17 - Wych

A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means it has not yet been proofread or edited.

***

Kalonice stand up and went to the stretcher to get their things. She faced Larry Zeno Yzaguirre to tell him,

"Sir, I am very grateful for what you've done. I will pay what I owe by giving my best for your company, but please allow us to go home now. And Midas Yzaguirre,"

Midas straightened his back. It's not even his true name but it sounded like his mother when she's upset. It occurred to his mind again, what he had witnessed. Though it's still an unsolved mystery, he won't try to get on her bad side again. Never again.

"Where are the receipts?" she asked him as she look for her wallet.

"I don't keep receipts."

Larry almost choked on his coffee. His son is so---!

"Mommy, I don't wanna go. Please, I want to stay with Papa!"

"Candice!" Kalonice can't help but raise her voice. She's losing her mind---Candice is getting harder and harder to discipline as day goes by.

"NO, ATE KALONICE!"

Candice raised her voice by, shouting at the top of her lungs with furious glares. They were astounded.

"If you hate it so much, then go find my real daddy and tell him about me! That would be a lot easier than playing pretend with your boss's son! People change! They might not mean what they said in the past before anymore! Do it now because I'm so sick of dreaming and hoping and wishing for a Daddy!"

Kalonice's breath hitched.

She turned slowly, her face pale, eyes wide with something Candice couldn't understand---something that wasn't just shock. It was guilt.

Candice's chest rose and fell in quick, angry breaths. Her small frame trembled, her usual bright eyes darkened with something she'd never let spill out before.

"I-I just---" Her voice cracked, but she stomped her foot, refusing to cry.

Kalonice opened her mouth, then closed it. For the first time, she had no answer.

And that made Candice's little heart break even more.

"I hate my life! I wish I was never born at all! I hate you, Kalonice!"

Candice pivot and ran away.

Larry sprung up from the couch and gesture that he will chase after her. Kalonice collapses to her knees, heaving deep breaths as she try to control the surge of her emotions. She couldn't believe Candice would say that. Big words like that.

Candice is still so young, yet she speaks with volumes already. She matured faster because of the environment she endured. Now, Kalonice is wondering...

Was it really the best choice to bring Candice to this complicated world? When she know all damn well about their situation, that she doesn't have what it takes to raise a child but still did, and that life had been cruel to her and her siblings?

For a small child with a young mind to wish that she wished she was never born at all...

She failed.

"I-I'm sorry, Montecristo," Midas apologized and crouched to meet her level. He offered his handkerchief to her but she refused it.

"You shouldn't have done all of that. You shouldn't have... Because of you... Again..."

Kalonice kept her sobs to herself.

Midas looked down.

He wiped her tears himself using his bare hand.

"I was just trying to help..."

"You're not! You're not helping, Yzaguirre! You're making things worse!"

It's because he thought everything can be under his control, because he's used of manipulating things to drift to his favor. He's Midas Yzaguirre. Not only his touch turns to gold, he can also decide for something even though it has nothing to do with him. Just like how he tried to control the situation with Candice... But he also did that because he really wanted to.

A family.

"Play the role of her father? Then what will become of her once you get your own? Cast her aside like scraps? You should've known better than dragging her into this mess! She's a child! A little girl! You're making her hope for nothing! You are an absolute idiot!"

Kalonice wiped her tears, "Just because you're Midas Yzaguirre doesn't mean you can control our lives like what you did onto others so freely. We're not like them. You know better. They will tear her apart for going near you. You're making her hope for nothing."

"I mean it."

Kalonice sniffed. She looked into his eyes; they were serious and honest.

"I will pretend as her father because I wanted to. Not because I want to make it up to you for what I've done before."

"Why?"

Midas don't know what to say.

"Do you like me?"

With Kalonice being that straightforward, Midas got flustered. His cheeks and ears got flushed in a rose blush. He was stuttering so bad that Kalonice was stuck between laughing and taking this moment seriously.

I mean---why would he take 'responsibility' of being Candice's father if not that?

"W-What are you s-saying, woman!? Why would I like s-someone like y-you!?"

Kalonice rolled her eyes and stand up. Midas followed, covering his shy face with his arm.

"Then stop. Don't swallow something you'd vomit later on. You're not a hero, Yzaguirre. We don't need saving either. I will figure it out on my own, so mind your own business."

Kalonice gathered their things and passed him by. But before that, "Thank you." And went on, leaving Midas in a state of...

Well, we don't know.

Secretary Sean dropped them off their home safely as per Larry's orders. Candice slammed the door shut of their room to sulk. Ali and Francis were flabbergasted.

"Did she just---!?" Ali looked at her sister to know if she saw things right. Kalonice forced a smile.

"Go and rest. I will handle her,"

"But Ate, she's going too far. Let her be and she will do whatever she wants to do! She won't listen to us anymore!"

Ali was about to barge through the room to scold Candice when Kalonice pulled her back.

"It's okay. I will discipline her."

"You're too soft to her, Ate. She won't learn if you won't take it the hard way," Francis.

Kalonice sighed and assured them one more time that she will handle Candice. Ali and Francis went to their room to rest, annoyed and irritated because of Candice's attitude. Kalonice got in her room with the keys and found Candice sobbing relentlessly on the bed.

"Candice," she closed the door behind her and went to the bed with a tray of water and hotdogs.

"Get up. I cooked your favorite hotdogs,"

Candice scoot further to avoid her.

"Candice, please, I don't want to be hard on you,"

Kalonice placed the tray on the bedside table and picked her up.

"No! Let me go! I hate you!"

"Ay, Candice,"

Candice covered her face.

"Baby, don't do this to me."

She rocked Candice in her arms, carrying her like a baby.

"You're a smart baby girl, right? You understood what I mean. We just...don't want to enter their world. We don't belong in their world. They're different from us and you know that. I don't want us to get her. I want us to be happy in private. Safe and away from prying eyes."

"Daddy..."

Kalonice kissed her forehead. She's starting to get emotional, too.

"I'm sorry... But you will meet him someday. Just not now, okay? Forgive me, but I can't show you to him yet. Not yet."

"B-But... But w-why? What if... What if he had changed h-his mind?"

That thought made her tears stream down her face. She wiped it.

"He will take you away from me. From us. And we're not going to see each other again. He will be angry that I hid you from him, that we lied from him. He's... He's that bad. If you want to know him...that bad, then tell me. I will face it all---everything that will come to me, I will face it. For you, because you deserve to know him."

Candice dropped her hands and when she found Kalonice crying as she look down on her, her defenses crumbled.

"Now, let's go pack your things. Don't feel bad. We will always be with you. Here," and she pointed Candice's chest, where her heart beats underneath.

"No! I don't want to anymore! I want to be with you forever, Mommy! I don't want to see him anymore! But I want a Daddy! I still want a Daddy, just not one that will take me away from you!"

Kalonice embraced her tight. She sang a lullaby for Candice, lulling her to sleep. She got up to transfer her water to a milk bottle. She mixed the formula with the water and shake it. She gave the milk to Candice and watched her sleep.

"My baby..."

Kalonice gently pat Candice's thigh. Candice opened her eyes to check if she's beside her. She gave the girl a smile. Candice scoot nearer to her and hugged her. She chugged the milk until the bottom is up and is in a deep sleep.

"He won't take you away from me. I will never let him take you away from me."

She kissed Candice's forehead and embraced her protectively. She let her tears burn her eyes.

She finally fell asleep.

She opened her eyes again and the first thing she did was roam her eyes around her surroundings until it landed on Candice.

She scoffed with a smirk, "Brat."

Candice moaned when Kalonice removed her off of her to get up. She faced the whole length mirror on the wall and checked herself out.

"Bitch, did you think you can get rid of us that easily?" she said to herself while strangling her neck with both hands.

When she ran out of air, she let herself go to breath.

Kalonice trembled and got slumped on the floor. She was left dazed and confused, trying to process what just happened. When she looked at herself in the mirror, her left eye was bottled green.

"W-Wy... Wych...?"

Wych, the name of one of her demons.

The demon with bottled green eyes.