Sadie

One fateful night, Vyn Richter-von Hagen swore he would die early of a heart attack. 

He awoke in the middle of his sleep, perhaps around two in the morning, for no particular reason at all. His husband, Marius, slept peacefully beside him. The man had his two arms wrapped around Vyn’s waist like some koala—a cute and clingy one at that, according to their youngest son—as if he never ought to let Vyn go. The doctor suppressed a small laugh at that. He did not expect to be so sentimental at two am.

Somehow he knew, though, that he could not return to his slumber that easily. He had awoken by instinct, it seemed, and assumed something was amiss. So he eased Marius’ arms off him—thank god Marius was dead to the world at the time—and clambered out of the bed. 

His parental instinct led him along the dimmed, quiet hallways where a crayon and paint-colored Victorian door offered entry to a special room. On the door were drawings of monsters and indescribable creatures; obvious scribbles from six year-olds. A smile tugged at the corner of Vyn’s lips. He missed them dearly, even when he just tucked them to bed a few hours ago. 

But when he opened the door, his children were nowhere to be found.

Two beds empty, illuminated by the lampshades. Everything was how Vyn left them, except those whom he treasured most. His chest tightened as he scrambled towards the baby monitor. 

Vyn gasped in horror. 

One of his hands flew to his chest, feeling his erratic heartbeat. Panic rose in alarm, and he dashed outside the room, running barefooted along the hallways, the stairs, then into their massive kitchen. 

He stumbled upon one of their staff, who tried to stop Vyn and attempted to calm him down. “Master Vyn, please—Master Vyn! What is wrong?”

Vyn gripped the man’s hand tightly. “Secure the house. Find the children,” he gasped out, and the staff swallowed the lump in his throat seeing Vyn’s very serious expression. “Secure everything. Now. And wake my husband—tell him… tell him the twins are not in their room.”

He could only nod as Vyn proceeded downstairs. But it’s not like anyone could blame him; what he saw in the baby monitor was enough an alarming feat for any parent. Only one light illuminated the kitchen, and on the floor were what Vyn hoped to be spilled drinks, and not blood. 

There was a long trail of something dark all around the area, splattered without care. It cannot be blood. It cannot be.

He was a brilliant doctor who was good at minds, but right now, all he could think of were the dangers his kids could have gotten into. Snuck out in the middle of the night to grab food, slipped on the floor, hit their heads, tried to move across the kitchen and ended up behind the cupboard. A skilled assassin who managed to get inside their estate, coming to get his boys, only to find them wandering about the kitchen and taking that chance. He didn’t know. They seemed absurd. In normal circumstances he wouldn’t be thinking of those. But it was two am, he was a parent, his kids were nowhere to be found, and the von Hagens had lots of enemies. Maybe one slipped. Maybe everything he and Marius did was not enough to protect his family.

“Sam?” he called, voice quivering. He had entered the kitchen. Without his glasses, he couldn’t see that dark, liquid trail clearly. “Nikolai? Boys?” He heaved. “Boys?”

He walked forward, slowly, into the kitchen’s heart. It was eerily quiet, and it was as if the air had hushed around him. “Sam? Nikolai? I swear it, if you two are playing with me…” 

Vyn held onto the marble sink when he glimpsed a tiny, socked foot visible from behind one of the counters… And it was not moving. 

He ran, almost leaped into the counter. The trail of dark liquid that made a mess around the kitchen led there. For the first time after years, Vyn whispered a little prayer in his head. 

“OH, FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE!”

Ah, and there they were! 

His two darling boys, slumped against the counter, each chugging a chocolate container. His husband’s chocolate container. 

Their pajamas were soiled with chocolate, their skin sticky with its sweetness. There’s even chocolate dripping from Nikolai’s hair. Samuel appeared a tad more neat, but both were dirty altogether. 

Vyn did not know what to feel. His heart thumped with ire, but he was glad his boys were safe. At the same time, he couldn’t not be angry with these two little boys giving him—and everybody—a jumpscare at two in the morning, when they only snuck out to drink their dad’s chocolate, mess the floor, and… 

It certainly did not help that he was looking at the spitting images of Marius von Hagen. His twins, whom he carried for months in his womb only to end up looking exactly like his husband with no ounce of his features—except Samuel’s mole near the eye, perhaps—was enough to tip the scales in favor of his rising fury.

“I told you he could see your foot!” Nikolai, who was still clutching onto his chocolate container, turned to blame his brother. “I told you!”

Samuel already had tears in his eyes. He was trying too hard not to sob in front of Vyn and his twin brother.

“No! I… Ma would notice us even more if I had tried to move my foot!” he argued, but it was clear he believed Nikolai was right—he always believed his brother—and that he should have moved his foot. But Vyn had already entered the kitchen, had already called for them, so it would make sense that their Ma had now seen his foot, right? 

“No, stop reasoning with me. You should’ve listened!”

“But…” Little Samuel tried to argue, but faced with his angry-looking twin, not a single word came. Nikolai had always been the adventurous one (or so Nikolai believed such about himself, and eventually made Samuel think the same), and Samuel was always left out in their room, being the one who always chose to behave; always the one who stayed behind, looking out for his brother.

However, if anything, Samuel loved his twin—loved him very much that he helped cover Nikolai’s tracks and joined him in his silly pranks. He enjoyed every one of their ‘adventures’, but always regretted it when their parents—Vyn, particularly—managed to find out. 

“I’M SORRY, MA!” Samuel rose from the floor, the chocolate container abandoned. “I’M SORRY!” 

“Samuel, dear—”

“I’m sorry we made a mess! That we drank chocolate at… at… two o’ clock in the morning! That we left trails of chocolate everywhere! It’s because—” He stopped to take a sniff, “because Nikolai and I played while drinking chocolate, and then… and then—!” 

Vyn knelt to the floor and embraced him. Samuel’s crying paused for a second; he did not know whether to stop sobbing or to sob louder with his father hugging him like that, even after he made a mess around the kitchen. Eventually he chose to just cry louder, until most of the staff jolted awake.

“Hush, my child. It is all right. No one is angry.” Vyn tightened his arms around Samuel, and pressed a light kiss on the boy’s forehead. “I was only worried. Do not cry for me, my love. Come on, now.”

To his credit, Samuel actually tried to not cry. The sobs did halt, and eventually the tears stopped flowing. Only he was making a desperate effort, and too much of it that he ended up blowing his nose with a very green mucus.

And so he was crying again, because he blew his nose in front of his most prized person, and because he couldn’t not join Nikolai in crying, too. 

“Nikolai, darling!” Vyn called for his other son, whose cries now surely alarmed the entire house. Nikolai dropped the chocolate container and made more mess before he rushed to Vyn’s warm embrace. “Hush… I am not angry with you two, all right?”

“But you don’t love me anymore!” Nikolai screamed. 

“What? Wherever did you learn that? Of course I love you,” he reassured, his hand making calming strokes up and down the boy’s back. “I will always love you and your brother. Even if you mess with my kitchen.”

“Really?” he sniffed, snuggling onto Vyn’s neck. “So… we can play with chocolate here again?”

“No.”

Nikolai cried. An animalistic, howling cry that made Vyn want to get therapy himself.

“What—?” he turned to look at Nikolai, whose head was resting against his chest. And realized that he was now smeared with chocolate, too, what with chocolate liquid dripping from Nikolai’s hair. “Nikolai, will you be a dear and tell me why you have chocolate on your hair?”

“Jesus, what happened here—Vyn!” Marius rushed towards the island counter, where Vyn and their boys were wrapped in one another’s embrace. And Nikolai’s hair still dripping wet with sticky chocolate that cost at least 8,000 Stellin. Marius knelt beside Vyn and looked directly at his children. “What did you boys do this time?”

No answer, just sobs. The usual. He was surprised Samuel was pretty quiet today; most of the time it was Samuel who tried to take the blame (to which his twin brother would object) and explained everything—step by step, with all the details—to their waiting parents. Sometimes to a very stressed-out Vincent. 

It was his husband who answered on behalf. “You wish to know?” He scowled. “Your clones snuck out to drink your chocolate and made a mess in my kitchen, that is what happened.”

“Chocolate again?” A young, honeyed voice complained a meter away. “Aren’t they gonna get the poopies? Ugh.”

Vyn’s eyes widened in shock. “Victoria! Whatever are you doing here at this hour? Have you even slept?”

“NO! STAY AWAY, VICKY! DON’T STEAL MAMA FROM US AGAIN!” Nikolai burst out, jumping into Vyn’s arms and almost sending them onto the floor. Marius tried his best not to snicker. He wouldn’t dare, of course, lest he wanted his husband’s you’ll-get-no-fuck-from-me-tonight glare.

“Shut up, Nikolai. The only stealing in here is you stealing my beauty sleep. Your sobs are hideous.”

“YOU’RE AN EVIL WITCH!”

Victoria put a hand on her waist. “Okay. I’ll curse you then. I hope you ro—”

“Victoria.”

Vyn gave her an incredulous look. Where on earth did this girl learn such words? This is not what an eight-year-old ought to randomly say! Oh, for goodness’ sake.

“C’mere now, Vicky. I’ll get you back upstairs, since you need your princess beauty sleep,” Marius said in sing-song, to which Victoria acknowledged by hoisting her arms, a gesture Marius knew the best. “And yes, I’ll carry you princess-style too. Come now.”

Victoria smiled groggily. Vyn’s heart warmed at the sight of it. His daughter was close to both him and Marius, which he was grateful for; having children had been one of his greatest fears what with his broken family along with many other threads of broken relationships. Seeing his husband and daughter getting along well was something he would always treasure. 

(And also because Victoria looked exactly like him, with her silver hair and golden eyes, her natural brightness and elegance. Although he wasn’t exactly happy Victoria got his temper and attitude).

“Good night, Ma,” Victoria said as she waved goodbye. She kept staring until the scene blurred in her now droopy eyes, but never caved in to sleep until she heard his father say, “Sweet dreams, my rose.”

When Marius returned to the kitchen, Nikolai was dead asleep in Vyn’s arms. Samuel worried about his brother enough that he gave Nikolai all of Vyn and sat beside them in silence. He too was drowsy with sleep, with all his adrenaline of sneaking out gone, but he didn’t want to trouble Vyn or Marius having to carry him upstairs (also because he truly thought he was a big boy now and weighed heavy). 

“Look at him drooling like he didn’t give everyone a heart attack.” Marius chuckled as he gently ruffled Nikolai’s hair. The boy didn’t seem to be bothered by it. “He looks like—wait, what the f—”

“Marius.”

“—fu—heck? Is this chocolate?”

“In your son’s hair? I’m afraid yes.”

“Sorry boys,” Marius whispered as he eased Samuel off the floor, carrying him. “Hup. I’m afraid we’ll have to wash you up before letting you go to bed. That all right with you, Sam?”

Samuel looked exhausted. Still, he did his best to open his eyes and mouth a little ‘yes’ to his dad. The sweet gesture tickled Marius’ heart. “Good boy.” He rose from the floor and turned to Vyn, extending his arm to help him as he carried Nikolai in his arms. “Come on love.”

He caught Vyn blush at that, and Vyn couldn’t decide whether to regret letting himself be flustered by Marius calling him “love,” or cave into the hot sensation he now felt seeing that handsome smirk on his husband’s face. And it certainly didn’t help that he just got up from bed and looked dashing with his bed hair (just the normal bed hair—they didn’t have sex last night, much to Marius’ disappointment). 

“I assure you, Marius,” Vyn warned before his husband could tease him, “you shall see that smirk wiped off your face when Nikolai throws a tantrum as you wash him.”

Marius’ protest died in his throat as Vyn went on tiptoe, pressing a small kiss on his cheek. This time it was Marius whose cheeks were dusted pink. He never regretted it one bit. “Okay, your highness. I’ll wash the boys, you go freshen up.”

“I did not say I will not join you.”

“It’s okay.” Marius cupped his husband’s cheek, thumb grazing gently against skin. “Go freshen up. I’ll be quick with the boys. I know you’re tired running around, taking care of them,” he said, his gaze softening. “Let me do it this time, yeah?”

This man, he thought, he is always looking out for me. It’s not like Vyn was a stay-at-home parent. He too was gone during work hours, leaving the children with their staff, so he truly wasn’t the exhausted housewife or some sort, yet Marius always insisted Vyn had done enough, and that it was his turn to care for the kids.

“What are you thinking about?” Marius asked, snapping Vyn away from his thoughts.

“Nothing,” Vyn answered, then tiptoed yet again to lick his husband’s lips. “I am just thinking about how lucky I am that I married you.”

Marius’ face darkened. “You—”

He’s interrupted by Vyn who gave him a little push, urging him to go to the bathroom and give the boys a bath. Vyn could only wink as Marius adjusted Samuel in his arms, walking through the hallways towards the bathroom, followed by Vyn who carried Nikolai.

“You wish that was me you are carrying,“ Vyn whispered, only to earn a very serious, very determined look from Marius who, with his deep voice answered in return: