First Day: P2

Alex stared at himself in the mirror.

He had just finished his shower and was busy studying himself and thinking back of how he looked like one year ago.

How he felt one year ago.

It was the first day of school, and he was now in Primary 2.

Was there really that much difference?

He looked towards his room, through the open bathroom door, to his freshly ironed uniform that was hanging on the door.

The school uniform was still the same. He couldn't wait to be in Primary 4 when the style would be different, indicating that he was 'Upper Primary', and not a 'kid' anymore, so to speak.

Well, since they would be in the double digits.

Right now, though, he was still in the single digit.

Eight years old.

He stared at himself and displeasure was clearly seen.

The older he got, the more he seemed to resemble his father.

His twin took after their mother, which made both of them look completely different and people would still find it amazing that they were twins.

Ariel took more like their father, but since she was a girl - and did not have the blue eyes - no one really would compare her to their father.

Just him.

Alex couldn't wait to become a teenager, as he hoped that when he reached puberty, he would not look so much like his father anymore.

He had even tried looking it up to find confirmation whether he would turn out to be exactly as his father but all he got were comments about how firstborns normally look like their fathers (be it a girl, or a boy) or how babies who look like their fathers would be healthier.

Worst of all, he saw some very alarming pictures.

Two identical pictures, side-by-side. The only difference was that one picture looked more worn out. What was horrifying was that it wasn't two pictures of the same man, but the older picture was a man in his 30s while the other, his son at the same age.

When Alex saw those pictures, his heart fell to the ground.

Even now, he would be compared to his father.

Was he going to have his father's face the older he grew?!

Thoughts of plastic surgery flashed through his mind then but he quickly dismissed it.

For now.

Alex's gaze in the mirror didn't falter and he sighed.

He managed to grow taller, too and the best thing was, he was the same height as his sister now.

Though he stll styled his hair the same way so now it looked like he was *slightly* taller than her.

An excited 'woof' was heard beside him and he looked to his side, to see Max on his hind legs and his front paws on top of the sink counter.

Max was now one year old and to Alex, he seemed massive.

He was 25" (63.5cm) in height and about 55 Ibs (25kg). This meant that Max reached Alex's waist as Alex is 50" (127cm). Despite that, Max looked rather imposing - and when stretched out, he was as 'long' as Alex.

Max gave an excited howl and Alex rubbed his head, giving a howl as well.

Alex found that Max had a very excitable - yet firm - personality.

To those that he liked, Max would howl to greet them. If he didn't like the person, he'd hunch down and growl a bit.

Luckily, Max was very obedient to Alex and would not be too aggressive to those that he did not like.

And luckily as well, none of the family members fell into the 'did not like' category.

Alex observed Max for a while and determined that he was still the same old Max, so he relaxed a bit.

It was a 'dangerous' time right now.

Some wolfdogs have what is known as 'winter wolf syndrome'.

Basically, it's a change in behaviour that occurs during the winter season. It could happen between the months of December until April.

Most wolfdogs go through it, though those that have been spayed or neutered are not likely to - but not impossible.

The change in behaviour can be quite sudden and turn a normally docile, friendly wolfdog into an aggressive one.

Alex scratched the back of Max's neck, deliberately running his fingers on a certain area to feel the small bump there. This was one thing that Alex did not fight his father about.

It was a microchip that would release a series of instructions to the nanobots that were in Max's bloodstream, which would basically latch onto certain points in the body to relax him and knock him out. A microchip that was voice-activated to instruct the nanobots in Max the moment the command word was uttered by any of the voices registered in its system.

Essentially, using advanced technology with ancient knowledge.

The bedroom door suddenly flung open and Aurora's voice pierced the air, "You aren't ready yet?! What have you been doing?!"

Alex rolled his eyes and turned to stare at his sister. He saw their younger sibling next to her as well and he said through clenched teeth, "Do you ever knock?"

Aurora snorted, "You're late, so I thought…"

Ariel placed her hand on Aurora's skirt and said softly, "Sister Rory, we should have knocked."

Aurora pressed her lips together and swallowed the words she wanted to say. She was in the wrong this time, and had set a bad example to Ariel, so she couldn't argue otherwise.

If their parents found out, she'd be punished.

"You're right, Rie. My mistake," Aurora said as nicely as she could though she was not happy.

She jerked her chin at Alex and said, "Sorry, Alex, for not knocking. But you're going to be late for breakfast."

Alex nodded, understanding the warning in her eyes, and replied, "I'll be there in a minute."

Aurora closed the door and took Ariel's hand, "Come on, Rie. Breakfast time."

Ariel smiled happily and wanted to run but Aurora prevented her from doing so by gripping her hand harder, "No, Rie. You know the rules."

"But if we're late, Daddy will scold us," Ariel said with wide eyes.

"If we have a good reason, Daddy won't," Aurora assured her, "But if you go into the dining hall while running, you will be scolded."

Ariel slumped her shoulders down and stopped trying to run. She thought hard on ways to be able to run over and yet, not get scolded, but could not think of anything.

Daddy was really strict on certain rules, so there was no getting away with anything. He was fair, of course, but firm.

She had been studying the characteristics of her family, and everyday, Mummy would help her write them down. Mummy would also use that time to teach her the words as she already knew the alphabet.

She could read, but only simple words, and of course, writing her thoughts was out of the question. Once she could read and write well, Daddy had promised to buy her a computer so she had been learning seriously.

Ariel pouted a bit and was about to put her thumb into her mouth when she stopped. If Daddy saw that, he would not be in a good mood. So she reluctantly put her hand down.

It was a hard habit to break.

Aurora noticed the small movement and praised her, "That was great, Rie! I will tell Daddy how well you did."

Ariel grinned brightly and said happily, "Thank you, Sister Rory!"

This would definitely soften Daddy, and when Daddy is soft, she can get things easier. She can put Daddy in a better mood so that if Brother Alex is late, Daddy wouldn't be too harsh on him.

And if Daddy isn't harsh on Brother Alex, then Alex won't be so prickly with their father. If Alex wasn't so prickly, Aurora wouldn't get annoyed.

If that happened, Daddy would get more unhappy and Ariel wouldn't be able to soften him up more so that she can get him to allow her to follow them to school.

Ariel looked down at her thumb and gave herself a thumbs up.

What an unexpected gain just because she managed to stop herself from sucking her thumb.

Now, if Brother Alex isn't late, it would be perfect.

Ariel was confident that Brother Alex wouldn't be late because he already got a reminder from Sister Rory. However, Ariel also knew that it wasn't a certainty because anything can happen.

Like Mummy said, 'Plan for the best, but expect the worst' and Daddy always says 'to have a lot of plans'.

But she could think of many plans.

Two.

Just two was more than enough.

They arrived at the dining hall on time and they greeted their parents.

"Brother Alex will be down soon, Daddy!" Ariel said happily, coming over to his side and looked up at him with a smile.

"I went to his room with Sister Rory to call him!" Ariel explained and looked at him with great expectation in her eyes and face.

"You're such a big help, Rie. Thank you and that was very nice of you to do so," Kyle praised, knowing she was waiting for it.

Sure enough, upon hearing that, the smile on Ariel's face grew wider and she clapped her hands, "I am a big girl now."

Kyle kissed her forehead and gestured to her chair beside him, "Go and have your breakfast."

Ariel looked up at him and gestured with her hand, indicating she wanted him to bend down. Kyle did so and she kissed him while putting her arms around his neck and saying, "Okay, Daddy."

Then she gave him one final kiss on the cheek before letting go and noted her father's small smile.

Good.

Daddy is in a good mood.

Things are looking good.

Ariel hoped Brother Alex wouldn't mess it up.