“Amy, my beautiful flower, you're here! I was worried when Nik came home by himself.” Wait, I know this voice.. “MOM?!” I saw my mom standing in the kitchen. “What are you doing here? Weren’t you in France..?!” She chuckles. “I come back and I don’t even get a hug from my little baby~!” What’s happening? I could've sworn she was in France! When did she.. No, HOW did she get here? “Mom, didn’t you say you had to do something? WHY ARE YOU HERE?” she starts blabbering about how she was so competent and finished early. She’s still the same cocky person as she was before she left. “Ha..” I let out a deep sigh as she insisted I give her a hug, I shook my head slowly and sat on the couch.

A huge silence fell and a while later, I decided to break the ice. “Hey, umm…” I hadn’t thought of what to say! Ugh, was it this hard to talk to her? “Mn? Yes, sweetheart?” she answered. “Uh, what did you do in France..?” I turn on the television and watch the news while waiting for a response. “Nothing big, just the same work as usual.” She makes weapons for her family to sell from time to time, she may be a princess but she still does so much work and I respect her for that.

Ah, I almost forgot. “Oh, mom?” she turns around as she puts the knife down. “Mhm? Tell me quickly so I can finish up dinner.” She says as she grins. “Oh, uh. The teacher asked to meet you, apparently something happened and she asked for you specifically.” She glares at me for a good second and says “Is it Mrs. Amber?” They were good friends in college. But sadly, it wasn’t her, so I told her no but she seemed disappointed. “Which teacher?” she asked abruptly. “It’s Ms. Shelly. The new one.” She goes back to making dinner but says “Is she the substitute?” I nod slowly. The rest of the day goes by with nothing else happening.

We’re eating dinner and she seems bothered, I want to ask but she’s the type who wouldn’t tell anyone her problems, no wonder no one knew she was pregnant with me. She finishes her food quickly and leaves. I’m curious as to what happened so I stopped her. “Hey..!” Everyone stares at me as if I were a nude lady at school. My mom looks at me and goes “Ah, yes flower?” She stops mid-way and I just sit there silent for a bit, I let out a few words and go, “Is there anything bothering you..?” She stares at me for a few seconds and proceeds to respond by shaking her head lightly. “No, nothing as of now. But it’s sweet of you to ask! You’re caring a lot these days.. I guess Stephanie’s behavior is rubbing off on you!” Stephanie… really?

Flashback to Chapter 2

* punching Selene * “HEY ANNIE!!”

End of Flashback

“Haa..” I’m disappointed just thinking of her. She exits the room and washes her plate. The rest of the mealtime is just plain silence. As I exit the house to get fresh air, the rain starts pattering. Then, I see a letter at the front door. “No sender..” I whisper quietly to myself. I go back inside before I get drenched and I flip the envelope to check if anything was written and all it wrote was “For Cia.” wait.. only they call me Cia. I quickly opened the envelope to check the letter.

 “CHECK INBOX” 

They send me a letter, old school style,  just to tell me to check my inbox? Talk about diligence..