Ailee hummed along to the song playing in the background while her sisters helped planting new flowers in their garden.
"Wow, I can't believe I'm such a genius," Iris said.
"What did you do?" Gigi asked, baffled.
"This idea, duh" she replied, flipping her hair.
"Huh, yours? It was completely Lily's idea" Gigi scoffed.
"I agreed first, same thing" she shrugged while filling up the hole with the mud.
" You're unbelievable," Mila added.
" Yeah unbelievably smart"
" Umm, how many more to go?" Ailee asked, rubbing the back of her hand on her forehead in an attempt to wipe the sweat off.
"Well, not many, just twenty more" Iris said, causing Emma to dramatically sit down on the bench in their gazebo.
"It's so hot, I'll be cooked by then" she whined.
"C'mon girls, we must do it before our parents wake up" Mila instructed.
They all got back to their chosen roles and quickened their speed to be able to go back inside earlier.
It was their parents' anniversary's next day and all the siblings had gathered to celebrate it with them.
And the girls decided to plant some new batches of colorful flowers for them as they now spend a lot of their time out here in the garden.
An hour later they were almost done with it when their parents walked outside together.
"Ahh Calvin, new flowers!" Juliana gushed while speed walking towards them.
He laughed and followed his wife.
"Yes, we just saw you all playing out here and decided to check what you were upto so early in the morning" he said.
" Not fair, it was a surprise" Emma whined.
"Well we are surprised," Juliana smiled, nodding.
"If that's the case then okay" Mila said and all of them laughed.
They left the love birds in the garden and went towards their respective rooms.
Ailee tiptoed to her room and went straight for the shower.
She washed off all the dirt and sweat and did her skin care routine before coming out.
When she stepped outside, a surprise was waiting for her.
Her precious little baby boy was already up and was now tapping Xavier's head while talking gibberish to himself.
She laughed and went up to him.
"Oh my sweetie cutie little pie is up. Baba should get up too, right?" She said and made him sit on Xavier's back.
Xavier knew the drill all too well. This is how his son, Deleon now wakes him up every day.
He would sit on him and start hitting him with his soft and tiny hands followed by his open mouth kisses with a lot of saliva that take away every sliver of sleepiness from him.
Days that begin with smiles.
His smile, his wife's smile and his son's smile.
He carefully held the baby and turned on his back and sat him up on his waist.
"I'm up, Leo" he said and kissed Ailee who was smiling looking at them.
To her it was a scene she could never get tired of.
Xavier raised Deleon high up in the air and earned the contagious laughter from him. This is what he loves. To be carried around in the air like an airplane.
"Zai, get up. We have a family breakfast today" she said.
" Alright" he stood up and passed Leo to Ailee and went to the bathroom.
She took him downstairs where there will be a lot of free babysitters to look after him while she prepares his breakfast separately. He only eats when it is cooked in a certain way.
As soon as everyone saw the little boy they rushed towards him and he was already being tossed around in everyone's arms.
There were fights going on and literally stopwatches set to make sure no one gets an extra minute with him.
It will be the same with Eleanor, Mila's daughter, when she wakes up. She sleeps late and wakes up late.
Ailee was about to start cooking for him when Alex stopped her.
"No way my nephew's eating alone on a family day like this" he said.
"You don't know, he will not let any of us eat then"
"Oh I know everything and none of us care" he then sent her upstairs.
She laughed and went back to find Xavier on a call outside on the balcony.
She cleaned around the room till there was a knock. It was Alex, Iris and Gigi who came to drop the young prince off so that he could get changed.
And then his mother won't have an excuse to take him away from them.
"You have like ten minutes to get him ready. Just text ME when he is done" Iris said, whispering the last part.
Ailee nodded and took baby Leo from them.
Xavier came inside and gave him his index finger and his tiny hand wrapped entirely around the first half of it.
"I'm going to give him a bath" she said and he followed. They usually bathe him together.
Since he is such a delicate little thing, it gets easier when Xavier helps too.
In twenty minutes he was all ready and laughing in Ailee's arms while she made funny faces for him till they were called to have breakfast.
Both the babies sat together with Ailee's parents as they preferred and it was safe to say they barely got anything to eat.
Deleon kept piling up his food on the table from his high feeding chair and then Juliana would have to put it back. Then he would force her to eat his little bite sized pancake instead of eating himself.
Eleanor on the other hand dropped her pudding everywhere that wasn't her plate.
Then she smudged the yogurt on her face while trying to eat it with her hands and Calvin had to wipe it off again and again.
Eleanor was sixteen months old and Deleon was ten months but they looked the exact same age.
Mila, Ailee and Emma got married in these four years. Emma was married to Damien Ferraro with whom her marriage almost got canceled. But Xavier proved that he was actually innocent.
Mila dated her now husband for a few months before they got married real quickly.
And then there was herself, she and Xavier got married seven months after his mother's death and their life has been a bliss. She loved being a wife and it was even more fun to be a mother.
Her life wasn't boring anymore, in fact every day she'd get to learn about new stuff and tricks.
Iris and Gigi were still not ready for the marriage phase and Alex was a different case. He keeps going on and off with his long time girlfriend, Rosalyn.
Nevertheless, it was going well for them. Family holidays or celebrations were crazy when all thirteen of them gathered.
After another fun day, Xavier, Ailee and baby Leo came back to their house where Doodle was waiting for them.
Doodle had company too.
Two adorable little cats were now a part of the family as well.
Doodle was immediately climbing up on Xavier's body who was holding a sleeping Leo.
He carried him up and put him in his crib in their room to change into his sweats.
Ailee settled on the bed with some snacks, mostly chocolates and turned on her laptop.
Her and Xavier were watching a couple of web series together and they would watch one or two episodes everyday after getting done with all their work.
He comes out of the bathroom and sits next to her and she habitually settles herself between his legs, finding it the most comfortable position ever.
"Zai, Leo took three steps again" she said and fed him a bite of her chocolate.
" He did?" He said and turned to look at him sleeping peacefully.
" Mhmm, he is so pretty just like you," she said while watching the screen with utmost concentration.
" Yeah, it's all you on his face" he said even though he knew Leo was eighty percent his own copy.
He had similar hair as Xavier, similar nose, similar face structure and exact same lips. While he only matched hair color and eyes with Ailee.
" Liar" she murmured and he smiled.
She was sleeping soundly on his chest half way into the episode. So he quietly removed the laptop from her lap and placed it on the side before adjusting her properly on the bed.
He went out and kissed Leo on his head and whispered,
"Goodnight, Leo"
Then he lied down and kissed her forehead before embracing her from behind and breathing in her scent.
"Goodnight, my love" He closed his eyes and welcomed the peaceful sleep.
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