Five excitable canines rushed through the hallway. Teun, who sat with his headphones on while working on his laptop, jumped in fright as barks echoed throughout the house. He yanked his headphones off his head and stood from the sofa. He walked through the living space to the door to attempt rounding up the dogs from the front door.

With a suitcase and his mask over his eyes, Aggu shuffled into the house. He waded through the dogs who leapt up to try and lick his face. He resisted a cringe and let Teun steer the labradors away, leaving the barzoi and schnauzer to bounce around Aggu's feet.

'You'll be in the living room, by the way. We've set up a bed,' Fenne filled him in as she walked in behind him. 'But the dogs will be in our room at night, so they won't bother you.'

'I find that hard believe,' Aggu mumbled. Daan and Stuntje walked in last and were hounded next by the dogs, letting Aggu make it to the living space with his suitcase.

'Where's the married couple?' he asked as he opened the fridge.

'Apson's picking Hanna up from work.'

'Can you not raid our fridge as soon as you walk through the door? Those are my beers,' Daan said, snatching the bottle from Aggu's hand. The German peered at the hairless man through his goggles and resisted the urge to bark a seething insult.

'Daan, can I please have a beer?'

'Yes, Aggu. Thank you for asking so nicely.'

Aggu was back in The Netherlands for the wedding. After already attending one Dutch wedding that year, the masked man was back in the country for Fenne and Joost's ceremony. Apson and Hanna had been officially married for four months now and it wouldn't be long until their two best friends would be tieing the knot. Aggu would be rooming with the team until then and was hoping for one hell of a bachelor party.

Fenne scratched at Ootje's ears while the men ceased their bickering and noticed Teun retaking his place on the sofa. His laptop showed his usual editing software and he went to put his headphones back over his ears.

'Teun,' she called and he paused to look over his shoulder. 'Where's Joost?'

'Upstairs.'

'Did you finish recording?'

'No. He wanted to finish it tomorrow so I'm working on something else.'

Fenne wouldn't have found this strange on it's own circumstance. Recording music took a lot of energy and brain power, so producing it over a number of days was normal. But with Teun sitting on his lonesome in the living room and Aggu's arrival being vocalised to the whole neighbourhood, Joost still hadn't come down stairs.

Slipping from the scene, Fenne made her way to the top floor. She heard Stuntje shush a rogue bark back in the kitchen before she made it to her shared bedroom. It wasn't a surprise to find the bed unmade and the floor covered in Joost's mess. Fenne had lived with the Klein long enough to brave through it and was aware that she was marrying one of the messiest and most disorganised people on the planet.

The state of the room made Fenne look to the balcony. The sliding door was closed but the smoke wafting from a cigarette told Fenne where her boyfriend was. She assumed that this was why Joost hadn't come downstairs to greet Aggu and headed for the door to let him know.

Sliding it open, she poked her head out while saying,

'Aggu's here. Did you not hear-'

Fenne stopped when she was met with watery eyes and a red nose.

At her appearance, Joost leaned forward to stamp out his cigarette in his ashtray. Fenne heard a sniffle, which further drove the ache in her chest. The yellow sunglasses that Joost had been wearing before Fenne left for the airport sat folded on his chair's arm. This let Fenne see the tear stains on Joost's cheeks and the pools in his eyes.

'Hey,' she stepped out onto the balcony and closed the door behind her. 'What's wrong?'

Joost took a moment before he answered. He leaned back in his chair with a nasally sigh, his wire earphones in his ears. Fenne waited for him to talk with her arms crossed. She had learnt that Joost appreciated a slow approach when he was upset. There was no use throwing herself in for an embrace in consolement. This wouldn't let Joost get his words out in an extensive and genuine way.

'Just sad,' Joost said, his voice trembling. He looked out to the houses from the balcony and sniffled loudly.

'Why are you sad?' Fenne tried. She had done this enough times to know what to ask.

'Mum and Dad. The usual.'

Fenne nodded and went to lower herself into the chair beside him. Her descent was slow with her gaze focused on Joost, waiting for an interruption. When it came, Fenne diverted her action to be two paces to the left. Instead of settling into her own chair, Fenne found herself in-between Joost's legs. His subtle action of parting his knees was a well-known signal between the two.

Fenne almost felt bad for feeling so comfortable. She loved feeling Joost's big arms circle around her and his chest against her back. His breath from his nostrils fanned her ear and it wasn't long until Fenne felt Joost lean the side of his head against hers.

Their engagement was always going to be an emotional time for Joost. He knew that his parents would be looking down on him in relief. Their youngest boy had grown up, accomplished a great deal and was settling down over a decade after their passing.

A significant indicator of a parent's impact can be seen in their children's character, accomplishments and progression. Fenne, for one, believed that Joost had become the person he was because of his family. For him to be getting married after all his success was inspiring. But never the less, the time unearthed some of Joost's buried trauma.

'Dad would be hounding Hugo for being so slow,' Joost's voice had stabilised but held the same nasally depth. 'Especially with Ruben just being born.'

Ruben was Nanda's baby boy. He had been born in February, just as expected. He was healthy and Annaliese was already taking the older sister status very seriously. She had converted her hyperactive tendencies into parading around her baby brother like a bodyguard. It was cute, even cuter when Hugo mentioned that it was how Nanda acted when Joost was born.

'Did Hugo have girlfriends?' Fenne asked in curiosity.

'A few, but they never stuck. I can remember some coming to the house but I think his severe lack of interest in them drove them away,' Joost recollected. 'Mum left him her ring, though. Guess she thought he would eventually find someone.'

The mention of the ring made Fenne look to her finger. The stone was square and simple, beautiful in its glittering triangles and with its gold band. When Fenne learnt it was Joost's mother's, she had tried to take it off with the beg for a different one. The thought of walking around with such a sentimental piece of memory on her finger was daunting. But with the story of Hugo's offering and the sincerity in Joost's insistence, Fenne was hesitant but honoured.

'Can we go see them?' Joost said after a while.

'I'll drive.'

Fenne was out of the chair in a second and Joost followed at a slower pace. Her L plates were being used more often with their engagement prompting her to resume learning to drive. She thought with Joost being in a dulled mood, she would take charge and drive his porsche to the cemetery.

Stood in-between the plaques, Fenne and Joost were silent. The summer weather made the sun warm on their heads and Joost had put more effective sunglasses on. These did well to cover his eyes that had been watery throughout the drive.

Fenne's driving had been adequate, meaning he didn't have to intervene much. Fenne was relieved at this, not because her driving had improved, but it meant that she didn't have to hear if Joost's voice was still raw and nasally.

'They got married in Leeuwarden,' Joost stated and Fenne turned to the man who stared at his mother's memorial.

'In the church on the hill?'

'Yeah. There's pictures of Hugo at the wedding throwing a tantrum in the aisle,' Joost snickered before continuing. 'I used to joke that he was illigitimate.'

'That's awful.'

'It's funny, though.'

Joost's shrug accompanied his lightened tone. The corner of Fenne's lip hitched upwards and averted her eyes to the plaque behind them. Joost's father memorium was as well kept as the plaques around it and Fenne wondered if they should have brought some flowers. Other tombstones and graves had pictures and trinkets left with floral assortments. But every time they had ventured to Joost's parents' resting place, they never brought anything.

'We'll come back after the wedding. I'll leave my bouquet here,' Fenne said while facing Joost's father's plaque. The shifting of grass sounded as Joost turned behind her. In her peripheral, Fenne saw Joost join her side again before lowering into a crouch. He looked at his father's plaque, a tear falling from underneath his sunglasses, before saying,

'That would be nice.'

A thought sprung to Fenne's mind. She didn't need to ponder it before she was already raising her hands from her sides. Using her thumb and forefinger, Fenne shimmied the silver ring she bought in Malmö up to her nail. Next to her engagement ring, it was dull without a stone and was in need of a polishing. But with it off her finger, Fenne turned back to Joost's mother's plaque.

Joost watched over his shoulder as Fenne put the ring on the plaque's elevated base. It's star faced outwards, guarding the metal with it's five-edged shape. When she straightened up, Fenne turned back to Joost, who looked up at her with parted lips.

'A ring for a ring. I have hers, so she has mine.'

Just like her thought, Joost's decision was made in an instant. He reached up to his chain that sat underneath his shirt and unclipped the clasp. The thick band fell into his palm and he placed it in the same spot Fenne had, only on his father's plaque's base.

'And now he has mine.'

Fenne lowered down next to Joost and put one knee to the ground. She put one arm around his neck and the other across his back. Fenne laid her head on his shoulder, facing away from Joost's father's plaque. She felt the pressure on the crown of her head as Joost's fell against it. His quiet sniffles told her what she couldn't see and Fenne let Joost sit in his crouch for as long as he wanted.

'I listened to you about Eurovision, Dad,' Joost said, wobbling with streaming tears. 'Sorry I couldn't follow through, but I hope this'll make up for it. Song contests are fucking stupid but Fenne sure isn't. Sorry for swearing.'

Joost always did something that his parents wouldn't like at the cemetery. He liked to think of it as satisfying a twisted desire from when he was a child. The things that his parents would scold him for he could now do right in front of them. It made him feel better, because even after their death, they would wonder what man or woman would love their son who was covered in tattoos, smoked and swore at his parents' graves?

And the answer to that was Fenne Meer. Fenne would love him just the way he was; as a disqualified Eurovision contestant, as someone who went to therapy and as someone who cried at his parents' graves.

'Are you sure you want to be a Klein? We're a little disjointed,' Joost said and Fenne lifted her head from his shoulder. With his gaze angled at her, Fenne used one hand to take the sunglasses from his eyes. Pools sat amongst the bloodshot red and piercing blue, but a smile was playing on his lips.

'I wouldn't want to be anything else,' she answered and kissed his temple.