Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 27: Identification

Chapter 27: Identification

For once, I didn’t wake up worried about being evicted.

Chester nuzzled me with his morning greetings then began pestering Lucian for his morning walk and food which were scheduled for later. It’s difficult to own a dog, but having to only deal with the good parts while your husband has to deal with everything else, feels great.

With the alarm on my phone going off, Lucian closed the gap between us, then wrapped his arms around me to shut it off. "Why do you have that when you don’t have class today?"

I melted into his embrace, his warmth seeping through my clothes. "It’s your first day back for work. You can’t be late."

I say that but I turned around, burying my face into his chest. This may come as a surprise to everyone else, but since having that introductory family meeting, I have decided to at least mooch off something from this guy.

If love was a no-go, then at least let me not wake up freezing cold and devoid of cuddles. I deserve at least that much.

Lucian’s fingers traced lazy circles on my back. "You’re not helping, you know?"

"I’m not that nice." I squeezed him in my embrace before patting his back. "But go now because my food depends on that."

Now, I’m pushing him off the bed and towards the bathroom. "Don’t return a loser. Our family must not starve."

He sighed, ruffling his hair as he prepared for work. "Only your eating habits can threaten the legacy of this family."

There wasn’t any class scheduled for today, and because of that, I have the pleasure of accompanying Lily for Family Day today.

I don’t know which idiot decided to schedule the Family Day school activity on a weekday, but it is what it is.

Lily was a transfer student. At first, they wanted her to finish her studies abroad before enrolling here, but she wouldn’t have it.

So with her fiery determination and stellar grades, she managed to get into the St. Andrews International School. The downside is that she’s had to adjust to the sudden change in the environment and then to unscheduled activities such as this one.

Since she transferred towards the end of the school year, no one found out about this event until yesterday afternoon.

At first, the child kept on saying that she was fine if no one were to come, but I know how important such a thing is especially for transferees like her. So I volunteered and the smile on her face was worth the effort of having to wake up as early as Lucian on my day off.

I’m no parent, but as someone who’s had experience in being a student of St. Andrews, I know better than to go there empty-handed. So I cleaned out my snack stash and prepared refreshments and some change of clothes for Lily. I had these sent over the moment I found out about the event. No one goes home from that activity without looking like a bumbling mess.

"Call me if anything comes up," Lucian said as he left a soft kiss against my forehead.

Now before anyone gets ahead of themselves, i.e. me, we must always remember that physical intimacy needs to be a habit. We agreed to practice such gestures the moment Grandpa made his conditions clear.

We can’t have anyone suddenly flinching at the touch of the other. So here we are, kissing, touching, hugging, and most likely a little bit, or a lot of, fucking. But we haven’t gotten to that.

__

I left early to get to the school as fast as possible. There wouldn’t have been any need for this had Lily been a regular student, but only by being there early would I be able to observe her adaptation to the environment.

The event was supposed to start by eleven in the morning and I’m here a full hour earlier than expected. In fact, most parents would only come towards the end, but I’m planning to sit through the whole thing.

Everything had been going well until I was about to enter the kindergarten section.

"Good morning ma’am, if you are here for today’s event, may I see your family identification pass?" Asked the guard politely.

Oh. I didn’t know they required such things already. I figured they tightened their security by a lot. I don’t have such a thing. I don’t think the rest of the family has got one.

"The student from our family just transferred so we haven’t been issued such a pass, but I can go to the office if you’d like." The guard didn’t flinch as he escorted me to the office but became more guarded at my unidentified presence.

"Hello! I’m here for Liliana Sinclair as a Family member for today’s Family Day event." I greeted the staff politely.

Many of them stopped their tasks, eyeing each other to force them to interact with me instead.

I don’t understand the reaction because frankly, I don’t remember the school being this unprofessional. So what’s got them reacting like that?

When a middle-aged woman in a neat bun finally appeared before me, she said with a strained voice, "Ma’am, we don’t usually allow non-family members to enter the school grounds, especially on a day like this."

Taken aback, I replied, "I know, which was why I went instead of sending over an assistant. Oh but how careless of me, here’s my identification." I forgot that I’ve never really introduced myself, even I would be this vigilant.

But to my surprise, their expression looked far worse than before I started. So I finally had to ask. "I’m sorry but I see that you all seem uncomfortable about my presence. Has something happened recently?"

The staff looked at each other, clearly uncomfortable and unsure as to what they could share.

"Ma’am thank you for showing your identification, but within the last two weeks, we’ve had many people come in using the same identity. You’re not the first Eliana Sinclair that we’ve seen so far."

"What?!" Now that’s alarming.

"Are you telling me that some people have been trying to get to Lily by claiming to be me? Did they even look anything like me? My photos have long been up publicly from when I was a child." I asked them, but clearly, they couldn’t match the speed of my barrage.

"But this makes it all the more urgent for me to see Lily. Tell me how you’d want me to verify my identity." I asked, now feeling the need to speed up this verification process.

The staff assisting me regained her composure and said, "If you could get her nuclear family to vouch for you then we should be able to let you in. We’d prefer if you could get them to come over, or in the worst-case scenario, a video call confirmation would do."

I contemplated on the requirement, and if my estimate is right, Lucian’s meeting shouldn’t have started yet, or maybe just about to start. Their parents weren’t available as they were currently flying abroad, and I didn’t really ask for Grandpa’s number.

Clearly my oversight.

But I decided to dial Lucian, he did tell me to call if something was up, and this was a big something. I prayed that his meeting hadn’t begun as the ringing noises started.