May 22 : Family

Dear Diary,

I don't know what to say, really.

Today, Strange Uncle visited us. He wore a simple gray shirt and black pants. He looked better than when he donned his greeny military uniform. The only downside is that he was sitting in a wheelchair instead of standing high and tall like he previously did. He came with a familiar sturdy man. I think it's one of his teammates that saved us before.

His injuries are worse than I previously thought. The worse might be his legs. One of his legs needs to be amputated, and the other's got a fractured bone. The good news is that he will get a prosthetic leg. Hopefully everything will go well but for now on, he can't walk just yet.

But that's not the reason why he came here. He was here to... apologize.

Yes, he was apologizing to us. Even when he was sitting in a wheelchair, he is still trying to bow to us. He told us that he knew dad. Dad was one of his subordinates. And he was the one that sent dad to his grave.

When I listened to him, I think I kinda blanking out. Not out of shock, but it's kinda numbing. You know, when you have no expectation and in the end, the result is as you've expected, you'd have no reason to feel emotional anymore.

Although it's a little bit surprising to hear that the strange uncle is dad's superior, I can't despise him. Regardless of what happened to dad, he had saved us twice. And he is part of the army. He answered to the country, to the government. I'm pretty sure that he lost more than one or two subordinates. And maybe those were not normal subordinates, maybe they are actually brother in arms, brothers in anything but blood.

He didn't tell us much except the fact that he was the reason dad's leaving us early. But his eyes told me the unspoken story.

He was guilty. And exhausted.

That was the same eyes that Mom got back then when she was all alone those days after dad passed away. Mom was trying hard to live on despite dad has left us. Her deepest wish was to see the country that dad's been trying to protect gets its peacetime again. If not for saving both I and sis from a collapsed building, Mom will see her wish has come true. Even if it's a little bit too late.

The most surprising question of the day is when the strange Uncle asked us :

"Do you want to be my child?"

I think I was shocked. I think the others were shocked too. That's the last thing I thought he would ask us.

And he firmly told us he really wanted to take us in, not because of guilt, but because of his promise to dad back then. Apparently, the strange uncle lost both his wife and his child when his wife was in labor. Since then he never remarried anymore. But when dad was on the verge of dying, dad asked the strange uncle to protect mom and the both of us in his stead. Strange uncle agreed to do so. And although it's already too late to protect mom, he told us that he would do what he can to keep his promise to dad.

Not even a moment passed, Sis hugged him tightly. She cried so loudly and I can see that strange uncle was panicking, not knowing what to do. I can't blame him when he had never deal with children before.

Although I'm not comfortable calling another person "Dad", for sister's sake, I'd accept him as our new father. Sister deserved to live with parental love even if it's an adopted parent.

Both Joe and Anna kindly refused to be adopted by the strange uncle. Anna on her part is still not keen having an adopted parent. It's as if she is replacing her biological parents if she did so. On the other hand, Joe said he is perfectly fine with not having a guardian as long as he got a place to live.

I feel the need to smack his down for his lies. Anyone can see that he actually has feelings for sis and he doesn't want to be called her "brother" if he can help it. If I don't consider him my best friend, I'd already punch him on the face for even have an inappropriate thought toward a young girl of 13 years old.

Regardless, Strange Uncle said he'd become Joe's and Anna's guardian until they reached coming of age, which is 18 years old.

They welcomed the idea pretty well. And I did too. At least, now we have a complete family, although it was a few broken families that are being pieced as one.

But first thing first. I need to give mom and dad a proper resting place. And to tell them the good news. I hope with this they would finally able to rest in peace.

By the way, I just found out that Strange Uncle's name is William. I supposed I can't call him "Strange Uncle" forever now that he is going to be my adopted father.