Chapter 13

"What's that sound?", Thomas asks as he hears the wailing, "Is someone... crying?"

Linnea opens the last ice cream they'd bought and eats it in one bite. "Hrr, that's cold".

She turns to where the sound's coming and stands up.

"Let's go and take a look".

"You sure?"

"Might as well", she tells him as she grabs his hand and pulls him up, "Since the meeting place wasn't exactly specified anyway".

Thomas nods and picks up their bag. He follows Linnea's lead cautiously but when the crying stops he can't help getting incredibly curious. They pick up the pace until they get to where they think the voice originated from.

The only thing that catches their eye is a woman with her face buried in a man's chest. Her suit jacket and pencil skirt are plain and shades of grey but her legs are ceramic and clearly artificial. The man's wearing a pair of brown suit pants, a black leather jacket and a red scarf.

Linnea recognizes the man as the most likely candidate to be the one who wrote the note but before she manage to say a word the woman kisses him. The man doesn't push her away, though he doesn't appear to want it either.

While they've read about kisses in their books and fairy tales they'd never thought it's something that people actually do. The whole concept of pressing your mouth on another's, let alone touching their tongue with yours, is foreign and absurd to them no matter how they try to understand it. All they can do is stare and wait.

Once the woman stops she steps backwards and slaps the man on his cheek. He barely reacts to it, even when he wipes some blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Did you really have to do that?", he asks as he takes a napkin out of his pant pocket and wipes the blood.

"The signs were clear", she responds, massaging her hand, "You men are all after one thing, and when you get it - nothing. So fucking boring".

"I'm not interested in you, Sila."

"I know you are, just admit it."

The man buries his face in  his hand with a frown on his face.

"I'm gay, Sila. I'm interested in men, and men only".

The woman chuckles and slaps the cheek that she hasn't slapped yet. "Don't you fucking lie to me. I know very fucking well the likes of you, coming to a vulnerable woman, in the end always demanding sex. I should've left you standing on my doorstep you bastard".

At some point of her talking the man notices the twins, as by the time she stops talking the three of them are staring at each other, completely ignoring her rant.

Before she can continue the man whispers "shush" to keep her from talking.

"... Are you the one we're supposed to meet here?", Linnea asks after a moment of silence.

"Yes. My name is Abel. I'm very glad to finally meet you two in person", he answers, "And this woman here, her name is Sila, as I think you heard already. She is your biological mother".

Sila turns completely towards the twins, bursting into tears as she hurries to hug them both.

"I've misses you so much", she cries, "I remember when you were just newborn children... Oh, how you've grown!".

Linnea and Thomas don't know what to say so they decide to hug her back. As the minutes go on they grow increasingly uncomfortable. Right before they try to wiggle out of her arms they hear quiet snoring, realizing that she fell asleep.

"What should we do now?", Linnea whispers to Abel, "Mom, she just... fell asleep".

"We should probably get back to her place. I'll carry her", Abel suggests, helping the twins escape her grip and taking her into a bridal carry.

The way back Linnea asks him why he decided to release them.

"I guess I just got tired of seeing the two of you being treated as lab rats. Compared to the whole wide world out here the four rooms of yours seem so restrictive".

"I doubt that's all". Thomas interferes without any warning.

"Maybe, maybe not. And if there's something else I doubt this is the best time to tell you about it".

"Fine". He frowns, clearly less than satisfied with his answer.

"So, how do you make ice cream?", Linnea asks out of nowhere.

"Well...". The rest of their walk Abel explains, in great detail, the ingredients and steps to making ice cream, also suggesting a few different machines to make it faster and easier.