The two old people that are supposedly my grandparents turned towards me as soon as my head leaked out through the gap between the door and the frame.
"H-Harry!" They spring up on their feet from the waiting metal chair that they were sitting on, and hurtle towards me. Despite being old, they manage to give me a chest-crushing hug.I'm not sure what I am supposed to be doing so my hands are awkwardly raised in mid-air.The warm trickle down my neck activates my senses and I catch a whiff of them through the bear hug. Their clothes smell dusty but are clean in appearance. The grandfather is wearing a blue hat with a threaded knot on the neck to tighten the grip. He is wearing a denim jacket with beige trousers. The grandmother is wearing jeans and a plain white tee. They're about the same height as each other but definitely shorter than me.Both of them withdraw from their hugs and look at me, teary-eyed."Oh, Harry," The grandmother says, "We don't know what to tell you now."I'm not sure why I'm being called Harry but I guessed it was my nickname that people called.I should learn and get used to these things. I remind myself when I start getting uncomfortable trying to fathom the number of idiosyncrasies that people who knew me were going to expect when they see me.I smile at them in the most innocent way that I know now."Me too," I say and they give out a teary chuckle. A broad smile is planted on their faces."Harry?" The grandmother starts, "Did someone named Alex to tell you about...""Yeah," I replied, sensing what they were going to conclude with: we coming to adopt you.The smile on their face dissolved into a serious note but the cheerfulness still remained."W-What do you feel about it?" The grandfather asks me, "If you need time to–""I've thought about it," I reply, "I want to have a normal life, and this might be the most normal life I can ever have so I guess, so yeah."The smile returned, but only wider this time."I'll get the paperwork done," The grandfather said, and scuttled out of the waiting room as fast as he physically could without tripping over.We seated ourselves on the metal waiting for benches and waited a few moments in silence, both of us not knowing what to say. Then, the grandfather returned with a small transparent file with papers. I was secretly happy for him to have returned to save me from the awkwardness."All set!" He said, waving the file in his hands at us, "Let's go! Come on, Harry," He approached me and slightly affectionately tugged my shoulders, "We have a long way to reach home!"Home. I repeated in my mind. I felt a flutter of mixed emotions."Don't mind him," The grandmother says from behind, "He can be a little noisy so you're always welcome to hang around with me. I'm really quiet and I would not disturb you."I smiled at the receptionist who smiled back at me. Alex was nowhere to be seen but I would've wanted to tell him a proper goodbye. We walked out of the care home, the grandfather's arms around my shoulders and the grandmother beside us. I didn't complain about the weight of his arms because it somehow felt safe and not too uncomfortable.He took his heavy arms off my shoulders once we got to a black Honda SUV. He punched a button on the keys and a clicking sound sounded from the car as the blinkers blinked. I unintentionally chose to sit in the backseat like the grandmother and no one stressed about it.I guess I'm just imagining these social complications.The car rolled out of the parking lot and cruised smoothly for some time before speeding up at the expressway.Wow, it might be farther than I expected. I thought.The ride was smooth and silent. The radio was barely audible to the extent that there was no point keeping it on anyway."I remembered!" The grandmother suddenly said, "We haven't introduced ourselves!""How can you forget such an important thing?!" The grandfather called out from the driver's seat."It's fine," I replied, "I'm Harris. I think you already know it."She nodded earnestly. "I'm Madeline Skye. He's Danforth Skye."I nodded. I wanted to ask if there was anything special about the last name but I somewhat hesitated. I knew they were supposed to be my grandparents but still I was backing out from making interactions with them. I just felt a little bit awkward.I stole a glance at the grandmother who was looking out through the window now. She noticed that I was looking at her and met my gaze.She took my hands that were on the armrest and cupped them with hers. Her hands were cold, yet soft in a senile kind of way."Hey, we promise," She started and I looked up at her again, "We'll take good care of you."I brought my lips to a tight line and nodded.Ever since changing place to place, there was this lingering feeling within my mind that was making me feel strangely uncomfortable and vulnerable. I was always anticipating my next place in the back of my mind, even though nothing was supposed to be happening like that in the orphanage. Though it didn't feel like I knew them from birth, I felt safer around them than any other people, and that was what was strikingly different about them. After I thought about it from this perspective, it wasn't that awkward at all. I had to make meaningful interactions with them sooner or later and doing so would just bring us closer.In my uncertain condition, I ached for stability and I had that with them. That was all that I cared about for now, and that was all that mattered to me.