Bruce took a sip of his beer once again as he took a short pause from his typing.
He rubbed his temples and looked at the screen of his laptop skeptically; he wasn't sure what to write anymore.
He was writing a report for the recent case of embezzled funds, which although he wasn't handling, but had to keep close tabs on. It involved some politicians and he wouldn't mind tiring himself just to get to the root of the case.
He took another sip and let his finger fly across the keyboard. Once again, he paused and relished the feelings he was having right now:
The feeling of loneliness- yes, good loneliness!
Rachael, his wife, had slept earlier saying she was not feeling too great. It was understandable since she was in the first five months of pregnancy.
The twins were in their room doing whatever the hell they liked, he couldn't be bothered. He liked being alone like this, away from the bantering of those two.
Bruce stared at the screen of his laptop in a daze as he felt excited. It was 9 p.m. and he would stay up till midnight to finish the report.
As he was typing, his mind drifted to his experience with Bryan. He had to admit that he was someone who would act unrestrained sometimes, but was really meticulous in whatever he did. He was impressed by how he was able to comb out some tiny pieces of evidence in just his second week of being here, things even he had overlooked.
He also had to admit that he was pretty fun to be around and was easy going.
As he was thinking about these things, he heard light footsteps coming from upstairs towards the sitting room where he was.
He abruptly snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. It was Dorita.
She looked tired and haggard with sleepy eyes. Bruce exhaled, at least it wasn't Leon.
"What's wrong, honey? Can't sleep?" Bruce asked.
The right question should have been, are you unwell? He face palmed as he assessed his parental points.
"No. I want to sit here for a while." She shook her head and said. She kept wringing her fingers like she was nervous of something.
Bruce wanted to ask her to go and sleep but seeing how tired she looked, he decided to let her be.
"Come sit beside daddy." He lifted her up and placed her beside him and made her lean on him as he resumed typing.
"Now, don't make a sound okay? Daddy needs to concentrate." He said in the most fatherly tone he could muster.
Dorita nodded and yawned a bit.
After a small pause, Bruce asked with a twitched expression, "where's Leon? You two are practically inseparable, why hasn't he come down?"
"He's in the room. We had a fight." Dorita answered in a sad tone.
They had lots of fights. Whose fault was it this time? Bruce decided he didn't want to know, let Rachael handle it.
He had come to understand the twins a bit. Once they fight, they will not play together, until Dorita takes the first step to reconcile. It's always been her!
"It's okay. You can stay here, till I scold him later!" Bruce comforted and Dorita gave a faint smile.
After a short while, Dorita finally spoke, "dad, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, shoot!" Bruce sipped his beer and listened.
"How do you make love to someone?"
Spwaaa!!!
Bruce spewed out his beer as he looked at his daughter frantically not knowing what to say.
"What?!" Was all he could say.
He took a deep breath and asked, "why are you the one asking this question?"
Knowing Dorita, she was always shy and reserved and didn't do things on impulse. It was rather rare for her to ask him such a question, it would be Leon.
"Why isn't it Leon?"
"He knows the answer but refused to share and we fought." She spoke slowly as she saw the expression on her father's face turn serious.
"How and where did you come across those words that sound weird when you say it?" Bruce asked as his facial muscles twitched.
"From my teacher. Miss Betty."
What? What kind of lesson would expose so young children to terms like sex?
Bruce decided he had to talk to this teacher and clarify some things. As he was scolding the teacher in his mind he heard Dorita add, "during lunch break, I heard her calling someone and she said, 'but we made love last time...' and I couldn't understand, so I asked Leon but he only laughed."
Leon knows? He's what? 5?
Thankfully, he hasn't corrupted his sister; at least he still is sensible.
Bruce couldn't help his surging emotions. The teacher wasn't to blame after all.
"Have you asked your mom?" He asked. This should be where mother's came in.
"No. She said not to disturb her." Dorita said in a muffled voice.
"Look, uhm, sweetheart, you don't need to know such things okay? And to compensate you, I'll get you those purple bunny bears you like." Bruce said stroking her hair. She nodded and leaned back on her father.
For a long time Bruce couldn't type anymore. He sat there in a daze. These questions keep getting bizarre as the days go by. What would they ask next?
Bruce felt his head buckle as he couldn't imagine what these kids would bring up next.