L E O N
(i'm never going to leave you.)

September 2028
San Francisco
(Leon, 31 | Rachelle, 29)

Parking my car, I entered the house through the sliding glass door. Silence and emptiness of the vast living area greeted me rudely, with harsh reprimands that this was one of the nights that work had caught up to me and I had once again returned home in the dead of the night.

Sighing, I dragged myself upstairs and entered the bedroom. Lifting my feet as I walk, I softened my footsteps and moved silently towards the large bed. Rachelle slept soundly on her side in the direction which faced the door. A pinch snagged in my heart at the thought that she must have been waiting for me but I had once again disappointed her with my late return.

I sat at the side of the bed, my fingers carefully tucked wisps of her hair behind her ear. She moved slightly towards my touch, satisfied by the warmth of it as she wriggled to find another comfortable position to sleep. The pregnancy pillow had limited her movement, but a faint smile appeared when she at least found a posture that pleased her. This time, her hand rested above the baby bump, in a manner that resembled her hugging our daughter when she sleeps. Warmth brimmed in my heart as I leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Sleep tight, sweetheart," I whispered before moving away from the bed. I moved silently to the bathroom, making sure that no sound was made to startle her awake.

By the time I was out and changed into comfortable sleepwear, it was already two past midnight. I lay at my side in bed, turning to face her back. As much as I would like to rip that large pillow off and hold her close to me, she seemed to sleep really comfortably since she insisted on getting it. Our little one hadn't been the kindest to her. She would mischievously kick at random times that her mother had to pause every few moments to sit down, just to let her play to her heart's content. It worries me all the time but Rachelle had been the happiest to know that our daughter would be such a lively one from her powerful kicks.

Dejected that I had nowhere near my lovely wife, I stretched my leg out and touched my foot against the back of hers. Finally pleased to feel some of her warmth, weariness from the tiring day of work overwhelmed me as I drifted into sleep slumber.

-

Bright light seeped through closed eyelids, and I scrunched my eyes reflexively before I peeled my eyes open to realise that it was already morning. Rays of bright daylight shone into the room from the thin gap between curtains. I stretched my arms above my head and sat myself up. My head tilted to the side and saw Rachelle still peacefully asleep. I inched closer to her, taking in her scent of the new shampoo that she had picked up which smelled like jasmine and apple. Knowing that she doesn't get much sleep on some nights because of the contractions or when she had stayed up a little later just to wait for me, I decided to not wake her up. She definitely needed to sleep more. Pulling on the blanket, I adjusted it for her and cover her underneath its warmth. A yawn rose as I hopped off the bed and went to freshen myself up.

A warm shower, refreshing brush and clean shave was the same routine I repeat each morning without fail. Once I step out of the bathroom, my eyes went straight towards the bed and saw my wife pushing herself up effortfully with one hand, while the other supported her heavy bump. I shuffled towards her and gave her some help. She turned to look at me, those chocolate brown eyes lit up in surprise and glee. "Good morning!" she chirped.

The corners of my lips lifted into the widest grin they could manage. Nothing pleases me more than to see her so happy. I returned her greeting with a light pass on her cherry pink lips. I beamed, "Good morning, my little squirrel."

She lifted herself off the bed and I followed her to the bath. I didn't expect her to wake up so soon, so I left the bathroom as it was. I settled her on the closed toilet seat while I mopped the shower room floor dry. She talked to me while I worked. She frowned slightly, "I'm sorry I fell asleep before you reached home."

"I'm sorry instead. I had so much work at hand yesterday and returned home really late," I apologised.

"Don't push yourself too hard," she reminded.

"I took time off today," I smiled. 

"You always do that when you feel bad," she giggled. 

"That's right," I laughed. 

I left her to shower after wiping the floor dry and headed downstairs to get breakfast ready. I took out the muffin batter from the fridge and set the tray before placing the batch into the oven. Tapping away on my laptop, I get some emails out of the way while sipping on my morning coffee. I guessed I was too engrossed (or fed up by my clients) to realise that Rachelle had already pulled out the dining chair beside me and settled in. She rested her chin on her hands and asked, "Blueberry muffins?" 

I jumped a little and slammed my laptop shut, casting it to the side and replied, "Yes. Is there anything else you would like to have?" 

"Just that will do," she smiled, before looking towards me with a funny expression on her face. "Remember last time when we used to mess up the whole kitchen over the same blueberry muffins?"

"The one that Pam decided to ground me in your house for a month?" I asked, amused by the sudden recollection of random memory. 

She nodded enthusiastically, delighted that I remembered that moment of our fond childhood together. 

━━━━━━━━━━

April 2007
(Leon, 10 | Rachelle, 8)

"Are you sure this is right?" Rachelle toppled the basket of bluberries into the large metal bowl clumsily and the batter from within splattered messily all over the tabletop. 

"Rae, you're supposed to drop them in carefully, not just dump them in!" I frowned, fretting about the mess that she had made which would definitely warrant us a good scolding from Pam.  

"But it's fun like that," she pouted, ignoring whatever I had just said as her hands dipped into the batter. She stirred and played with it like a devil in the kitchen. I exhaled a sigh but couldn't bear to stop her when she was thoroughly enjoying herself while giggling exuberantly. 

"You have a blueberry stuck on your face," I said. 

"Really?" She raised her hands and wiped across her forehead. I burst out laughing, couldn't stop cackling at the mess she made upon herself when batter dripped from her forehead, down her rosy cheeks. She immediately realised that I was fooling around with her and her brows knitted together as a display of annoyance. She threw the remaining batter on her hands towards me, but I dodged it just in time and it ended up dirtying the floor. Determined to exact her revenge, she jumped off the wooden stool and chased after me. I made a quick run but heard a loud thump behind me. When I turned around, I saw that she had fell face flat on the ground. She pushed herself up with her small arms and buried her face into her hands.  A sudden panic rose within me when I thought of her crying. I went towards her and squatted beside her. "Rae Rae?" I called, holding on her arms gently. 

Little did I expect that this girl was faking her cry. She looked up and wiped her hands all over my cheeks, spreading the buttery batter along. I knew that if this way anyone else, I would've gotten really mad. Yet, I just couldn't seem to get mad at her at all. Instead, I laughed funnily at her playful giggles. We sat on the kitchen floor, playing with muffin mix while chortling at the top of our voices. 

Our happiness was short-lived when Pam thundered into the kitchen and screamed at both of us, "Children, you both better explain to me what has gone down in this place!" 

We froze, with hands cupping each other's cheeks. Pam was burning with rage and we were too scared to even flinch. When I felt something smooth glided across my fingers, I turned around and saw that Rachelle had started to cry. Tears were pouring out of genuine fear and I felt that dread deep down too. Pam can be really nice, but anger made her a whole new different person. 

Regardless, I slid over to hide Rachelle behind me, baring myself full front against Pam's fury. I will be a brave boy. That was the lie I repeated to myself while my lips trembled, forcibly pulling themselves into a frown. 

"Look at all the mess!" Pam grumbled. "Rachelle, you're grounded for a month!" 

She let out a frightened squeak from behind and I turned my head slightly to look at her pitifully. Pam walked towards the sink but didn't forget to bring me along in her punishment, "Leon, don't pity her because you're also grounded for a month!"

Is that even allowed? I looked at Pam, with slight smugness because I know that Mom and Dad would definitely fetch me home soon. Pam raised her brows to look at me and dialled on her phone, leaving the loudspeaker on. 

"Hello, Pamela! Has anything happened?" Mom's voice sounded through the speakers and I jutted my chest out with greater confidence. 

"Hey, Katherine. Leon and Rachelle made a huge mess in my kitchen and I decided to ground them for a month. What do you say?"

"What?" Mom gasped and I couldn't feel any prouder than having Mom on my side. But the next thing she said nearly made me cry. "Ground him! Tell him to not bother coming home unless he fixes the mess in your kitchen and repents on his mistakes."

My jaw dropped at the parental betrayal I just witnessed. Pam simply looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. She wetted two cleaning cloths and commanded Rachelle and me to clean the kitchen up while she watched. We dragged the cloth across the tiles on the floor unwillingly while Pam cleaned the tabletop. She only allowed us to leave when the kitchen sparkled blindingly. We individually cleaned ourselves up and changed into a new set of clothing before Pam shooed us into Rachelle's bedroom and warned us to reflect. 

Rachelle sat in the middle of her bed with knees tucked close to her chest and her chin rested on top of it. I plopped myself down in her bed, exhaling a sigh. 

"Leo?" she whispered. 

"Yeah?" 

"I had fun," she giggled softly. 

"Me too, actually," I grinned, throwing away any ounce of remorse that I had refused to feel. 

"When we grow up, we can have our own house and do whatever we want without getting scolded," she said.

"We'll go crazier than this," I told her. 

"You promise?" she cheered excitedly in a low voice. 

"I promise." 

━━━━━━━━━━

She scooped some batter from the metal bowl that I had placed by the side of the sink with her finger and tapped it on my nose. "Hey!" I protested but laughed at the silly girl in front of me who never seemed to grow up.  

"You know, Clara visited me with Kayden last week. He saw my tummy and was really amazed when I told him that our baby girl is inside. He even promised me that he would protect her. How adorable," she laughed. 

"He's just a little brat," I commented. 

"Aw, but Kayden's like a prince on a white horse," she giggled.

"Please," I rolled my eyes, placing my hand on top of her bump. "Her dad is exactly an honourable knight in shining armour." 

"You're supposed to protect me, mister!" she complained, feigning indignance. 

"Of course, but I'll take on the role of a sturdy tree to shelter this little squirrel and give you lots of food," I poked fun while tapping on her nose. 

"Then, I guess I'll stick to this big fat tree for the rest of my life," she cracked up. 

"Sorry to disappoint you here, Mrs Taylor," I warned tenderly. "You have no other choice because I'm the only tree left in your forest." 

✿

this is the real goodbye!
thank you so much for taking your precious time out to read.