*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Go awaaaaaaay!" 

Rolling around to cover myself in blankets, I try to ignore whoever the visitor is. The constant knocking grew louder and more persistent, obviously they weren't going anywhere. I force myself to fall on the floor and crawl to the front door, "Who is it!?"

"Lydia! What the hell is taking so long? I've been knocking for twenty minutes!"

"I highly doubt you counted the minutes-"

"UHURU!!!"

"Alright, you don't have to be so impatient." 

As I had thought, Lydia was red-faced and fuming when I answered the door in shorts and a raggedy t-shirt. She jabbed my forehead with her thumb and I was too lazy to stand up, so my body flopped back down. "You are ridiculous! How can someone that breakdances to pay tuition be too lazy to stand?" I open my left eye and glance at her seriously, "Are you stalking me?"

"Get your up!"

Lydia lifts me off the floor with one hand and starts pushing me upstairs. She says I need to shower and get dressed because it was almost Friday and she had to be ready. I didn't know what was special about Friday but she wouldn't tell me. When I still wasn't moving as she pleased, Lydia grabbed the shower nozzle and hosed me down. 

"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING???"

"HURRY UP!!!"

After the difficulties of morning pass by Lydia takes me to my parents house. She knows I didn't talk to them. Damn. What the hell is she? A mind-reader? She watches from the car as I enter the house, having returned to my defensive state of mind. My mom starts making tea and we sit on the sofa together. She doesn't speak for a while, both of us twitching awkwardly. I sure as hell wasn't about to say anything so the silence continued until my father spoke up.

"This is almost interesting. A mother who can't spark conversation with her child."

His eyes burn another hole through me. "Bapa, you are no better than Amai when it comes to me. She argues with me, but you and I rarely speak at all." He doesn't move, twitch, or even blink. The man had been emotionless all my life. For twenty years I have wondered why he didn't smile.

"Are you going to Korea? With that woman?" His eyes were slowly surveying me and my mom.

"Why do you care? It's my decision to make and you have no part in it." His eyebrows furrowed into a shallow look of disapproval. I looked back at him. There was nothing to interpret from his expression except that he was angry. 

"Would you really leave your family?" 

"Excuse me? What family? I don't remember anyone here saying they love me. I've been saying it for twenty years and won't ever say it again. Not to you. Not to Amai. Not to anyone."

"So?" Lydia stared curiously as I take my place beside her with a blank expression. I turned to her as if to say 'I told you so' and she didn't ask anything else. She drove for a while until we reached a beautiful hotel. The glass windows were struck by numerous rays of light, forming a wide rainbow across the glass floor inside. Lydia pulled me along as I tried to not to break anything, we both knew damn well that I couldn't afford to pay for any broken property. The expensive decorations and glittering chandeliers were obviously handcrafted works. The hotel guests peered over their shoulders, I realized the beads in my hair probably made noise in such a quiet place. Lydia kept pulling me, turning through hallways until stopping at what I thought was her room. I felt sick, hotels always make me feel icky no matter how fancy they are. She takes out her keycard and slides it, stepping into a luxurious room. I stand in one place and hug myself. There is no way I was going to break anything.

"Lydia...huh?" I looked over at Lydia and she was knocking furiously on the bathroom door with her thumbs. That is the only thing she has done that I can't accept completely. I hear a voice fom the other side, it was a man's voice. I couldn't understand him from my distant position in the middle of the room but he sounded so... familiar. I start to wonder who the voice reminded me of when Lydia knocks again. Impatient as usual, she begins to yell at the other person this time.

"I need you to meet somebody! This is important! My entire way of life is on the line!" 

As she says this, the door opens and the owner of the voice steps out...

.....................................................................................................................

Warning/Disclaimer: There was a whole lot of makeup used in the cover photo for this chapter. The photo I used is from last year when I was model for Saadiq makeup brand with the theme "This Is Your Conscience". I don't model as a career, that event was for charity but it's the only decent picture I have of myself. I could never be a real model. But 

I still have those dredlocks lol