Hao and Madeleine sat in silence under the oak tree by the river, each pondering their own thoughts. Only now and then did Hao look down to the river bank and at the same time felt a pleasant, warm shower slide down his back, which Madeleine did not miss due to the satisfied expression on his face. So she looked up at him with a smile and laid her head on his shoulder, which made his gaze wander to her even more smiling. He was about to ask teasingly whether everything was all right with her when her mock warning look and the fingers she put on his lips preferred to silence him.
"Unromantic," she whispered softly, that she really had little interest in his sayings now, while a pleasantly warm wind played in both of their brown hair. Instead of answering, the older one rather unsuccessfully suppressed a grin, leaned his head back against hers and looked down at the river again, in which one could see two laughing children playing in the rippling water. Madeleine's gaze followed him and let the light brown-haired play happily with one of Hao's long strands of hair. Reassured and relieved that the two siblings had not done anything "yet", Hao looked through the branches of the tree into the sky again and wondered whether he should go to the cemetery again tonight with Madeleine and maybe Billy too. He felt that this evening would be particularly clear and had to squint his eyes a little more, pained with a smile, when the sun blinded him through the smaller branches that were also blowing in the wind ... but even more than the penetrating warmth, a faint feeling awakened by pain. Because never again, Hao remembered, when he leaned back against the tree with a feeling of bitterness and pulled Madeleine, who was looking at the children, closer to him, who did not ask twice and immediately cuddled up to him dreamily .He had sworn inwardly to never give up this life again, no matter what the cost. That he would rather kill again than let something get to his fiancée or family, Hao thought while he felt his heart contract painfully at the memory of the past and he wanted to reach for it with his free hand. Even a single tear wanted to form in his burning eyes, which Madeleine missed, to his relief, because she had closed her eyes and seemed tired, enjoying the mutual closeness.

But to further consider why or why, Hao did not come, because a loud swearing accompanied by even louder laughter made him look up startled and fear the worst. But the concern, as it turned out at the same time, was unfounded and Madeleine, who acted with a startled stieckum, was hopeless, but still moved about how her fiancé always threatened to have a heart attack as soon as one of the children screamed, had to shake her head with a smile. Because obviously practicing fishing, the boy only ended up in the water and in contrast to Hao, who quickly hid his face in Madeleine's hair to be able to control himself, the little girl began to laugh uninhibited and above all loudly before she turned to the two of them Adult turned.
"Dad, dad, mom just looks. Jason fell into the water, now he's all wet.", The youngest laughed and looked grinning at her brother who was still crouching in the water, who had crossed his arms stubbornly in front of his chest.
"Oh dear, I wish you a lot of fun!", Madeleine said jokingly that she would definitely not be ready to get up and Hao was already crying from the sheer attempts at suppression, which made Madeleine look up uncertain.
"Are you crying now, are you laughing or what will it be when it's finished?", The brown-haired woman asked and Hao just waved him off quickly while he got up and ran down to the river.Because if he were to say even one word now, he would no longer be able to guarantee himself and his control, which his foster son would one hundred percent particularly resent him. His daughter made it easier for herself and just laughed gleefully at her older half-brother.
"How was that again with you- are- still- too- small-, let- me- do that- better- big brother", the dark-brown-haired girl joked in amusement and winced when she suddenly looked up from behind but, to her delight, found herself in her father's arms because of it. With her angelic look and the knowledge that he liked to laugh the same way, Hao bit back any comment about her glee and just brushed his daughter's hair with a little warning, which made her understand that it was enough. The blond-haired boy was meanwhile still grumbling in the water and, judging by his gaze, was wishing at least the plague on his sister's neck.
"Your own fault!", Hao then said, having to laugh a little, but also warning that he shouldn't make a big fuss about the situation and pulled the boy back on his feet after he had taken his hand held out.
"Great now I'm all wet and now?", He whined immediately and Hao just shrugged his shoulders innocently, because he could imagine worse things than wet clothes. As a child, his clothes had been wet many times and he hadn't been able to say anything, which thankfully was different today. At that moment, Hao successfully denied to himself that he also wanted to have a bit of sarcastic fun.
"First out of the water before you catch a cold and I have to go through hell because of it," Hao said to his foster son, sympathetically, but also fearful of what his mother-in-law would say if one of the children really got something away because of something like that would.The last 500 years of hell were enough for him.
"Not me!", Jason grumbled, insulted that he wouldn’t get sick anytime soon, and strutted out of the water after an amused "Yes, yes", growling from Hao. Highly offended and feeling deeply hurt in his honor as a growing man, Jason vowed not to look at his father until he and his sister would not apologize. The latter, however, knowing that this opinion could last at most five minutes, carefree Samantha a little higher to be able to hold her better and followed Jason, who had gone to complain directly to his aunt, out of the water.

She only smiled up to her fiancé, looking for help, why her nephew was even more stubborn now, who just shook his head in disbelief and put his daughter back on the floor, who unfortunately ran straight to her brother and stood next to him with a grin.
"Are you cold?" The four-year-old asked teasingly, as it was generally known that Jason was just as frostbitten as his foster father.
"Pull the leash!", The nine-year-old hissed at his younger sister, shivering and almost simultaneously got a pat on the back of the head. Whining and grumbling, the boy then turned to Hao, who only shook his head decisively while Madeleine got fresh things from a backpack.
"That's not how you talk to your sister," was her only admonishing comment on the matter when she took the things out and looked up at her nephew with a sigh.
"But if she's always so naughty. She makes fun of me," grumbled Jason offended and Hao had to silently refrain from saying "Not just Samantha", where the admonishing look from Madeleine helped him a lot.
"Then don't act like a clown and behave like a big brother! Instead of ordering your sister around and wanting to play the hero, you'd better protect her like a big brother should do," Madeleine said now, slightly cursing and took off the wet clothes of the mumbling Jason who didn't want to understand.To her concern, she did not miss how Hao's gaze, which had first sunk bitterly to the ground and now sighed across the river to the horizon, changed into a familiar look of sadness and bitterness.
But knowing that no normal words could help here, Madeleine also briefly observed the horizon, which was bathed by the setting sun in a red that was beautifully contrasting to Hao's gaze. She only noticed that she had stopped putting on a fresh sweater for Jason in the middle of the movement, when he spoke up with a wail.
With an absent "Shut up now", she silenced the boy and, looking worriedly on Hao, pulled the sweater on, as she knew that sad, but also angry, thoughtful expression on her fiancé's face only too well . As soon as he could think about it, Jason copied it and looked guilty back to Madeleine.
"What about Dad? Is it because of Mom, did I say the wrong thing?" Jason asked ruefully, thinking that his whining was to blame for the hard-to-define look of his foster father, but Madeleine shook her head resolutely, knowing that Somebody else should blame themselves for it. Just someone who thought his brother of the same age dead for 5 years. And what was even sadder about it, that it should stay that way, thought Madeleine as she packed up the wet clothes after handing Jason a towel intended to dry his hair.
"No, but now dry yourself off properly and get ready to get dressed. The sun is already setting and we should slowly make our way home. It was a long day today and Hao gets tired from your eternal arguments", Madeleine said and Jason immediately did as he was told. As always when the two siblings felt that something was wrong with their father.

Samantha didn’t miss the absent, thoughtful behavior of her father either and so she walked, worried about her father, slowly tapping towards him and tugging at his pants to get a movement from his rueful look.She, too, felt, like her aunt, that her father was not only thinking, but also feeling sad and, what made Samantha most insecure, anger. Something that she hardly or not at all knew about her father and that made her feel sad.
The four-year-old couldn't explain why he felt this way now, but at least she wanted to comfort her father so that he was no longer sad because she thought it was because of her birth mother. But Hao was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed either.
"Dad?", Samantha called anxiously and tugged harder and several times on her father's pants. Hao was immediately startled and winced so violently that he also startled his daughter. While the little one