8. The Eighth Plan. To greet the new family members warmly. (6)
Vivian’s fist-sized lumps of finely minced meat, onions and bell peppers were all rolled together before she munched on them thoroughly. It seemed that I was the only one who got startled if she would choke on it when she swallowed. She chewed it well before she eventually gulped it down. Aang—Vivi, who opened her lips, grabbed onto Carl’s arm to ask for another.
“Is it delicious?”
Vivi nodded her head. Oh my God, before Carl fed the meatballs again, I instantly reached in and checked Vivi’s mouth, but I could feel the small teeth neatly in place. Vivi then began to nibble on my finger lightly. Just like a beast that was biting a little while acting cute. When I removed my hand, Carl put another meatball against Vivi’s lips. Vivi immediately chomped it well and swallowed it again. Then, Vivi continued to grab Carl’s arm and shook it before a new meatball straight away went into Vivi’s mouth.
“Feeding the baby is very good, but I need Carl to eat well too.”
The meatballs that had been served on Carl’s plate were already empty. I stretched out my arm and poked onto the meatball before popping it into Carl’s mouth first. While the two children kept on munching with their little mouths, Carl’s plate was filled with another set of meatballs.
Vivi also swayed Carl’s arm to receive the meatballs and the two children continued to eat as much as they could. Vivi then let go of her hand that had been holding onto Carl’s arm, closed her lips and shook her head to show that she was already full, which made Carl put down his fork as well. As I lowered the slightly struggling child from my lap, I proceeded to curl her up on her side and make her burp. Carl, who wiped his lips, followed after Vivi too.
“I’m bored!”
Unlike Vivi, who closed her eyes as if she was all sleepy, Carl eventually jumped up and shouted.
“Vivi, play with me—”
“Ugh.”
When Carl cried out to Vivi while shaking her, Vivi just rolled over and turned her back without opening her eyes.
“Carl, Vivi is sleepy. Shall we leave Vivi and have a play with Mandy instead?”
“I still want to keep playing with Vivi too…”
The little lips soon pouted like a bird’s cute beak. Carl, who looked at Vivi’s small back and brown locks of her head with regret, eventually gave up and crawled into my arms instead. As she ignored all the noise around her, Vivi was already fast asleep.
“Shall we play?”
“Yes—”
“Then, shall we finish building the blocks?”
“Yes!”
While stacking blocks with Carl, I had a chair brought in and taught him how to stack up blocks even higher than his own height. When I completed the tower as high as he was by using all the blocks, Carl jumped up and down as he appeared to be very happy.
“Mandy! I did it! High!”
“Yes, our Carl built it well. It’s very, very high. Good job.”
“Yes! Very, very high!”
Carl, who was waiting for Gellerhard in order to show it to his father, soon fell asleep late that night. Suddenly, Vivian had opened her eyes while Carl was still sleeping soundly.
“Waaaaaaaaa!”
Her loud cry was rather unusual too. The baby with a frown on her face eventually met my eyes.
“Vivi, did you call for me? Let’s see, is it a diaper problem?”
Indeed, the diaper was all wet. As if that was right, the baby did not whine any more and quietly entrusted herself to my touch. As soon as the diaper was changed, the frowny face became comfortable at once. Then, the baby stretched out her arm towards me. The child, who was now in my arms, must have been about a year old and she had been so small, but what she did earlier seemed to be not that young at all. It felt strange since Carl looked different when he was growing up, but those feelings soon melted away without a trace in the sense of relief when I held the tiny baby in my arms.
Her skin felt only slightly cool, but the baby was still small and the white skin had been soft. The cold sensation must have melted a long time ago, but it still carried the scent just like that of milk. How lovely it was—the thrill of having this small creature rose deep inside my heart before it swung peacefully.
I held the baby and walked slowly around the room while comforting her. As I quietly held her face against my chest, Vivi opened her lips and let out a yawn. As she rubbed her face and I patted the back of that yawning baby, Gellerhard crept inside.
“Cahh!”
Her sleepy eyes widened at once and Vivi gestured towards Gellerhard. Vivi’s hand eventually traced along Gellerhard’s face as he strode forward.
“Vivi, you haven’t slept yet?”
“Ooooh.”
“Vivi woke up. So, Mandy will change her diaper ~”
“Boo.”
When I spoke out for the baby, she nodded her head cleverly. The baby wiggled and twisted her body before she stretched out her arms towards Gellerhard. Gellerhard then kissed my cheek as he held the baby in his left arm.
“Mandy.”
“Welcome back, Gellerhard. Carl is already asleep. He said that he would show you how to build a tower later.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, look at it tomorrow and be surprised since he had built it really well indeed.”
Kiss, kiss. Gellerhard kissed my cheek in succession before he started to wrap his right arm around my waist.
“I missed you, Mandy. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about Vivian beforehand…”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Even if it wasn’t a child like Vivi, I would still have welcomed it if it had been the one whom you picked up.”
“…It was precisely because she had been a child like Vivi. I didn’t want to disappoint Mandy since Vivian’s parents might be coming to look for their child.”
A child like Vivi. The child who resembled Theodora so much. If Vivian had found her parents, it would have been a great joy and something to be celebrating about, but, as Gellerhard said earlier, I would have been disappointed still.
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