**To My Wonderful Readers: The next few chapters will be more direct and short to get the story rolling along. I have resisting writing them because the next sequence of events are difficult for me and that may show in the writing as well. I already miss Jin! I get way too attached to my sims. Plenty of story to come so please bare with me as we roll along.
Lying on the beach by the water as the waves slowly rolled in, Sun ran her fingers through the sand that was still warm from the days sun. It reminded her of the warmth from another sim, and she wiggled herself down into it feeling as if she was being embraced. It had been several months since Jin left that evening, without even a goodbye and she had struggled with that loss everyday. Ian and Maya had done all they could to try and fill the void of Jin's absence and she was grateful for it. However no amount of time spent or activities to occupy her mind, could replace the feeling of having him by her side. She had no idea when he was to return and the information was not forthcoming from her...parents? Soon to be in laws? It was all too confusing and at the best of times, overwhelming, to say the least.
Less than a month after Jin's departure, the "parents" sat Sun down to discuss the contents of the letter that had arrived in the mail. The birth certificate clearly listed that Sun was indeed Sun's daughter, which came as no surprise to Sun herself. For she knew what information was listed on her birth certificate and it greatly pained her to be so secretive.
She sat there and listened to Maya talk while Ian stayed by her, observing her more closely than she would have liked. She hoped that she played her part well, acting disappointed and slightly shocked by what she was being told.
Unfortunately, the section under father was written "unknown".
Sun truly had no idea who her father was and until meeting Jin, she had no care to either. To her he was just a man who had a brief dalliance with her mother and warranted no more thought beyond that. Now she shared a home with a man that could possibly be that sim she tried all her life to care nothing for, nor give a second thought. Sun didn't feel her life had been lacking without a father, for her mothers' had been more than generous in their love and attention. Her life was well fulfilled and then, she met Jin.
Truth be told, Sun was incredibly disappointed with herself in this matter. She had gone her whole life, never basing her self worth or self confidence on any male influence and for that she was proud. Yes, she had male friends, but never any boyfriends and she credited her mothers' for her self reliance and confident self esteem. She knew who she was, she believed without a doubt. So pining for Jin was entirely new to her and because of that, she knew deep in her heart that it was real love she felt for him. Would fate be so cruel as to take that away from her?
The first few weeks without Jin were incredibly hard and she spent a lot of time waiting for him to come back, searching the water for any sign of a boat that never came. She wondered if Jin was missing her as much as she was missing him.
Yet, it just wasn't the missing Jin, it was the idea that all this was becoming very REAL and if Ian really was her father, what was she going to do? Losing her future with Jin would be hard enough, but it was the loss of security that was most alarming. For she had more than one secret, she hoped she never had to tell.
***************************************************************************************
Maya and Ian watched the decline in Sun those first weeks with great anxiety. It had been a very difficult decision to send their only son away, but they knew doing so was better than the alternative.
The first two weeks Jin called begging to
come home,
but they stood their ground and after those two weeks, they didn't hear from him again.
They too were suffering the loss of him, but they made it their mission to do everything they could to help Sun transition to a life without Jin on the island. Ian decided to introduce Sun to fishing as his father had done for him, taking her out late at night to fish off the bank of the island.
Sun seemed to like fishing, but had difficulty understanding the concept of fishing in silence. She talked and talked and talked as if the quiet unnerved her and she felt the need to fill it with endless chatter and dribble.
onto her behind.
After that, Sun declared fishing was no longer "fun", never returning again. Ian was ashamed to admit that he was incredibly glad!
Glad as he was, Ian was still determined to work on his relationship with Sun. After fishing they moved on to ping pong, setting up a weeks worth of tournaments to help pass the time till Spring finally settled in.
But as it turned out, Sun was a much better player than he had anticipated. After the third night of very little sleep and no clear winner, they decided on a truce and happily found their beds.
The family was so concerned about their own feelings that no one noticed just how sad the pets were. Sophie was spending the days wandering the boat and island looking for her best friend and Aria spent more of her day in Jin's room, sleeping on his bed.
When no Jin was to be found, Sophie went in search of Aria to play, yet Aria still hadn't yet forgiven Sophie for past offenses and so their relationship went south very quickly again.
Everyone stepped in to give Sophie the love and attention she was missing.
Sun had never had a pet before and now that the pets were in such need of attention, she felt drawn to them; especially Sophie. The two began a fast friendship and spent most of the day together. Wherever Sun would be, you were sure to find Sophie.
The only person that Aria would respond to was Sun and only then when she herself felt in the mood, which grew less and less as the days went on.
Maya believe that it was age that caused the dramatic change in personality but Sun was not so sure. So she continued to try and draw Aria out from this miserable demeanor that seems to radiate off her body. Even her face looked more and more grumpy everyday.
One by one more and more pieces arrived to furnish the new nursery, carefully chosen by Maya with Sun's assistance. Even though they had no idea what the sex of the baby was, Maya was decorating the room with a little girl in mind.
When Sun questioned Maya on the colour choices, Maya responded that it was just money and if the baby turned out to be a little boy, all she really had to do was replace the carpet.
"Purple works for boys and girls don't you think Sun?" asked Maya. Sun nodded, while silently thinking the opposite. Purple for boys? No, she didn't think so.
Most of the time Sun felt she had all her emotions in check and was getting through the days without Jin just fine. Yet one little thing would happen, something would remind her of him, of the life together they were to share and she would fall apart. For example, when the new change table arrived for the nursery, she took one look at it and suddenly burst into tears.
She had no idea, why it happened and she quickly put a stop to it before anyone could hear.
Maya found herself more tired during this pregnancy, than she had with Jin. She could often be found taking little catnaps all around the boat.
Her most favourite spot was in the lounge chair in front of the fire, the place where she and Ian spent their evenings together talking about their day and the ongoing events of life.
As spring approached, she declared the boat too hot and took to walking around the house in any outfit that barely covered her body, even though frost still covered the windows from the cold air outside and having the fireplace on for heat was still a necessity.
She had just started to show, with the smallest of baby bump rounding out her middle. It was then that Sun came up with the best of ideas and she approached Maya with it.
"We should make a pregnancy record," she said to Maya. "Something to give to the baby when he/she grows up and show Jin, when....when he comes home?"
"That's a wonderful idea Sun! Plus you will get a chance to use some of those photography skills I've heard so much about. Where should be start?"
Sun was happy to do this for Maya and Ian, but the information she was so hopeful to have still eluded her. Why were they not telling her anything she wondered. She wanted to get started right away, because Maya was already showing quite a bit and they had missed getting that 'before' pic. She was so excited, but as the weather was still quite chilly, Maya couldn't stay outside for very long to get pics.
She was a good sport and told Sun the cold wasn't bothering her at all, but the goose bumps on her skin said otherwise. She snapped three pics and then sent Maya in for a shower to warm up. Sun previewed the pics on the computer and was surprised to see just how radiant Maya looked. She was positively glowing! How had she never seen that before? For a sim of Maya's age, she looked so young on film.
When she showed the pics to Ian, the love on his face made Sun's heart hurt and she felt as if she was really seeing him for the first time. He was such an incredible sim, this man who may be her father and she decided then no matter the outcome of the D.N.A. results, he was someone she always wanted to be in her life.
She mentioned to Ian how Maya would have made a beautiful model, but then Ian's demeanor instantly changed. He asked Sun to never bring that up in front of Maya, going so far as to make her promise, which she readily agreed.
"I promise Ian! No worries."
The next morning Sun woke up with a new sense of purpose and energy. She knew once the baby arrived, Maya would be very busy and Sun decided she was going to take on as much of the work as she could to help out. From that point on, she rose early to take care of the chickens, then the garden and finally decided to work on her cooking skills.
She was a fair cook and could do the basic things in the kitchen like pancakes, waffles, mac and cheese. However she wanted to really master the cooking skill before the baby arrived. It was trial and error, some days more error than success, which caused her some moments hanging over the toilet bowl.
But she was determined to do it all on her own. Eventually Maya gave her some cooking books, which Sun read cover to cover and after that no one spent any time throwing up over her food.
Finally the warm weather of spring arrived and everyone was thrilled to be able to get back onto the island, which is where they spent most of their time. Sun, who was normally a very physically active sim, had not returned to doing her ballet since Jin left. Too embarrassed by what had happened on the beach, she didn't want to remind Ian of what he had seen between her and Jin.
So she took up playing basketball and found that she was quite good at it due to the muscles in her legs.
She could jump higher than she ever knew and spent hours practicing at the net, relishing at how great it felt to stretch her legs and run.
Ian, who seemed determined to spend time with her and teach her things while he was doing it, approached Sun one day and asked if she would like to try snorkeling. She was excited at the prospect, never being able to swim in anything but a pool before. Ian promised her that there was treasure buried in the ocean floor and all it took was a little effort to find it. Her interest was peeked at the mention of treasure and they spent several days in the ocean swimming together and searching for any goodies they could find.
They didn't find much, but Sun did learn a lot from Ian loving the time they spent together.
About a month later, Sun posed Maya for her next shots in the baby album. She had finally started wearing maternity wear and although the dress was simple in shape, the pattern made it very beautiful.
Sun couldn't believe how beautiful the pictures had turned out.
"These are wonderful!
You are the best daughter, I hope you know how much we love you Sun!"
Sun was incredibly touched by Maya's words.
"Well I think this little one in here has the best mommy!"
"Do you hear that little one? We all can't wait to meet you! So very loved you are."
This moment would be one that Sun would always remember and when life became too much to bare, she would use it as her guiding strength. If she had a crystal ball or some sense of the future, she would have pleaded for this moment to last forever. She had no idea what kind of hurt was coming their way and if she could have done anything to change it, she would have, even giving up her own happiness. If she only knew.
********************************************************************************
Even though several months had passed since Jin left, Sun was content on the island. Here she had a real family, no matter what fashion they ended up being. She knew better than anyone, that it just wasn't blood or D.N.A. that bonded family together, for her mothers' in France had made her feel she was truly theirs. Yet somehow, the love she felt in this family was entirely different. A stronger bond, more pure? If that even made any sense. She thought perhaps it had to do with how simple they chose to live with no outside influences. She felt truly blessed that she had met Jin and thankful everyday for being so accepted in this family.
The warmth of the sand had cooled from the breeze coming off the water, and she began to feel very chilled. She decided it was time to return to the boat. Besides, Maya and Ian were enjoying a bit of alone time together on the beach watching the stars and she didn't want to intrude.
And tomorrow was just another day in paradise....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC Used In This ChapterPoses
IMHO /sims3imho.blogspot.ca/p/poses.html
10 Poses Everyday
Do Not Be Sad Baby
Baby on Board by Mashelle
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=512508
Sugarly Sweet Sit by Eternila
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=491225
Other CC
Nursery Carpet Playroom Rug 22 by PralineSims
http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims3-objects-furnishing-decor-rugs/title/playroom-rug-22/id/1235981
Nursery Pictures by Marcorse
http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims3/id/1198887
Maya's white bathing suit-Desire Bikini by Bill Sims
http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims3-clothing-female/title/desire-bikini/id/1304274
Maya's pink/white bathing suit-Sunrise by Metens
http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims3-clothing-female/title/sunrise/id/1245573
(recoloured with a pattern by Marcorse)
Pattern on Maya's Maternity dress- Ms Floral patt 4 by Mutsuraboshi
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=8545688
I miss Jin too, he's such a good boy, I wonder, if he ever get's upset and rebellious.
ReplyDeleteMy simmies are all the time.:) Getting attached to your actors makes your story lively.
Waiting for the next chapter, waiting for the baby and waiting for the test-results..
We shall see how you feel about Jin after a little while. Remember that good boy opinion you have now!
DeleteMaya looks radiant :) Wonderful pics as always. Mwah
ReplyDeleteThank you! Funny how I didn't notice that when I was playing!
DeleteAnother melancholy chapter. As always, each chapter makes me want to go on to the next. Turn the page, so to speak. Great pics as well.
ReplyDelete