Life has been unfair to her

It was a wooden house, painted red from the outside. Carl took his time to observe inside the house without anyone noticing that he was checking it out. The walls were worn out and the furniture looked really old like it was from the 50s.

He saw a little girl that should be probably ten years old sitting on the floor, eating steak.

Carl was starting to feel hot and sweaty. He saw that there was only one window for ventilation and the door which was the exit. He unbuttoned the first three buttons of his shirt so he could feel less hot.

"Mr. McAlester I'll be right back, please sit," Victoria said to Carl pointing to the floor near a wide center table.

Carl was a little confused if he should sit on the bare floor which wasn't clean enough.

'Are there no chairs?' Carl wondered to himself looking around. There were no chairs just the center table right in front of him.

He didn't want to ask too many questions to sound rude.

Carl took off his expensive white Nike sneakers and sat down on the floor hesitatingly.

Anne laughed seeing Carl sit on the floor.

"what's so funny?" Carl said to Anne feeling a little bit awkward.

"Nothin, you just look very stupid right now" Anne chuckled

She brought out her phone and took a picture of Carl sitting on the floor without Carl's knowledge.

"Mr. McAlester here's your food. I bet you must be tired and hungry" Victoria said coming out from the kitchen to where Carl was sitting.

She was with a tray containing a bowl of soup with a spoon. She dropped the tray on the center table close to Carl.

"Please enjoy our food," Victoria said smiling

"Thanks, ma'am," Carl smiled back.

He stared at the bowl of brown soup and he wasn't sure if it was edible enough for him to eat. The soup was obviously hot because of the smoke coming out of it like it had just come out from the fire.

The soup had a weird smell and it looked really watery and plain like it lacked the proper ingredients.

Carl took the spoon and had a glance at Anne who was staring at him with a wicked smile on her face patiently waiting for him to mess up.

However, Carl was really tired and hungry but it was too late for him to reject the food. He didn't want to seem rude by rejecting Victoria's food. After all, she has been nice to him.

Carl slowly took a half spoon of the soup and as soon as it got into his mouth, he started coughing uncontrollably.

"Mr. McAlester are you okay? Is the soup bad?" Victoria panicked rushing to get him water.

"no, it's just too spicy for me" Carl lied pretending to cough.

The soup wasn't nice at all and Carl had to pretend it was too spicy for him instead of bluntly rejecting Victoria's food. He quickly drank the water Victoria gave him.

Meanwhile, Anne was just frowning at Carl. She wished he had at least drank the whole soup so that he might have a runny stomach or food poisoning.

"I'm sorry. Can I get you another food to eat" Victoria said worriedly to Carl

"no need" Carl responded sharply in a high-pitched tone. "I mean, I'm not even hungry" he lowered his voice with a nervous chuckle.

"So when are you planning on leaving? It's past 5' o clock in the evening and I don't think you wanna go back to New York late at night." Anne said to Carl.

"Anastasia, why are you being rude to your friend? Why are you trying to get rid of him so quickly?" Victoria said vehemently to Anne.

She turned to face Carl. "please you can stay here for as long as you want okay? You can't come all the way from New York and we'll be mean to you... Just ignore that brat, she's just being a hothead."

"yeah, I'm used to her like that." Carl laughed gently same with Victoria.

"you guys are so deranged," Anne said and walked out of the house feeling frustrated.

"As I said ignore her..." Victoria said.

"I haven't introduced you to my daughter, Clara," she said to Carl pointing at the little girl who was eating on the floor.

"Hi Clara" Carl waved at the little girl smiling and she waved back at him smiling too.

"wow she's really pretty," Carl said.

"And you're super cute too" Clara complimented Carl giggling.

"Aww thank you," Carl said cutely with a big smile on his face.

"How did you and Anne become friends," Victoria asked Carl.

"I mean, from the looks of it, you too seem to have a misunderstanding," she said

"Ohh" he whispered silently.

"Anne is mad at me because I lied to her and I feel really terrible about that. I covered up for her boyfriend who cheated on her. I thought I was protecting her feelings by not telling her …and he's my best friend and umm" He sighed.

"… geez everything was just so complicated. If only I had told her the truth, Anne wouldn't have hated me like this." Carl said sincerely.

"It's okay Mr. McAlester don't feel too bad about yourself," Victoria said.

"Please ma'am I'd prefer you call me Carl instead," he said.

Victoria chuckled "I'll start calling you Carl if you stop referring to me as ma'am"

"deal" he chuckled.

"and as I said, don't feel too bad about yourself. You didn't want to hurt Anne's feelings that is why you must've hidden the truth from her… the bitter truth usually hurts all of us" Victoria said.

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?" he asked and Victoria nodded.

"she probably hasn't forgiven you yet because she's still hurt but with time, Anne will eventually forgive and forget what happened," she said.

'I hope that day comes sooner' Carl thought to himself.

"Just a while ago, Anne told me she had good memories here with her late parents. Could you tell me what kind of memories? And what were her parents like, since you were her mom's best friend... I just want to know more about Anne.. please" Carl said

"okay? But why do you want to know?" she asked suspiciously.

She guessed it was because Carl was attracted to Anne and he wanted to know more about her. Well, she didn't think wrong.

"It's nothing... I'm... I'm just curious" he said and Victoria smiled.

"Anne's mom and I were inseparable, in fact, we were like real sisters. She used to live here with me before she got married to a good responsible man from New York. They had two children, Anastasia and Dexter. Anne's father was the owner of this dairy farm.

He was a very busy and hardworking man who made sure his wife and kids were okay. Back then, this dairy farm used to be blessed not as wretched as this.

Anne on the other hand was always so playful and cheerful. She is loved by everyone and she also tries her best to put a smile on everyone's faces" Victoria smiled.

"that's unlike her," Carl said feeling surprised.

"you're not wrong..." Victoria laughed.

"…When Anne was eight years old, she moved to New York with her family where they lived more comfortably.

Her mother was a very good baker and her father comes here once in a while to extract milk from his dairy farm to New York and for his wife to use for her pastries. Things were really beautiful for the Stewart family until..." she sighed and Carl noticed she looked a bit sad.

"…until Anne's parents got into a fatal accident and they both lost their lives. They died on Anne's birthday when she just turned 20... Since then, Anne has despised and hated her birthdays" she said.

"When is her birthday?" Carl asked

"November 30th," she replied.

"Anne has really gone through a lot," Carl muttered.

Anne has told Carl about the death of her parents but he still felt sad hearing it again.

"you're right, it was terrible and sad news. Her grandfather decided to move to New York to comfort Anne and Dexter.

By that time, my daughter Clara, was really sick so I couldn't leave this place. Anne had to drop out of college when she was already in her final year to start baking to raise money to help Dexter go to school and take care of her grandfather who is now late.

Anastasia feels life has been unfair to her so she stopped being friendly and became tough. She used to say 'if life gives you lemons, squeeze them in people's eyes." Victoria scoffed.

"No! If life gives you lemons, turn them into lemonade and add sugar to it... I understand that Anne has gone through so much but shutting people who come into her life especially those who genuinely care about her isn't going to make her happy at all." Carl said firmly.

"And you think I haven't told her that?" Victoria said with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, Anne can be pretty stubborn," Carl said.

......…

It was almost 11'o clock at night and Anne came into the house quietly. She saw Victoria and Clara sleeping together in a tight corner while Carl was sleeping uncomfortably on a mat at the edge of the wall.

Anne stared at Carl for a while, she wasn't expecting to see him in the house till it was that late at night. She had gone for a late night stroll and she thought that Carl would be gone by the time she came back. Well, she thought wrong.

'He's still here??' she said in her head.

Anne tiptoed to avoid making any disturbing sounds to wake everyone up from their sleep. She carefully laid down on a mat at another edge of the wall and slept afterward.

A few minutes after Anne had laid down to sleep, Carl slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't actually sleeping, to begin with. His eyes were shut but he was fully aware when Anne came inside the house. He was sure it was her because he could feel her presence.

Carl couldn't sleep, he kept rolling back and forth on the mat because of how uncomfortable he was. Probably because it's his first time sleeping on a mat.

He was so uncomfortable, cold, and hungry. He sat down on the mat and he saw that Victoria, Clara, and Anne were already fast asleep.

He got up, wore his sneakers, and left the house quietly making sure not to wake anyone up.

Outside the house, Carl stretched his body and he could feel and hear his bones popping from inside his body. He felt relieved after his little stretch. He got into his car and had a long deep breath.

"I should have some snacks here" Carl whispered to himself, checking the glove box of his car.

"Yes!" He exclaimed with a smile on his face as soon as he saw some biscuits and bottled water.

Carl ate the biscuits and drank the water. It didn't satisfy him but it subsided his hunger at least.

"I have to do something about this place. I have to make this place more comfortable especially for that little girl, Clara." Carl said to himself.

He fell asleep in his car and he felt more comfortable.