First floor.

Author's Note: Link to a galery of pictures of the house at the bottom of the chapter, for those who want them.

Yeah, it definitely was awkward for the guys, so I fully back their decision to go hide in the backyard while I comforted Sarah. But to be fair, Sarah wasn’t bawling her eyes or anything. She was crying softly, and she only let it out now that she was with me.

“How did the kids react?” I asked her, caressing her shoulder.

“Robert and Violet wouldn’t stop crying,” she said, then chuckled weakly. “Shockingly, it was Cole who cheered them up a bit.”

“Want to bring them here after we have everything in place?”

Sarah nodded against my chest before pulling away and wiping the years from her eyes. “Sorry. I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and looked past me. “I think I saw the guys. Where did they go?”

“Hiding from potential drama, I think.”

“Cowards.”

Next I got a call from Mila, saying she was also about to arrive with everyone else. I opened the gate again, letting the entire conga line of cars in, all led by a big moving truck driven by Mila’s dad. Behind it were Mila, Grace, Diana and Alice in their respective cars. Noelle was with Alice in her car.

I helped Mr. Aliev turn the truck around. I had heard Mila say her dad would try to borrow a moving truck, but she hadn’t confirmed it. Guess it worked out. Meanwhile, everyone else parked their car near the garage and the guys all flocked to Alice’s RX-7. It was the first time they saw it in person, I think.

“Thank you for the help, sir,” I told Mila’s dad as he stepped out of the truck.

The stoic Mr. Aliev shook his head. “Don’t mention it. Moving is always a pain. A friend happens to own this truck, so I figured I’d ask. Grace’s, Noelle’s and Alice’s things are in there, too.”

“We’ll unload it as fast as we can.”

“Relax. I’ll help out. It’s the least I can do.”

I looked towards Mila and saw her talking to the others, smiling and laughing excitedly. I guess having her dad come with her alleviated the shock of leaving her childhood home.

“Well… Everyone’s here,” I said. “Shall we get to work?”

“I’m not looking forward to it,” Noelle said with a giggle. “There’s a lot to do.”

“More than half the work was already done for us, though,” Alice said. “Come on. Let’s move.”

I went up to the black double doors and took out my keys. I felt this awkward excitement as I inserted the key in the keyhole. This really was it. No more talk of ‘in the future,’ because that future had arrived. This was our house now.

I opened the doors and stepped into the very first room. Bright wooden flooring, like nearly all of the first floor, and empty save for the carpet stretched out from the entrance to the arch right across from it and the two staircases to the left and right.

Really, if one thing could be said about the house was that it was almost perfectly symmetrical. In terms of room locations, left and right sides mirrored each other except for the third floor.

“Dad, you haven’t seen the completed house yet, right?” Mila asked her father. “Want the full tour?”

No! Not the FULL tour, Mila!

Mr. Aliev smiled. “Yes,” he answered.

“You heard him,” Grace said. “Oliver, the full tour, please.”

Oh, thank God. If I had to show Mr. Aliev the secret room I would’ve 100% said it was Mila’s personal request, which, reminder: it was.

Of course, I ended up giving everyone the tour, and Diana, Noelle and Alice had yet to see the house with all the furniture set up.

The first floor consisted of six rooms. First, the entrance with the two staircases. Across from it was another, larger empty room that, to be honest, we didn’t quite know what to do with. Originally it was going to be the living room, but it ended up being a bit too big and we thought it felt weird. For now the plan was to leave this space for bigger celebrations, like birthdays and Christmas. It does have two small restrooms on the top left and right corners and double doors with glass panels leading to the backyard.

The east wing of the first floor has both the living room and the kitchen-dining room. The living room looked really cozy to me. It was spacious enough to fit all of us, but also small enough that we weren’t all too far apart. It had three couches set around an octagonal coffee table with a glass surface, a large TV on top of a chest-like TV stand and some potted plants on the corners and on top of small tables that were Alice’s idea. I think they gave the place some more life, and really, having plants at all never even crossed my mind. The kitchen-dining room was right behind it, with the kitchen part of the room sectioned by the gray and white tiles on the floor and by the long counter. It had the appliances we needed, and across from the counter was a table and chairs to fit 10 people, along with an extra table by the corner in case we needed it.

The west wing had Diana’s bar, another room I found really cozy. When Diana stepped into it, I could tell she was conflicted between feeling excitement and guilt. After all, she wasn’t technically moving in with us right now, but… I wanted her to have it. The shelves behind the bar counter were empty now, so we’d have to do something about that. There was a sink in the corner to wash the glasses and utensils without having to go all the way to the other side of the house. There were five barstools at the counter and two small couches facing each other with a coffee table between them on the corner. It was like a tiny, more homey version of the type of bar Diana hoped to open on her own one day. And then, next to the bar was Grace’s library, about the same size as the kitchen-dining room, but more full of… stuff. Four desks with chairs bunched up against each other would serve to put our computers and laptops, at least for studying. Then, like in the living room, two couches and two recliner chairs surrounded an octagonal coffee table over a square, brown carpet and in front of a fireplace. And of course, the many empty bookshelves against the walls that we’d have to fill up over time.

“Mmm… Yeah, I think I’ll fill at least these three with the books I brought,” Grace said, glancing up and down at three, very tall shelves.

Maybe it wouldn’t be that long before they were all filled…

Link to pictures of the house made in The Sims 4.

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