Esther's Father.

Feeling the presence of someone else in the kitchen with her, Hazel turned to see it was Ethan. Before she could speak, he beat her to it.

"You should stop working for tonight. I'll take care of this myself," he instructed. Even though his words seemed nice, his voice and expression depicted the opposite.

Hazel didn't waste her time before dropping back the plates of food which she had yet to discard, and walking out of the kitchen.

★★★

After a long night of tossing and turning on her bed without being able to sleep, Shikera finally rose up at the first ring of her alarm which she had set to 6 AM. Pulling her messy hair up into a ponytail, she padded across the room to the bathroom to wash her face.