Chapter 27

Adam sighed as he entered his room.

"Scarlett, go on to the sitting room okay? I've got big news," he said as once as he entered. Scarlett who was seated on the bed, turned towards the door once he walked in.

"And please clear up all that stuff...," Adam gestured towards all the toys sprawled on the bed.

Scarlett pouted.

"But I still wanna play some more," she whined.

"Not now Scarlett, it's late, there's church tomorrow and there are loads of things we need to talk about. Pack it all up and meet me and the others in the sitting room," Adam told her and went out of the room.

As Adam walked towards the gaming room, his phone rang.

"Yeah, hello?" He said once he had checked the caller I.D.

"Adam, my man!" Tyson said cheerfully from the other end.

"Cut to chase, Ty, I'm kinda busy now," Adam said as he entered the gaming room. Reece and Caleb were seated on the velvet rug with their legs crossed, they each held a gamepad.

There was a glass of lemonade beside Reece.

They were both sweating irrespective of the cool air coming out from the air conditioning and they both were leaning closer to the screen, each pushing his gamepad in determination.

The football match they were playing was a draw so far and they had limited time left.

"Hey, guys, meeting in the sitting room, c'mon." Adam nodded his head in the direction of the hallway. Caleb and Reece didn't tear their eyes away from the screen.

"Look man, just one minute kay? Please, one more minute," Reece said hurriedly, holding up a finger.

"What?" Adam frowned a bit. "No! I want you both downstairs now!"

"You want me where?" Tyson asked puzzled.

"No, not you...," Adam said, bring the phone back to his ear.

"So, what do you think?" Tyson asked. "Which option do you think would be better?" Adam frowned. He hadn't been listening. "I think the first is better," Tyson went on.

"Yeah, yeah," Adam just agreed.

"Thanks, man," Reece said.

"No! Not you!" Adam yelled.

"Not me?" Tyson asked confused. Reece and Caleb choose that moment to look at Adam.

"Sir?" Caleb raised an eyebrow.

"No... I was talking to you," Adam told Tyson.

"Yeah, thanks man," Reece said and he and Caleb resumed their game.

"Not you guys! Jesus! Stop messing with my head!" Adam said frustrated.

"How's a simple question on whether I should wear my black jacket or my wine suit messing with your head?" Tyson questioned.

"Geez man," Reece complained. "We're almost done."

"No, you both get downstairs now," Adam hissed at him.

"I'm not with anyone," Tyson said. "Are you okay, Adam?" Reece and Caleb reluctantly stood up, still holding their gaming pads.

"No, not you, I was with the kids," Adam told Tyson as he walked out of the gaming room and headed to the library.

"Okay, so we both agree that I'd look hotter in my black leather jacket, right?" Tyson asked, looking for affirmation.

"Yeah...wait—why would I care about that?!" Adam hissed at Tyson.

"Weren't you listening? I'm going on a date with Veronica tonight," Tyson sighed.

"What's my business with that?!" Adam snapped as he entered the library. Sometimes he didn't understand how Tyson's brain worked.

"C'mon, you're my best friend," Tyson whined.

"Are you a four-year-old? Geez, cut out that whining," Adam sighed as he looked through the huge bookcases searching for Matt.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear what I clearly just heard," Tyson said with a small scoff.

"Like who cares?" Adam said and rolled his eyes.

He finally found Matt on a ladder, stuffing some books back into their shelves.

"Hey, be careful!" Adam said once he saw Matt almost slipped.

"Yeah, I assure you I'll be careful out there," Tyson said, it sounded like he was grinning.

"Okay, I will," Matt said and carefully started climbing down.

"I wasn't talking to you—why are we even still talking on a call?" Adam kept a hand on his forehead and the other on his hip.

"Cranky much?" Tyson laughed.

Adam sighed.

Just then Matt walked up to him, holding some books he had brought down with him.

"Meeting in the sitting room, Matt," Adam told him.

"Okay." Matt made his way outside, but Adam stopped him.

"Hey, those aren't coming," Adam nodded towards the books that were crammed in Matt's hand and left the library as Matt groaned and went to return them.

"You're right, it'd be pretty lame to bring an extra jacket for her in case she gets cold, but I don't think it's fair I'd have to sacrifice my jacket. I mean...I'd be cold too," Tyson was rambling when Adam returned his attention back to him.

"Tyson, stop rambling, you know I wasn't talking to you," Adam scoffed at him.

"Ouch. My poor heart." He knew Tyson kept his hand on his heart and faked a broken expression right then.

"Look, good luck on your date," Adam said as he knocked at the girl's room.

"Aww, thanks man; see, I always knew you had a soft spot inside your cold heart. Deep down way past all those insults and shunning, I knew you treasured me." Tyson fake sobbed and blew his nose.

Adam smirked.

"Yeah, I'll be here when she ditches you don't worry," he chuckled.

"Bye, gotta go," he said quickly as Lucy opened the door. He cut off the call abruptly, silencing Tyson's protesting cry.

"Meeting in the sitting room," Adam told her.

"Okay," Lucy said and grabbed her phone. She was busy texting as she was walking through the hallway.

"Un-no." Adam collected the phone.

"Pay attention to where you're going, okay?" He patted her head as he tucked her phone in his pocket.

Lucy bit her lower lip.

"Sorry," she said meekly. "I know it's wrong, but I just found an app that allows me to write my own books, Wattpad, ever heard of it?"

"No, I'm a busy man, there's not much time to sit around exploring new applications," Adam said with a chuckle.

"It's not that new," Lucy said.

"I didn't know you write by the way," Adam said lightly as they descended down the stairs.

Lucy smiled and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I didn't know either until yesterday."

Adam smiled amusedly at her. "Here's your phone, keep your eyes up next time," he told her. She accepted it with a smile.

"So, guys," Adam smiled at them once he saw they were all together.

"I'm thinking we should do some online shopping for the things you guys would need for school," Adam suggested.

"Cool!" Reece said as he brought out his phone.

"Yeah!" Matt grinned.

"Okay." Lucy nodded.

"Yaay!" Scarlett ran to meet him.

"Sure thing," Caleb shrugged.

"Good." Adam nodded and smiled at all of them.

~~~

Adam couldn't stop yawning repeatedly. He normally woke up at 7:30 am every day, irrespective of whether he had work or not, but because he had to drop off the kids in their various schools, he had to wake up by 5:30 am.

He walked out of the kitchen holding a cup of steaming hot coffee.

"We can take the bus if you want," Lucy suggested as she passed by him, heading inside the kitchen to pack Matt's and Scarlett's lunchboxes.

Reece had said that carrying lunchboxes was for little kids and Caleb supported him. So instead of carrying anything, Adam gave the three teenagers lunch money.

They would get their food from the cafeteria.

"No, no...no bus, it's your first day, I should drop you guys—" Adam yawned in between his sentence. "Off."

Lucy chuckled.

"Okay."

"How come you're so cheery this early?" Adam asked.

She turned back to him and shrugged a bit, "I guess I'm used to waking up early."

Adam then trudged to his room, still sleepy-eyed.

Scarlett was seated on the chair struggling to put on her stocking. Her black Mary jane shoes with dark blue bows on them were beside her.

"Hey, Scarlett," Adam beamed a smile at her.

"Need some help?"

Scarlett readily nodded.

"Here." Adam crossed his legs and sat in front of her. He gently held her left leg and grabbed her tiny light blue sock.

As he was helping her a knock was heard at the door.

"Come in," Adam said as he went to the second leg.

"Yo! Mornin' man!" Reece said as he breezed into the room. Adam and Scarlett turned to face him.

He was wearing a dark purple hoodie with simple black pants and purple sneakers. Reece was combing his hair with an oval hairbrush. His long wavy curls were brushed to the side.

"Big bro!" Scarlett grinned excitedly.

"Stay still, Scarlett," Adam said. He was having a hard time buckling her shoe with her hopping about on the chair.

"Hey, little nitwit," Reece grinned as came closer to ruffle her hair.

Scarlett gave out excited shrieks.

"What's the ruckus?" Caleb asked cheerfully as he sauntered in. Adam noticed he wore a simple light brown sweatshirt on skinny blue jeans with pale brown chukkas.

"Nothing much man," Reece chuckled.

"There, all done," Adam said and Scarlett jumped down from the chair. She sent a thank you grin his way.

"Hello everyone," Matt said as he stepped into Adam's room.

Reece sank down on the bed while Caleb leaned on the wall. Adam was still on the rug while Scarlett was playing with a teddy bear that was on the bed.

"Hey Matt," Adam smiled at him. "You look great."

Matt looked down at his outfit.

He wore a cream shirt on some black pants and a pair of black moccasin shoes.

"Well, thank you," Matt grinned and sent Reece a pointed look. Reece snorted and looked away while Caleb chuckled.

"Reece told him that he looked like a middle-aged professor in that outfit," Caleb explained.

"Reece." Adam shook his head disapprovingly.

Reece just smirked and shrugged. "It's funny how it's easy to get under Matt's skin."

As Matt wanted to say something Lucy walked in.

"So, this is where you all are, breakfast is ready," she told them all with a wide grin.

"Cool!" Reece jumped up from the bed. He turned to Scarlett who was still with her teddy-bear. "C'mon lil sissy, let's go eat some food."

"I just want cereal," Scarlett said as she also got off the bed.

"We could've ordered pizza," Caleb said as he scratched his hair. Adam turned to look at him and shook his head.

"Who orders pizza for breakfast?" Adam wondered.

"It's unhealthy," Lucy stated firmly with her eyes trained on Caleb. Matt had already reached the door while Scarlett went to tug Adam's sleeve.

"Daddy, are you picking us up from school as well?"

Everyone froze.

Reece's shoulder tensed as he turned to look at Adam who looked as baffled as everyone else. Only Scarlett looked unperturbed.

She rubbed an eye and looked at Adam still expecting an answer.

Caleb decided to reply to her quickly before Adam got the chance to.

He started with an awkward chuckle and cleared his throat. They all turned to him “Un...hahaha...Scarlett...you're not supposed to call Mr. Adam—" Adam cut in before he could finish the sentence.

"Sure." Adam smiled at Scarlett.

He bent to her height and kissed her forehead.

"I'll pick you up if you want me to," he said.

"Okay," Scarlett grinned and he stood up straight.

"See ya." She skipped merrily out of the room, heading towards the dining room. None of the others moved.

"Mr. Adam, Scarlett called you—" Matt started in a raspy voice.

Adam turned to him. "Daddy." He completed Matt's statement.

"Yes." Matt gulped. He didn't want Adam to get offended and kick them out. Even Lucy and Caleb looked worried while Reece frowned a little but kept his eyes on the floor.

To their surprise, Adam shrugged.

"Yeah, so what?" He asked nonchalantly.

They all looked at him, amazed.

"I'll tell her it's wrong and she shouldn't—" Lucy started saying in a hurry but Adam shook his head.

"Don't worry, she's just a little kid." He started walking towards the door, with all their eyes on him.

He paused at the door and looked back at them.

"Now, let's go eat breakfast," he grinned.

"I'm starving."