Lila opened her eyes wide open, looking a little bit alarmed and startled. She quickly sat up from her bed, she gasped once she was seated, then quickly looked around her to see if everything was real and not just another weird dream. She looked around, and everything seemed to be normal, but only just noticing that her sisters were by her bedside — looking quite shocked, worried and concerned for some reason? 

“*Yawn!!!* Hi… Good morning you two…” She rubbed her eyes and yawned, “What’s the matter??? Did something happen??? *Yawn!!!*” Lila asked her sisters as she yawned again, concerned for their wellbeing, but also a bit tired from having so little sleep, what felt like she only had about two or three hours worth of good night’s rest. But her lack of sleep was the least of her concerns — she wanted to focus on her sisters than herself for now. “Tell me, what’s on both your minds, take both of your time, to tell me. Okay???” Lila expressed to the two, as she positioned herself laying back on her bed, while facing to the sideway, having her hand rest on her bed. Trying to make herself a little comfortable, so to listened to the twins.

With that, the twins didn’t hesitate to explain — as they both looked at each other, then back to Lila; where they both said to her in unison, “Good morning,” both started off, then looked at each other for a moment, then back at Lila. “We wanted to wake you up a little earlier, but we both thought that you were probably still too tired — even after last night when you had a nightmare. So we just let you sleep a bit more.” Sandy stated, as she and Daisy got up and sat on her bed. “But you were asleep for more than an hour, and we both grew really worried that we went to check up on you. And saw that you weren’t responding when we tried everything to wake you up.” Daisy then added, both Daisy and Sandy looking worried and nervous. “We shook you, and called out your name a few times. Hoping to wake you up, but you still weren’t responding. And then we noticed that you were crying in your sleep. So we kept shaking you, to wake you up.” Sandy said, telling Lila what happened. “W-we thought that maybe you were probably having a really bad d-dream, a-and so me and Sandy tried our best to wake you up from it. I know that you were really tired… you mostly clean and take care of us… I know that you should rest more, and eat more… But I… w-we were just scared that you were too weak and tired… that you weren’t ever going to wake up…” Daisy utters lastly, while stuttering in her sentence. Both twins looked at each other, looking rather somewhat ashamed of what they did. They looked at Lila, telling her both in unison, “We’re sorry…” 

Lila awed at her two sisters, thinking about how cute and silly they were for thinking of things. Lila smirked and giggled at the two — she sat and rubbed on their heads playfully, giving the two a couple of head noogies. 

After rubbing on their heads for a little while, she initially stops, leaving them a bit frazzled and a little vexed from the unexpected noogie. Lila looks at the two, and tells them, “*Chuckle!!!* You two are honestly too sweet. You two are honestly the best sisters I have, and I’m happy to have the both of you by my side.” Both twins looked at her all confused, thinking that she’d be a bit upset and mad at them for waking her. “I might do my chores and cook all the time. But honestly girls, I’m fine. And I’m not angry with you two for waking me, I’m actually glad that you woke me up in the end… The nightmare… well… the dream I had was… really something. But I’m fine though, since I had Juju here to keep me company. So thank you both, again. For waking me and checking up on me.” Lila lastly stated, brightly smiled at the twins, holding up the ragdoll, snuggling it up to her cheek. 

Both Sandy and Daisy smiled at Lila — Daisy was glad and relieved to have lent her doll Juju, to help her sleep a little better. But Sandy and Daisy were a bit reluctant about what Lila said; about being fine. But both knew that she wasn’t to admit being deadbeat tired, so both twins looked at each other, and went along with what they had planned on doing before they had woken Lila. “What did you dream about?” Daisy suddenly asked. 

“Huh???”

“What was it that you dreamed about, that gave you made you cry? Was it a bad dream?” Daisy asked Lila again, both Sandy and Daisy looked at her, as they wanted to know and were concerned by her tears from earlier. “Oh, no — it wasn’t a bad dream, silly. I just had a dream about dad and… well Olga… from the time when you two were in nappies and when I was about your two’s age — the time when we were all a real family…” Lila tells her two sisters, both Sandy and Daisy looked at how upset she looked while she mentions about their old life. They felt guilty about having her reveal about their family, as well as the times they had together. “W-we’re sorry Lilac… We didn’t mean to…” Both twins mumble in unison, Lila hears and sees them looking gloomy. And so she quickly tells them, “O-oh, don’t worry you two — it was just a dream. Which became weird and even ‘more’ weirder in the end — so… yeah, just a dream.” 

“Well… still…” Both mumbled in unison.

“It’s fine, girls. Besides — I’m probably going to forget about that dream eventually.” Lila reassured the two, that she was fine and that it was only a dream. Both Sandy and Daisy seemed a little bit convinced, but didn’t pressure her anymore about her dream. 

But Lila couldn’t help but wonder about her dream, as it kept bothering her, “I wonder if I would forget about the dream… It felt real like my other dreams of the Prince and the little Princess. But this dream was somewhat strange… what dad said about Deborah and the letter — Or maybe my mind has probably fabricated that part of the dream. Just like how it fabricated my old memory of Olga, and the time I first got my acceptance letter…. Could it really be just a dream or something??? But the way Olga spoke, and from the feeling of her touch, felt different… And the things that dad said… Ugh!!! I’m not so sure anymore!!!)” She frustratedly thought, looking quite dumbfounded and lost on what her dreams had displayed in her slumber.

“Um… Lilac” Daisy mumbled, hushly. Lila shook her head, breaking her train of thought. “Huh??? Yes??? What is it, Daisy???”

“W-well… m-me and Sandy thought. That… if w-we could help you with your chores today?” Daisy stuttered, as she was fidgeting on her identical yellow nightgown that she and Sandy wore. “Yeah, we’re here anyways. So why not help you out a bit, to make the job easier?” Sandy then added. Lila snickered at the two, and thought how sweet they were being in trying to help her with her chores. But there was one thing that she just realized, was when she looked at the time of the clock hanging from their room and saw that it was ‘9:15 am’. She faces her twin sisters, asks them, “Hold on a sec… Why are you two at home???  It’s already past the time for you to be in school right now??? So… why are you two here instead of being in school???”

Both twins then looked at each other, as their eyes widened. Nervous on what both or one of them should say, they eventually began blabbing nervously, “Well… it’s a funny story, really...” Said Sandy, while stroking her hair, trying to revert her eyes from Lila. “Please don’t be mad at us…” Daisy said shyly as she twiddles her thumbs and she too reverted her eyes from Lila. Sandy glares at her, for what her twin just said. Both twins then looked at Lila, hoping that they didn’t get caught; then quickly remembered to look away. Since they forgot that Lila had this keen sharp eye, to spot people from lying by looking them in the eyes.  

Lila sees them acting a bit anxious, and immediately knew that they were up to something, and trying to keep whatever it was a secret. “Well???” Lila questioned jokingly, but the twins simply shuddered from the question. Both gulped in their saliva, took a deep breath and both answered in unison, “WE TOLD OLGA, THAT WE WERE BOTH SICK. SO THAT WE CAN BOTH SKIP SCHOOL TODAY. SO THAT WE CAN STAY AND HELP YOU, AND-” The twins rambled on loudly, not giving each other the chance to breathe. Lila quickly shushes and calms her twin sisters from panicking any more, before they completely run out of breath and pass out. “Girls, Girls. Take it easy… calm down… Just take a deep breath, and try explaining slowly.”

“Well…” Both twins said in unison

“It’s alright — remember. Take a deep breath and take your time to explain, okay you two???”

Sandy took a deep breath, just like Lila said. Taking a moment, to finally explain to her, while still feeling nervous, “Well… It’s like we said. We… might have told Olga that we were sick, that we came down with a cold and stomach pain. And… Well, she believed us. And told us to stay at home and rest up, to get better.” Daisy then jumped into her twin’s conversation as she wanted to fess up too. “We just wanted to stay and help you out on your chores… we didn’t mean to lie… we just… we’re sorry. *Sniff!* You're probably mad at us for lying about being sick, and not at school.”

Lila placed her hand on both the twins shoulders, seeing as how guilty they were for what they did. Trying to ease their uneasiness and their worries, as well as to clear their mind. “No… no, I’m not mad at you two. Although… I really am upset that you two lied about being sick to ditch school…” Lila mentions, the twins looked down a bit and at each other — looking a little more ashamed. “But… I’m happy to hear that you two did it to stay and try to help me. So, thank you.”

Lila hugged her twin sisters, planted a kiss on their foreheads and whipped the twins’s tears. Both twins now looked relieved and smiled at their older sister, but also hesitated as they asked her, “So… does that mean we’re off the hook then? About lying, I mean?” Both uttered in unison. 

“Ah, yes!!! Well, let’s see… Since you both lied about being sick, to miss school. You both have to help me with a bunch of chores. And I mean a lot — I’m talking; laundry, washing the dishes, brooming and mopping and gathering the remaining produce from the small garden. And since both said that you wanted to help, are you two sure you are up for it???” Lila said jokingly, as she eyes her two sisters. Who now were looking at each other, both giggled and nodded hastily. Lila arched her eyebrow, and smirked at her two sisters, but thought she should let the two know what they were in for, “Ah!!! But don’t think that the job will be easy. While watering the plants and gathering the produce from the garden might be the easier tasks — the other four however, aren’t so easy” Lila tells them, sarcastically. “So… are you two still up for the challenge???” Lila said jestly, the twins not knowing if she was joking or not, both nearly hesitated for a bit, but not wanting to back down — both twins gulped on their saliva and nodded hastily.

Lila couldn’t believe how determined and silly her sisters were, as she placed a hand on her mouth, trying to hold in her laugh — as she couldn’t help but to laugh about their behavior. The twins tilted their heads, arched their brows and looked at her confused. Lila let out another laugh as their confused reactions were making her snicker.

“*Chuckle!!!* Alright — now that's settled. How about we head downstairs for now, before we start cleaning.” 

“Okay, Lilac!” 

“And also… I have something very important to tell you girls about, later when we’re done with all the chores.” Lila tells the two, nervous and excited about telling her sisters, and shows them her letter, when they are done with everything. And was excited to surprise them with something else she had in mind. She took out the neck-chained whistle that hung around her neck — that she had hidden underneath her shirt, then stuffing it back under her shirt collar, as they made their way downstairs.

Almost all of the chores were done, well mostly some weren’t completed. Lila and the twins had gathered almost all the dirty laundry and had washed every single one, but weren’t able to hang them out to dry as they anticipated, since they hadn’t noticed that it was raining outside and weren't sure how long it had been raining. Lila and the twins saw the clothes that Lila had hung up last night to dry, only to be completely soaked. There wasn’t anything to do, but to wait for the rain to stop and to hang the rest of the laundry afterwards. And Lila thought it was best to not head outside with her sisters to gather the rest of the produce from the small garden, while it rained. 

And so the three went and did mostly all of the other chores, which thankfully was only done in about an hour — the only thing that was left to do was washing the dishes. Luckily there weren’t any dishes in the sink for Lila and the girls to clean — but Lila noticed how filthy the sink was, and so she decided to clean the inside tub of the sink as well as the counter, to have everything spotless. 

Lila thought this was something that her sisters shouldn’t help her with, as it was a quick and easy task — so she asked them that all she had to do was this one thing, and that they are free to either colour or just just relax while she was done. The twins looked very happy to help, and then they looked at each other for a moment; looking quite cheeky, as if they were plotting something. They noticed Lila looking at them weirdly — and without saying, they quickly and nervously yet happily anxiously ran upstairs.

Lila was rather confused by how they ran off, but shrugged her shoulders and thought that they were probably up to something as she suspected, she just had to wait and see.

Once she was finished cleaning the kitchen, she was happy to see everything inside the whole house being spotless, and that she was able to finish all the chores so quickly with the help of her two little sisters. She can’t wait to head upstairs to properly thank them for their help, but to also properly tell them about her big news — which she was mostly nervous about, and wasn’t sure how’d they react. But she didn’t want to back down, not when she finally had the opportunity and the time alone to tell her sisters. 

But before she headed back upstairs, her stomach began to grumble, and checked the time on the kitchen’s clock. Only an hour had passed, and realized and forgot to eat something before starting on the chores, and wondered if her sisters probably hadn’t eaten either. And since there wasn’t anything in the fridge to prep something up, mostly some packaged biscuits inside the one of the kitchen’s cabinets as well as some stored tea bags of chamomile tea. But  Lila thought that cutting up some apple slices and oranges was good enough for the three to munch on for the meantime, until Olga would eventually come back with some groceries, so that she can start up dinner later today in the evening.