New Life: A Second Chance

As they headed towards the exit, Anton turned his head towards Chen and waved at him with his hand. Chen lowered his head so that his ear was aligned with Anton's mouth and he nodded as Anton said a few words.

Beatrice, though curious, did not ask nor did she look towards them as they did so. It would be rude.

Anton, seeing this, was even more satisfied with Beatrice. She was caring, yet not a busybody - unlike those two good-for-nothing nieces of his. They had been barred from entering the house, so Anton had not been disturbed by them for quite some time and the one time he was out with his granddaughter, they had to appear!

He was still angry, thinking about it.

When they were in the car that came to pick them up, Anton turned to Beatrice and asked, "Did those two girls upset you?"

Beatrice tilted her head while looking at Anton, and said honestly, "Of course they did, but perhaps, not for the reasons you may think."

"Oh?" Anton asked, "Do tell."

"They were rude," Beatrice replied, "Demanding my name when they didn't even introduce themselves, for one. Expecting me to cater to whatever they wanted, for another. Trying to use you as well is rather nauseating."

"Who are they, really, Grandpa?" Beatrice asked, "You said, childhood playmates and cousins?"

Anton nodded his head, "Stella and Bella are sisters, about one year apart. Stella is the older one and the same age as the twins. Since we were neighbours at that time, and since they were about the same age, it was only natural that they would hang out together to play all the time."

Beatrice nodded in understanding.

"They were rather scheming, even at that young age," Anton said with a sigh, "The boys only treated them like sisters but after getting seduced and all, well … they did go out for a while. It didn't take long for the boys to get fed-up with their behaviour, though."

Beatrice listened intently, pursed her lips and admitted, "I cannot deny that I was feeling a bit … I don't know, unhappy? When I thought of Zack and Yuri being interested in such women. I mean, I know they have had lots of women before, but somehow … those two?"

Anton patted the back of her hand. Beatrice noticed Anton liked to do that a lot.  That, and holding her hand. He was such a touchy-feely person, just like the twins. They really did take a lot after their grandfather.

Beatrice smiled at him, "I'm not upset with the twins, really, and I don't blame them …"

"But you're upset nonetheless," Anton replied, "And nowhere to vent it out."

Beatrice shrugged.

"I have just the solution!" Anton said enthusiastically, "Don't you worry my dear. The boys were at fault in this, so just listen to Grandpa, okay?"

Beatrice's eyebrows shot up.

She had already stated that she didn't really blame the twins, so why was Grandpa saying it was their fault? And what was he up to?

When the car stopped, Beatrice was surprised to see the house that came into view. She had expected some sort of mansion or huge house but instead, it was a two-story bungalow house. 

It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. 

There was a huge garden and one would need to go through security at the gate before being let in. The drive from the gate to the house took about a minute, which showed just how big the land was.

"I can't go out much," Anton said as he saw Beatrice looking about as they headed to the house, "So the boys got this huge piece of land and made sure that I have a lot of space outside. So I'm not cooped up at home all the time, yet, do not have to be in public to enjoy the outdoors."

Beatrice was impressed yet again.

The twins really did take care of their grandfather very well.

She was itching to ask about their parents but decided that the best person to ask would be the twins themselves. 

Inside, the housekeeper greeted them and had already prepared lunch. They had a nice meal together and then Chen took Anton to his room for his afternoon nap.

Anton pointed towards one room, saying, "That's the guestroom. You can use that as you wish. You go ahead and explore the house as you wish, too."

"Okay, Grandpa," Beatrice replied.

"Don't go running back home now, you hear?" Anton said to her sternly.

"I won't, Grandpa," Beatrice assured him.

"Good girl," Anton said then spread his arms wide open, "Come here and give grandpa a kiss."

Beatrice's eyebrows shot up and he was standing there, happily waiting and she didn't have the heart to deny him. She came close and he enveloped her in a big hug and then showed his cheek to her.

Laughing softly, she kissed his cheek. He then showed his other cheek and she kissed that, too. Then he bent down a bit and she kissed his forehead. 

He gave her a huge smile and then kissed both her cheeks as well before letting Chen lead him back to his room.

"Remember, no running away now!" Anton said to her as he stood at the door.

Beatrice laughed, nodding and waving him in. Only after getting that reassurance did Anton go into his bedroom. Once he was tucked in and had fallen asleep, Chen went out and thanked Beatrice.

"Thank you for pandering to his whims," Chen said, "And please, make yourself at home."

"Okay, thank you," Beatrice replied.

"The guest bedroom has all amenities, and change of clothes as well. Sir had them ordered and delivered specially for you," Chen told her.

"What? When did he have time to do that?" Beatrice asked in surprise.

Chen didn't answer but merely smiled and said before he left, "The boys' rooms are upstairs, as well as the study room. Sir said you have free access everywhere." 

If he told her that Anton had been preparing for this day since finding out about her, wouldn't that just make her scared and run off? Anton had already envisioned her coming to visit, then spending the night.

The 'guest' bedroom was, in fact, the bedroom Anton had set up for Beatrice exclusively.

Not that she needed to know that.

Beatrice's mind was still in a state of shock over what Chen had said for her to think about the guest bedroom at that moment.

He was basically telling her that she could check out the twins' rooms?!

She looked up and was sorely tempted.

She hit herself on the forehead and got up, smoothening her blouse. Before she gave in to temptation, she had better explore other parts of the house now, right?

It would be an invasion of privacy for her to enter their rooms when they weren't in. She should only go in when they are in.

No, wait. That didn't sound right either.

She shook her head and looked around in the living room. It was a normal living room with a sofa, bookshelves and a television. Out of curiosity, she headed to the bookshelf to see what sort of books were read here.

She tilted her head to read the titles.

There weren't that many books, and she figured that the twins weren't the type to read. It was just some old school textbooks and some car magazines. In the midst of it, however, there were a few photo albums.

Beatrice took one and flipped through it.

It had the twins during their schooldays. 

In the school, during school events, and so forth. Beatrice could even catch a younger version of Grandpa there, and she was curious that none of the pictures seemed to show the twins' parents?

Other than Grandpa, she also recognised the younger version of the two girls there. 

Stella and Bella.

She had to admit, the title 'childhood playmates' was quite a strong title as a lot of their pictures had them in it. Her eye twitched as she saw some of the intimate poses they had, though she kept telling herself that she shouldn't blame them.

She didn't know them yet at that point.

She placed the photo album back and took another one.

This time, it was of the twins as babies until toddler time.

She took the album to the sofa, flipping through the pictures. She started yawning and realised that she really was very tired. Then again, she hadn't had a good night's sleep, right?

She lay down on the sofa and closing her eyes, thinking to close her tired eyes just for a moment. 

Two hours later, Anton came out of his bedroom in excitement, only to see the deeply asleep Beatrice on the sofa. He smiled and placed the two things he had in his hands down and took a blanket, laying it over Beatrice.

"Good child," he said fondly.