Chapter 3

ADRIE

Adrie woke up before Alexa, so she took her time to study Alexa’s room. Adrie felt kind of lonely because she missed her mom. Hopefully, they would visit her mommy in the hospital today, as Ronald promised.

After some time, Alexa woke up too.

“Good morning, Alexa,” Adrie said. Her mom taught her to always greet everyone she sees in the morning.

“Good morning, Adrie,” Alexa yawned, after which she pulled Adrie into a hug, which caused her to giggle.

If a stranger walked in on them, they would think the two were sisters.

They helped themselves out of bed and walked into the bathroom to pee and wash their faces.

Coming out of the bathroom, Clarice walked in on them. She greeted them, they did the same, and she pulled them into a hug and kissed their foreheads.

She took Alexa’s toothbrush, applied some paste on it, and handed it to her. She reached for a new toothbrush and helped Adrie brush her teeth.

After they brushed their teeth, Alexa suggested they go wake her daddy up.

RONALD

Ronald felt someone bouncing on his bed. He groaned as he knew it was no other person than his daughter, Alexa.

Alexa giggled when her daddy groaned under the duvet. She then encouraged Adrie to jump with her.

Ronald couldn’t take it anymore, so he opened his eyes and pulled Alexa’s leg, which made her fall flat on the bed. Then he began tickling her for disturbing his sleep.

Alexa giggled out loud, after which she pleaded with her dad to stop tickling her.

Ronald raised his head and saw Adrie looking at them. For Adrie to not feel left out, he started tickling her also, which caused her to giggle.

“Good morning, Daddy,” Alexa finally said as she kissed her dad on his cheek.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Ronald kissed her forehead.

“Good morning.” Adrie smiled, and Ronald pulled her into a hug, and he kissed her cheek.

“Did you two sleep well?” he asked them, and they nodded.

“I miss my mommy,” Adrie said.

“Don’t worry; we will go visit her today, okay?” he said, and Adrie nodded with a smile.

She likely had never been away from her mom for so long, Ronald thought.

“Can I come too?” Alexa pleaded, and her dad said yes.

“What do you girls want for breakfast?” he asked.

“What do you want, Adrie?” Alexa asked her.

“Maybe pancakes,” she answered.

“We will have pancakes, Daddy,” Alexa announced.

“Okay, I will be right back,” Ronald left for the bathroom to go do his business. He returned to his room and saw the girls watching what he knew to be Alexa’s favorite cartoon.

“Okay, girls, time to make breakfast,” he called to get their attention, and he helped them down from his bed.

Normally, Clarice would have been the one to make breakfast, but since it was a Saturday and the girls requested to eat something he could make, Ronald decided to make breakfast.

Before Ronald had Alessandra, he took care of his home. At that time, he was living in his luxurious two-bedroom apartment.

He cleaned, cooked, and did his laundry except for the outfits that needed professional handling.

But when he had Alexa, he bought this two-story mansion.

When he moved in, he hired Clarice, Beatrice, and four other security guards.

Beatrice was the cleaner. She came every morning to clean the house and do the laundry.

Ronald also had a chef who quit when Alexa was four. He tried to hire another one, but Clarice offered to take up the position since Alexa was no longer a handful and got bored at times.

So he let her and increased her salary too. But he was always ready to give a hand where necessary.

Ronald made breakfast, and they all ate, after which Clarice bathed the girls, and they went off to Alexa’s playroom to have fun.

After that, Clarice started preparing the food they would take to the hospital for Adrie’s mom.

Ronald took his bath after breakfast and headed to his home office to do some work.

After a while, he was distracted by his phone ringing. He looked at the caller ID, and it turned out to be his family doctor, Dr. Philip.

“Hello, doctor,” he greeted.

“Good morning, Ronald,” he said back.

Ronald and his family had known Dr. Philip for a long time. He was there during Ronald and his sister’s birth. The energetic man had clocked fifty last year.

“Is anything the matter? How is Raina?” he asked.

“She’s fine. I checked up on her when I resumed my shift this morning. She’s awake, and she’s requesting to see her daughter and the person who helped her,” Dr. Philip said.

“My regards to her. Please tell her we’ll be there this afternoon, and please let her know her daughter misses her too.”

“I will. See you soon,” he said.

“Yes, Doc. Thank you.” Ronald ended the call.

He checked the time and saw that he could still work a bit before they started to prepare for their visit to the hospital.

When it was time to get ready, he shut down his laptop and exited the office. He went upstairs to his room and changed into a casual outfit.

Ronald entered Alexa’s room, and there was nobody there. He checked her playroom to see if she and Adrie were hiding, but he found no one. He walked out of Alexa’s room and searched for the girls in the living room downstairs.

He found them at the dining table, having a snack.

“It’s snack time, Daddy. You should come and have some,” Alexa offered with a mouth full of cake.

“No thanks. But hurry up. We have to go see Adrie’s mom,” he said.

Ronald went into the kitchen and greeted a busy Clarice.

“Oh, you’re ready,” she said. “Let me quickly clean up the kitchen, and I will go get the girls ready.”

“Don’t worry. I will get them ready so you can get ready too,” he offered.

“Thanks, Ronald. I’ve already picked out their outfits. They are on Alexa’s bed. The bigger dress is for Alexa, and the smaller one should fit Adrie,” she said.

“That’s true. I was thinking about us going to the mall after the visit to get some clothes for Adrie,” he said.

“Do you think the mall will still be opened by the time we leave the hospital?”

“That’s true,” Ronald mumbled as he reached for a bottle of water in the fridge.

“We can always shop for Adrie anytime. And in the meantime, she will wear some of Alexa’s clothes.”

“Okay, I will give you my credit card so you can go shopping for her on Monday,” Ronnie concluded.

“The girls should have finished their snack by now. Let me go get them ready.”

About thirty minutes later, they were all ready to go. Ronald was the last person to walk out of the house, locking the door behind him.

The girls were walking toward the car in their matching outfits. Clarice walked behind them, holding a basket containing food and fruits in one hand and a bag in the other hand.

Ronald assisted Clarice in putting all the items in the car. He decided to take his other car, which was dark blue and also spacious.

Ronald noticed there was a problem as there was only one car seat.

“Daddy, let Adrie use the car seat. She needs it more than I do,” Alexa offered as if she could read her daddy’s mind.

“All right, cupcake,” Ronald replied. He was proud of the young woman his six-year-old was becoming. He was happy because she was friendly and was always willing to share.

He carried Adrie and gently placed her in the car seat, after which he buckled her up.

He also helped Alexa into the car beside Adrie, putting a spare towel under her as a booster seat substitute, and helped her buckle the seat belt so it would cross the right part of her chest.

He and Clarice got into the front seat, and they made their way to the hospital to see Adrie’s mom.