1.28 Day 28

Melor roars with frustration. 

"MOM! Why is Tobias in my room again!?"

With his older brother awake and frustrated, Tobias giggles. This only makes Melor glare. Why do babies have to be so loud?

Taras is having similar thoughts. He loves his children, but sometimes they frustrate him beyond belief. 

"How did you even get in here?" he hisses. 

Xander just continues to cry. 

When they aren't waking up the entire house and crawling all over the place, the toddlers are actually quite docile. Marisol and Tobias often play in each other's company, laughing as discordant noises sound from the xylophone.

Even though his younger siblings frequently wake him up and invade his room, Melor must admit that they make decent play mates. 

"And then my guy crashes into Teddy-zilla!" Melor provides his own sound effects as the toy car hurtles towards its target.

Xander hugs the bear protectively. "Oh no!" Melor exlaims, "It has shield powers!" 

"Oh, there he is," Taras unintentionally interrupts playtime. He picks up Xander, whose eyelids are beginning to droop. 

"Aw, dad..." Melor whines. 

"Hey, your sister is here, why don't you play with her?" Taras suggests as he leaves the room. 

Melor sighs. Marisol doesn't like playing teddy-zilla; she cries every time he "hurts" the stuffed animal.

Eventually tired out from the company of his siblings, Melor retreats to the living room with a book. No one really comes here, leaving him with some peace and quiet. 

Taras eventually makes his way home from work and shares a leafy dinner with his wife. 

"What's wrong?" Taras asks, noticing Nozomi's distant smile and occasional glancing over her shoulder. 

Her voice falls to a whisper, "Well... it's just that...is Melor really a kid, or did I give birth to a robot?" 

Taras looks at her in surprise, and then laughs, "Oh come on, he isn't that bad. He's a well-behaved kid, is all." 

"Why do you have such a problem with him reading books, anyways?"

Nozomi sighs, "Oh you know that's not what I mean. He's never had any friends over, or even talked about other kids at school. Is that...normal?"

Taras rolls his eyes, "He's fine, Nozomi."

Melor has long retreated into his bedroom at this point, so Nozomi speaks at normal volume. 

"How do you know?" 

"I just do." 

AN: Melor actually doesn't know anyone at his school, but since he's a loner I assume he isn't too bothered by it.