Another week passed without any issues. Kain was finally able to get the three children to go on a playdate with the three from Floor Two.

It took one week of pleading for them to agree. Was it Aiden who got them to agree? Of course not.

It was Amelia. Five minutes was all it took to convince them.

Kain stood there looking incredulous. He wondered if it was possible to have them put them back where they came from. This time, he and Amelia could do it the natural way.

He could threaten to beat them up from the womb. That way, when they come out, they would listen to him.

Amelia laughed when she saw his face looking as if he had eaten something sour. She patted his back reassuringly.

He looked at her aggrieved. She pursed her lips, hiding her smile, but the twinkle in her eyes did nothing to hide her amusement.

Neither of them saw the children laughing after agreeing with their mother. The entire week of no’s to Kain was their carefully orchestrated plan because of the five minutes they lost one week ago.

"You’re going to be spending time with your uncle Jake and your aunt Veronica. We’ll go first. The other kids will come after," Amelia said.

"Why do we have to go to Uncle and Aunt’s place?" Ashton asked.

"Because we can’t let anyone know about the secret place. What if your dad or I accidentally do something we don’t want others to see?"

Ashton nodded.

She touched their heads and sent them downstairs. They didn’t need them to follow. It was just a short walk.

The playdate was set for after lunch. Avery, Dominic, and Ashton also had a short nap, so they weren’t tired. Reluctantly, they made their way to Floor Four. Jake and Vera (Veronica) were waiting for them.

The children were independent, but after all, they were still children. Someone would need to monitor them.

The three children politely greeted the two adults, then went off to do their own thing. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Avery was holding the rabbit, sitting on the couch, letting it do rabbit punches by holding it in her little hands and pretending it could hit things.

Ashton had brought a large drawing book with him and was lying on the plush carpet, drawing different animals.

Dominic was sitting on another couch, silent as always. The only difference is that he now has a book in his hands. The book had no writing, but Dominic was tracing numbers on it with his finger.

It was fifteen minutes later that another set of children arrived in the room.

Unlike the triplets, these children were not as impeccably dressed. When the triples saw them, they raised their head, taking note of them, before going back to what they were doing.

"Brother, do we have to play with them?" Ashtong asked through the shared link.

"Dad said we need to learn to play with others. We can’t stay by ourselves all the time," Dominic responded.

"I’m not by myself, I have my experiments. It’s important work."

"I have to practice. My teacher says, I’m doing really well," Avery commented.

Dominic looked up again. He turned to the three children still standing there. They looked like the defects Doctor Ugly always talked about.

They wouldn’t meet his eyes and looked like they wanted to run away.

’We don’t have an incinerator.’

"According to Dad, we need to treat them well now so they’ll work for us later."

Dominic ended the conversation with those words.

Jake and Veronica were in a corner of the kitchen watching.

"Do you think they’ll actually play with them?" Jake asked.

"Doesn’t matter. All we need to do is keep an eye on them," Veronica replied.

Jake rested his elbow on the kitchen island. His other hand was rubbing circles on Veronica’s thigh. He inched his hand up, and Veronica pretended not to feel it.

"You could at least wait until the kids aren’t here," she said while opening her legs.

"I could and I will, I’m just teasing." He flashed her a silly grin and continued his journey.

While the adults were having their conversation, the children were getting closer. After the triplet had their private conversation, they decided to play with the three newcomers.

"Don’t you want to sit down?" Avery asked.

She got up and went over. She grabbed the hand of a young girl who appeared to be her age. She gestured for the other girl and the boy who came with her to sit too.

Dominic slid off the couch, and Ashton moved his things closer to the group.

"What’s your name?" Avery asked.

The least timid of the three answered. "I’m Caleb, this is Tess, and that’s Lily."

"Why do you look so afraid? Did you see monsters before you came?" Ashton asked. His eyes sparkled as if the prospect of monsters was a game or something to enjoy.

"No, no," Caleb shook his hands. "Our parents said we should behave well. We should do whatever you want us to do."

Avery tilted her head, "Aren’t we just supposed to be playing?"

She got up, ran to her backpack. It was no longer filled with money, clothing, and survival snacks. Now, it had toys, snacks she liked to eat, and anything else she felt like stuffing in there.

She emptied the bag and generously offered her toys to be played with.

Ashton spoke up, "If you don’t want to play with toys, you can help me label this."

Ashton pulled out a drawing. The lines were straight, the details were clear. It was unbelievable that a five-year-old could draw such a thing in detail.

It was a picture of the deformed cat. A recreation of what it would look like before the injuries it sustained.

"Why does your cat look like that?" Caleb asked.

"It’s not my cat. My mom killed it. It tried to hurt her." He frowned when he said the last sentence.

From there, the conversation with the six children flowed. Dominic didn’t say much, but he was attentive. He moved around the room helping with whatever they needed.

Sometimes he would get into the conversation. Other times, he would watch.

"This used to be where we lived," Lily had drawn a house. She pointed to the people in the picture. She talked about her grandmother and mother.

The trio scrutinized the house as they listened to Lily talk.

The triplets listened, but they all started drawing. One drew the house they lived in now. Another drew the villa Kain used to live in. The last one drew something different.

"This is where we used to live." Ashton drew a large rectangular building. He drew smaller rectangles, and inside some had things, while others didn’t.

"People scream when you don’t do what the doctors tell you." Avery sighed. It was the kind of sigh no child should ever give. A deep sense of world weariness was caught in that sigh.

They didn’t dwell on the topic for long. They moved on to all sorts of topics. By the end, the triplets weren’t as resistant to having some new friends.

As for continued playdates, who knows what will happen?