Look at Me

Four years later...

"Alice, call your brother. We're going now to the park."

"Yesh, mommy." Alice's speech was great for her age of three but was still a bit unclear on some words. Nonetheless, she was still slightly better than her twin brother, Oscar.

Her children had been bugging her to go to the park and playground. She'd been tired after the last few days since they just moved back from Milwaukee to Minneapolis. She'd been busy with unpacking stuff and keeping things tidy. Finally, she finally gave in to her children's demands.

"Mooooomm, Oscar said he's not ready yet!" Alice shouted from a room down the hall in their new two bedroom apartment.

"What's the matter, Oscar?" She said as she walked to the room.

"Mommy, I can't find Buzz Lightyear, I wanna bring him!"

"All right, we'll find him." Rachel looked around the room and realized that yes, there ere still a lot of things to be done. She looked in different boxes containing her kids' clothes and toys. She finally found Oscar's favourite toy on the third box. "Ok, here it it, let's go Alice and Oscar. We won't be long there, got it? When I say let's go, no buts, ok?

Her two munchkins said "Yes!" in unison putting on their big charming smile with their cute little teeth. Their smiled reminds her of Viktor, their father. Woah, stop there Rachel. She was sure she doesn't wanna go there.

She quickly put sun screen on her babies. They headed to the park just five minutes away from their apartment complex. Oscar was loving the slide why Emma was playing by the monkey bars. She was sitting in a bench, looking out for her kids. While watching her kids, she noticed their resemblance with Viktor. That thought again.

About four years ago, she stuck to her plans. She moved to Milwaukee and transferred to University of Wisconsin. She lived with her sister Stefanie throughout her pregnancy. Her very first visit to the doctor was something she wouldn't forget. She was happy when the health worker told her she was having twins. She was having a fraternal twins. She'd always told herself that she would be happy whichever gender her baby would but she felt like she got the best of both worlds with her twins. From then on, she figured that everything would turn out well for her.

She tried her best to prevent her pregnancy from affecting her studies. During that semester when her tummy started showing, she took as many online courses as they allowed her so that lessen the time that she has to be on campus. The summer after her sophomore year, she gave birth. The next year, she moved out and found her own tiny apartment. Since Stefanie was a stay-at-home mom, Rachel would usually drop her kids off to Stefanie during school days.

She felt like everything was being handed out to her. She felt like charity. Stefanie said Rachel was always welcome and Rachel was very grateful for that but she was not proud of the fact that was not standing on her own two feet. She promised herself that she would turn things around. That is the primary reason why she moved out.

Her rent, on top of all the other bills were partially paid by her low paying job as an assistant in a surveying firm. At least, she was getting some experience. Most of the other bills were paid through loans. She had a lot of loans on top of student loans. That is why she moved back to Minneapolis to find better job. After graduating, she continued to work on the same firm two years after she graduated. She tried to apply for a higher position since she was a college graduate in the field, unfortunately, they were not in need of new worker for higher position.

She couldn't live with Ashley again since her two kids will surely need more space. She rented their own.

Ever since her move to Milwaukee, she and Ashley was still talking. Whether it is on facebook, calling, or texting, they had maintain their communication in one form or another. Ashley was actually the kids' godmother. Ashley had also visited her in Milwaukee one Christmas, about two years ago. They had never met again since.

Rachel had told Ashley that she was going back to Minneapolis. Ashley was excited however, they could not really meet right away since Ashley was in Nashville visiting her parents. She won't be back for two weeks. Rachel was hoping that when she's going to meet Ashley again, it would be special since she was the one who helped her get through with the night that she learned about her pregnancy.

She had no other options but to move back to Minneapolis and apply for a job for a company she least wanted to. It may be not the best for her, as there would always be the risk of her meeting Viktor, she was still happy about the decisions since she would be closer to her parents, her best friend, her other friends, and her hometown. She would also be closer to Viktor. There was definitely a risk there.

What would happen if she was not hired by HS Group? It's fairly easy. She could apply for another land surveying company in Minnesota. It would probably take her more time but it would be better than Milwaukee. Milwaukee's land industry was dead a long time ago. It was time for a land surveyor like Rachel to move on to another place.