Ten years. 3650 days. Such a long time away from the house and suddenly, there it was, almost exactly the same as it was all those years ago. If anything, it looked better than it used to.
The lawn was neatly cut and there was now a small garden near the front of the house. A few parts of the house had been repainted (the parts that really needed to be repainted) and the door and a few of the windows had been replaced.
“Does someone live here?” Haruka mumbled, staring at the large house.
As if Adelaide was waiting for her mother to say those four golden words, she ran around Haruka and sprinted up the icy sidewalk leading to the house. “Momma, let’s say hi!”
“N--! Adelaide!” Instead of (somewhat) running after her daughter, Haruka sighed loudly and slowly waddled after her. “Addie, it’s late. They’re probably all asleep. And we don’t even know these people, so let’s not bother them, okay?”
Adelaide stayed facing the glossy wooden door, but laughed when Haruka spoke and responded. “This is yours and daddy’s house! I wanna see, I wanna seeee!”
Honestly, Haruka wanted to barge right in and run up to her old room, just like old times, but she knew she couldn’t. Not with people actually living there; people that she didn’t know at all. That would be awkward (and illegal) running in there.
Adelaide on the other hand…
The small girl stood on her toes and grabbed the doorknob, turning it and preparing to fling the door wide open and walk right in. Luckily, the door was locked. So, when Adelaide found that it wouldn’t budge, she flinched her fists and kicked the door. “Opeeeen!”
“Ah, h-hey!” Haruka grabbed her daughter’s wrist and pulled her away from the door. “What did I tell you? It’s late, and we don’t know these people! What if you woke them u—“
And, on cue, the front door opened, revealing a very irritated looking blonde man. He kept his arms crossed and his glare locked on Haruka. As Haruka opened her mouth to apologize then take off running, the man spoke.
“What the hell are you doing?” he hissed, taking a step closer to the two.
“Saying hello~!” Adelaide giggled, rocking on her heels.
“A-Actually,” Haruka pulled Adelaide closer to her and stared at the man, “we just h-happened to stumble by here and, w-well, I used to live here. Uhm, my husband and I, t-that is. A-And…my daughter wanted to see…uh, I’m sorry sir! We’ll be on our way!”
As Haruka turned to walk off, the man stopped her, quickly glancing back in his house. “You used to live here…?”
Haruka nodded. “Y-Yes. A while back.”
Why did he care anyway? It wasn’t like he knew her. …then again, he did look kind of familiar. Really familiar. Especially with his attitude and looks even. He acted a lot like…
“H-Hex!” Haruka gasped, staring wide-eyed at him.
Oops.
Hex just stared at Haruka, then took several steps forward. “That’s what everyone used to call me…how do you know? Who the hell are you?”
Oh crap.
“U-Uh! Like I-I said, m-my mistake!” Then, Haruka took off toward her own house, dragging Adelaide with her.
Adelaide, laughing, bounced as they walked. “He seemed really nice! Do you know him, momma?”
Nice? Right. Haruka thought.
“S-Sorta. I-It doesn’t matter though.” She sighed and slowed down a bit as they neared their house. “We’re not going back there.”
But something in the back of Haruka’s mind told her that they would be returning very, very soon whether she liked it or not.
