The man leaned against a wall and enjoyed the sound of wind knocking at the windows. Sparse raindrops tapped at the glass but inside, there was nothing more than warmth and coziness.

The man, Layne Marks, counted to thirty in his head, making pauses after each number.

Thirty.

It was time to continue the show. He straightened his back and marched towards the door, making sure his footsteps were loud and clear.

"Rissa, where are you?" Layne called as he entered the living room.

Although small, it was clear that this place was getting just as much love, if not more, as the rest of the flat. Dozens of colourful cushions on leather sofas, crocheted napkins on the coffee table, blossoming flowers and homemade pottery. Layne had always wondered just how many hobbies his sister-in-law could keep up with.

Not to mention it was free of any dust, dirt or spider-webs whatsoever. A person should not be able to keep a full-time job, a four-year old child and have so much free time.

Abigail was the role-model of a perfect Eumain citizen.

"Oh no, I can't find her!" The man leaned across the couch to check behind it. Even there, no signs of mess were to be found. "What shall I do?"

A hushed giggle came from the next room. Layne smiled to himself and pushed the freshly painted white door open.

"Clarissa? Are you here?" he informed the girl of his entrance.

Something moved inside the closet. Layne turned away from it and knelt in front of the bed to check under it. He made sure his each turn would be as loud as he could manage. Even under the bed, the dust was swiped clean. The man whistled and got up.

He couldn't help but feel like just by being there, he spoiled the perfection that was this flat.

Only after there weren't any more places left to look, Layne opened the wooden closet's door. The messy pile of clothes couldn't have been a coincidence – Abigail wouldn't have let that stay like that for more than five minutes. The fact that a braid of fair hair stuck out from below the clothes was another good clue.

"Hmm, Rissa ain't here, either." Layne sighed and moved around some clothes trying not to uncover the girl. "Guess I really have lost her."

"Uncle, it's me! I'm here!" A little girl jumped up and stretched out her arms. Her face was reddish – perhaps it hasn't been a great idea to let her be there for so long.

"Rissa!" the man exclaimed and picked her up. "You won again. Good for you."

Rissa laughed and her bright brown eyes lit up. Seconds later she squirmed to be let down and dug through the pile of clothes.

"Look what I found!" She victoriously held out a carton box above her head. "Open up! Open up!"

Layne gave her a smile. He was certain that going through things that weren't his was never a great idea. Rissa, however, was four, curious and loud as there can be. He took the box from her and sat on the bed. The girl crawled in beside him, her chubby little legs moved around in excitement.

The man removed the top of the box to reveal what looked like a thick messy cord with little bubbles all around it. Those were Christmas lights, yet he's only seen similar to these in photos.

"Those are antique," he commented to himself and touched the bulbs. Modern Christmas lights were all wireless and controlled with a remote. "Be careful, Rissa. They're probably expensive."

The girl pulled the cord out of the box. "I wanna see it light up! Turn it on!"

Layne shook his head with a laughter and reached for the end table. Inside its drawer, there were a few spare batteries.

He was a little surprised to see the lights light up white. Rissa squeaked and spread them across the bed.

"Oh, those were the ones Daddy got you for Christmas!" she said. "Why didn't you come? It was so much fun!"

Layne didn't know what to respond. He remembered his brother telling him that the Christmas party was cancelled because Rissa had gotten ill. "I wish I could have, Riss, but I had a tummy ache."

"Oh! It's good that you didn't come, then. We were eating a lot of chocolate."

"Yeah, I know."

Rissa stood on the bed and jumped up and down with the little lights bouncing everywhere around her. It was nice to watch.

"Just be careful," Layne reminded her.

He glanced back at the closet to see the pile of clothes. Abigail couldn't find it like that. Everything in her house was always perfectly clean, without a spot. Layne knelt in front of it, determined to fix everything.

The girl stopped what she was doing and sat on the edge of the bed. Even then she dangled her legs around and fiddled the bedsheets. Her uncle took the messy clothes out of the closet and got to hanging them neatly again – most being long, elegant dresses. Some were wrinkled when he pulled them out. There was no time to iron, especially since he's never been that good at it.

Layne just smiled to himself. Even Abigail couldn't have been so much of a perfectionist to make a fuss over a few creases here and there. She'd fix it herself.

"You know what I wanna be when I grow up?" chirped Rissa.

"A scientist?" Layne remembered her last wish.

"Nope! I'm gonna be a special angel!"

"A special angel?"

"Yep!" She squirmed with joy. "I'm gonna catch the bad guys!"

"Oh!" Layne laughed. "Good. You're gonna be great at it."

He assumed that his niece has been watching some old movies recently. There was no way she could have known much about the real world – not with her parents shielding her so much. She couldn't have known that the only working law enforcement institution left was the RCI. Layne hoped that once she figured it out, she wouldn't wish to join them.

"Uncle! Wait here!"

Rissa hurried away. Only a couple seconds later one could hear her room's door fly open with a bang. Layne shook his head, grinning, and made the best of the time he had to finish up with the mess.

The result wasn't great, yet it was the best he could do.

Loud noises came from the girl's room. Layne rushed in to check on her just to find her digging in her desk's drawers. Their contents fell onto the floor when she swiped through everything without a single care.

"Everything's ok, Special Angel?" Layne sat on the edge of her bed, covered with a fluffy blanket.

His niece's room was heavily decorated with teal, purple and gold coloured details. Still, contrary to the rest of the house, it had bits of relieving childish mess and inconsistency. It was almost like this was the only place in the whole flat in which one could breathe without being scared to mess something up.

"I'll find it, I know it's somewhere here."

"Alright, you keep looking, then."

A wall filled with Rissa's drawings drew Layne's attention. Most of them he had already seen before, although there were some new ones. The girl noticed his interest and jumped in by his side.

"Look, that's us." She pointed at one of the newer pieces. "We're eating ice cream."

"Yep, that's us alright," Layne chuckled. He wouldn't have recognised the stick-figure as himself, yet the lines were almost steady and the colouring – neat, for a four-year-old, and with only a few missed spaces. "You could make a good artist. As a back-up plan."

Rissa smiled ear to ear and returned to her desk. A couple minutes later she squeaked and unfolded a large piece of paper.

"Daddy said you'd like it," she announced. "Because you like old things."

Layne approached and examined his niece's finding. The paper seemed relatively new yet the map presented was historical, reaching before the Big Merge. He decided that it was an item for teaching history. A well made one, nonetheless.

"Where did you get it?" he asked.

"Grandpa gave it to me."

Layne raised his eyebrows. The only grandparents Rissa still had was from her dad's side and he wasn't aware that their father would be giving anyone gifts like that.  "Well, did you thank Grandpa?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed in a proud voice and leaned over the map. "Did Earth look like that when you were a kid?"

Layne shook his head with a soft laugh. At least it was a little tamer than the infamous 'did you see the dinosaurs' question he'd ask his older relatives. "No, Special Angel, but it did look somewhat like that when your great-grandparents were growing up."

"Where's Eumain?"

He drew his finger around a large area surrounded by water from three sides. In this old map, it was densely printed with various country names and their capitals – in a modern one, it would all be marked as 'Eumain' with its few biggest cities.

An electronic noise came from the hall. Without any doubt, it had to be the outside door being unlocked. It was too early for Abigail to be home yet, so it must have been Levi.

"Let's go greet daddy, Special Angel?" suggested Layne.

Rissa nodded and rushed out of the room, yelling "Daddy!"

When Layne caught up with her in the kitchen, she was already in her father's arms, chattering about all the games the two of them had played in the past few hours. Levi looked at his brother and smiled, tho Layne noticed a shadow run through his expression.

The brothers – Levi and Layne – had always looked like they were twins. If one was willing to forget the fact that Levi was five years older and even after both of them have grown into adulthood, remained at least ten centimeters taller. Otherwise, they shared the same black hair and brown eyes, complete with olive complexion and even the bushy eyebrows. However, after marrying Abigail, Levi had begun keeping up the image of a 'successful businessman' - something Layne promised himself never to get himself into.

"I take that everything went well?" asked Levi.

Layne nodded. "As always."

"Clarissa, would you go play with your dolls while I talk to uncle Layne?"

Layne flinched. He was alright with Rissa calling him 'uncle', but 'uncle Layne', coming from his brother's lips, was still unacceptable – and it never would be. Levi sat the girl down, yet she didn't move.

"I'll come play with you later, ok, Special Angel?" offered Layne.

"Promise?"

"Of course."

Rissa offered him her hand and he gave it a firm shake. His niece chuckled and ran off to her room. Her laughter didn't stop even after she had closed the door.

"Is everything ok?" Layne rested his hand on the marble countertop while Levi dropped his entrance card onto a shelf and struggled to unzip his jacket.

"Yeah, everything's fine, of course. Did Clarissa eat anything today?"

"I made her pancakes," the younger brother assured, "why are you looking so lost?"

"Am I?"

Layne tilted his head to the side as an answer but his brother didn't see it. Levi managed to unstuck the zipper and carried the clothing into another room. Layne wondered if he was purposely avoiding to look at him.

"The thing is, Abigail doesn't think that the whole you staying here thing is a great idea." Levi drew out a sturdy oak chair from under the table and sat.

"What? I told you, I only need a few days. A couple weeks tops, until I can find something else."

"I know, Layne. She says that- she says that you may not be the best influence to Clarissa."

"Not the best influence?" Layne clutched his hands into fists. "So wait, when you need me to babysit I'm great for her but when I need help, I'm 'not the best influence'?"

"I mean, look at you."

"Look at me and... What? What's wrong with me, Levi?"

"You've lost your job again. And your flat, this time."

"So? You think that because of that Rissa will start failing just by looking at me?"

"No, I don't think that."

"Of course you don't, Abigail does." Layne paced around the room. "Is your own identity rotating around Abigail now, Levi?"

"The hell, Layne?"

"Suits, hair gel and I can smell your cologne even when you're a few rooms away. Not to mention fluffy pillows, napkins and... Paper flowers. Even your child looks like a copy of her. And you look like her 'perfect husband' project, not Levi."

"Newsflash, brother, people have to grow up eventually."

Layne frowned. "You didn't grow up, Levi. You became your wife's puppy boy, dependent on her with your life. That's the opposite of growing up, Levi."

Levi opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

"I have nowhere else to go," Layne continued, "you want be to become homeless? Because the RCI is very nice to homeless people and all. Might as well be killing me right here."

"I'm sure mum and dad would let you stay with them for as long as you need."

Layne frowned. "Mum and dad? Wow, that's a... Solution. Best one ever, Levi."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Of course they are just the best and I'd be so glad to spend even more time with them."

"Don't say that, they're not bad."

"To you, maybe. You're not the failure who keeps losing his job and just won't bring home a perfect wife to pump out some children with."

Levi stood and came closer to his brother who then stopped pacing. "Go talk to them, I'm sure they'll be understanding. You're still their youngest child."

"That never mattered before." Layne shook his head.

"You just didn't see it. After Abigail comes home in the evening and can take care of Clarissa, I can come over to the parents' house, too. We can sleep over together, like when we were kids."

"Will you bring my stuff there?"

"Yeah, sure."

Layne nodded and let out a long sigh, still unsure. No matter how bad it sounded, tho, he knew that if Abigail wanted him to be gone, there was no way around it. "I guess."

"Alright. All good?"

"No, I still hate you." He looked up to meet his brother's eyes and smiled faintly. "You know I'll always hate you."