"Aeron, will you tell me about your trip?" At Olevia's voice, I pursed my lips. I gave the seven-year-old a side-long glance. Her round blue eyes sparkled as she looked up at me. The brilliance surrounding her heavily contrasted my darkness. She mirrored her mother with her blonde hair and angel-like blue eyes while I mirrored my biological father. His secrets, grief, doubts, and lies also remained permanently buried in me.

"Sure, little girl." I grinned and reached across the table to ruffle her head. She giggled at my touch. "It didn't change at all. The same candy shop and streets untouched. The scribbled and drawings on the walls that I etched when I was in your age was still there. And, you know what else?"

She ecstatically nodded and leaned closer to me. "There's more?"

"Yep." I popped the 'p' at the end of the word. "The same railway bridge was still there. I really-"

"Aeron." His cold voice cut through my harmless chatter. I grabbed a fork and stabbed it into the lasagna. "Don't mention that cursed bridge in front of your sister."

My sister, he called her my sister. I wanted to scoff, but I controlled myself. For the sake of Angeline and her daughter. Turning towards the man that labelled himself as my father, I glared under my lashes. I don't have a sister. This family of three would never belong to me. I never belonged in their world. My father might have been a part of mine once upon a time but it all changed when he left us for them.

"Angeline, the lasagna looks perfect." I said. She rewarded me with an small smile. "Can I bring a plate in my room instead? Actually, I'm tired from the trip."

Her smile dropped into a frown. Thunder rumbled outside before the sound of muffled heavy rain fell. "Alright. If you want more, just ask." I nodded. Before leaving, I waved at Olevia and turned around completely ignoring my father.

In one hand, I carried a plate of lasagna as I entered my room. Cold engulfed my body. I left the window open and tiny droplets of rain entered the room. When I placed the plate of uneaten food beside my papers, my phone vibrated and blinked on top of the bead sheet. My eyes squinted as I saw the message.

'Do you want to visit Corey?' was written on the screen. It was from Danilo.

To be continued...

Preview of chapter 3:

"If going on living is such a bother, then dying once and for all is also a bother and making all these excuses is also a bother. All around the world, everything is just a bother. If thinking optimistically is such a bother, then thinking pessimistically is such a bother too and falling asleep is a bother too. Each and every little thing is just a bother." I murmured looking at his eyes. "Phil would've said that we will only bother ourselves and Corey for petty curiosity and the urges to satisfy ourselves."

"It's been more than a year, Aeron. Phil's gone." He replied. I averted my eyes when I heard the solemnity in his tone. It was too early in a weekday morning and he suddenly sprouted such things to me. It was too early to explicitly discuss Phil even though years passed. The wound I carried wouldn't heal that fast. My patience rode on a thin hair-like rope and it weighed heavily.

"Yes, and you're coping very well, aren't you?" I scoffed. His hazel eyes darkened.