𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

17. TO BE SO LONELY

[TWO WEEKS LATER]

It took awhile for the kids to start feeling better. It happened slowly. Their appetites came back, they slept less, and then all at once they were back to their normal selves.

Or at least, it seemed like it. They were fine. And then, out of nowhere, both of them withdrew completely.

They were quieter around the house, they hid away in their room, they were silent during meals. At that point we had been together as a family for four months.

One day while they were at school, Louis and I had a real conversation about it.

"What happened?" he asked, gesturing vaguely.

"I don't know, Lou. Was it something we did?"

"I don't know, I don't think we changed anything," Louis said. I nodded, because he was right. "But we must have, right? Why else would they be shrinking away from us like this?"

"What do we do? Ask them about it?"

"What if that makes it worse?" Louis asked. I sighed and shook my head, unsure of what to say. "This is exactly what you did when Donte was around, love. I think they're in some kind of trouble."

I froze and considered that. When I was in trouble with Donte, I felt like there was no one I could tell. In my mind, because I had been conditioned to think it, I believed the boys wouldn't care. I was scared of the people I loved.

"Should we talk to them?" I asked. I realized we were chasing the conversation in circles. Louis must have noticed the same thing. He opened his arms for me and I stepped in to press my cheek into his chest.

"Maybe we should give them time," Louis said, rubbing my back softly.

"You guys gave me time to tell you and I ended up with bruises for a month after," I said. Louis hummed and rested his cheek on top of my head.

"Don't you hate that they're still hurting?" Louis asked softly.

"Every day," I mumbled.

We held each other in the kitchen for a few minutes. It was simple, and it was easy, and we were in love. Our wedding was only seven months ago, but it felt like we had spent our whole lives together.

"We'll talk to them," I said after some time.

"Okay," Louis said back. We pulled away from each other and he grabbed my face gently. I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him softly, lips barely brushing.

There were a lot of things that weren't easy. Raising the kids, running the label, keeping track of everything; those things were hard.

But kissing Louis in the kitchen of our home? It was the easiest thing in the world.

-

A few hours later, Louis and I realized that we weren't prepared for the kind of parenting we were about to have to participate in. So, we did the only rational thing.

We sat down together on the couch and called Liam.

"Hey, what's up?" Liam asked. He smiled from the other side of the phone, happy to be hearing from us. We he realized how stressed out we looked, he stopped smiling. "What's up?" he asked again, this time mellower.

"It's the kids," Louis said.

"Are they alright?" Liam asked immediately.

"We don't know," I said. Liam furrowed his eyebrows. "They were doing fine, and all of a sudden they just like pulled away and separated themselves from us. It's even worse than when they first moved in," I explained. "They just, like, won't talk to us, or look at us, it doesn't even seem like they want to be around us. Nothing has changed, though, so we don't know what's causing it."