FIRST MEET (ONE)

Blakely exhaled many times while looking at the two-story house with a large yard in Ansley Park that looked very beautiful. The building is dominated by gray and white colors with a long staircase in front of the house to go up to the terrace which is lined with a short white fence. Besides that, what made Blakely love her sister's house was that there were many plants and large trees planted in the yard. On the right, on a large maple tree, she could see a simple swing hanging there very beautifully. The swing reminded her of her long-forgotten childhood memories. In the past, she also had a swing in front of her simple house. Her father's handcrafted swing was highly skilled at creating amazing things in the few years of his very short life.

Not wanting to be too deep in her childhood memories, Blakely immediately parked her car in her sister's spacious yard, then she immediately turned off the car motor to avoid the furor that was about to happen.

Her sister was looking forward to meeting her. Since days ago—even since she announced her plans to move to Atlanta and open a restaurant, Rebecca had never stopped terrorizing her with all kinds of screams of happiness. She knew Rebecca was very excited about her move here. Since she was the only family Rebecca had, it was so normal that she would be happy to have her here.

She then got out of the car while not forgetting to take the paper bag she had prepared in the passenger seat. A homemade chocolate cake was neatly wrapped in a paper bag using a very pretty red ribbon. She thought she needed to bring Rebecca's favorite cake which had been her favorite ever since they lived together and became family. Oh... how she missed those times. She had punished herself so hard over the past few years that she had forgotten that she still had someone who had been worrying about her all along.

Ting tong

The bell was pressed with a hint of hesitation. Blakely was honestly really nervous right now. She had not seen Rebecca in years and rarely heard from her. The last few days she has always rejected Rebecca's idea of ​​making video calls because she deliberately wanted to be surprised by the physical changes that occurred to Rebecca. Especially since her sister married and had a handsome son named Arthur Darragh.

"I'm coming!"

She almost pressed the bell once more, but her finger immediately stopped in mid-air as her sister's voice, which she knew so well, began to sound very loud from inside the house. Maybe one thing that remains the same and will never change from Rebecca, her loud and shrill voice will be her trademark forever.

"Blakely!"

As expected. Rebecca immediately hugged her tightly, almost strangling her, while rocking her body like she was hugging a five-year-old child.

She awkwardly hug her sister's back while giving a few pats on the back with the intention that her sister would not hug her tightly because she almost ran out of breath because of her excited sister's actions.

"Finally after so many years of not seeing you."

Tears were welling up in Rebecca's eyes as she looked at her. Inevitably she also felt the same sadness that was felt by Rebecca which then pushed her to hug her sister with a softer motion.

"I'm coming, Rebecca. I miss you."

"Me too. It's been so long that I almost forgot your face. You've grown and become a beautiful woman, Blake."

"You too. You've been a great mother."

Blakely let go of her arms and paused to look at her sister's face which was flooded with tears.

“I knew that times like this would come. Let's go inside."

Blakely smiled wryly and immediately entered Rebecca's cozy house.

The first time she stepped foot into this house, she immediately felt at home and completely familiar with the atmosphere. She had known this place for a long time and she knew the ins and outs of this place very well.

“Beautiful house.”

The living room is very organized. Wall decorations by famous painters were placed on the living room wall along with Rebecca's wedding photos and other photos that made Blakely jealous. Rebecca always got what she wanted the most. Rebecca is easier to attract the attention of others with her friendly and cheerful personality. Meanwhile, she couldn’t make friends with children her age because she was a shy girl.

"So this is your husband?"

Rebecca was wiping away her teary eyes when she looked up to look at Blakely who was observing her wedding photos one by one.

"Yeah, he's an unlucky guy for getting me as a wife." Rebecca laughed at her joke. But Blakely didn't laugh at all and instead stepped closer to Rebecca's largest wedding photo to take a closer look at it.

"I'm guessing he wasn't the one who beat you."

"He's not the typical flamboyant guy. But I'm proud of you that you managed to snare this ice man. Oops...” Blakely suddenly realized that her words had crossed the line. "Is Nickson home?" Blakely whispered nervously as she looked here and there, all over Rebecca's house to find the whereabouts of Rebecca's husband who had probably heard her outrageous words a long time ago.

"Don't worry, Nickson isn't home from work yet. The man always forgets to go home when he has a date with the documents in his office that are always piling up. By the way, what did you bring, Blake?” Instantly, Rebecca's eyes shifted to the blue paper bag that still hung perfectly on Blakely's curly fingers.

“Special chocolate cake for my dear sister.”

In the next second, Blakely heard her sister's screams, which were very hysterical, with galloping steps, which seemed impatient to grab the blue paper bag from Blakely's hands.

"Give it to me. I'll take it to the kitchen and put it on the table for dessert later. You wait here a moment. I'll be right back with your handsome nephew,” Rebecca said while blinking coquettishly before finally, her tiny body disappeared behind a door that Blakely didn't know where it would lead.

She thought the door wouldn’t lead directly to the kitchen because the house is so spacious. The building area is probably about two hundred fifty square meters or more. In addition, this building from the outside looks unique in her eyes. This house doesn't look like an ordinary house and it sure has a lot of rooms that will be fun to explore.

For about two minutes Blakely was alone in the quiet living room of Rebecca's house. But suddenly the soft roar of the engine sounded in the very quiet courtyard of the house. She then immediately took a deep breath. Inhale oxygen through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Soon, maybe she will meet her brother-in-law whom she has only been able to see through his pictures hanging on the wall.

For some reason, she now felt nervous just thinking about her brother-in-law who would soon come in the house because she had just heard the sound of the car door closing and the sound of footsteps slowly climbing the stairs on the front porch in a steady slow motion.

And then the man came in. Seemingly taken aback by her presence in the living room, the man named Nickson stopped in the doorway looking at her with a very disturbing look of suspicion. It turns out that the Nickson in the photo is very different from the real Nickson. The Nickson she saw in the photo still showed a friendly expression on his face that didn't scare her too much. But the real Nickson had no trace of friendliness on his face at all. Instead of being friendly by greeting his guests, Nickson stopped in front of the door staring at her for a long time until she finally felt very awkward in front of her brother-in-law.

"Hello, I'm Blakely," Blakely said stupidly. She didn't know what to say in front of her brother-in-law who seemed to be staring at a disgusting alien creature that had suddenly appeared in his house. But fortunately, Nickson's silence did not last long because after that he immediately entered the house and slightly nodded his head in courtesy.

“Hi, Rebecca already told me about you. You're her younger sister who just moved from New York right?”

"That’s right. Nice to meet you."

To lessen her nervousness Blakely licked her lips several times while occasionally squeezing her fingers over her now icy lap. Oh Lord! Blakely groaned inwardly. Her initial reaction when she met her handsome brother-in-law was embarrassing. Her shy nature which had been ingrained since childhood suddenly appeared, making her feel ridiculous in front of Nickson.

“Mm… you just got home from work?”

Stupid question! cursed Blakely inwardly.

The man would judge her as a stupid boring woman. He had just come home with a black briefcase in hand and work clothes that were no longer neat because of his tiring busy life today. But stupidly she still asked the cliché question.

“Yes, there was an urgent matter that made me late for home. Even though Rebecca told me to come home two hours ago to welcome you.”

"Well, thanks. I think Rebecca is overreacting about my coming today."

The man then stopped talking. He was still standing by the sofa carrying her bag but there didn't seem the slightest sign of the man sitting down or doing anything more useful to lessen her nervousness.

"Nickson?"

Rebecca's voice from inside managed to make Blakely breathe a little easier. Finally, Rebecca came to save her from her silly nervousness in front of her brother-in-law.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, captain."

Nickson spread his arms and bent slightly to catch the body of his son who was running towards him. The little man in his early four years looked very cheerful in his father's arms while occasionally kissing his father's face which was slightly overgrown with a beard.

"You two have met each other? Oh forgive my husband, he came home late today."

"It’s okay. I feel bad if my arrival today disturbs your busy time.”

"We're not busy at all. Oh, dear Arthur, this is Aunt Blakely."

“Aunt Blakely?”

"Hi, darling?"

Blakely smiled gently at her cute and handsome nephew. Oh my goodness, Arthur inherited his father's handsome line. His copper-brown hair looks very much like Nickson's dark brown hair. The father and son's hair was both straight with the characteristic messy accent of hair that would not be managed unless smeared with hair gel. But Blakely felt like seeing men with those types of hair, looking hot and manly.

"Give Aunty Blakely a hug."

Nickson immediately put her son down and used the opportunity to go take a shower.

"I'll follow you to the dining table after my shower."

"Don't take too long babe. I don't want to starve Blakely."

"No need to rush." Hugging cute Arthur, Blakely looked at Nickson, “I'm not that hungry yet. I just wanted to play with Arthur for a bit.”

"OK. Arthur baby, you can take your aunty to play with your many toys while Mommy will set the table.”

"Come on, Aunt Blake, I have a new toy airplane as a gift from my daddy."

With enthusiasm, Arthur immediately pulled her hand towards his room which was on the second floor while chattering typical of children that Blakely liked. For a moment she thought that she would like Arthur and would not wait too long for her next visit because she would come more often to play with Arthur.