Orange Lily

Why did she hate him so much to the point to do illegal stuff? Why would she go ahead and take such a risk, pulling others with her? Yes, those were questions that made her stay awake at night. She didn’t even expect the woman to agree, she didn’t expect that who made the role of sibling and best friend to agree, and she never expected that complete stranger to ask to join so god damned fast.

The answer was a bit simple… the man she hated took lives and didn’t stop to think of what others felt, how it would affect the people around or how it would affect the ones who were outside the situation. He only wanted to fill his pockets with money.

So yeah, we can all agree that, honestly, fuck this guy.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it, it bothered her. She couldn’t sleep.

She rolled around her bed but still couldn’t conceal the feeling of being able to fall asleep, it was bothersome too, and everything was because sadly, she’s an overthinker and she is… well… scared too.

She got up from her bed and headed down the stairs. She tried to do it as quietly and discreetly as possible to avoid waking anyone up. What she would give to get an Ice-cream. Nana had started buying ice-cream pots for them after they turned 17 because she kept finding out about the two teens sneaking out the window. Usually, for those two teens, ice-cream meant one of them was upset and she wanted to be able to help.

Yahel opened the freezer and took out the cardboard pot of cookie-dough ice-cream. She didn’t even serve herself, she straight up went for a spoon and ate directly from the pot. She sat herself on the counter isle of the kitchen.

“Can’t sleep either?” The white-haired girl turned herself around to be greeted by her adoptive mother. “What is it this time then?” The woman was reviewing some files, depending on the color of the post-it, it was who was taking charge of what the file said. Most were marked blue, she was the one taking care of them then?

“Why did you agree?” Nana lifted her gaze from the files and directed herself at her daughter. “Why did you agree to help me take down the asshole?” Her voice was a bit muffled because she refused to take the spoon full of ice-cream away from her mouth.

Nana placed down the files.

“First of all, I cant take you seriously with that penguin pajamas and your mouth stuffed with ice-cream,” Said Nana, taking out a spoon from the utensils drawer and taking the ice-cream away from Yahel. “Second. I hate the man as much as you Yahya. He not only took away from us my best friend and Ex but the guy also prived you from a mother, and a woman from her dream.” She scooped the pot and got out a spoonful.

Some tears built up on Yahel’s eyes and he tried to look away. “He’s a bitch” Nana chuckled. “Well, I cant guess where you got that language from.” She sighed. “Now I get why you and Vivi sneaked out for ice-cream that often” Nana never expected her best friend to die, least be it her getting killed. Her best friend got her license revoked when Yahya was 3, her husband never helped with the house bills so she had to ask for a loan to be able to feed her child and cover the bills. The man divorced her and abandoned them when Yahya was four. When he left, the little girl thought she had scared him because she said she wanted to be a girl, and maybe that was part of the reason.

“But yes Yahel… I agreed because I hate him too. Him and your excuse of a sperm donor” The simplest facts that Nana could list of why to hate those two were enough to make her blood boil. So she agreed.

“How is he?” Said Yahel pointing to the guy sleeping on the couch. “I’m surprised he asked to join.” She scooped another spoon and placed it in her mouth. The guy decided to crash into their place because he got beaten up badly, he trusted Nana and didn't want to scare his own parents appearing all wounded out of nowhere.

He still refused to talk about the reason why he got beaten up, but Nana wasn’t dumb, she could easily assume the reason.

Some people mildly disliked him. Though the reason for that is unclear. There could be several and thinking of all of them to conclude why would be hard. If you asked Yahel, she would say because of him being such an easy target. these days the place where his shop was at, there were several reports of robberies so that’s what she would say. he wasn’t short but he didn’t exactly have a big body build.

Nana just couldn’t bear to think about it.

Both ladies spent a few more moments scooping the ice-cream with the spoon and eating it directly from the box. Instead of eating calmly, they devoured the frozen dessert anxiously.

“You girls know that ice-cream doesn’t have legs, right?” They woke up Valence. “Wifey… love of my life… woman of my dreams whom I love very much dearly… it’s 2 a.m… come back to bed. Yahya… my girl… you are barely 18… you still count as a child… go to sleep. Both of you, I shouldn’t be the one saying this but, too much sugar at night ain’t good, you can talk about those assholes and the poor boy tomorrow morning.” He said tiredly. He wore eyebags and his grizzly bear pajamas. “Also… Babe… isn’t it like… a bit hypocritical to tell our kid you can’t take her seriously with the clothes and ice-cream when you are wearing panda pajamas and eating with her?”

Nana blushed and directed herself upstairs.

Valence approached Yahel and hugged her. He caressed her head and stayed like that for a while. He may or may have not peeked over the conversation and it may or may not have affected him. He as well wanted to prove himself to be a good parent. Even after such a long time, she had a hard time accepting signs of affection coming from someone who wasn't Vivi. She was able to process Vivian’s displays of affection exclusively, she didn’t really understand those coming from adults still at the age of 18. He wanted to help too. He loved and cherished both children.

He let go of his daughter allowing her to go to her room to take some rest. He followed right behind her, separating ways in the upper hall to go to his room with his wife.

This time, Yahel was able to conceal sleep.

---

A golden-eyed person, wearing a cream-colored apron and a polo shirt approached the white-haired girl who was groggy and mildly trashing over the bed. They took the hand of the lady and with a series of well-rhythmed taps on specific parts of the knuckles and fingers they indicated that they were off to work. Vivian had started working on a small but well-known cafeteria in the nearby mall of the city. Yahel nodded when she felt the touch on her hand and lazily waved them off and wished them good luck.

She snuggled back inside her comfortable warm bed sheets and blanket.

Vivian patted their mother’s back and kissed her cheek rushedly, giving a high-five to their dad and grabbing the doorknob.

“What about breakfast?” Nana inquired while crossing her arms. “I’ll get something there” they signed, they smiled and turned the knob to open the door. being received by the presence of a man that seemed alarmingly familiar but couldn’t seem to identify properly. The man was tall with blue eyes, hair fixed back with an excessive amount of hair-gel, and wearing a lock beard. He almost looked like a CEO of a company, he was wearing a blue suit and an awfully mismatched greenish-brown tie. He was blocking their exit and they were already running late.

“Hello, Vivian.” Hearing their name come out of the man’s mouth made them feel a bit nauseous. They greeted him with a short sign of hello and a face of a hurry. “I see you’ve grown into a healthy young man… er....” the guy eyed Vivi up and down as if he was about to make a rude comment regarding what they were wearing as the bottom of the outfit. “Is my son here?” Everything stopped. What? “Giving me the cold shoulder, young man?”

“If you excuse my hell-spawn, they need to go to work and you are blocking the way” A deep and grumbling voice commented. The businessman looked at the man who said those words.

The one to be the mother of the kid came out of the kitchen frowning. “David”

“Nana.”

The man moved to the side, allowed to let the teenager go. He took a deep breath “Where is my son?” Valence frowned and Nana gave him a snarky chuckle. “As far as I recall, David, you have no son.” David, who was the man at the door, took now the turn to frown. Apparently, to Nana, the man in front of her didn’t even deserve the title of a sperm donor. David ran his hand over his head in frustration. “Nana! I don’t have all day, stop playing and tell me where Yahel is. I have to talk with him”

“Bubba… Can you please?” The man got up from the dining-room table and made his way up the stairs. “Now… You… She will talk with you if she desires to do so.” At hearing this David mumbled something along the lines of raising and done right. Nana was already getting pissed and impatient at the man at her door not leaving. When she heard the steps of two people coming downstairs she turned herself around and reached the young one to ask some things. with the teen’s reaction, it was more than clear that she had no idea what the hell she or her adoptive father were going on about. “You don’t have to talk with him if you don’t want you, alright?” Nana murmured seeing how the white-haired teen made her way to the door.

“Yahel… my boy… how are you doing?” Yahel made an expression of disgust at the hearing of the word ‘boy’ making chills run down her spine.

“Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognize your father?” well of course not, in her memories, after her mother passed away his face became a blur in her memories and she was far from able to picture him. He was her father… no… sperm donor… yes, that sounded better.

“As far as I know, Valence is my father, so… nope, I have no idea who you are.” She said that with a sarcastic tone, indicating that she didn’t care about who the man in front of her was while fixing her hearing aid properly. “Well, I came here to make things right with you, staring by… er… what are you wearing?” That remark caught Yahel’s attention quickly, she wasn’t wearing anything out of the ordinary, at least for summer, she was wearing a loosely tucked shirt and a skirt, not like she actually put any effort into the outfit, she just grabbed Vivi’s clothes and wore them. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” if you paid close attention to the scenery you could see Nana and Valence peeking on the conversation, madly, from the kitchen, ready to intervene if the asshole said anything out of place or Yahel wasn’t able to keep it going.

“Arent those clothes… for girls? And… your hair, I don’t mean there’s anything wrong with long hair just-” Yahel frowned. “They don’t know what they are… If I had raised you I would have done it right.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, I wanna be there for you, son”

“Don’t call me that!” David almost took a step back, from the way the teen snapped. frostbite started building up on her hands. “You claim you want to do things right with me and fix things and… and be there for me?! When you never even showed signs to be present when I was a child! You want to fix things! But the first thing you did was attack me! So you have 5 minutes to explain yourself, I’ll hear your feeble excuses and I’ll tell you what my decision is! And if you refer to me, don’t do it as ‘son’ because that’s something I’m not! You better hurry up cuz’ I don’t have all day” she was almost hyperventilating and holding back whatever words were stuck inside her throat. She didn’t actually go full-on against him and the two other adults present knew it well. How to forget how she threatened them if they rejected Vivi when they came out.

David took a breath in, and took a breath out, clearing his throat. “I got married a few years ago,” Yahel rolled her eyes which made the man lose a bit of his patience. “I told her about the fact that I had a son… er… about you, and she wants to meet you and for you to have a life with us. And I want to be there for you, make things right, fix things.” Those words again, doesn’t he have any other words in his lexicon? The frostbite that was on Yahel’s hands grew to her wrists; if she kept going that way she would have ice-burns even if her body was able to handle the temperature.

“Fix things? Fix me you mean! If you had raised me if you had my ass! You. Didn’t. And the two adults that are inside this house did better than you could ever do! Make things right!? Maybe if you had fucking stayed instead of running away like the fucking coward you are! Be there for me!? You. Abandoned. Me! Where were you 13 years ago when I became orphaned when the supposed love of your life was murdered!? Where were you when the funeral of my mother was held!? You weren’t there! And you still claim that you want to be there for me!? I’m 18! You are 14 fucking years late!” she let out as rivers of tears streamed down her face. Who did this man think he was to be there claiming to want to fix things when the first thing he did was insult his child. “Who was there for me 13 years ago!? Where were you!? You weren’t there! They were, they are my parents! Not you!” Yahel was sobbing uncontrollably and both adults, standing in the kitchen were just about to reach for her, the image of the heart-broken 5-year-old flashed through their minds.

David reached for Yahel.

“Don’t touch me! Get out!” He didn’t pull back and reached for her arm. “My boy…”

“Get. Out!”

Nana and Valence retreated immediately at the sight. The air changed from tension to add cold and shock. David slowly drew back his hand, as if the tiniest and most insignificant move would make what he was seeing that threatened him, collapse. the frostbite covered half of Yahel’s arms and the light that was refracted made it a much more dramatic scenery. David was unable to utter a single word. Speechless.

An arch-like structure that shielded the young lady, swirling and making the most terrifyingly beautiful forms was inside the house, the tips at the top, sharp and deadly, were pointing at the neck of the man, the bottom, twisted to make a barrier to ensure the elder man at the other side of the door would not take another step forward. It was a full barrier, and oh how much it would take to melt.

Valence and Nana looked at each other and took action without getting near the girl. The other man fully retreated and walked down the front doorsteps.

The last thing you saw before closing the door was a woman of middle age slapping the man across the face. Hard. It wasn’t Nana, oh no, it wasn’t her.

It was the man’s wife, who was watching everything.