Flashback.

“Shît!” Tiffany sniffed, shook her head, covered her mouth with her palm, and let the tears from her eyes fall freely.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, turned swiftly, and then prepared to run away.
“Wait!” Aiden sprang up, ran after her, and caught her wrist.
“Just… Hold on,” Aiden exhaled.
”Are you okay?” Zoey rushed towards them and asked no one in particular.
“Let me go,” Tiffany hiccuped.
“You pushed me so hard, ” Aiden placed his left hand on his waist.
“I… I…” She shook her head.
“Tiffany, how did that happen? Your wound… It fûcking disappeared!” Zoey widened her eyes.
“I… Let me go, please,” she stared at Aiden with teary eyes.
“I don’t want to.”
“I…”
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it,” Aiden nodded his head.
“It is not fine. Tiffany, we are friends. We are supposed to know things that are going on with you. Don’t you think?” Zoey frowned.
“You both must find me strange, right?” Tiffany said after a few seconds of silence and wiping her tears.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me too,” she said after she got no reply from them.
“I was five years old when I saw my wound close up. I didn’t know why. At first, I was startled, I was shocked and confused. I know it was strange and I refused to show anyone at the Orphanage. They all found me weird already and seeing that was only going to make things worse. The only person who saw it was my dormitory mother, Mrs. Vincent and that was when I was eight. She was startled, no, she first moved away from me and then sent me back to my room. She locked me in there for the whole day and came back the next morning with a plate of food. “You can’t be hungry, as the monster you are, I just would not want you to eat the other kids here”. I knew what she meant. After she left, I only stared at the food and held back my tears. I refused to cry. No, I didn’t want to cry, even though I was born different, I have never harmed anyone. I told myself never to cry. I don’t know the reason I broke down seeing the reaction on your faces,” Tiffany burst into fresh tears.
“I know… I am strange. I am a girl who doesn’t even know her identity. It is understandable if you decide not to be friends with me anymore. I understand you are scared. Seeing things that you’ve never imagined… I know, but…”
Aiden interrupted by pulling her into a very tight hug.
“Ssh…” He stroked her hair gently.
“Aiden…”
“It’s fine. I don’t care what you are or who you are. It doesn’t change the fact that you are Tiffany. I don’t hate you, in fact, I’m not scared of you at all. So, don’t say all those negative things you ain’t even sure about,” Aiden whispered to her ear then broke the hug gently, her cheeks cupped in his palm.
“You’re too beautiful to cry, it doesn’t even suit you,” Aiden hissed and wiped the tears off her face.
“Aiden…” Tiffany pressed her lips together.
“Come on, Anny. Who cares if your wound closes itself?” Aiden shrugs his shoulder off.
“I do,” Zoey twitched her mouth.
“Huh?” Tiffany’s countenance fell.
“Here I am, wondering how you’ve come to get the perfect skin. Tsk, I wish my wound could just vanish like that. I’ma flex it!” She shook her head.
What was she saying?
Tiffany wondered.
Did she hate her because already or…
“Just come here, baby!” Zoey smiled and spread her hand widely for Tiffany.
“Huh?” Tiffany raised a brow.
“Come, let me give you a hug,” Zoey faked a frown, moved closer to her, and pulled her into her hug.
“I ain’t never gonna let go of you. Just so you know, I love you very much. Who cares about that little flaw?” She pulled away.
“You’re too perfect so God thinks it would be better to give that to you as a flaw. Hehehe, you can’t be too perfect, don’t you think, Aiden?” Zoey nudged Aiden gently.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Aiden winked at her.
“Fûck, I love you!” Tiffany pulled Zoey into another hug.
“And me?” Aiden impersonated a pose.
“Huh…” She pulled away from Zoey and stared at Aiden who was smiling mischievously.
“I don’t love you, but take,” she smiled and wrapped her hand around his waist.
“That hurts though,” Aiden smiled and patted her hair.
“Yeah, can you let go now?” Tiffany rolled her eyes.
“Gosh, no, you smell like heaven,” Aiden inhaled.
“I’ll kick your balls,” Tiffany groaned.
“Fûck!” Aiden pulled away and laughed.
“Guys…” Tiffany suddenly got serious.
“Don’t say anything corny there,” Zoey eyed her.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You…” Zoey was interrupted by her phone which suddenly rang.
“There goes the king of scumbags,” Zoey sighed as she stared at the incoming call from Declan which she’d saved his contact as ‘Scumbag’.
Aiden and Tiffany glanced at each other and giggled.
“Yeah?” Zoey drawled lazily.
“Where are you?” Came Declan’s voice from the other line.
“I’m on the rooftop with my friends,” she answered.
“Hey, I’ve agreed to do what you want, shouldn’t you fulfill your responsibility?” he said through clenched teeth.
“What is my responsibility? I’ve also agreed to be your fake girlfriend,” Zoey frowned.
“We should hang out together to make it look real. We should eat lunch together and take a walk around the school together,” Declan answered.
“Why should we do that?” Zoey frowned.
“Because we must make it real. I’m at the cafeteria, come meet me there. I’ll be waiting,” with that, Declan ended the call.
“That àsshôlé!” Zoey groaned.
“It’s what you signed. Get going babe,” Tiffany whispered to her ear and Zoey hissed.
“Shut up.”
“He’s your crush after all, it’s just like meeting your favorite celebrity,” Tiffany shrugged her shoulder off.
“I said you should shut up,” Zoey rolled her eyes and Tiffany burst into laughter.
“Get going girl,” Tiffany pushed her gently.
“Have fun!” Zoey hissed then walked away slowly.
As soon as she watched Zoey leave, she turned to look at Aiden and frowned as she caught the guy rubbing his hand on his waist with an expression that indicated that he was in pain.
“Does it hurt so much?” She asked.
Aiden removed his hand from his waist and smiled, “It doesn’t hurt at all.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Tiffany glared at him.
“Hmm, a little,” he pouted and scratched his forehead.
“I didn’t mean to push…”
“Ssh, you did nothing wrong, okay? Come on, stop feeling guilty,” he grabbed her hand and walked her to the railing.
“You’re not a bad person. That I know,” he placed his hand on the railing and looked down at the students.
Tiffany glanced down at the school compound filled with students and turned to look at him, and then smiled.
“That was close, right?”
She frowned as she heard the annoying growl from Akilang.
***
¶¶
“Are they really going out?”
“Let’s take a quick picture and upload it on the blog.”
“This is absolutely the first time I’ll be seeing Declan eating with a girl.”
¶¶
“Must we meet in this lousy place?” Zoey leaned forward, gritted her teeth, and stabbed a piece of chip.
“We need to make it look real,” Declan answered.
“Look, everyone is feasting their eyes on us. Gosh, I hate this,” Zoey whined.
“Let them enjoy while they can. They probably have never seen me with a girl. You should consider yourself lucky,” he winked at her.
“Lucky?! As if. It is very unfortunate of me to be sitting here in front of you,” Zoey hissed.
“Do you hate me that much?” Declan smirked.
“Sooooo much!”
“Hehehe, doesn’t look like it. Were you not the one who gave me a knitted scarf?”
“Oh, that. I was so dumb back then,” Zoey hissed.
“You still are,” Declan teased.
“What?!” Zoey frowned.
“Chill, baby. You look like you’re going to spitfire,” Declan chuckled, leaned forward, and placed his hand on her golden hair.
“Get your filthy hand off me,” Zoey threw him a Kîller stare.
“Smile. I can see people trying to take a picture,” Declan smiled.
“Idiöt.”
“Don’t worry, people will tag you as a jealous girlfriend when they see the picture.”
“Jealous?!”
“Yeah, you look so much like you caught me cheating and I’m trying to make things right.”
==
Mrs. Vincent’s residence~
Mrs. Vincent dropped her phone and glanced at the picture of the little girl she had always dreaded.
She inhaled, exhaled, and then leaned forward to pick the picture from the table.
As she was getting older, she couldn’t help but feel how she treated Tiffany was wrong.
Ever since she discovered the weirdest thing about the girl, which was her wound closing up. She began to treat the girl like dirt. Like a monster.
She couldn’t even tell the man who had claimed to be her father that she was behind everything that happened to the child back then.
No, how the hell could she have told the man that she was the one who planned the girl’s deãth that day?
No, there was no way she could have said such a thing.
She practically saw Tiffany in her dreams for many years till she resigned from the Orphanage.
If Tiffany were still alive, then it is just a matter of time before she meets her father because she had already directed the man to where Tiffany lived after she had mysteriously survived the death she had planned for her.
#FLASHBACK.
“What do you mean you lost her, and why are you like this?” Douglas Vincent frowned as she scrutinize his badly injured neck and face.
“It happened too fast, ma’am. I’ve never seen something like that. She changed all of a sudden and began to attack us,” the guy shivered.
“How could you say a little girl like that attacked you? What is wrong with you?” Douglas drew her brows together.
“She turned into a monster! That girl killed my partner, Pius right in front of me!” the guy bellowed.
“How could she kill someone! That kid is way too young!”
“She’s a monster!” he retorted.
“I know it is hard to believe, but I’m saying the truth.”
“Where is she?”
“I trailed her and saw her bump into a car. The owner of the car got down and took her in his car.”
“So, where does she stay?”
“Somewhere in the everlasting estate. I got the car plate number.”
“Find her, I need to know where she lives,” Douglas ordered, grinding her teeth.
#ENDOFFLASHBACK.
There was no way she could tell Tiffany’s father without having to tell him what Tiffany was doing in the mountain at that time.
That, she couldn’t risk.
*
TBC…