Getting Ready

"Alex! Alex! Alex! Alex! Alex!"

Alex pursed his lips, his thoughts coming back to the present upon hearing the excited call.

He turned to face the doorway, to see his twin sister, Aurora, with a huge smile on her face and her eyes twinkling. His 2 year-old-younger sister, Ariel, was sucking her thumb while looking up at him and holding on to the hand of the au pair, Serene.

An au pair is typically young people from overseas, between the ages of 18 to 30, who travel into host countries to care for children on a cultural exchange visa. In exchange for boarding and an allowance, au pairs would do a combination of child care and light housework duties (typically related to the children they are caring for).

Each country would have their rules and requirements concerning au pairs, and Country Tz's requirements are perhaps the most stringent of all. Yet, at the same time, it also ensured fairness and protection for the au pairs as they are regarded as employees.

Thus, instead of a small allowance, they are given wages that comply with the minimum wage laws. They are also paid according to the number of children and responsibilities that they would hold. It wasn't only to take care of the child's needs, but also to be their friend and tutor.

Employing au pairs is part of the Smith Tradition.

The au pairs would expose the children to their culture and language. Plus, although they were employees, they integrated with the family. You could say that an au pair in Country Tz was equivalent to a relative coming over to take care of the children.

Each au pair would only stay for two years as the Smiths didn't want the children to become overly attached to the au pairs. In addition, each au pair would never be from the same part of the world so as to ensure greater diversity throughout their growing years.

As a result of this practice, Alex's father, Kyle, was a polyglot; that is, a person who is proficient in more than five languages. Though in reality, the polyglot was Kayla, Kyle's twin sister while Kyle was a hyperpolyglot - but this was a secret only known to Kay.

All Alex knew was that his father was a polyglot and he was working hard to learn more languages to beat him. As it is, he only knew English and French, and is currently learning Mandarin from Serene.

"Alex, nǐ jīntiān kàn qǐlái hěn shuài," Serene said with a smile.

"Xièxiè nǐ, Serene," Alex thanked her for saying that he looked very handsome today.

Rory twirled around and then asked Alex excitedly, "How do I look? I can't believe that this is a school uniform! It's so pretty!"

Alex merely looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

She could think that the school uniform was pretty?

Just like Alex's uniform, the girl's uniform had also undergone some changes since their father's time.

Rory's shirt was a white collared blouse with navy blue piping along the collar and sleeves, which replaced the intricate lace designs. The school felt that it was better that they seemed more formal rather than having it look too much like a party dress.

The ribbon that was tied around the collar was replaced with the same slim blue tie that Alex wore, to encourage the thought that girls could work in professional settings as well. A 'tie' seemed to symbolise that while a ribbon seemed to indicate 'being pretty'.

The navy blue skirts were now box pleated skirts, rather than a straight cut skirt that flared a little at the knee.

All in all, the girl's school uniform had undergone the most changes, and it was no longer like a toned down party dress, but a more formal school uniform.

And Rory still felt it was pretty?

Puh-lease. It was his sister that made the uniform look pretty.

With her oval-shaped face, sparkling brown eyes and her curly hair cut into a layered bob that was slightly below the shoulders, she gave this impression of being a cute, adorable princess.

Anything she wore seemed to make it look softer, and less formal. It was the entire demeanour.

Just like Alex, who made wearing the school uniform like he was wearing a business suit.

Two such contrasting figures.

"It's not the school uniform, it's you. You're very pretty," Alex replied seriously.

Rory smiled widely, happy at her brother's compliment.

"Rory," Serene called out, "Wǒ xì hǎo nǐ de tóufǎ shí bùyào dòng."

Rory stopped twirling and stood still as instructed, and Serene went over to tie her hair. Even if her hair was not that long, the school rules stated that girls' hair that was longer than the shoulders needed to be tied up.

Serene deftly tied her hair into a ponytail, and the hair tie had a blue bow which she let lay on the top.

"Xièxiè nǐ, Serene," Rory said politely then rushed into the room to grab Alex's hand.

"Come on, Alex!" she said excitedly, "Let's have breakfast then go to school!"

Alex sighed audibly, and said as he followed her out, "Only you would be so excited to go to school."

"I wanna go to school too," piped Ariel, who had been quiet all this while.

Alex rubbed the top of her head and said, "It's not your time yet, Rie. And you should stop sucking your thumb before you can go to school."

Rie pouted and looked at him with tears in her eyes, "I wanna follow you."

Then she promptly sucked her thumb again while looking at him with her puppy-dog eyes. Alex gently took her thumb out of her mouth and patted her cheek, saying, "You have Serene, right? Rory and I will be back soon."

"Yes, Rie," Serene responded, "We will have lots of fun and by the time you wake up from your afternoon nap, your brother and sister will be home."

Rie looked on the floor and twitched her lips, thinking hard. Then she looked at her hands, before spreading her fingers wide open. Putting them up towards Alex, she asked, "How long?"

Alex put down four fingers from one hand and replied, "Six hours."

She pouted again.

"So long…" she complained.

Serene then said, "You just need to turn the hourglass six times, Rie."

In order to facilitate learning numbers early, there were many games that involve numbers. The hourglass, for one.

Unlike Alex and Rory, Rie appeared to be a 'normal' child that learned at a normal pace. So all of her activities and games were really lessons in disguise.

As such, even though she was 'normal', due to her high exposure to such games, her development was higher than most toddlers of her age.

Even so, Alex always felt very protective over his younger sister. Just like how he was constantly compared to his father, Ariel was always compared with them. He didn't want her to feel like she was any less a 'Smith' just because she was 'normal'.

As a result, Ariel was very close to her older brother.

Luckily for them, their parents - or their grandparents - never did make such comparisons.

It was always the 'well-meaning' distant relatives and friends making 'kind' observations.

As the kids walked into the dining room, Sayuri and Kyle were busy talking. Seeing them enter, Sayuri smiled at them, putting a hand over her heart and said to Kyle, "Look, aren't they so adorable?"

Kyle wanted to laugh.

Sure, his kids were adorable but Sayuri's reaction was exactly the same as his mother had been on his first day of school. Having been sheltered all their lives, Kyle and Kay practically never went out until that first day of school.

His father, Patrick, had to persuade his wife for quite a long time before she finally agreed to allow them to enter 'normal' school rather than an exclusive private school. As a compromise, they settled on a semi-private school.

A semi-private school was a private school that allowed the public to enter on an educational voucher programe. It wasn't a scholarship but allowed families within a 10-mile radius to attend the school at a reduced cost. Of course, it was only to those families within a certain income bracket.

Those who could afford it, like the Smiths, would not be eligible. Scholarships were also available for the top 5 students in the school, and this was offered to all students, regardless whether they were 'rich' or 'poor'.

It was something the students themselves had earned. The scholarship was basically in monetary form and it was up to them on how to spend it, that is, whether they would use it to pay the school fees to reduce their families' burden or save up.

It was to acknowledge the student's own work and effort - even if they were only in primary school. It cultivated a sense of pride and achievement from hard work.

Thus, they had the facilities of a private school but at the same time, it wouldn't be just full of 'elites' and 'rich people'.

Sayuri noted the amusement on Kyle's face and she poked him in the ribs, "What is that grin for?"

"Oh, nothing," Kyle replied, spearing his sausage, "Just reminiscing. Our children have grown up, huh?"

"Time sure does fly so fast," Sayuri lamented, "Soon, they'll be bringing home a boyfriend or girlfriend."

"Rory, maybe, but Alex is too much of a sourpuss," Kyle commented.

Alex just glared at his father - but silently agreed.

Not for the 'sourpuss' comment though.