The live news report ended right with another set of knocks, this time slower and softer in comparison to the one that came with Emi and Rue’s arrival. Sitting there in shock, the TV now off, Rue and I just sat beside each other as Emi answered the door.

‘I knew them. I remember seeing the girls when they were younger, but their baby clothes hid their true appearance. I don’t know why I didn’t realise it sooner.’ She rambled quietly.

Shaking my head, I snapped out of the shock and moved over to give her a gentle hug around the shoulders as Emi came in with a woman from down the hall. We all knew her as the owner of, coincidentally, a local setup for the homeless and lost or abandoned children. I knew she was a friend of my mother, but never knew how close they’d been for her to visit directly.

The building she currently owns is currently purposed as a Children's Home but in the past, it had been a church before being an orphanage during the Second World War. Apparently, the place had lots of memories, good and bad, connected to it. I remember when my mother brought me there when I was younger. I don’t remember much, but I later learned that I’d made friends with a young Emylia back then.

‘Hello, Jacob. I’m sorry for not reaching out sooner. I wish it could have been under better circumstances, but I was a good friend of your mother's.’ She said, sitting down on the adjacent, smaller sofa to my right.

‘Hi, Janet.’ I responded. ‘I’m not feeling great right now, but I’m glad to hear that you knew my mother. I don’t think I remember meeting you before.’ I added, rubbing my forehead in the process.

‘She was a great lady. She always talked about you, well, the younger you. Even things you probably wouldn’t want to hear about.’ Her comment made me tense at the thought behind her words, but when I noticed her smirk, in an attempt to lighten the mood, I began to relax. ‘I remembered seeing you take the girls out the other day and when I noticed the picture of them on the news, I wanted to come over and make sure you weren’t who the old guy next door said you were before jumping to any conclusions. He’s one of our patrons after all.

‘Anyway, your mother taught me that when we first met, you know. Around nine years ago, I think, if memory serves correctly. We both stayed in touch with each other, while they were looking for a place to move to after your father decided to move jobs.’

‘Wow... I knew my mother said she’d helped someone when she first came here with Dad, but I didn’t know it was you she was talking about.’ I replied, the shock of the revelation finally dissipating from my mind and my features as I felt a soft flush warm through my body.

‘It’s a good thing too. I wouldn’t have met my new fiancé if not for your mother’s actions.’

The chat continued, while Emi brought the girls out, hand in hand, from the room after the television was turned off. After a few minutes of clearing up the other rumours from that bigoted guy, who unfortunately happened to have been influencing my mother’s old friend again. His incessant ramblings often seemed to have an air of truth behind them but were a little too far-fetched in the areas he focused on.

The discussion ended with two things. Janet had revealed that she was responsible for my repositioning after my recent episode. The other, well, I was only a little bummed out with it, but the reminder of me being looked down upon for taking the girls in, left me with no choice but to let her take them to her workplace. I think the charity behind the place was called “Solving Solitude”, but I might be wrong. Due to how sporadic my episodes were, she confirmed with me that she would not reveal that I was the one to take care of the girls.

Due to the lack of time to bond with each other, I didn’t find myself feeling any familial affection towards the girls. However, that didn’t stop the two of them from grabbing my legs and hugging them lightly as they were whisked away by Janet to a place that would be more suited to helping them. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually figured that they could do with me showing up now and then. I crouched down to be at eye height with the girls.

‘Hey girls, it’s gonna be okay. Janet is a good friend of mine.’ I assured them, as I placed a hand on top of theirs that clung to my legs. ‘I’ll make sure to show up from time to time. Just follow what she says, okay?’

‘Um, okay.’ Lucia said as she and her sister’s ears flopped behind their heads. ‘Will you... Will you visit us whilst we’re with the nice lady?’ She added hesitantly, while she hugged my leg tighter.

‘I’ll make sure to visit you when I have the time.’ I answered, gently rubbing the tops of their heads, getting them to relax as their hair was being tousled.

‘Well, at least you know where to find them.’ Janet said, as she leaned down and patted the head of Lucia’s younger sister.

As if on cue, both the girls moved and grabbed at my legs tighter than I was expecting. It seemed that they didn't want to leave my side. After prying and persuading both girls from my legs gently I bent down, dropping to a knee and bent over slightly so I was at Lucia's height.

‘Yes, I'll make sure to try and pop down to see them.’ I said to Janet, as Lucia purrs quietly into my hand. ‘Speaking of visiting, could you let my friend and her girlfriend visit them too? I think these girls trust them.’ I ask, my voice calm but firm.

‘Sure, I’ll make sure to keep them in the documents for who can visit the girls.’ Janet replied, pulling out a phone from inside her jacket. ‘I’ll make sure to list them on our database as wolf-girls so that nobody gets interested in them, but I don’t know how long that’ll keep them hidden at my workplace.’ She added, her fingers tapping away into the device in her hands for a brief moment.

Lucia, bless her, looked interested but her eyes showed a bit of cluelessness to them. As if she was attempting to understand our conversation. I softened the muscles around my face and lifted her into a cuddle. As I picked her up, I noticed that her eyes were glistening and a liquid had formed along the bottom eyelids while her lower lip quivered.

‘Hey kiddo, it’s alright.’ I say as I use my thumb to gently wipe her eyes, her tears being swept off her face. ‘I’ll always make sure you're taken care of, Lulu. The same goes for your sister.’ I added, and then a thought came to mind as she wrapped her small arms around my neck, to which I patted her back in return.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

‘Hey Lulu, I don’t think I ever learned your sister’s name.’ I spoke, once she pulled herself from the hug that I think she desperately needed.

‘My sister is Rina.’ She said softly as she continued to hold my neck, keeping me at her eye level. ‘Wait, no, it’s Larina!’ She corrected herself a bit louder this time, a gentle glow on her cheeks from stating her nickname for her sister.

‘It’s alright.’ I said as I pulled an arm free and slid her around to rest on my left side. ‘Emi, you don’t mind carrying the younger one, do you?’ I turn to look at Emylia and spot the corner of her mouth turning up.

‘I don’t mind at all.’ Emi replied, her eyes glistening like a moonlit lake as they widened before the sides of her mouth rose slightly from that smirk to a calmer expression. ‘What’s the plan, Jake? D’you want to check the place out?’ She added, as she came over and lifted the smaller girl.

‘I can drive us there, my car’s outside.’ I turned to my mom’s old friend when she spoke up again.

‘Oh, uhm, okay.’ I reply as I stumble over what I wanted to say, in an articulated manner.

I grabbed my apartment keys and followed Janet as we got ready to leave. Lucia’s giggles sometimes catch me off guard whenever I drop something, or attempt to perform a task with a single hand and fail in the process. It gently made my chest feel warm when I caught her smile on the edge of my peripheral.

After I got my desired stuff, my phone, wallet and my keys, Emi and I followed Janet down to her car. My eyebrows rose very high when she walked up to a cream-coloured car that looked like a Bentley. I heard Emi mess around with Larina in her arms behind me as we walked up to the car.

‘That’s your car?’ My mouth slipped out, my voice raised slightly as I felt my heart start to race a little bit. ‘How do you have a Bentley?’ I added, my pitch dropping down to my usual range whilst I tried to mentally hold my jaw from dropping.

‘Correction, it’s a Toyota Venza.’ Janet replied, then pulled out a key from inside what looked like her work jacket and the key had the Toyota logo in it. ‘I got a right-hand model with a slight face-lift on it imported overseas from United Amerania. It was a gift from my Ameranian husband on our twentieth anniversary.’ She added, with a slight backward tilt of her head as she straightened her back.

I couldn’t see her face, but I guessed that she was probably trying to hide her face from us out of embarrassment. I had no idea that my raised brows had furrowed until she turned to look at me, her eyes flicking from mine to look somewhere on my forehead and chuckled. I felt Lucia lean slightly in my arms as she tried to look at the creamy-white car.

‘I see… It easily has the beauty of a Bentley though. I just can’t remember which one though.’ I replied, my ears finally catching Emi’s voice that sounded like she’d just been caught off-guard as I turned to look at her.

‘Sorry, I was having a little game with this cute one, but that can’t be a Toyota.’ Emi said, surprising me back with a curl of her lips.

‘I’ll prove it then.’ Janet responded as she raised her hand, held the keys in view and pressed the unlock button in a very obvious manner.

The car’s indicators blinked twice in quick succession. That was all the proof Emi and I needed.

‘So, where would everyone like to sit?’ Janet asked as I saw her eyes slowly dart a few times between the two young girls.

‘I have to head back to the apartment, so I’ll head down later.’ Said Emi as her shoulders slumped downwards just a little bit as she pushed her bottom lip out, yet her playful eyes betrayed her body language.

‘Well we’re going, aren’t we?’ I replied, placing Lucia on the ground whilst Emyla carefully positioned Larina and extended her arms to pass her over to me.

Lucia’s gentle giggle went off in my ear, almost like an owl’s wingbeat with how quiet it was. I gently placed Lucia in the car, surprised to find a single child seat in the car. I was about to inform Janet, but never got any words out as my raised finger aimed at it gave me a response.

‘Oh don’t worry about that, it’s for some of the kids at the children’s home.’ Janet replied, as she reached out and pulled a rear handle of the car door. ‘I would say feel free to hop in the back with the girls as they seem to trust you. However, I think it would look better if you sat in the front for a while.’ She added, the corners of her mouth returned to rest in a weaker smile.

I’d already been thinking of doing that. I nodded, as Lucia kept her hands around my neck for longer than I liked, but despite that, she let go as I buckled her in. Her eyes looked a little needy, but I patted her head to calm her down, my fingers pressed with a soft touch as they brushed behind the base of her cute ears. I noticed her cheeks taking on a rosy hue as I felt a low vibration against my fingers and palm.

She was purring again.

That’s super cute. I found myself thinking, while I chuckled at her reaction to my contact.!

When she likely noticed her purring, I ruffled her hair slightly as she covered her mouth. The action made my chest feel warmer and I found myself adoring her behaviour. That had to be put in the back of my thoughts, as Emi passed me Larina. The young girl started to nibble on her thumb as I shuffled her to my right side while I ventured around the back of Janet’s car.

‘Don’t spend too long there,’ Emi said, which caught me off guard and my head snapped around to look at her, a brow raised. ‘I won’t have anybody to tease besides Rue!’ She suddenly turned to the car window and stuck her tongue out a little bit.

I caught Lucia with her tongue stuck out in return, allowing a chuckle to escape my lips. As I walked around to the other side, Larina lent her forehead against the front of my shoulder, her ears flopped out sideways as she pulled her thumb from her mouth.

‘Come on, Rina.’ I said, my voice wavered up and down a little as I spoke. ‘I’ll just be in the front, don’t worry.’ I added, my free hand reached up and scratched with a gentle force behind her lowered ears.

Larina’s ears raised and pointed forward by a small distance. She let out a quiet whimper, but I got her buckled into the baby seat. She probably didn’t want to go in it, but she was just small enough to fit comfortably.

‘You okay like that for a bit?’ I asked her, to which I got a simple nod as she grabbed my hand with both of hers and smiled back without my lips shut. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be in the front.’ I added, a subtle squeeze of her fingers in my single hand.

As I closed the car door, I lightly jogged around the car and hopped into the passenger seat. Janet had already hopped into the car while I interacted with the girls. I caught a reminiscent smile on my mother’s friend as I saw the two girls wave at Emi with a shaky hand each during their slow waves. Lucia’s were more energetic, but I gave a simple two-shake wave as the car pulled away.

Just one thing of many dominates my thoughts as the car rides away.

I wonder what this place will be like. My thoughts kept rolling back around to different iterations of this question. I hope the girls will be alright. I hope the girls can stand being there whilst I focus on myself for a little bit. My mind raced in response to its question.

Little did I know, that things were going to feel different from this point forward.