"i thought you forgot?"....

The backyard was as quiet as always, only the Communication between the wind and the trees around the place was heard before Melanie halts her steps and look

At a tree, a bit far away from her but she knew behind it sat the little boy because

soft broken sniffs echoed from there to both Of Melanie's ear, which successfully Made her heart tighten at the sounds leaving the kids lips but with a calmly sigh leaving her soul she walks up to the tree And sits right beside the kid, who didn't notice at first as he had his face hidden between his arms that was on top of his legs But he when he feels that there's someone beside him he immediately knew that it was Melanie Cause just like now it's always Melanie who came after him, no one else.

Melanie just sat there not saying anything only looking at the trees right before her eyes never looked twice at the kid and no word left her mouth She thought accompanying him while he Cries might erase all of his tears after a while And that exactly what she always does when He cries, she comes and sits beside him Without saying anything only ready to talk Whenever he's ready but still being open arms for him to hugs if he needed it and Just like every other time been Before The kid Stops crying and whips the wetness l from his cheeks as he cleaned his throat

"Why didn't you stay inside?" He asks Softly looking down as if the answer wasn't obvious to anyone "because you aren't there!" Melanie replies him short but calmly that's the easiest question for her to answer, to be honest "but Erik and jasmine are there Everyone is there so you should be there" he says nipping his hand as he was trying to fight more tears from falling down his eyes But only his words were enough to make Melanie face him with red eyes yes Yet with hurting heart on the side "we talked about this jack! I know what you mean and I told you not to think less of yourself, you're no different from anyone here" Melanie says in a little bit of raised voice to him, she isn't saying this because she wants him to cry but he really needs to stop thinking of himself less worthy from the others but the care and anger in Melanie's voice made him not be able to meet her eyes because he'll cry again so he chose to look between his fingers and the ground, Erik and jasmine are two of the popular kids at this building so they always tend to steal everyone's attention No jack isn't jealous at all he just simply felt unloved and useless, he's been here for three years 4 months and two weeks Yet no one ever came to wanna be friends with him, no one but Melanie every tried to talk to him in a way that they wanted to be his friend and that left him with feeling unwanted even though he had everything Everyone would ever need in life.

"Sorry!" He apologizes calmly as soft sniffs followed his words "don't be it's okay, just promise to never think like that!" Melanie says seriously while looking at him who was not looking at her but at the ground, She reached her baby finger out for him to pinky promise her but when he didn't see her hand she chose to point her baby finger at his arm to earn his attention which made him meet her eyes with tears in his own

Then he looked at her finger and softly smiled while he contacted his little finger with hers "Promise!" He said as he chuckles in his tears Making Melanie proudly smile at him "You better keep this one!" She commands strictly yet softly to him and earned a promising nod from the kid " hey uni can I ask you something?" Jack says after a moment of silence Making a soft chuckle escape from Melanie's lips As she wholeheartedly she missed that nickname but in the meantime, her heart melts softly she looks at him with a smile on her face and nods as an answer for him to ask his questions away "I just wanna know if you remember what day today is?" He said completely calmness all over his face yet his eyes were loud with all the hope they had hidden inside of themselves, but of course, Melanie remembered what day today is How can she forget a day as important as today? Where in her life gives her the right to? But then again she couldn't tell him that if she said yes then he would ask her questions that will lead for the surprise to not be a surprise so she shook her head Promising to hit her head in a wall after this Because she could see the pain she just cursed him deeply fly by his eyes, it was only her that who know his birthday so he isn't even expecting much from the others at all today "ah ok!" He said And looks away from her completely not tearing down he had his walls up now He couldn't cry for the same reason Every time, he should have learned by now And except the fact that he isn't important to anyone everyone forgetting important things in his life is nothing new So he should've gotten used to it by now He thought But only if he knew the big surprise waiting for him today, "what? Is there something I should know?" Melanie ask as if she doesn't know anything but call it a test She wanted to see if he would tell her something or maybe remind her about it in a situation where she might have forgotten for real which will never happen as long as she is still alive but she waits for him to answer "No! Not really" he says as his eyes were glued to a fallen leaf from a tree until it landed on the ground like it's never have been shining on that tree before he kinda

Related to it for some reason he couldn't describe "Really?" Melanie asks calmly but the pain inside of her heart boiling deeply into her bones with every second. He lied to her No she lied to him first but he wasn't completely honest here at least Melanie has her reasons to lie but he?... now what if Melanie forgets one day! She's a human too so what if she does He won't remind her huh! And that just hurt her even more "yeah!" Jack sang softly While Leading himself up from his sitting position beside Melanie, then cleaned the dust off his clothes and looked at Melanie " I'm going to step to my room I'll see u around uni" he said calmly as he walked his steps away from the older one whom he left with shock, his words made the air leave Melanie's existence for a good minute before she realized that she has broken his little hurt with her dumb pretending and suddenly she felt guilt take over her body and her heart is filled with a heaviness that's can not be lifted in those upcoming second if not minutes but soon she gains her voice back and ignores the pain running through her body as she spoke

"NO wait jack!" She shouts after in a perfect moment because There was luckily not even any space between the kid and the door at this moment he was holding the door just to push it open but hearing Melanie's voice made him stop and look back at her once again "don't go inside" She said breathing heavily panicking over the whole surprise being destroyed in a second but unexpectedly a red light flashes through the smartwatch around Melanie's wrist And she smiles big chuckling out a relieve because that light was the clue she ha been waiting for that only meant, that everything was finally done decorated.

"I'll go with you!" She said happily running up to him making him confused for a minute For but for that he nods his head unnoticeably as he waits for her to stand by his side so they can walk together as she said and when Melanie finally stood beside him she put her one arm around the kid's neck and happily shook him a little, she was away too excited to see all his Reaction from the moment she opened this door And slowly

she opens the door making sure there's wasn't someone moving at the last minute

But as planned every light was turned off even the windows were rolled down

And that Made the little boy frown

"Did the light go off?" He said while looking confused at Melanie who truly tries her hardest to not smile and ruin the moment

"Looks like it!" She said completely acting like she's didn't plan this whole thing at all But that was enough to make the boy believe her without a single more word but he Under his breath mumbles something Melanie couldn't hear anything of, "Then why is everyone so quiet?" He asks not looking at but trying to see if he can find the other kids or Lisa or Jen around here "I don't know but I guess the kids must be sleep Lisa and Jen as well!" Melanie says lying as if the lies were just water she keeps one drinking while she looks at the watch around her wrist once again And this time instead of red light It said ' two steps to your left you'll find Jen with the cake!" And Melanie understood the words clearly After that she switches the message to the right to hide them while thinking of an excuse that could save her two steps to her left and when an idea pops up her head she decided to go with it as it only said to go without saying anything because she had the perfect opportunity to do it Jack was to busy dragging his fingers along with steps as they were on the bookshelf next to him and his eyes were looking right before he tilted his head to the side just to see better if Could be someone awoken 'Weird how they are sleeping on the morning I can barely sleep at the nights!" He thought to himself laughing at himself As he kept on fading away from where he stood to his mind Melanie to the chance to tiptoe to the room twos steps away from her and once she enters she closes the door without any noise and let out a relieved Sigh "cake! Where's the cake??" She panicky ask in a low voice And soon Jen's head comes out behind the wall of the behind Melanie "here!" She said Reaching the well-decorated strawberry cake that is jack's favorite out for Melanie to take hold of, and as soon as Melanie holds it A voice called out for her from outside the room and it was none other the jack himself who was wondering where Melanie suddenly disappeared

Did she leave him too? His voice was so broken That Melanie wanted to stop all this hiding and hug the kid tightly like he always likes but for the shake of this surprise she got hold of herself and let's jack Call for her again then she heard few walking steps that for sure belonged to Jack himself who walks to the kitchen To see if she might've there who knows she might have been hungry but she wasn't there did she leave him alone for real? He asks himself but he knew Melanie is not like that So he decided to walk upstairs to see if she went to her room already But he missed to noise the steps that run from the living room and to the room Melanie and Jen was inside "He went upstairs!" Lisa said out of breath. "He what?" Melanie ask confused whey would jack go upstairs his room is downstairs "He went upstairs, probably looking for you!" Lisa repeat herself words looking at Melanie who mentally slaps herself for not thinking about it ' of course he would look for you, you left him all alone stupid' she said mockingly said to her answering question she asked herself earlier "that mean we got the perfect chance to go out and surprise him come on let's go"

Melanie says after snapping out of her mind Walking out o the door Jen opens for her And Lisa just followed the two out Before leaving them to gather the kids around in front of the stairs like the two Said and she agreed to, Melanie stand there waiting for jack to come down with Jen right beside her As watch she watches the other kids gather around behind her With some of them holding a latter from 'happy birthday!' And the other ones holding colorful balloons and smile on their lips And Lisa stands on the other side of Melanie Just simply waiting for him to come downstairs And soon everyone's heart stops as they hear light footsteps from the stairs Melanie suddenly felt tears in her eyes while waiting for jack to get down to the last five stairs and with the count of 3 Everyone screaming "happy birthday Jackson" as soon as they saw his foot on the six stairs and the kids followed the raised hand of Jen as a clue to scream and all the loud noises made the little boys frozen right at his place but bend down to see if he actually heard what he heard right And there they were all of the kids, Jen, Lisa and even the person he has been looking for this whole time holding a cake eyes locker with his smiling at him

'Unbelievable!' Jack said to himself not believing anything of what he is seeing as tears ran down his check "UNIE I thought you forgot?" He said but everyone knew that the question was for Melanie to answer "how can I forget it jack? It's your birthday I could never" Melanie says as she feels the warmth of her tears making her more emotional, looking at the kid who looks like he's about to cry more and she immediately gave the cake to Lisa and opened her arms for him and mumbled "came here" with that Jack runs down the last five stairs and into Melanie warm welcoming embrace And cries "I thought you forgot today!" He says between his cries breaking Melanie's heart into more pieces "I know baby I know" She said comfortingly patting his back as she also cries unstoppable tears... if she could, she would with no need to even twice to think of adopting jack today She wouldn't even wanna have her kids If she could adopt him but AQQ! life is too mean.