Is this destiny?

Julius and Allen were in charge of coming up with a schedule of fun activities with Ryan and Sean. They wrote down what Ryan and Sean wanted to do, removed activities which take too long and sorted the narrowed-down list based on the time of the day they are appropriate for.

"After lunch, we will go to the beach. We can take surfing lessons and hangout. The piers are full of vendors and street performers. It can easily last until evening, but if it gets boring, there is a massive arcade center…", Allen was explaining the plan to Ryan and Sean. "Pick one of these three restaurants for dinner now so that we make reservations... and after dinner we will go to the observatory. The sky will be clear, and other than the view of the stars, there is a DJ and the place provides a great view of the city."

Julius continued: "Tomorrow we have an early start in order to avoid the heat. We will go hiking, and after that we will head to the Hollywood sign…"

Ryan and Sean approved.

They all had lunch together in the second house.

The twins were surprised to see so many people. They counted more than thirty!

Most of the kids finished their training before Ryan and Sean arrived, and spent the morning in their rooms working on their morning lessons. That is why Ryan and Sean didn\'t realize that there is so much youth in the house.

Everyone was chatting lively and many approached their table, curiously asking if they are new guys that their bosses adopted.

Allen explained (more than once) that Sean and Ryan are brothers of Miss Emma and that they are staying as guests.

Sean and Ryan were confused. Bosses? Adopted?

"Just… what are you, exactly?", Sean asked Julius and Allen when the crowd dispersed.

"What do you think we are?", Allen asked back with a smile.

"I am not sure. I can see that you live here, but I didn\'t think of your role.", Sean admitted.

"We are a family.", Julius responded.

Allen nodded in agreement and added: "Most of us were orphans, in a bad situation. Sarah and Aiden adopted us and gave us a chance for a better life. We address them as bosses out of respect. We were contemplating to call them \'mom\' and \'dad\' because technically they are our legal guardians. But they are not much older than we are, so we decided to stick with \'boss\', it\'s less awkward."

Sean and Ryan widened their eyes in surprise. They were not expecting anything so dramatic. Orphans in a bad situation?

"Wow… so, can you tell us more?", Ryan asked.

Allen and Julius know that other than the part about the army of Chaos, everything else is OK to talk about. They were talking in turns, continuing each other\'s sentences while narrating the story how they were in the orphanage, ended up as slaves in a diamond mine, and one day Sarah and Aiden showed up and beat up the mean guys who whipped them.

"They gave us money and told us that we are free to go home. But we said that we don\'t have a home to go to…", Allen said.

Julius continued. "We promised to work hard and behave if they will take us with them. And they did. We are all a family now. All of us here are brothers and sisters."

"Well, not all of us.", Allen said and gestured toward the table with four people: "Haru and Nala are dating, and so are Ron and Zula."

"What did you do since you got here?", Sean continued probing.

Julius responded. "We all have a set schedule. Morning starts with an exercise, breakfast and then we study. Afternoon activities vary, but it\'s mostly focused around studying in groups where we work on various projects and then present them and discuss. Sarah said that each of us must get a bachelor\'s degree in the area of our interest or we will be punished."

"Punished? What is the punishment?", Ryan asked.

Allen shrugged. "We don\'t know, really. But we understand that it\'s important to get a college degree or we will not be able to become bodyguards."

"Bodyguards?", Sean and Ryan asked in unison.

Julius confirmed. "All of us want to be bodyguards for boss Sarah and boss Aiden. To travel with them and keep them safe."

Sean frowned. "Safe, from what?"

Julius and Allen exchanged glances while wondering if they said too much.

Allen took initiative to respond. "As young people from prominent families, many people are after them."

"Why?", Sean and Ryan asked in unison.

Allen shrugged. "Many reasons. Money and power mostly."

Ryan and Sean exchanged concerned glances.

Ryan was visibly upset. "Does that mean that our sister is in danger because of Charlie?"

Julius smiled bitterly. "Did you see those men who arrived with you and ended up on the training ground? Do you think that they were exercising for their health?"

"But don\'t worry...", Allen added. "We know that your sister has personal bodyguards and she is also learning self-defense."

"Hearing you say that, it\'s making me worry more.", Sean said honestly.

 "I guess it\'s foolish to think that having money will not attract jealousy and thieves.", Ryan mumbled dejectedly.

"Yes.", Allen confirmed. "But you should be happy. Your sister and Charlie love each other. You can\'t pick whom you love, but you can choose to do whatever you can to stay safe."

Julius looked at Allen and smiled. "Nicely said."

"OK. Now I feel like learning some moves.", Sean said.

"You can join us for our morning training.", Allen offered. "We will do a run and spar before our hike tomorrow."

Ryan and Sean agreed.

They spoke about education, and Sean and Ryan said that they are in their last year of high school and considering college options.

Allen and Julius said that they are on about same level, but they have some college credits already.

"How old are you?", Ryan asked. He can see that Allen and Julius look younger than them.

"Seventeen.", Julius responded.

Sean inhaled sharply. "And you already have college credits?"

Julius and Allen explained that they are leaning by themselves, or in the groups with other kids. They take courses online and get tutors occasionally. When they are ready, they take the exam and move on to the next level of difficulty.

"The best part is that we learn a lot of things.", Allen said. "Sarah is in charge of curriculum for each of us. She is teaching us foreign languages, like Russian and French, Aiden handles coding classes and math, Felix is in charge engineering classes, and few times he was Sarah\'s backup for French when she was out of town. Felix does a lot of hands-on instructions and the two of us made our own walkie-talkies from scratch with signal scrambling and a custom frequency which changes on every five seconds so that no one can spy on us."

Julius nodded in confirmation and added: "They provide instructions and we practice on our own. Occasionally others are coming as well, about once a month, for specialized classes. Bridgette and Steve come for music lessons, she teaches violin, while Steve does piano. JoAnna is teaching us about first aid, Sophia about law and Jeff does business classes and effective deal-making."

"If someone shows interest in a specific area for more than that, or for something different, we get tutors. Ade has a tutor for violin who gives him personalized classes two times a week.", Allen gave an example.

"Maybe we can ask Sarah and Aiden to adopt us.", Ryan said bitterly.

"You sure?", Sean asked apprehensively. "Trainings every morning, and all that studying… Sounds like a lot of work."

They all laughed.

…

After lunch, they went to the beach.

They rented surfboards for the day and signed up for surfing lessons which start every hour.

Ryan and Sean were reluctant to remove their t-shirts when they saw Allen and Julius in their swimming trunks.

"How come you guys don\'t have any fat on your body?", Ryan asked in outrage.

As a teenager, Ryan is aware of his image. He thought that he looks good, but toned bodies of Allen and Julius are putting him to shame.

Julius chuckled. "We exercise every morning."

All four boys focused on surfing lessons and less than half an hour later, they were catching smaller waves...

---

If you are not reading this at \'W e b n o v e l .. c o m\', then the content you\'re reading is stolen! Please support the author by reading this novel from the original source.