“She lives here?” The Senator furrowed his brow as he stared at the thatched house built with bamboo leaves through the window of his car.
”Yes sir,” the driver who was also the informant, Ryan answered.
“How could someone survive in there… Oh, Whatever. Let’s go,” he sighed.
The driver got out of the car, rushed to the other side, opened the door of the car, and watched his boss step out the majestically.
..
“Mrs. Vincent!” Ryan called out and stepped back.
“Are you sure she’s around?” The Senator frowned after a few seconds of silence.
“Mrs. Vin–”
The door of the bamboo house opened which interrupted him.
”I think I told you not to come here again,” the old woman frowned, unaware of the presence of the Senator.
“I know, I…”
“I requested to see you,” the senator stepped forward.
“Why? Who are you? ” The woman raised a brow.
Wait, she doesn’t know him?!
Huh, that is given.
How does he even expect someone who lives in this place to recognize him?
“I am here to enquire about my long-lost daughter whom I learned her name is Tiffany,” the senator answered.
“Y… You are Tiffany’s father?” The woman opened her mouth agape.
==
Saturday*
“Hi!”
Tiffany raised her head to look at the person that stood before her.
A day hardly go by without the lady coming to the sandwich shop, so there was no way she didn’t recognize the always smiling girl.
“Did you miss me? I wasn’t here yesterday and the day before,” she rested her hand on the cabinet and asked.
“I didn’t even know you were not here,” Tiffany rolled her eyes, her eyes not leaving the chicken sandwich she was packing for the customer that the girl was standing beside.
“At least you recognized me,” the girl snorted.
“Tsk,” Tiffany shook her head, grabbed the cup of Iced-Americano, packed it together with the sandwich, and pointed it at the man.
“Thank you,” she said after the man make his payment and then left.
“You’ve really changed. Like seriously, I’ve never heard you say thank you to anyone,” the girl laughed.
“Like you know me so well,” Tiffany hissed.
“I know you very well. You think I come here every day because I’m interested in what you sell?” She raised a brow.
“I want a gold kiwi shake,” a lady stopped beside the lady.
“I come here because of you,” the girl said as she watched Tiffany make the process of getting the gold kiwi shake.
“Are you a lesbian or something?” Tiffany frowned.
“Me?” The lady that had just arrived asked.
“No, she was asking me.”
“Here’s your gold kiwi shake,” Tiffany dropped it on the cabinet that divided them, took her payment, and watched her leave.
“I’m not a lesbian. I just like you as a person. What is your name?”
“I don’t tell my name to strangers. Take your orders and leave, please.”
“Don’t go back to being cold, please! My name is Marlie, and you?”
“Take your order,” Tiffany ignored.
“Huh, so fierce. I want two Ice-cream waffles,” Marlie said.
After a few minutes had passed, Tiffany dropped the ice cream on the cabinet and said to her, “Tiffany. That is my name.”
“Really!” Marlie grinned.
Tiffany said nothing and took her payment, Marlie grabbed an ice cream waffle and turned to leave.
“Hey, you left this,” Tiffany called out and glanced at the ice cream waffle she had left on the cabinet.
“I know, it is for you. My treat!” Marlie smiled and rushed out of the Sandwich shop.
“Her treat? Huh,” Tiffany hissed, grabbed the ice cream waffle, and walked to the waste bin.
As she wanted to throw it inside the bin, she hissed as her mind pictured the smiling face of the lady and closed the bin back, having a change of heart.
~~
“We’re closed for…” When she was already cleaning up the shop, someone entered.
“Hey, babe!” Zoey entered, grinning from ear to ear.
“Zoey,” with a furrowed brow, Tiffany dropped the wipe.
“What are you doing here?” Tiffany asked and Zoey pulled her into a hug.
“I came to see you,” she broke the hug.
“I’ve missed you,” Zoey shrugs a shoulder.
“We saw each other yesterday in school,” Tiffany said.
“Come on, can’t you at least welcome me?” Zoey hissed then settled on the chair beside her.
“Okay, I…” She was interrupted by the bell rang which indicated that someone had arrived.
“We’re… Aiden?”
“Aiden?” Zoey asked and turned to look at the person that had just entered.
“Zoey is here?” Aiden smiled and walked toward them.
“What are you doing here?” Zoey stared at both of them suspiciously.
“I came to see her,” Aiden answered and sat on the chair across Zoey.
“Did you tell her already?” Zoey frowned.
“Tell me what?” Tiffany removed the hand gloves and sat on the chair between them.
“I thought he had told you that…”
“That bluemoon should be the name of our band!” Aiden interrupted saying whatever came to his mind.
“Ah, yes!” Zoey clapped her hand together, catching on to what Aiden had said.
”But Bluemoon?” Zoey tilted her head.
“Huh?” Tiffany creased her brow.
“How do you come up with Bluemoon?” Tiffany turned to look at Aiden.
“Oh, that? ” Aiden scratched his head and turned to look at Zoey who looked away immediately.
“My best color is Blue!” Zoey raised her hand abruptly.
“Huh? “Tiffany raised a brow.
”We can just say that Declan and I couple’s color is blue. Our signature dress could also be blue,” Zoey clapped her hands together.
“I love watching the moon, you love it too Anny, right?”
“I never said I love it,” Tiffany twitched her mouth.
“I saw the happiness in your eyes when you gaze at the moon.”
“My eyes?” Tiffany placed her hand on her chest slowly.
“Yeah,” Aiden winked at her.
“But I…”
The door opened which interrupted her. She sprang up as she saw her boss walk in.
“I see your friends are here,” Amelia smiled as she entered in.
“Hi, ma’am,” Aiden and Zoey greeted.
“I haven’t seen your face before,” Amelia glanced at Zoey.
“Yeah, I’m Zoey, Tiffany’s bestie,” Zoey grinned.
“Oh, I see you have good people around you,” Amelia smiled.
“Take your orders guys, it’s on the house,” she added.
“Really? ” Zoey widened her eyes.
“Yes!” Amelia giggled.
“I… Will take your orders,” Tiffany stammered.
“No, take your order too. I will do the serving, ” Amelia protested.
“Ma’am, ” Tiffany pressed her lips together.
“Come on.”
==
“I didn’t know you have a nice boss,” Zoey said to Tiffany as soon as they all walked out of the shop.
“You think she’s nice?” Tiffany tilted her head.
“Of course, she is,” Aiden added.
“Well…” Tiffany shrugs her shoulder.
“I gotta go, guys. My dad won’t have me coming in late,” Zoey glanced at her phone.
“It’s almost eight, girl. How about I escort you? ” Tiffany offered.
“I’ll get a taxi at the bus stop down there,” she declined.
“But…”
“Bye, babe. See ya!” Zoey screamed as she ran along the street.
“She’s so stubborn,” Tiffany sighed.
“Coming from someone who is as stubborn as hell,” Aiden chuckled, strolled towards his bike, and got on it.
“I’ll give you a ride. Don’t say no, please,” Aiden wore a puppy look.
“I wasn’t going to say no though,” Tiffany grinned.
“Thank you!” Aiden smiled as he watched Tiffany walk toward him.
=
The senator’s residence…
The senator sat in his study, drop the tablet he was browsing through and have his mind go to what he discussed with the old woman earlier in the day.
#FLASHBACK.
“Tiffany is a weird girl, and no one wants to have anything to do with her because of that.”
“How is she weird that y’all tagged her a weirdo?”
“At night, we hear growls from her room. Growls from wild animals to be precise. No one sleeps in the same room with her. There was this time I happen to hear the growl, I strolled down to her room and on getting there, I didn’t see anything but found her sleeping. I know it is unbelievable but it is something I’ve heard a lot,” Mrs. Vincent explained.
“So, you all find her weird because of that?” He tried to defend the daughter he hadn’t met.
“Tiffany had gone ten days without saying a word to anyone. Even I as an adult find her scary. There was something about her.”
“She probably did not want to say anything to anyone,” the Senator said.
“Then, how do you defend her wound closing up?”
“What do you mean?” he creased his brow.
“There was a time she cut her hand with a razor blade. Her wound closed up before I could get the first aid kit.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You will never find a scratch on Tiffany’s body because every wouldn’t she’d obtained disappeared without a trace.”
#END OF FLASHBACK.
“How is that possible?” He creased his brow and took the picture on the table.
The picture he had collected from the old woman earlier in the day.
It was a single picture which means the child was the only one in the picture.
He managed to see her more clearly, even though she wasn’t smiling.
That doesn’t make his daughter a weirdo, right?
But, how was he going to explain that?
==
Western high school…
“Botanical gardens, Art museum, and the Poconos,” Zoey read out the information on the school website to Aiden and Tiffany.
“The trip this year will be very boring,” Zoey rolled her eyes and returned her phone to her pocket.
“I see you say the same,” Aiden chuckled.
“Like seriously, who wants to go to an art museum? Botanical garden and that portfolio or wherever?”
“Wait, I heard Poconos is a very nice adventurous place. We can go fishing, biking, whitewater rafting wildlife observing, name it!” Aiden snapped his finger.
“Really?” Zoey raised a brow.
“Yeah,” Aiden nodded his head.
“Tell Declan to vote for the Poconos. You might not know, everyone will vote for wherever the Dax chose,” Zoey said.
“Huh, really?”
“Yes!” Zoey answered.
“So, can we talk about something I know about?” Tiffany said after a few seconds of silence and Aiden laughed.
“Firstly, I got us something,” Aiden grabbed his bag that he had dropped on the floor, unzipped it, and removed a can of drink.
“This is for you, Anny,” he handed the can sprite to Tiffany.
“And for you,” he handed the same over to Zoey and then took the last one from his bag.
“So what’s the occasion?” Tiffany raised the drink with a tilted head.
“Nothing,” Aiden shrugs his shoulder.
“Wait, guys, let’s go watch a movie next week. Declan ran his mouth in front of Lauren that there’s a movie we’ll be seeing at the cinema on Saturday. Huh, that dumbass. So, Aiden, get a ticket for you and Tiffany,” Zoey smiled.
“Why should we go there with you guys?” Tiffany raised a brow.
“Tiff… ”
“And besides, I have work to do on Saturday, you know that,” Tiffany stared at her.
“Babe,” Zoey pouted.
“It won’t work. Okay?” Tiffany glanced at her.
“Huh, cold bîtch,” Zoey mumbled.
“Yeah,” Tiffany laughed.
Tiffany held the can sprite tightly, and opened it, ”ouch!” She screamed.
The metal had pierced her thumb suddenly which made her scream.
Aiden dropped the can sprite in his hand unconsciously and cared less as it burst.
“Tiffany!” He grabbed her hand as he saw blood oozing out from her thumb.
“Let go of me!” Tiffany snatched her hand from the guy.
“Let’s get you to the clinic, you’re bleeding!” Aiden panicked.
He didn’t like the blood he was seeing at all.
It only meant that the girl was in pain.
“I am fine!” Tiffany yelled, turned to leave and Aiden grabbed her wrist again.
“Let’s go to the clinic together,” he said.
“Get the fûck off me, àsshôlé!” She tried to pull her hand away, but the guy wasn’t letting her hand go.
“I’ll follow you to the clinic, okay? Let’s get to the clinic now. I… I… What… is …” Aiden began to stammer as soon as he saw the unbelievable.
He glanced at Zoey who looked shocked like he was.
So, there was no fûcking way his eyes were seeing things.
“Wha’ the…” Zoey exclaimed
The wound was fûcking closing up itself!
“Your hand… Tiffany…” He watched the wound close up completely and the blood even dried up as if there was never a cut.
He glanced at Tiffany and then the drop of tears that fell from her eyes.
“I told you to get off me!” Tiffany yelled and pushed him away aggressively which made the guy crash against the wood that was piled up behind him.
Even though he was feeling pain from the way he crashed against the wood, he couldn’t tear his gaze off the lady.
What was she?
*
TBC…