we gotta talk | the living room

Levi sits in the corner of one of the couches, scrolling through his social media pages on his phone wearing normal clothes and a military jacket with 'HOPE' in patches on his upper arms. He was intrigued to hear what his dad and Mrs Hope had to say, especially as they were hardly ever in the country.

Levi looked up and smiled at Destiny, shrugging.

"I've been posted in your boyfriend's hometown." He mumbled. Levi had spent the last few months abroad with work, maintaining the military bases and whatnot.

Levi mimed locking up his mouth, before pretending to throw away the key and laughing.

Levi shrugged.

"I'd like to see you try." He said, crossing his arms over and smiling. "Anyways, you're not exactly quiet about it."

Destiny jumped on top of Levi, screaming.

"Shut your ass up. Quiet about what? I'll slap you."

Danny shuffled into the room after Mrs Hope and took a seat on one of the bean bags in the corner of the room. He had a headphone in one ear, not exactly looking forward to the 'serious talk' they were about to have.

Mrs Hope smiled at Alex and put Toby down in a baby chair.

"Tess and Willow have gone to visit their dad for the night." She said sweetly. "I think we can start now, actually."

She moved over to close the door, pulling the handle up so that they wouldn't be disturbed by any of the house workers.

"We've been away a lot, and that's not fair on you all. What you deserve is two parents to love you all very much and to guide you through times like school. And as you all know, a few months ago we sold the company. That was supposed to be a temporary solution for us, but it hasn't worked. So we've been figuring a lot out. We bought the company back, they were very glad for us to take it and sold it to us for cheaper than we sold it to them.

"Now that we have the company back, we're going to make some changes. Firstly, we're going to be moving house, to a bigger one that's nearer to the centre of town. There's a pool, lots more bedrooms, study rooms, all that stuff. It's already been sorted out, but I promise you it's amazing. But what's really exciting is why your dad isn't here right now- we're going to be buying a summer home so that we can spend more time together when you're not in school. As the business is based in Japan, we're looking into buying a house there.

"A few more things and then you can all ask questions and go do what teenagers do nowadays. We need you all to be back in school and taking part in classes, apart from Levi and all those who have finished. We know it's been really hard to keep up with school lately, but in the next few weeks it will get a lot easier. And finally, if you didn't notice, Ella will be moving back in with us."