Simon found what he lost...

Today was quite an eventful day with Jose. I never thought that it would be so natural with him. I had a ton to say to him, but I didn't have to say anything, for him to understand what I felt.

As tradition says, today I am going to my parents to spend the rest of the weekend. After dropping Jose off at his place, and promising him motorcycle lessons, I directly went to my parents instead of returning to my place.

As usual, Simon was waiting for me at the entrance. I got off my bike and waved at him.

"So, you here Ms. Duckling," he started with teasing me.

"When will you stop calling me that?" I said annoyed by his words.

"Never," he laughed and brushed my hair into a mess with his hands.

"Stop it, Simon," I said removing his hand from my head.

"Simon," an unfamiliar voice called Simon's name from behind me.

Before I turned back to see who it was, I saw Simon's expression change which made me more curious to find out who it was.

"Chloe!" Simon gasped as he spoke her name.

Turning back, I found the same girl standing in front of me, who was always on Simon's Laptop wallpaper. It was as if I was seeing a celebrity.

P S: She is not a celebrity.

"Hii, umm, you look busy," she said looking at me, "Is she your girlfriend?" she asked looking at me more closely but with a worried look.

She had a super innocent aura, just the type that Simon would prefer. She was as beautiful as a goddess, a hundred times better than Simon.

"Oh, no she is, she is not, she is my sister, like real sister," I saw Simon stuttering, OH GOD! For the first time in forever that finally happened, my manly and confident brother went dumb for an entire minute.

"Yeah, I am not. I am his real sister," I said to her cheerfully.

"Oh, I am sorry, my fault," she said looking at me with a puppy look.

"No, it is all right, people can get it wrong sometimes. After all, I am too pretty to look like his real sister, aren't I?" I said to her leaving her with a big smile on her face.

"Your sister is cute," she said to Simon.

"I know, right? But it's a waste asking him, he just sees me as a duckling," she laughed as I said this, "Well, then I will go and meet Mom and Dad. You two can talk it out, whatever you got."

As I left, I could see a particular type of expression on Simon's face, the 'DON'T GO LEAVING ME ALONE OR I WILL DIE' type of expression. But I still left anyway.

I went inside, Mom and Dad were just as happy as always to see me come home.

"You are here my daughter," Mom came to me and filled me in her embrace and Dad came and patted my head.

"How have you been?" he asked putting his hand on my shoulders.

"I have been very well. How have you two been without me?" I asked them about their well-being.

"How can we be without you? Every day is another day for us to miss you," My mom sure knows the best emotional words in the world.

"Where is your brother? He said he would wait for you outside, but I don't see him with you," Dad asked me about Simon.

"Oh, he met a friend outside, and they started talking. He will be here in a while, but can we eat without him? I am very hungry," I saved Simon some face by calling his most probably future girlfriend his friend in front of our parents. If he is not grateful for this, he is dead by my hands.

We sat down at the dining table, and Mom and Dad served me the food.

"Did you wash your hands?" Mom asked me as she always does.

"Yes Mom," I told her.

We started eating without waiting for Simon. He was taking a long time. Well, it's acceptable to be late when you are with someone as beautiful as Chloe. If I was a man, I would fall for her too and most likely kill Simon to marry her.

Don't take it seriously you guys, don't change the genre of my writings. I don't kill people, unless necessary. I am joking again.

After we were almost halfway through our meals, Simon entered the dining hall.

"You all started eating without me," Simon came and sat next to me.

"You were too engrossed, and we were hungry, so we ate first," I said teasing him, as he pulled my cheeks.

"Did you send your friend back well?" Dad asked Simon.

Simon looked at me, with an awkward expression. I shrugged my shoulders giving him a side look.

"Yes, well he came somewhere nearby, so he stopped by to see me," he told Mom and Dad.

"He who?" I said to tease him.

"He, my friend!" he widened his eyes and kicked my legs, while I smiled at him being all awkward.

"What is going on between you two?" Mom always knows everything, that is why she is Mom.

"Nothing Mom, I am asking April to meet me at the gym area after dinner. She is getting rusty with her boxing these days," he said staring at me, indicating that I am dead today.

"All the time, you keep on making her do those sweaty workouts with you. A girl should be protected and cared for," My Dad said to Simon.

"Yes, exactly Dad, I agree," I always like to agree with Dad when I want to frustrate Simon.

"It's for her safety," Simon explains.

"You can just protect her," Mom said, "she just needs to stay elegant as a lotus."

"I cannot be with her all the time Mom," Simon justifies his stance.

"It's okay Mom, I will just make do with this brother, that you gave me," I acted pitiful and Simon again pinched my cheeks.

"She has gotten naughtier with all your pampering," Simon says to Mom and Dad, still pulling my cheeks.

"Look who is speaking. You pamper her the most," Dad says to Simon.

"True," I acknowledge that he does, not to mention he once broke someone's tooth for bullying me in primary school.

So, the incident went somewhat like this. My milk teeth broke the last among all my other classmates. So, I stayed with gaps between my teeth even after all my other classmates got their teeth. A boy teased me for the same, and I went crying to my brother, who studied in the same school in the first year of middle school. Unfortunately, the person who teased me turned out to be our neighbour. Simon, while playing with us took revenge for me and broke his permanent tooth. After that, he looked at me and smiled. He got severely punished for it too, but this just proves that he loves me the most.

After finishing our dinner, and chatting with our parents, I and Simon went to the gym area as planned.

We were fighting one on one first as suggested by Simon.

"You have gotten rusty, little duckling," he said to me panting heavily.

"If it was not for me getting sick a few days ago, you would have been no match for me," I said running out of breath as well.

"What? Did you fall sick? How do I not know it?" Simon stopped and changed his smug expression to worry.

"You don't know because I didn't tell, obviously. You are so dumb, and now don't go tell this to Mom and Dad," I said coolly.

"It's not a joke. Like now you won't even tell me when you get sick. This won't do, I am telling Mom and Dad and coming to live with you," he got so worried, that I wished I wouldn't have told him.

"Don't be stubborn, I am going to tell you something more important," I said calming him down.

I took his arm and took him to the bench to sit. I handed him a bottle of water and a towel to wipe his sweat before I started speaking.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, as we promised each other, that we would inform each other if we ever got into a relationship," before I completed speaking, he stood up in excitement.

"WHAT? You have a boyfriend?" he almost woke my parents up with his loud voice.

"Yes, but first sit down and lower your voice," I pulled him back to sit on the bench.

"When did this happen?" he asked.

"Today," I answered.

"Who is the guy? Is it him? The one who came to drop you after the birthday party that night?" he asked further not even trying to hide his curiosity.

"Yes, it is him," I was embarrassed but still answered all his questions.

"Tell, me who confessed first," he asked.

"I did," I told him, expecting him to do what he did next.

"WHAT? My little duckling confessed to a boy?" he again stood up, almost waking my parents from his voice.

"Will you please keep it down? Mom and Dad will think you are getting kidnapped," I said sarcastically.

"Wait, why am I getting kidnapped? By the order, you should be the one getting kidnapped," he said, shifting from the topic.

"Because you are dumber," I said sarcastically as he pouted.

"Wait, you are really in a relationship now?" he got stuck on this now.

"Forget about me. Didn't you just come back, after meeting your first love? What happened?" I asked looking at him with curiosity.

"What, what happened?" he pretended dumb.

"You don't need to pretend. Didn't you say she liked someone else, so you let her go? How is she back in the country?" I asked him again.

"You won't sit quietly till I tell you everything, right?" he said to me.

"Exactly," I agreed.

"There was a bit of misunderstanding," he said expecting me to accept such a short undefined phrase as an answer to my question.

"And?" I indulged him by looking closely at his face, almost forcing him to blurt out the explanation.

"And so, she came back to clarify it with me," he again answered in pieces.

"So, she will go back now that she cleared the misunderstandings?" I asked.

"No, she will stay," he is so mysterious.

"Come on, Simon, I as a girl answered you without any hesitation. What are you shy for?" I tried hitting his ego.

"She did not like John, she has always liked me," Simon finally opened his mouth, and my technique did work.

"But didn't you say she liked him?" I interrogated.

"She never said it to me, herself. It was John's wishful thinking. He was the one who came and told me that she likes him and that I should back off," My brother is so naïve.

"And you were dumb enough to believe him?" I said to him.

"I did what I did, now it cannot be undone, right?" he said.

"That's true too," I complied.

"She came and told me that she tried reaching me through SNS and phone calls, but was not able to get through them, probably because I had blocked her from every contacting source," he said.

"You are seriously dumb, Simon," I said while sighing at his stupidity.

"I was, I agree," he accepted my allegations.

"But it is good that now we both are back on track. We had our share of misunderstandings in our respective lives. We are now past those incidents. It will be better in the future. Cheers!" I said raising my water bottle in his direction.

"Cheers!" he clinked his bottle with mine and we both took a sip of water.

We went back to sleep after our heart-to-heart conversation.

I woke up in the morning at around 8 a.m. and decided to go down for breakfast. I started moving down the stairs after coming out of my room, but something felt weird, so I started calling everyone.

"Mom, Dad, Simon where are you?" I entered the lobby which was too silent for some reason.

I tried calling Mom and Dad, worrying if something was wrong. Getting my guard up, I walked forward to figure out what was going on.

Suddenly there was the sound of an explosion. Following my instinct and relating to my past I quickly squatted on the ground. While I was still contemplating, what it was, the lights turned on, and on looking around I found myself covered in confetti. It was the sound of the party poppers.

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear April, happy birthday to you," Everyone was singing me a birthday song, from everyone I meant people more than just my parents and Simon.

It was hard to believe what I saw, Jennie's family was here, Richa, Jake, Jose, and even Kevin were also present at my place. I wondered what was going on.

"I forgot that it's my birthday today," I told them while standing back up.

"We knew it sweetheart, when did you ever remember your own birthday," Aunt Catherine came forward and hugged me.

My dad was standing and a distance holding the cake for me with a candle lit up in the centre of the cake. He came up to me, signalling me to make a wish and blow out the candles.

I closed my eyes and made a wish. I can tell you the wish, but keep it a secret.

I wished for all the people, standing in front of me smiling and laughing should stay safe for the rest of there lives. There was someone whom I was not able to protect, but I would make every prayer possible for my dear ones to stay safe now.

Looking at everyone my head was filled with a million questions, but I contained them in my heart for everyone looked so happy.

My home felt so lively, after such a long time, but there were still some pieces missing.

The last time that my birthday was this lively was when Jennie was there.

I miss Jennie and Kristal; they both were a necessity for me on my birthday. Now one of them is not with us, and one of them won't want to be with us.

Even so, it is still lovely to have friends like Richa, Jake, Jose, and Kevin.

I just wish, that what I have now will not become a memory in the future, but will stay with me forever.

***