Chapter 4

Patience

~ Camomile

"Maman, who's that naked person?" Ren and his twin brother Rin asked as they asked and pointed at Yzak in unison. Their violet piercing eyes unblinking.

"Is she a girl? Why doesn't she have boobs?" Ren inquired at Shiho who looked stupefied with her sibling's question.

"I think he's a guy, trying to be a girl. See he has long hair." Rin pulled Ren's shoulder and pointed a finger at Yzak's hair. Yzak's frown getting more prominent than ever.

"Is he Snow White?" Rin asked his twin brother, his eyes as blank as ever.

"Rin, Snow White has black hair not white hair." Ren pointed out.

"I know, Ren. But he has milky white skin." Rin stated back. Yzak glared at the precocious little boys and approached them.

"Did anyone ever teach you that it is bad to talk about a person who is standing a meter away from you? And even insulting the said person." Ruffling their hair ruthlessly, the twins tried to take off Yzak's grasp on their hair. "Did you two say I'm girly? Do you want me to dress you up?"

"No! Stop ruffling our hair already! It hurts!" The twins pranced as they tried to run away from Yzak's grasp. Shiho was still watching the boys interact. When Yzak let go of the boys, the twins run upstairs, sticking their tongues at Yzak.

"I think they like you." The brunette stated as she returned to the kitchen.

"Theydo. They like pissing me off." With that Yzak left and looked for the well or the pump as Shiho said. Still pondering whether or not they were her siblings or her children.

*A*

Scrubbing the dirt and grime off his body, Yzak rubbed the soap on his torso. The brats were watching him take a bath, laughing now and then. "You two seem to enjoy watching me take a bath. Would you like to join me?" Yzak splashed a bucket of water at the little devils. Screeching like monkeys, Ren and Rin, ran around the well trying to dodge Yzak. A devilish grin was plastered on Yzak's face.

Shiho heard a handful of laughter from the direction of the well. Going out of the house, she saw her siblings play with Yzak. The three of them were all wet. They're getting along well. Ren and Rin spotted their sister and ran to her. "Onee-chan, do you want to play too?" Shiho shook her head vigorously and ran back inside the house. The twins eyes were glinting again, plotting pranks once again.

Opening a window near the well, Shiho shouted at her little brothers, "I'll bring the towels, you two are going to get a cold again."

The twins pouted and promised Shiho they were not going to get sick again. Yzak scoffed at the twins and finished his bath. Drying himself with a towel he brought along, the black haired twins asked him, "Hey, let's climb trees later, okay?" The twins held his hands, Rin held his right while Ren held his left hand.

"I don't know how to climb trees. Ask some other person. I'm dead tired." Letting go of the little hands that grasped his, he went back inside the house, straight to his room.

"Rin, Ren, come inside and get dried." Shiho called. Holding their hands together, the boys under the sign Gemini nodded at one another.

*A*

When the morning passed and afternoon came, Yzak was called by Leon to go down. "Uncle what is it?" Leon grinned at Yzak, seeing he was lethargic from being overworked.

"We're going to town. Do you want to come along?"

"I'll stay here."

"Okay, don't regret, not coming."

"Father! We'll stay here too!" Once again the little devils sprung out of nowhere and pleaded their father to let them go.

"Are you sure you don't want to accompany your poor old papa to town?" Leon asked his sons with puppy dog eyes.

"Father! It doesn't give the pleading effect if you are the one going to use it!" Ren pointed out as he face palmed his father's bearded face.

"Yeah, Papa, you don't look like a puppy. You should go already! We're going to play with Yzak!" Rin exclaimed as he pulled his father's hand, pulling him to the front door.

Leon laughed at his son's antics and squished them in a bear hug. "Don't call your Yzak-nii-san as Yzak. Call him nii-san or aniki."

The boys nodded and ran to Yzak. Grasping his hands once again with their little hands, they looked up to him and used the puppy dog eyes on him. "I know you two are up to something, so I'm not falling for that." Yzak left the twins a second time and went upstairs. Behind him, the young boys followed him.

Opening his door, the twins ran inside and sat on his bed. Sighing in exasperation, he ignored the boys and lied down on the bed. His arms folded and under his head. The boys were watching him with absolute fascination.

"Can't you bother someone else? Where's your sister? Why don't you play with her?" Yzak asked the boys who were now crawling towards him. They straddled his legs and laughed cheerfully. "Hey! I'm not a see-saw!" Growling at the boys, he was amazed that they were immune to his snapping. They did not even flinch.

"We can't play with nee-chan! She's a girl!" Ren snorted as he tried to wrestle Yzak's legs.

"And also she's always busy with chores." Rin added as he rubbed his itchy cheek, under his right eye was a mole. That was their difference.

The boys stopped playing on Yzak's long limbs and faced him. Lying on their belly's and their chin placed under their palms they stared at him. "Nii-chan, why are you locked up in this room? Are you grounded by your mommy?" The boys innocently asked in succession but it seemed they were teasing Yzak. "We can get you out if you want. We can sneak out and play outside in the fields. We can fly kites and do other stuffs."

Yzak ruffled the twin's hair and smiled at their inquiry. "You two are full of questions. I'm not grounded. I just like lounging on this bed."

"Are you a cat? Isis likes to sleep all day too. We don't like sleeping but nee-chan always tells us to sleep. We can't play if we do that, can't we?" Rin pointedly looked at Yzak as if trying to convince him that sleeping and lounging was a sin.

"That's right! If you are lazy, the elves will turn you into an ant and make you work all day!" Ren whispered, covering his mouth with his small hands and leaning close to Yzak's ears while Rin nodded at his brother.

Yzak chuckled at the twins and tackled them down on the bed. "If you don't sleep and play all day, you are going to be this short forever and the other kids will call you two 'shorty'." The little boys pouted and argued with Yzak that he was wrong. The kids were really persistent and obnoxious that they succeeded to lure the silver-haired man to play outside.

"You two are so spontaneous. How did we get to the topic of elves from talking about your sister?" Yzak was pushed by the twins from the bed.

*A*

Bringing him to the back of the red barn, he saw a big tree. The twins ran to it and called Yzak, whispering things like secret tree house and no girls allowed. "Yzak-nii, promise you'll never tell Shiho-nee this or else she's going to scold us for climbing trees!" The twins said in a very scared voice, their eyes wide and big with anticipation while waiting for Yzak's answer. Yzak eyed them suspiciously and pretended to think about it. "Nii-san! We'll never say you're girly ever again!"

Gullible little brats.

"Okay then, I will not tell Shiho as long as you don't bug me." Yzak shook hands with the twins, sealing the deal.

"Shiho-nee freaks out when she hears that we climb trees because before, Rin fell down and broke his feet. The doctor even said he might not be able to walk anymore. But Shiho-nee took care of Rin very well, so he can still walk now. So we kept it a secret from her that we have a tree house." Ren grinned and pulled his brother close to him, nuzzling his nose on the soft tufts of Rin's black hair.

How very affectionate these twins are...

"So I'm guessing Rin is younger..." Yzak pointed at the little boy being hugged by his brother.

"Nope, Ren is younger." Rin said as he patted Ren's head.

"Oh, is that so? Seemed to be the other way around..." Yzak teased earning a cute pout and glare from the twins.

The silver-haired man spent his lazy and breezy afternoon filled with the excited chatter of the boys as Yzak told them stories of his childhood, his big pool, his dozen cars, extravagant parties and late night clubs.

"Do you have a computer at your home, nii-san? The one with games?" The twins asked enthusiastically. "We have this classmate of ours and he was bragging about his computer at school." Ren complained, his eyebrows furrowing together making his forehead scrunch up in annoyance. Rin looked exactly the same.

"I have lots of computer actually. I have like four, at home." Yzak bragged, showing four fingers at the boys. The two dived at him in glee.

"Really? That's so cool, nii-san! Can we go to your house and play?" With expecting wide eyes, Yzak felt something pinch his heart painfully.

"Sure, but right now, I can't. My mom grounded me and told me to stay here." Yzak dejectedly confided. The twins sadly sat back down and pouted.

"You have lots of computer and a mom, you're really lucky nii-san. Our mom is gone. She went to heaven, nee-chan said." Yzak saw the twins eyes were glassy and tears were welling up.

"That's okay! You have a great dad! I don't have a dad. You also have a great sister. I don't have siblings, I'm an only child." Yzak confessed. The twins hugged Yzak and kissed his cheeks.

"We can share. You can be our older brother." Yzak laughed at the twins and said, "Okay, but don't ever kiss me again or else I will think you two are gay."

"What's gay, nii-san?" The twins looked at him with confused violet eyes.

"It's like a girly guy or a guy who likes guys as well." Yzak tried to explain in simple terms for the twins to understand.

The twins scratched their heads at the same time and ignored Yzak. "We don't understand. We like you nii-san. Does that mean we're gay?"

"Maybe." Laughing at the baffled expressions of the kids, he ruffled their hair. "Okay, never mind what I said. Let's go home. I'm hungry."

"Okay." Holding one another's hands Rin and Ren walked to the door of the tree house following their new elder brother.

*A*

I wonder where Yzak and the twins went to. I just hope they don't trouble anyone. Shiho wondered as she tasted the soup she was preparing for dinner. Her father went to town but didn't seem to have brought along Rin and Ren. The sun was setting and the skies begin to darken with the appearance of the stars in tow. The moon was already out. Just then she heard the door open.

"We're home!" A tandem of voices greeted Shiho. "Nee-chan, we played with Yzak-nii but he said we might be gay." The two boys pouted and Shiho looked accusingly at Yzak.

"What? They said they liked me." Yzak replied coolly as he leaned on the kitchen door's frame, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You aren't supposed to teach kids those things." Shiho reprimanded Yzak ineffectively because of her wooden ladle and apron. Huffing in disappointment, she ordered the twins to prepare the table. The twins then pulled Yzak to help them in arranging the table for dinner.

*A*

When Leon arrived at home, he saw Yzak and the twins getting along well. The twins were teaching Yzak on where to put the utensils and glasses on the table. Shiho laughing as she saw Yzak snap at the pushy twins but not taking effect. Leon smiled at the happy and homey atmosphere.

"Father, you're back early." Shiho noticed and placed soup on the bowls, wiping the spills on the counter with a dishrag.

"It seems, someone is learning small things from small unrelenting boys." He pointed the words at Yzak who greeted him welcome back.

"He is, isn't he?" Shiho looked at the smug twins and frowning Yzak as she served dinner to the four boys.

Yzak scoffed and replied, "I know it already, I just simply forgot how to do it. It's not as if I can get an A+ plus for arranging the table."

Leon laughed and the twins continued swallow their lukewarm soup. "I hope these little devils weren't too much of a bother to you, Yzak."

"Nope, they're not a bother. They are just simply a permanent nuisance to my life here." Snapping as he wiped a soup stain on Rin's cheek.

"Yzak-nii! I have a soup stain too, here, on my cheeks!" Ren exclaimed as he ran beside Yzak with a napkin.

"Brat, I'm not your nanny." Yzak pointed, blushing at the little boys fondness for him, but still wiped the little boy's cheeks clean. "Eat properly, so you don't have to stain your clothes as well. Sheesh." He then reprimanded the boys who ate enthusiastically while giggling at Yzak.

"We're done!" The boys exclaimed in unison and brought their bowls on the sink. Rin went to a corner and pulled two small plastic benches. Running back to Ren he placed the benches in front of the sink and proceeded to wash their plates. Drying the bowls and placing them on the dish rack.

"Go brush your teeth and I'll prepare your sponge baths." Shiho said as she too cleaned up her bowl and utensils. Gathering the benches and returning them to the corner, she went to the bathroom and prepared her brothers bath.

"Nee-chan! We can do it ourselves!" The twins begrudgingly yelled at Shiho.

Yzak followed the siblings with his eyes.

Never thought children were allowed to clean their own plates. Weren't this bowls heavy?

He then tried to weigh the bowl in his hand. He heard a chuckle and looked at Leon.

"I guess you were stunned by the boys? It's a normal thing, in our household that is." He stood up and he too cleaned his bowl. "Yzak, from now own, you clean up for yourself. Live independently if you want to succeed in life." Patting the blue-eyed boy's shoulder he left Yzak and went to his study.

Yzak looked down on his bowl and then to the sink. Biting his lip, he stood up and cleaned up after himself. When he returned to his room, he saw two giggling boys whispering to each other in their blue and yellow matching pajamas and a black napping cat occupying his bed. Clutching his head, he asked himself. Maybe it people or cats, people here are way too friendly.

Joining the group, he wrestled with the boys. Isis, the black cat moved away from them and slept on the foot of the mattress, the boys taught Yzak different hand games and word games until sleep came over them.

-to be continued-