"Okay, so wheel check, mirror check, gear check, seat belt check." Alek checked everything before she started the engine. Her father was sitting next to her and was guiding her.
"Don't kill us." Bia told her sister from the back seat lazily.
"I'll try." Alek smiled towards her through the rearview mirror, smiling.
"Excuse me?" Bia didn't like her sister's answer.
"Let's go." Alek ignored Bia and started the engine.
Kai's lips were slightly carved up, watching how much Bia didn't like Alek driving. Kai also didn't like Alek driving but, he needed to see how much Alek had improved.
The car suddenly halted. Causing Bia to hit her head on the back of the seat as she was trying to tie her shoelaces properly.
"Argh!" Bia exclaimed in sudden shock.
"Gomen." Alek apologized without looking at her.
"Alek?" Robin looked at his daughter.
"I'll be careful." Alek then accelerated the car slowly and asked her father. "By the way, are we using the highway?"
"Yes, that would be faster." Robin replied.
"Okay." Alek nodded.
The drive went smoothly until they entered the highway. Alek accelerated the car until the scenery became a blur.
"You don't need to accelerate that much, Alek!" Bia shouted towards her sister.
"Relax, I wouldn't crash this car or anything. I know what I'm doing." Alek told with her eyes locked on the road ahead.
"This is not healthy." Bia mumbled.
The car swiftly took over many cars and some takeovers were reckless. Alek found small spaces and squeezed the car in.
'No sh*t!' Bia thought to herself when she saw how the car next to them was an inch away from the car she was in. But the car managed to move out of that situation quickly and relieved Bia. Alek saw her sister relax and smiled slightly.
"Where did you learn to do this?" Robin asked his daughter without averting his eyes from the road.
"Books and from some videos I watched." Alek replied, squinting her eyes slightly.
"And how many times have you driven like this?" Panacea asked from behind Alek.
"Mmmmm," Alek thought about it. "I have driven like this in my head, but this is the first time for me to actually drive."
All of them fell silent after hearing Alek's answer. They never knew she had an interest in driving cars like a crazy person. But as they realized, Alek gets inspired by the books so much often that it changed her perspectives for a short while.
"Well, drive safe." Panacea spoke after a short silence and closed her eyes from seeing how fast the car was moving.
"I will." Alek replied.
Soon after, they saw the blue ocean on the right side.
"Wow." Kai wowed after seeing how beautiful the ocean was.
"I guess it was right to come here afterall." Robin smiled, looking at the sky and the ocean.
Birds were flying far away and, they could see some boats floating on the elegantly moving waves.
Alek opened the window slightly let the air in. The air smelled salty and tasted salty. Alek smiled at this feeling and continued driving. The beach was a bit far away from where they were and they needed to drive a little more.
After ten minutes from seeing the ocean, they finally arrived at the beach. The beach had few people and many of them were families like Alek's.
Alek hopped out of the car and stretched her muscles. Her butt was weird as she was not used to driving long distances. Everyone got out of the car slowly and inhaled the oceanic scent. It had been a while since they had come to the ocean.
Panacea opened the trunk and started carrying the things that they had brought. Robin and others helped her carry and Kai found a nice spot for settling near a coconut tree close to the shore. They quickly spread the sheets and sat down. The place where they settled was away from people and it was quieter as they could only hear the sound of the waves.
"Can I explore?" Alek asked as soon as they sat down. She was impatient.
"Yes." Before Panacea was even done saying yes, Alek was already standing up.
"Honey!" Panacea called out towards Alek who was about to run off to the shore. "The car key?"
"Oh, yeah." Alek gave her the keys that she had in her left hand. "I've locked the car."
"Okay, don't get lost." Panacea told the secondborn, warningly.
"Mom, I'm not that small," Alek told her with a sigh. "Besides, I'm not going far and you'll just see me off shore."
"I'm kidding." Panacea smiled. "But be careful. Cuts here are nasty."
"Okay!" Alek shouted to her mother, running off to the ocean barefooted.
"I'll follow Alek." Bia told them quietly and left with a jog after her sister, removing her shoes and changing into sandals.
"I'll go float." Kai had finished blowing his green, leaf-like pool float. He stood up and dragged it to the shore lazily, wearing his sky blue crocs.
Panacea sighed deeply, relaxing. She leaned on her husband next to her and smiled at her children. She saw Bia catching up with Alek, and now, Alek was splashing water towards her. Kai was still, lazily dragging his height-sized leaf towards the shore.
Robin put his head on his wife and stayed like that. It was rare for them to have a time of their own as Robin was busy with work. Eventually, Panacea placed her head on her husband's lap and closed her eyes. Robin saw how relaxed she was and started to stroke her hair softly.
They had been married since they were both twenty-three and, they never got bored of each other. They sometimes acted like a newlywed and left people uncomfortable.
"What do you think will happen to Alek if we tell her?" Panacea asked without opening her eyes, scared to see the expression of her husband.
"I don't know." Robin spoke softly without stopping the rhythm he created, stroking his love's hair after a short silence.
She didn't say anything further and kept her husband stroke her hair gently. The silence was comfortable and, neither of them spoke until Alek came back with wet hair.
"I have something for you." She singy told her mother hiding something behind her back.
Panacea opened her eyes and sat up.
"What did you get me?" She replied with the same singy voice as Alek.
Alek grinned and brought out a pink palm-sized flower from her hand. "Here." She put the hibiscus on her mothers left ear.
"Thank you, Alek. It's beaytiful." Panacea smiled.
"You're welcome." Then Alek looked at her father and brought out a bracelet made out of shells.
"And this is for you, dad."
"Thank you." Robin wore the bracelet on his right wrist. "Did you make this right now?"
"Yep." Alek told them with pride.
"You are quite a crafter, aren't you?" Robin asked her with a smile.
"I'm you guys' daughter so I guess so." Alek told them with a teasing smile.
"Nice." Panacea smiled mischievously.
Alek smiled once again before running back to the shore to Bia. She looked like a mermaid coming to the land. The way she acted was like a five-year-old and they didn't get surprised by this.
"That looks beautiful on you, Robin." Panacea told her husband as he removed the bracelet and held it in his palm.
He had received it with the left hand so he had put it on his right but it felt uncomfortable so he was now holding it in his palm, planning to put it on his left wrist.
"You are more beautiful. " He told her shamelessly and kissed his wife's cheek, who smiled triumphantly hearing that.
"Anyway, would you like to join me for a walk?" He stood up and gave out his hand to Panacea.
"I would love that." Panacea took his hand and stood up. "I need to stay and look out for these."
"I've got that covered." Robin held her waist and walked away with their stuff on the sand. But soon after, Panacea saw what Robin did and she smiled.
"I didn't know you could do that nowadays, huh?" She was impressed.
"Now, let's go my love." Robin told her and started to walk away.
Apart from their family, no one was able to see the bag as it was not there.
Panacea's orange dress was flying with the wind and, it made her look like a deity of the sky. With the hibiscus on her left ear, she looked much younger than her real age. In contrast, Robin had worn a white shirt with a pair of white shorts which made his dark skin stand out with his well-built muscles.
They were perfect next to each other and this made people at the beach staring at them with adoration. But they did not care about the stares and went straight to the shore. Panacea walked on the side of the ocean, playing with water on the way. Meanwhile, Robin held her hand firmly, not giving any chance for her to fall.
They saw Kai floating quite far from where they were. He was wearing sunglasses from where they didn't know and seemed to be sleeping. He looked like a retired gangster on holiday. Robin and Panacea looked at each other after seeing the Gangster Kai and laughed. Their son looked like he was already in his seventies.
After walking for a while they saw their two daughters playing in the water happily.
Alek was coming out of the water with a smile with her hair already wavy and, Bia was standing with a smile on her face with her curly hair wet. They were both laughing while splashing water on each other. They stopped laughing when they saw their parents smiling.
"What do we have here?" Alek asked.
Just when Panacea was going to talk, someone splashed water on all four of them. When they looked back, it was Kai.
"Heh." Kai snorted, seeing them wet because of him.
Alek tried to tackle Kai and he started running away from his sister, leaving his leaf.
Robin, Panacea were just bystanders. They didn't even move when Alek tried to tackle her brother. It was fun seeing them like this and everyone enjoyed their little 'Fight'. They all laughed when Alek and Kai took the fight underwater and Alek managed to catch Kai's ankle. Alek had her fist in the air in victory and came back to where her three of the family were standing, grabbing Kai's wrist instead.
Alek was wearing a paisley patterned reddish long skirt with a baby-pink top. Bia had worn a white bikini top inside, matching the outfit. Kai was wearing a white t-shirt with stripe shorts. The sunglasses on top of his hair. His hair was all wet and he had a grumpy expression on his face.
They played with water and collected shells and other beautiful things until they were hungry.
"Let's eat!" Alek jumped in the water and splashed water everywhere.