The wind was blowing slowly as a blond-haired man was sitting on a sofa in the middle of a room. His two different colored eyes were focusing on a somewhat worn-out book. It was yellowish with some pages looked as if it'll be tear-out just from a gust of wind.
Not far from him, there was a bed on his left side. A woman was seen sleeping peacefully on a bed with a baby on her side. The room was bright from the sunlight that penetrates the windows' glasses that occupy one side of the wall. Two of those windows were opened for air circulation. The white curtain was moving as the gentle wind blows through the opened windows.
There was no sound in the room except for the occasional rustle sound from turning the book's pages.
In the middle of the reading, the man heard a creaking sound of the door. The man turned to the right, where the door was located. A young girl with brown hair and the same two-colored eyes as the man emerged from the other side of the door. It looked like the girl was struggling to open the door as she was not tall enough to pull on the handle without tiptoeing.
The man can't resist letting a chuckle out. His mouth curved upward as he looked at the young girl lovingly. He closed the book and left it on the coffee table before walking to her direction. When the girl saw that the man came closer, she loosened her grip on the handle and let a toothy smile out. She stretched out both of her hands toward the man which he already knew understand what she was asking for.
Gently, he picked her up and held her on his arm. Playing with her nose, he asked her, "how is papa's little princess is doing? Have fun with Uncle Joe?"
The girl giggled a little when the man tickled her body. But when she heard 'Uncle Joe' word, her eyes widened and with a loud voice, she said, "Uncle Joe is telling me to call papa and mama."
One of the man's eyebrow raised in confusion. Before he can ask, the little girl continued, "Uncle Joe said to tell papa that the little brother is coming." She sounded confused and her small eyebrows were knitted together.
Hearing that, the man also widened his eyes. Turning quickly toward the bed, he saw the woman already get up from the bed. She brushed off her dress in a matter of seconds and did her hair in a flash. She turned to the standing man and said, "it seems like Erica is almost delivering her baby. I'll go to look at the situation, you take care of Annelise and Eduard in meanwhile."
The man frowned. "But Erica is my sister, Anna!" he protested.
"And your wife here already delivered two of your kids. This wife also happens to be a doctor. Trust me, I know what to do, Ed." She said, smiling reassuringly toward the man. "Besides, your sister is stronger than she looks like. Don't underestimate her." Finish saying that, she walked out of the room quickly.
The man is still frowning. Seeing her father's eyebrows knitted together, the little girl mimicked his expression and knit her eyebrows too. Both of them looked at each other with a frowning expression. Then the man straightened his eyebrows and blinked. Again, the little girl mimicked him and blinked cutely as well.
Soon after the man let a laugh out, which was joined by another laugh from the girl. And not long after, another laugh was heard. Both father and daughter stopped laughing and turned to the source. The sleeping baby was now woken up and already rolled over to his belly, looking toward both of them. Grinning widely, the dimples on both of his cheeks were showing up.
Turning to his daughter, he told her, "It seems like we have woken up your brother, Anne." He put down Annelise and walked toward the baby. Picking him up, he made sure that the baby is comfortable in his arm. He looked at Annelise. "Let's go to see Uncle Joe and Auntie Erica," he said. Holding Annelise's hand, the trio went out of the house.
They only need to walk for 5 minutes to reach Joe's house. It's on the next door and since they know each other for more than a decade now, the man didn't even knock anymore and directly walked inside. A red-haired man was pacing in front of the door, supposedly a room that was specifically made for delivering. That's Joe. He looked so panicked that he didn't even realize that a guest has come.
"I didn't see you pacing like that when Anna was delivering."
Hearing someone talking, Joe turned toward the man. "Edward!" he called, as soon as he saw who is talking. He walked closer to Edward and pinched Eduard's cheek playfully. "Anna is your wife, not mine. You were also pacing back and fro like I do when she was delivering!"
Edward stared blankly at Joe. "Anna is your friend."
Joe also stared blankly at Edward. "And Erica is your sister."
Both of them glared at each other when a painful scream was heard coming out of the room. Both men similarly went paler.
Joe was a few seconds away from bursting into the room when an old man held him down. "Calm down. Anna is already inside, she is a doctor, she knows what to do. Besides, Erica is a strong woman. You need to trust her."
His blue eyes looked at Joe calmly. The old man was full of wrinkles and scars. Despite holding a cane, he was standing straight and tall like a soldier on duty. Even with all the wrinkles and white hair, he still looked fresh and fit.
Joe can only hold his mouth in a grim line. He can't rebuke his father-in-law and he knew Anna won't let anything happened to Erica, but he can't just stay still while his love was screaming in pain.
The scream ceased for a while before it started again, this time it's even louder and a few pitches higher than the previous scream. Joe's face lost all the color it has left.
As if startled by the scream, Eduard suddenly cried as well. Not wanting to disturb the delivery process, Edward took Eduard back to their house. As much as he wanted to stay there and wait for the child to be born, Edward knew that he can't let the kids disturb the people inside.
Besides, he can't help anything with the whole situation, so he chose to believe in his wife. As Anna said, she is a doctor that already experienced childbirth twice, so she already knew what to do. Annelise also followed her father back home as she is scared of all the screams.
It was only at midnight when Anna come back home. The kids have been sleeping on the crib when she walked into the bedroom. She saw Edward closed the worn-out book before he walked toward her. Giving her a kissed on the lips, he patted her head a little.
"Tired?" he asked.
Anna didn't say anything but the yawn from her mouth already give him the answer. "The child is born healthy and it's a boy. It's the first child so it took a long time to deliver. 11 hours give or take a few minutes. But all in all, the mother and the child are safe and sound." She explained.
Edward nodded his head. "Thank you for taking care of Erica," he said, kissing her again, this time more passionate than before. Knowing that his wife is already tired, he held himself down and broke off the kiss.
Kissing her forehead, he said, "I've prepared a bath for you. The water should still be warm enough, but I'll go check it again. You should go grab a bite. I just warmed up some dinner, it's on the coffee table." He then walked to the bathroom.
Anna walked to the sofa and looked at the coffee table. Sure enough, there's a bowl of warm chicken soup and some salads that she loved eating. Sitting on the sofa, she drank the soup quietly, enjoying the warm feeling that soon spread into her stomach.
As she drank, she took a glance at the worn-out book on the table. She has been curious about that book as she saw Edward keep reading that these few days.
Edward came back when she finished drinking the soup. He took a seat beside her as she ate her salad.
"I've warm up the water again, so you can go take a bath now." He said.
She nodded in acknowledgment, before standing up and walked toward the bathroom. She stopped halfway to the bathroom and turned her head toward him.
"By the way, Ed, what's the book that you've been reading?" She asked curiously.
Edward blinked. He looked at the yellowish book on the table.
"Oh, this?" He took the book from the table. The cover was used to be a white sheet of paper. Now it has also turned yellowish. His eyes turned gentle.
"I supposed it should be called 'The Written Journey'."
-Fin.