Kyle just rolled his eyes at them.
"I pity Sayuri," Ali went on.
Kyle gave a smirk and wriggling his eyebrows, he said with a low voice that only the two of his brothers could hear, "Oh, she wouldn't agree with you about that bit at night."
Sam said, pushing his glasses up his nose, "Shameless."
"This, from someone who has a kid every two years?" Kyle said, looking at Sam.
Sam pressed his lips together, then said, "Stopping at six."
"Only the produce, dear boy, only the produce," Kyle said, flinging his hand around Sam's shoulders, "The production, I believe, doesn't stop."
Sam shrugged his shoulders, effectively flinging Kyle's hands down and wisely did not say anything more. Ali, on the other hand, simply smiled.
Although he could only have one child, he did not resent nor was jealous over the fact that his brothers had lots of children. In fact, he was grateful that he had his miracle Ziad, as there were many more couples who couldn't even have one.
Ali walked over to Ziad, who stood up immediately and gave the standard respectful greeting by taking his father's hand and kissing the back of it. Though it would be more accurate to say placing one's lips on the skin rather than a smacking of the lips on it.
Ali smoothened a stray hair on his son's head that was sticking out and told him, "Listen well, study hard."
"Yes, Baba," Ziad replied.
"Ummi will be cooking your favourite dishes when you get back, as a celebration of your first day in school," Ali told him.
Ziad's face brightened at that and he smiled as he sat down.
Fleur looked at her father and said, "Papa, I'm a big girl now. I will be fine."
Sam, knowing that he tended to be a bit of a helicopter parent, took a deep breath and placed his hand on her head, "I know, Fleur. I know."
He then went down to face her and said, "But I can't help but worry still, okay?"
Fleur gave him a sweet smile and patted his cheek, saying, "Be strong, Papa."
Ali really couldn't help it and he had to turn, putting his knuckles in his mouth to stop him from laughing out loud. Seeing the normally stoic Sam being helpless in front of his daughter was truly an eye-opener indeed.
Ariel, having said her goodbyes by now, now spread her hands up towards her father, "Daddy! Daddy! Done."
Kyle smiled lovingly at her and picked her up.
"Okay," Ali said as he managed to calm down and get back to them, "Scott will pick all of you up after school."
Ziad looked at his father in surprise, "All of us, Baba?"
"Just for today," Ali told him, "Ummi invited everyone over."
"That sounds so exciting!" piped a little voice from behind Ali.
They turned, to see a cute little girl with extremely curly blond hair that seemed to bounce as she walked. Her hair was short, about chin length, and it framed her oval shaped face. On top of her curly head, was a blue headband that had a little bow at the side.
She was smiling, and her cheeks had a tinge of pink - not because she was blushing. It was a natural thing that one would, in the olden days, call 'rosy cheeks'. Every time she smiled widely for a period of time, her cheeks would naturally have that flush of pink.
She had blue eyes as well, and she stared at Alex in wonder.
"You have blue eyes like me!" she gasped, pulling her mother's hand, "Mum! Mum! Look!!"
The mother, feeling completely embarrassed at this point, said, "I'm sorry, she's never met anyone else with the same eye colour so she tends to get excited."
"It's fine," Kyle replied.
The little girl looked up towards him and gasped loudly again, "Another one!! WOW! Two in one day!"
"Well, it's only natural that I have blue eyes," Kyle said to her, "Since I am his father."
The girl pursed her lips and then tilted her head, "But my parents both have brown eyes."
"Though rare, it is not unheard of," Alex piped up, "As long as there is someone in your parent's history having blue eyes, it can be passed down."
"Yes," Kyle said, "Take Alex for example. His mother has brown eyes so we have a 50% chance of having a child with blue eyes. Alex just happened to be the lucky one, I guess. His two sisters both have brown eyes."
She blinked and looked at them and blinked again.
"Oh," was all she said, trying to absorb the information.
Then, seemingly deciding to just accept whatever it was, she sat down on an empty chair with them.
"Hi, my name is Shirley," she said.
Alex and the others gave their names as well and soon, Fleur and Shirley were talking up a storm while the others remained quiet as they listened to the two chatterboxes.
Fleur was the type that was shy but once she was comfortable with you, she could talk your ears off. Being in the class and amongst her close friends, getting to know one other person wasn't so hard.
Plus, Shirley was so chirpy and friendly, that it was easy to talk to her about anything.
As the kids got to know each other, the adults were as well.
"Holly," said the mother.
"Ali, Ziad's father," Ali replied.
"Samuel, Fleur's father," Sam said.
"And I'm Kyle," Kyle continued, "And this is Ariel."
"Hello," Ariel said, not looking at Holly. She had her head on her father's shoulder, burying her face upon his neck.
"Rie," Kyle said softly, "That's not polite."
Ariel sighed a bit then lifted her head and faced Holly, "Sorry. Hello."
After giving a brief smile, Ariel then snuggled back into her father's arms, mumbling, "Sleepy, Daddy."
"What? Are you tired so fast?" Kyle said in surprise as Ariel closed her eyes.
"She woke up extra early today, Daddy," Aurora explained, "She was more excited than I was."
"Daddy?!" Shirley shouted in surprise, "Isn't he Alex's Daddy? He's your Daddy too?! Wait. How?"
"We're twins," Alex told her.
"But you're a boy," Shirley said, "And she's a girl. How can you be twins?"
Alex was about to explain when he stopped. If the earlier explanation about blue eyes got her stumped, he figured that she would be even more confused if he talked about fraternal twins.
Thus, in the end, he just said simply, "Twins can be a pair of a boy and girl as well. It can also be two boys or girls that do not look alike."
Shirley's face scrunched up and she pursed her lips, then said, "Oh."
Then, after a few more seconds had passed, she smiled, "Okay."
She may not understand, but she accepted what was said. After all, there was proof right in front of her, right?
Just then, the school bell rang.
Well, to be more accurate, the pre-school chime.
The school bell would be rung for two reasons: the start and the end of school. It would have a shrill, but loud ringing sound.
There was a chime that would be rung five minutes before the school bell. This was the pre-school chime, to let the kids know to get to class as it would start soon. Anyone who comes in after the school bell would be deemed late.
Lunch would be a tinkle of a bell : both, when it was time for lunch and when it ended.
"The chime," the three men said together with a smile. The familiar sound brought back memories.
Such as Xing Han getting all excited upon hearing the unique sound that the Homeroom Teacher had to tell him to shush.
After all of the parents had left, Teacher Alba stood in front of the class with a smile, "Good morning Class."
"Good mor-ning, Tea-cher Alba," the kids answered, with the various voices creating a sort-of sing-a-long type of sound.
"Since this is your first day of school, I shall start with telling you a few rules of the class," Alba said.
"First rule," she stated with a solemn gaze while putting up her pointer finger, "Be kind to each other."
She looked to the students on her left, right and center and then continued, "This means, you cannot raise your voice, hit each other, or say things that can make the other person feel hurt or sad."
Alba paused, letting her words sink in.
Seeing that everyone understood, she was about to start with the second rule when there was a knock on the door. Everyone turned to look and saw a boy fidgeting at the open doorway.
There was an adult next to him, and Alex recognised him to be Teacher Micheal from the time they registered.
"Sorry for interrupting, Teacher Alba," Micheal said, "Here is one more student for your class. His name is Shane Kinsman."
Seeing how nervous the boy was, Alba walked over with a smile. She bent down a bit and placed her hand just behind his back, "Welcome, Shane and thank you, Teacher Micheal."
"Not a problem," Micheal replied just before he left.
"Go and join the table there on the right," Alba said gently to Shane.
Shane nodded, eyes still on the floor and he shuffled to the table. He didn't look up at them and sat down quietly.
Shirley tilted her head, then poked him.