading its contents, my smile grew even more compared to when I saw who it was from.

“Just wanted to tell you that I got there and that I forgot to tell you that I love you to bits! XOXO”

There was also an unread message from Sophie she had sent last night. Oliver sat on the floor of my old bedroom with Isa by his side, both looking very lonely as he stared at my bed, the poor things.

I texted Abby back that I loved her a lot too and took the chance to wish her good luck and to take care.

Before I met Abby, my life was drab, and I always thought that becoming an adult would be living my life in an even duller manner, but ever since she came into my life, it has been nothing short of pure bliss. Growing up into an adult has been a wonderful time, and I’m sure I’ll feel the same about growing old when on my deathbed. A simple life, but a very joyful one at that. Because I‘ll have her by my side, even if she’s not sharing the same physical space I am in.

My beloved and irreplaceable Abby will always be there for me, and so will I be there for her… forever more.