When There Is Nothing Left But Love

On the chessboard, Ashton was down to his last few pieces. Gazing at me, he asked in a gentle tone, “What are your plans for this afternoon?”

“I don’t have any plans,” I replied. Then, I attacked his knight.

He didn’t seem to mind and openly surrendered to me.

Emery walked away, probably tired of witnessing Ashton’s obvious submission. Meanwhile, Cameron stood by the side and rebuked, “Didn’t I tell you both to visit the aquarium in the North District today? Summer has been going on about it for a long time.”

“That’s a good idea. The weather today is suitable for an outing,” Ashton answered with a nod.

I refused flatly, “I can’t. I’m busy.”

Both Cameron and Ashton looked at me, and the former asked quizzically, “Busy with what?”

My eyes stayed focused on the board and I only lifted my gaze after taking Ashton’s king. “Didn’t I tell you I’ll be visiting Uncle Louis today? I haven’t seen Hannah for a long time too. I wanna see her baby.”

Cameron was momentarily taken aback, but she managed to squeeze out a smile. “But Mr. Fuller is here. It’s a good time to take Summer out to play.”

“Oh.” I paused, then countered, “But I’ve already called my brother and made dinner plans with him tonight.”

Trying hard to patch things up between Ashton and me, Cameron proposed, “Well, that’s great too. You can all go together. Summer has never seen Hannah’s baby. Since Summer likes babies, I think it’s a good idea to-”

and play with Xavier. He’s a baby too and she likes him. It might be troublesome to bring her

bounded down the stairs barefooted and ran toward me. “Mommy, Uncle John

Speak of the devil…

I answered the call, his voice drifted across the

you’re well-informed,” I

playful manner. “Of course. Let’s have dinner together tonight. I

to see Hannah and the baby, then visit Uncle

a while before

lips,

didn’t respond, I speculated, “Did you and

From

concurred, “Fine. You pick the place and

and hung

pajamas. Hence, I told her to go upstairs and change, but she wanted me

my hands up in defeat, I went back to my room and prepared to unpack my things since I probably had to

I didn’t bring much of my

that the bed was still unmade. After tidying up the bed

door, I assumed that it was Summer and lectured, “Summer, you need to make it a habit to make the bed and change your clothes after waking up,

how to do these things on her own because not being able to

hear her response, I frowned and