The front door creaks open, and I wake up groggily, Freya curled up in bed beside me. Dirk shuffles in silently, grinning at me in greeting. I twist and look at the clock on the wall. It's 6:15am. I shake Freya awake, and she scrubs at her eyes blearily.
"Changing of the guard," Dirk whispers playfully. Freya grumbles grumpily and scoots from bed, her hair a tangled mess. She snatches her bag from the table and disappears into the bathroom. "Mornin', Gwen. How'd you sleep?" Dirk continues. I sit up and begin testing my body. Most my muscles aren't as sore as they had been the night before, and I felt refreshed after the bath.
"Great, I feel better," I yawn. I kick the blankets off and set about making Dirk and I breakfast. He jogs into the kitchen and begins helping me.
"Alright, guys, I'm heading off to work!" Freya calls from the front door. "I'll see you guys later!" We shout our goodbyes over our shoulders, and go back to frying eggs and flipping pancakes. Just as Freya is closing the door, I hear her greet someone before opening the door again. New footsteps clack on my wooden floors, and Freya closes the door behind the new visitor.
"Lauren, you're here awful early," Dirk remarks.
"Well, Gwen s-said that she needed help with the animals again…" the girl stutters, her unsure nature making her uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, you're alright, you've done nothing wrong," I smile, trying to not make her feel unwelcome. "But you don't have to get here at the crack of dawn. You can sleep in a little more, and come around eight next time, okay?" she offers a tiny smile and a tight nod. "Are you hungry?" Lauren leans a little around me, to see what Dirk is cooking still in the kitchen, and nods. "Well then, come along." I take her hand, and she wraps around my arm affectionately. I loved Kevin and Cindy as well, but I saw a younger version of myself in Lauren. She and I just got along very well.
Just as I finished pushing in Lauren's chair to the dining table and placed a clean plate before her, someone knocks on the front door. "Looks like I've installed a revolving door to my house," I mumble to myself. I open the door wide and Ivan steps in through the threshold. "Ivan," I blink in surprise. It's 6:45am, he should be headed into town.
"Good morning, Gwen," Ivan smiles down at me as he closes the door behind him.
"Hey, Ivan!" Dirk calls as he slides a steaming pancake onto Lauren's plate, waving with the spatula. "Glad you could make it! Lauren, don't eat too fast, you'll choke."
"Dirk," Ivan says in surprise. "I was wondering where you ran off to so early this morning." He pauses, and seems to take in the scene a little more deliberately. Dirk cooking in my kitchen, and Lauren chewing messily.
"Oh Lauren, honey, use a napkin," I sigh when the syrup sticks to her cheek. "Dirk, can you grab a napkin for her?"
"Got it!" Ivan's little brother responds from the kitchen. Ivan watches with an expressionless gaze.
"You couldn't find someone else to watch over Gwen today?" Ivan asks calmly as Dirk wipes at Lauren's face.
"I volunteered to do it," Dirk says absent mindedly, trying to clean the little girl thoroughly, although she tries to wiggle free.
"You watched her last night," Ivan says, a hint of irritation in his voice now.
"I know, but I wanted to see her anyway," Dirk grins, finally satisfied with the girl's cleanliness.
"I'm right here," I snap at the brothers.
"Hey, Ivan, did you hear something?" Dirk smirks playfully, looking past me purposely. "The wind, perhaps?" I yank off my shoe and chuck it at Dirk's head. He dodges it, laughing loudly, and returns to the kitchen.
"Idiot," I mumble under my breath. I turn back to Ivan and am surprised by what I see. His face is tight as he stares after his brother. When he notices that I'm examining him, he looks away and clears his throat, tugging at his purple bowtie. "You're going to be late for work," I remark.
"Yes, well, I told my students that I'd be late today," Ivan says, clearly still bothered by…something. "I, uh, wanted to make sure I had time to check on you today." He glances back to the kitchen where Dirk is cooking, and one could even say that it was a glare. I feel very confused; the brothers were so incredibly close, what was Ivan angry with Dirk about? "I have something to give you."
Ivan reaches into his bag and pulled out a red wrapped present. I grin up at him and take the package and begin tearing at the paper. "I put in the order late on Sunday night after I saw that you'd lost your other one. I picked it up yesterday and thought about dropping it off, but I'd talked to Stuart when he was walking back from here to the hotel. He'd just checked on you, and said you were still unconscious."
The last scrap of paper falls away. It was a new hat. It is a little different from my last one; the fabric colors were more subdued, and this one has a long, white feather sown into the brim. There are tiny roses embroidered on the sides. It isn't the one that my friend had gotten me, but it is beautiful, and I feel grateful and special for him to have noticed that I hadn't been able to keep my last one. I feel aware of the fact that he must've crawled home after saving me on Sunday, put in a custom order in the city, and had bought it just for me.
I look at him, my mouth open in shock, unable to communicate my gratitude. Ivan beams at my expression. "I, uh, wanted to give it to you when you were awake," he whispers, just for me to hear. He blushes a deep red and tucks his chin away from me, nervously peeking at his shoes as he avoids my eye contact. "I wanted to see your reaction." His mature, classy demeanor falls away, and he's a young school boy again, unsure and embarrassed.
"It's beautiful," I assure him, instantly shoving it on my head. He peeks up at me, then blushes deeper, and returns his gaze to the floor.
"You look lovely in it," he giggles. I'm stunned; who knew the refined tutor giggles?
"Gwen, get over here!" Dirk shouts at me from by the dining table. "You left all the breakfast making to me, and it's ready! Hurry up!" Ivan's sweet innocence disappears suddenly as he twists to glare at his younger brother again.
"Well, I'd better leave you and your little makeshift family to your meal," Ivan clips. What was that? Was that jealousy I heard in his voice? "Have a good day, Gwen." Ivan quickly opens the door, and leaves.
"Bye, older brother, whom I love dearly, and couldn't live without," Dirk snorts as he sits down to his plate. "What was that all about? He didn't even say bye to me! What am I, chopped liver?" I take my place at the third spot and begin eating the food Dirk had finished for us, my mind mulling with Ivan's strange behavior.
"That's a pretty hat," Lauren remarks as she finishes her last pancake.
"Thanks, Ivan just gave it to me," I reply, scarfing down my food.
"Yeah, it looks great on ya'," Dirk agrees with a nod of his head. I swallow the last sip of orange juice in my glass and slam the cup down on the table, pushing the teacher from my thoughts.
"Come on, we've all got work to do," I command, leading the way outside.